Emily (Caller)

I'm maxing out my savings.

My simple IRA and all of my HSA, all of that stuff.

My question for you today is, since I have been doing all of that, I have been saving up because I have a 2012 Ford Taurus.

with about 145,000 miles on it.

It's getting to be to the point where I'm starting to look at a new-to-me car, and I've been looking a lot over the last few months at both used cars and new cars, and many are similar in price.

In fact, some of the used cars are more expensive than some of the smaller, new base model cars that I've been looking at.

One in particular, I have found a dealer that will give me a

new 2022 Ford Forester Subaru for around $27,000.

And I have about $26,000 in cash that I could pay for that, plus a $4,000 trade-in for my car, which I've also gotten priced out.

So my question is, I want to follow the baby steps.

Should I buy a cheaper used car and save the rest of the money, or should I buy a new car that will last me for a while?

Okay.

So there is another car.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Oh, it kind of went along with what you said.

There was a dealer that has a two-year-old Forester for right around just under the same price as the new one.

But it's a used car.

It has about 20,000 miles on it.

But it's basically new.