CARY, N.C. -

The budget advice McDonald’s is handing out to its employees probably would only dedicate enough money to purchase the lowest-end vehicle at a typical buy-here, pay-here dealership.

BHPH stores often cater to customers whose primary source of income might be as a worker at fast-food restaurant such as McDonald’s. But the chain recommended the employees budget only $150 monthly for a vehicle payment. That figure stems from what McDonald’s in association with Visa and Wealth Watchers International pushed to its employees.

This “Practical Money Skills Budget Journal” listed just $150 monthly for a car payment based on rundown of monthly expenses that included savings, utilities and a rent or mortgage payment all totaling $1,310.

The fast-food chain also based its budget recommendations on a household with income generators who are earning $2,060 in net income monthly.

How far is the disparity? The industry benchmarks for 2012 produced by NCM Associates and the National Alliance of Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealers showed that average weekly payment at BHPH stores was $87 weekly for 139 weeks. Those figures equate to $348 a month for nearly 35 months.

The McDonald’s budget recommendation also noted a saving rate of $100 per month. At that pace, it would take more than a year to reach the average down payment amount indicated in the 2012 BHPH benchmarks. NCM and NABD listed the average down payment last year to be $1,494, which did include trade-ins.

During an extended interview with Bloomberg, McDonald’s chief executive officer Don Thompson responded to recent criticism about these budget recommendations emphasized how this material first appeared online nearly five years ago.

“I will be kind. I will say I find a lot of the comments interesting,” Thompson told Bloomberg. “This web site has been out there about five years. It was intended to do something very simple, to help someone who might be entering the work force for the first time for someone who has not had management training to be able to manage finances.

“You can go online now and there are thousands of these kinds of websites out there,” he continued. “Five years ago to provide something like that internally, I thought it was a very innovative idea.

“When I was (younger) I did not know about financial planning or management,” Thompson went on to say. “It really took my wife to help me out. I would have loved to have something to help guide me through.”

The video segment where Thompson discusses household budgets of McDonald’s workers and more can be viewed below.

 

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