I'm working on a project about buying a new car. It says: A common bit of financial wisdom is that a car payment should be no more than 20% of your monthly take-home pay. Set up and solve an equation to determine how much you would need to be making in take-home pay each year to afford this car and still follow that bit of financial advice.
If my car payment is $288.02 monthly, does this work?
288.02 = 20% of monthly take home pay
20% = x
m = monthly payments
m/x = monthly take home pay * 12
288.02/.20 = 1440.10 * 12 = $17.281.20
Your yearly take home pay would have to be at least $17,281.20
Thank you
correct
To determine the annual take-home pay needed to afford a car payment of $288.02 while following the advice that the car payment should be no more than 20% of your monthly take-home pay, you correctly set up the following equation:
288.02 = 20% of monthly take-home pay
20% = x
m = monthly payments
Next, you converted the monthly take-home pay to annual take-home pay by multiplying it by 12:
m/x = monthly take home pay * 12
288.02 / 0.20 = 1440.10 * 12 = $17,281.20
Therefore, your yearly take-home pay would need to be at least $17,281.20 to afford the car payment and adhere to the financial advice. Good job!