A junior colleague of mine who is 24 owns her own condo (or the bank owns it and she pays a mortgage). She recently bought a used 4runner with about 20k miles for $31k.

5 year loan. She has no student debt and makes about $48k a year. She has two expensive hobbies but has, by her own description, never been fiscally responsible. But she makes enough money to live paycheck by paycheck and still cover her bills and hobbies.

Her financial adviser said: "Buying this vehicle will be a good way to teach you to budget."

Thoughts?