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[quote=Anonymous]To the OP...

1.  You need to establish a budget.  How much do you net after payroll taxes?  What are your costs to survive?  Food/Clothing/Shelter/Transportation are necessities...  and go from there.  You will only get ahead if you leave yourself a surplus each month (i.e. saving money versus going further into debt).
2.  You need an emergency fund.  This is basically a self-insurance policy against the smaller things in life (that say health, car, home insurance won't cover).  Major car repair?  Your A/C in your house go out (assuming you own)?  Medical procedure needed?  Recommendation of 3-6 months of expenses, depending on situation (risk of losing job, married or not, kids, etc).
3.  Develop a savings/investing plan.  Research job-sponsored plans with a match.  Leverage Roth IRAs beyond that.

I could go on and on but as others have said...  Pay cash for cars.  Buy used vehicles.  Drive them for many years (8+, 100k miles+).  Leasing vehicles doesn't make you wealthier.  People lease because it's the easiest way to keep up with the Jones'.  If that's what your goal is, then by all means...  but if you truly want to be wealthy, it takes dedication.

After all, we can only judge the people around us by the clothes they were, the cars they drive, the homes they have, the vacations they take.  We have no idea on whether they're leasing that car, whether they're on a subprime mortgage and upside down, how much of that vacation is still on the ole credit card that they're still paying.  We have no concept of what each other's "net worth" is...

So think of ways to increase your net worth...  and those include paying down debts and accumulating wealth (savings/investing).  If you're making a decision that's detrimental to that, then you aren't helping yourself move in a forward direction financially.

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