By Catherine Powell
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| Image courtesy Pixabay |
There are many hallmarks of adulthood that define the rest of our lives. I clearly remember my first day of work as clearly as my first apartment that came soon after. But the single biggest event that caused me the most thought, effort, and anxiety was purchasing my first car, which in my case was a Dodge Dart. While the vehicle itself was nothing fancy, I fancied myself all grown up when I no longer had to borrow the family sedan every time I wanted to go somewhere. I also got a quick lesson in economics once I realized that buying a car and owning a car were two different things. Before you go through the trial by fire that I did after I drove off the used car lot with my rolling debt bomb, let me give you a bit of well-earned advice.
