give unsolicited advice?

[fashionx]

When I talked to my mom on Mother's Day, she was giving me all the updates about her, the family, etc. My brother graduated college in December and is living at home for the time being, and just got his first job, an administrative assistant type position at a university. My brother had been looking for a car last I talked to him, and I guess he had gone ahead and bought a car.

My dad had given him $1,000 for a down payment as a graduation present, and indicated that if my brother was buying a used car that he might be willing to give or loan more. We had all thought he might get a $5,000 or so used car.

Well according to my mom, my brother got a 2009 Ford Fusion and is paying $300 a month (roughly), but on a 7 year loan. I was pretty shocked about this (and didn't know that car loans went up to 7 years even!), and since I've gone through my own regretful experience of paying what I think is too much of a car payment over a long period of time, I feel I should warn him or try to get him to refinance this deal ASAP. Of course I will get the real details first, but then again, he didn't ask my opinion or advice. We are reasonably close, we talk maybe once a month or so. Should I say something or let him figure this out on his own?

[definitelyO]

you can share your experience - but I wouldn't tell him what to do.

[dr.girlfriend]

I would stick with getting him a book about budgeting, etc., along the lines of "I made some mistakes when I was first starting out, and I wish I had known some of these things...if you ever need advice, let me know." The car thing is done, and although it's not what you would choose it's not a horrible decision like leasing a Ferrari or whatever.

[noodleoo]

I;m not sure it is worth saying anything. You can try, but he probably won't take your advice and might get annoyed and resentful that you are trying to tell him what to do. I'm sure he wanted a fancy/newish car and that was the only way he could afford it.

I might recommend getting him Suze Orman's The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke. Again, he might get annoyed, but there is a TON of great information in there and it is basically geared towards new college grads. If he actually reads it, he might take the advice. It is less confrontational than telling him he's making a huge mistake (which he is!).

[UMaineTeach]

he has to figure it out on his own.
but I can't imagine an 09 FF being so pricy that you need a 300/mo payment for 7 years.

my car is an '07 Ford Taurus (so almost a Fusion, just a little downscale) that I got used in '08 with a $225/mo payment for 5 years, with $0 down and before interest rates plummeted.

how much was this car?

[fashionx]

Thanks all for the advice. Not a bad idea to send him the Suze Orman book, maybe just as a delayed graduation/new job gift (he just got the job last month). I won't get crazy with the unsolicited advice, but I feel like I would want to know if I were in his shoes, even if I decided on my own not to change. It's in his court, after all.

@ Sue Sue and UMaineTeach, I don't know the purchase price, but I agree that it's insane at ~25K. I'm guessing he paid sticker price for the car and didn't know how to negotiate or something. He clearly didn't consult my mom about it since it was somewhat news to her when he got it.

I paid less for a 1 year old used car (Nissan Altima); though I (in hindsight) was stupid and didn't have much of a down payment ($1500) and signed on to a 5 year loan, which will get paid off a year early this year. But if I could do it over again or had gotten any advice, I wouldn't have done that to myself. I'm still kick myself over how much interest I've paid, even though I fully intend on keeping my car until it dies.

Anyway, I'll talk to him, and try not to be too hard on him. We all make mistakes, hopefully it's something he can fix and learn from.