Well, I can’t provide you with any hard statistics on any of this, just my gut instincts. I’d say that less than 10-15% of 25-35 year olds in so cal have any kind of real savings, let alone something approaching $70k. Most are living on borrowed time.
Most of these people (of all ages) driving these expensive cars are leveraged to the hilt. I know a young woman who is a waitress and her husband works as a salesman at a BMW dealership. They typify most young people I know. She wants a new BMW to replace her 5 year old car. Her annual income is MAYBE $30k. She has no business driving a car that costs more than her annual salary (note that HE is already driving a used Mercedes that they probably can’t afford).
My niece (early 20’s) is a shop-aholic. She impulsively buys expensive designer clothes that she can’t afford, has a car that doesn’t run (and she doesn’t have any money to fix) and is about $30k in the hole and she just keeps digging. She even lives at home so has very few expenses against her $40k-ish salary. I’ve been trying to talk some sense into her but she just doesn’t want to hear it. She’s going to wakeup up in 5-10 years with a bunch of ‘stuff’, nothing in the bank and a $60k ball and chain around her ankles that is going to take her years to pay off.
