Was just told the other day I should get a better car. I 'deserve' it, as my Ford Focus... "that's a car for college kids... you deserve better". (I'm mid 40s, fwiw). My wife and I have lived mostly at or below our means for a while now. Years ago I got in to some bad debt and it took years to work out of. Kept working out of it, and now have... a lot (relatively speaking).

I'm burned out, and I need some time 'off'. My wife injured herself about 18 months ago and can't work anymore (well, nowhere near what she could, so she's effectively 'retired' at this point). I feel like I can't really be 'off', but realistically speaking, we have... probably 2-3 years of 'runway' of regular monthly expenses available, plus moderately adequate savings. This shouldn't be a problem. Forcing myself to do it is the problem.

But yeah, I have got the joking/mocking (good natured, usually), but the savings are real. I actually feel guilty at this point that I could just take off some months and coast (even though I don't) because I know there's people that can't. And I used to be one of them. It's hard to adjust to 'enough' when you spent a long time without enough.

I mean, also, getting a new car is all fun and games for a month, and then you only notices the flaws, and then it’s just your car, and then you’ll need to buy a car of the same expensive class the next time (I saw my in-laws buy a new luxury 7-seater SUV to replace their 7-seater SUV even though their kids have been gone for 10 years and they have zero grand kids, I know the feeling), which ups your spending. It’s much more liberating to know you can get the hell out if you want to because you saved enough money, and it also reduces your stress levels.

My previous team apparently consisted mostly of people who didn't have that option - at least that's what I gathered from conversations and the reactions to my resignation, one of them specifically saying that "quitting like this is a luxury that only people with sizeable savings can afford".

I've found that it's hard to grow professionally if your focus is on getting through the month on your engineer salary.

Applies to any level of income, but is especially hard when you need a good job to sustain yourself.

My parents have never bought a new car, and I've followed in their footsteps. Unless there's financial benefits (tax writeoffs etc.) there's absolutely no reason to buy a new car. The minute you drive out of the dealership, your car loses a quarter of its value.

My current car is old enough to vote. But maintenance is cheap and its comfortable to drive. Why would I buy a newer and more expensive car?

I got rid of a 14 year old car and replaced with a 2 year old car. I think there's some potential benefits to newer cars - better safety standards, better gas mileage, generally newer little luxuries (rear camera, bluetooth, better lights, etc).

By 10+ years old on that car, I was starting to have to do non-zero-cost maintenance (above oil change, etc), so having a newer car will remove those costs (and annoyances) at the cost of a bit more up front now. Small, calculated tradeoffs, I guess.

But in the discussion with the guy I referenced above, he's... a car salesman. Part time. But he's sold enough that he can 'borrow' any car he wants, and constantly rotates through phenomenally nice/upscale cars. He has a hard time imagining have to go back to driving 'dumpy, low-end' cars like my Focus. I have a hard time imagining going back to 'check to check' living and always being behind on bills. He's not necessarily in that situation, but I know him well enough to know he doesn't have 3 years of expenses saved up.