[Blarg]

You're much better off as a young guy having the independence of mind to not buy the most expensive car you can possibly afford. Most people even with very good incomes all their lives don't retire well at all, because people at every financial level generally blow their money about as fast as they take it in, if not faster.

For young guys, who generally are completely caught up in conforming to what everyone else is doing, competitive about all the wrong things, and who generally can't really picture the future long-term enough to live accordingly, the temptation to blow their cash on flash and gash is often near overwhelming. Think of what just a few years of interest on that money can do for you if you had invested it instead of blowing it. You're much better off being too conservative financially than the opposite.

The only thing is, it can be hard on the ego when everyone else is throwing their cash around, especially since that is often taken as a sort of virtue or proof of mensch-hood. And there's nearly always someone to keep up with who is making way more money than you are, to help drag you down if you follow his cue. He'll often encourage you to do it, too, as part of his own little ego game.

Better to spend your money when there's a lot more of it than blow it as soon as you start getting into it.