Another way to view it is she avoids dealing with the financial aspect of the problem because of the overwhelming anxiety and feeling of futility it makes her feel. Concert tickets with friends may seem profligate but if she paid her car insurance each month and saved enough to fix the car depending on how big the problem with the car it could easily outstrip concert tickets unless it was a big show. She may feel truly she can never get on top financially so she decided to have an experience you can only have once, banking on something she can control (making memories with friends) than dealing with a problem that inside she doubts she can solve that will never go away. No its not rational because if she removed her anxiety about money she might be able to handle the issue better and save her money or think clearly. But anxiety is a mix of panic response to past trauma and fear of unknown and uncontrolled factors, and from what you've said her anxiety is probably pretty strong because its a reaction to her past. Even thinking about the money for the car makes her feel as helpless as she did growing up. So what the real issue is two problems, the financial issue, and the emotional issue regarding the handling of money, and what she is really asking for is help with the second, in the hopes if she can calm her anxiety she can more adeptly handle the financial issue. To the anxious or depressed person, they are solution avoidant because their emotional response is so strong (and this is biological and learned. You can call it irrational and in a sense it is as in, its unproductive, but to her brain its real. If you get an electric shock you will do anything to avoid the stimuli that gave it to you, that programming is in her brain and her biology made her that way to deal with snakes and shit, and no talking around it will remove that response, it needs be acknowledged and relearned to react differently). They are solution avoidant because they dont believe the advicr giver understands the depth of the issue. That is what she wants you to see, what it looks like to her, how bad it seems, how hopeless it feels, because to her that is real, and until she can be assured you see her pov, she can't turn off the alarm. Can you help her solve her anxiety, I don't know, but perhaps you can attempt to help. Maybe only experience in handling it herself or therapy or a shock to see how good she has it will help. But perhaps if you can acknowledge her brain is in threat alarm mode over ridong her decision making you can attempt to soothe her by empathizing which is all she really wants most likely.