Answer: $14,620

Question:

• Do you think you will need a loan for the first car that you buy?
• What do you think is a reasonable amount of auto debt to have?
• A car salesperson says they can get you into your first car for $300 a month. What should be your next question?

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom. 

Behind the numbers (Lending Tree): 

Gen Xers are the most likely to have auto debt, and they also carry the largest loans. At $19,233, the median auto loan balance of Gen Xers is 14% more than the next largest median balance. The silent generation has the lowest amount of auto debt, even with 33% of its cohort having an auto loan balance. Their median loan balance is $13,203.

-----------------------

Your students will flip the script to learn about the tricks of the loan trade with the Shady Sam Arcade game. 

-----------------------

Lots more questions where this one came from... browse the Question of the Day library. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.