Are Student Debt and New Car Payments Taking All Your Money?

I was just reading a post over about budgeting over at lifehacker.com and was amazed at some of the comments. The number of posts by people in their 20s who have outrageous student debt and low paying jobs really floored me. Most were complaining that it is impossible to set aside 10% of your income every month, let alone the 20% the article suggests. But the numbers in this comment really floored me:

Hrm. I’m a college student and I’m not getting rich by any means. I also live at home, and work part time. That said, I pay for all of my own expenses (including what amounts to slightly more than my board and utilities costs), and I save 20% of whatever I bring in in a given week. No matter how big or small said check is.

I started a Roth IRA when I was 19 with $600. I’ve grown that in value to ~$1500 in three years. I haven’t contributed anything to it since.

I’m also up to my ears in student debt: $132,000. So I guess that makes me worse off than most all things considered…

So he is still in school, but has already chalked up $132,000 in student debt! What kind of a job would you need to be able to get to make that kind of expense ‘justifiable’? The reason I ask is there are other comments like this one:

Most people I know have college degrees and make $10-15/hr in lower-level white-collar jobs. They need a reliable vehicle to get to work, because for most of the US, this is a car culture. Most people I know are relatively maxed-out without frivolous spending; they might be able to manage 10% if they never ate out (including fast food), did not eat organic, and never went anywhere. Most people are not able to hack a lifestyle quite that austere, especially with stressful, low-paying, and unsatisfying jobs. (Should they quit? Sure. Can they? Not realistically.) So I don’t think we’re necessarily talking about the guy with the BMW whose girlfriend has the Louis Vuitton bag… we’re also talking about the guy who just wants to go see a first-run movie once every few months.

The comment author might need to reevaluate the definition of ‘reliable car’. A 3 year or 4 year old Ford Focus is a reliable car. A new or newer Toyota Camry is a splurge.