I notice a lot of comments on here about people going without in the chase for properties but some things suprise me. Many on here are doing very well with many properties with lots of equity and disposable income but still spend little on them selves.This to me is just stupid. Do they know you only live once.I understand setting yourself up for early retirement but you have a lot of life to live before that.PLASMAS seem to be the biggest evil in some peoples eyes but its just a tv.In the last 50 years you would expect australia to have a better standard of living. Mobile phones included.
So my question is
WHAT LUXURY DO YOU BY YOURSELF.
I have been very bad in this area with many cars,boats,bikes and gagets. but i also have no regrets becouse i am living a fantastic life with many stories to tell and yet to be told.
So tell me
HOW DO YOU SPLASH OUT ON YOURSELF ?Have to admit that it feels good to go shopping look at what we want and not even consider the prices.
I don't cook or clean at home that's all taken care of (I hated it anyway!) and have kids in top private schools.I can't stand TV and don't have one of any sort in our house, money aside I don't think the trashy media deservs my time.
Cars don't mean anything to me if you gave me 2 cars an expensive one and a cheap one both in good condition, I would not be able to pick the difference. I memorise number plates of all my friends and families cars because they all look the same to me! I can't justify spending over $20K on a car when it looks just the same and does the same things as any other car!
I don't understand why people want to run out and buy a boat because they can??? These were people that were not into boating previously, is it one of those status symbols? How about buying a racehorse? I'm not into any of those things so wont spend any money on them!
I don't like holidays, my previous job involved alot of travelling, I'm over it! Unless it's somewhere like the Canadian Rocky mountains or natural scenery, which I have seen already, I'm not interested in seeing cities, they all look the same (like cars).
So there you go, no plasma TVs, no expensive cars, boats, holidays etc, but are we living the life we want? Absolutely!!!!
To me having a boat, a TV and the stress to pack up and go on holidays just to see "culture" would annoy me more than anything else and reduce my lifestyle.There needs to a balance.
In today's society, there seems to be an ever-growing trend (thanks to aggressive advertising) for people to buy on the never-never, no savings/investment, buying the latest gadget, but not much is being done towards securing their future and/or retirement other than superannuation, or rely on the pension, or hope to win powerball.
Many of us here have been there and done that – spending lots of income on crap and now are wiser and act accordingly.
A good rule to follow no matter what your income level is the rule in "The Richest Man in Babylon";
Save AT LEAST 10% of your GROSS income for no other purpose than for investing to make more money. You learn to live off the rest.
An old (wealthy) Greek man I know had this rule; 25% savings, 25% house, 25% bills, spend the rest.
Having said that; my luxuries I allow myself these days are travel, golf, good wine and good food. I still spend money occasionally on things like 'you-beaut' tv's etc, but I can wait until they become very cheap before I buy them, and I pay cash.
Like the world-wide "camp out" for the i-phone in the last few days; all these fools camping out overnight on the cold street, waiting for several hours to pay top dollar for the chance to have the "first" one. Big deal. Wait one year and buy it for half the price over the internet from your nice warm loungeroom.
You can have all the luxuries you want, the trick is how you acquire them; boats, cars, furniture, electronics can all be bought for almost half price if you can be patient and wait a year or so until someone else has become tired of those items and "needs" to upgrade.so far only responses about not splashing out.
now to actually answer the question at hand:
WHAT LUXURY DO YOU BY YOURSELF. &
HOW DO YOU SPLASH OUT ON YOURSELF ?
I buy myself a coffee every morning. It’s $4 a pop and it’s one of the best luxuries. no matter where I am in the world a coffee prepared by somebody else is a luxury to enjoy each day.
We take holidays every year – next year is already booked, skiing in the canadian rockies and Las Vegas on the way home. Already planning the next trip to europe and then japan!
holidays and great food and coffee are what i love splashing out on.
And great properties – there’s nothing like the feeling of buying that property that you’re going to turn into something special and put your own touch on.
and no, i don’t have a plasma. but we’re thinking about it next house. our tv is only 4 years old (plasma’s were way too expensive when we purchased it) and we can’t justify throwing out a perfectly good tv.
and i’m planning for the day i can walk in and buy my BMW coupe in spare change.
My husband and I were just discussing this tonight. Through my property and my husbands share portfolio we were able to be mortgage free by 23 & 26. Having no mortgage was a fantastic feeling. I worked and saved money from 13 years old and when I was 21 I had a full and part-time job and a mortgage. I took 6 months off work when I was 24. After that we saved my husbands income and lived off mine. At 25 I had kids and haven't worked since. We've bought a few rental properties which we'll hold. I'm happy with a ten year old ford fairmont. We're living in our dream home with a small mortgage. My husband will be able to retire on an ave income in ten years (age 47). My kids are 5 & 8. I think NOW is definitely the time for us. But the most important thing to me is time, not accesories. I'm happy with second-hand furniture etc. and cheap holidays, i'm used to it. I would love a cleaner and cook though and for my husband to be able to work part-time or retire. Linda
G'day Devo76,
I think blowing money sensly is very over rated, I livd by the rule that I should always spend less than I earn since I was about 17 I have just turned 25 and it's my plan to have Financally freedom by the time I am 30, So i don't waste any money on the doodads that some people treasure so much,
I am of the opinion that it doesn't matter if you a a BMW or a datsun once you have driven it for a month it's just your car, it's no longer anything special, and plasma will become just your tv, You will get used to any luxury item that you build into your life and it will just become just the norm to you, so all you are doing is creating a more "expensive" life style not a "better" life style.
I spent 5 years in the army and watched a 21 year old guys blow money like you wouldn't believe, one guy in particle came back from iraq with $70,000 in the bank and blew it in 3months on car sound systems, home entertainment systems, nights out on the town, you name it, He could have set him self up with that kind of cash, But like you he had the attitude of I only live once.
yes you only live once, so why would you want to spend your life stuck working full time till your 55 paying for all your doodads, I don't plan to retire at 30, but hopefully by thirty I will be in a position where a work on my terms,
So I guess " freedom over my time is the best luxury I could treat myself to"
Good question Devo76 but I think the responses just show that what motivates people varies greatly. Sometimes it makes it hard for us to understand each other but it’s just the way it is. Recently a friend of mine tried to tell her dad that he should sell some of his properties and spend up a bit (ie world trips etc). Thought she was doing the right in suggesting this but got an unexpected hostile response. Problem was she didn’t understand what motivated her dad. I’m not sure but i suspect his motivation was to create an assest base which his children and grand children could use to make life easier for them. At the end of the day different people find pleasure in different things.
Hallg
hallg, that's very interesting that you mentioned the topic of your friends dad and telling him to spend up a bit and enjoy it because my husband and i were having this exact conversation last night.
his parents are of the view to spend up and die with nothing in the bank and nothing to leave behind. mine have an asset base that returns enough money to live well. they would never sell the asset base as the returns give them a lifestyle they desire and they do not want for more. if they did, then i guess they could sell it off and spend spend spend.
but they want to leave behind for their children to live a comfortable life as they have managed to build up.
what is more interesting to think about – those that flitter it all away are the ones that the government gives the pension to. the ones with the money who've worked hard and put money away to retire on get nothing from our government. doesn't really make sense. in the US it's a very different model where those who have saved and worked hard for the country they live in are rewarded by government.
I agree with posts above. When I was about 23 my sister said to me, "Why don't you spoil yourself. Sell your unit, buy yourself some diamond and gold jewelery like me." Since then she has gotten tired of the jewelery. She's hocked in all her jewelery for 10% of its value. ie got $50 ea for her $500 items. Now she's married, living in a tiny house with cement floors (no floor coverings) with a young baby, paying off about 3 cars on a single wage, 2 cars are off the road. I would hate to be where my sister is now and that is why I worked hard, saved, and invest. I think you are heading in right direction devo76 by investing in assets young. Go for it – enjoy your life, as long as you save as well as spend. Once you have a few assets they will compound and work for you.
Hi Devo76
Buying houses is MY way of splashing out. Who needs diamonds or a Mercedes, when you can purchase a beautiful property! The buzz is amazing! The only other big luxury I'll be buying soon is my freedom from the 9-5 grind. Once this happens I'll be enjoying every day – being there for my family, feeling fit and….buying MORE property! YAY!
Tysonboss1 wrote:G'day Devo76,I think blowing money sensly is very over rated, I livd by the rule that I should always spend less than I earn since I was about 17 I have just turned 25 and it's my plan to have Financally freedom by the time I am 30, So i don't waste any money on the doodads that some people treasure so much,
I am of the opinion that it doesn't matter if you a a BMW or a datsun once you have driven it for a month it's just your car, it's no longer anything special, and plasma will become just your tv, You will get used to any luxury item that you build into your life and it will just become just the norm to you, so all you are doing is creating a more "expensive" life style not a "better" life style.
I spent 5 years in the army and watched a 21 year old guys blow money like you wouldn't believe, one guy in particle came back from iraq with $70,000 in the bank and blew it in 3months on car sound systems, home entertainment systems, nights out on the town, you name it, He could have set him self up with that kind of cash, But like you he had the attitude of I only live once.
yes you only live once, so why would you want to spend your life stuck working full time till your 55 paying for all your doodads, I don't plan to retire at 30, but hopefully by thirty I will be in a position where a work on my terms,
So I guess " freedom over my time is the best luxury I could treat myself to"
Hang on hang on you seem to think i am only living for the moment. Not true. While i have blown a lot of money while i was younger i have since changed my ways and im planning for the future. Thats not to say that im not going to enjoy my self in the mean time. Why live with a crappy old car, no tv, no holidays and eat cat food when you can live a better lifestyle and still set yourself up financially.
One example is a guy who worked near me. Absolute tight ass. Always read my paper never buying his own. Bought rotten vegies at the shop for lunch becouse they were a dollar cheaper. So when he retired he was a millionair and bought his dream penthouse on the gold coast at 65. Did he start living it up a bit. HELL NO. He filled it with crap old furniture. Still bought crappy out of date food.And had no friends becouse to him friends meant spending money,oh and his marriage failed due to his lifestyle too.He lived overly cheap his whole life and come retirement he was too set in his ways to change and enjoy life.
That is a extreme example but im sure you get my point. I think a happy life is a balance of the two.
1# save for the future and a happy possibly early retirement
2# Enjoy your life leading up to that as its a big chunk of your life consisting of the bulk of your healthy active years. Cheers.Offcoase you should not live like your in poverty,
The point I was trying to make was not to be a scrooge, but just be wise with you money and not blow it, I certainly do not deprive myself of the basic's, but when it comes to big ticket luxury items I certainly don't go over board,
I drive a nice tidy 1997 VT commodore converted LPG, I don't need or want the lastest V8 HSV with fully sick sub woofers,
I am sorry but getting into debt for doodads really does not interest me in the slightest, As I said I have mates that have all the flash doodads and it is really over rated, their life is not any better than mine. I don't feel I am missing out on anything at all.
as a matter of fact when I had just turned 19 in 2001 and I was in the process of buying my first investment property and I was explaining to my mates that it was actually going to be negative geared and cost about $100 out of my pay each fortnight to own it they tryed to talk me out of it saying things like "live large while you can mate, we are only 19 worry about that stuff when older and have kids and shit"
now beening 6 years on I am glad that I didn't listen to them, these same mates look at me and say they wished that they had done things differently, some of them are only now trying to save for house deposits and because they have kids now and house prices have gone up alot they are finding it difficult, mean while I have a healthy investment property portfoilo worth close to a million $$$.
When you are young with no kids is the best time to get started, looking back the situation myself and mates were in 2001 was probally the best time in our lives to have started, we were freash out of school most of us earning well over $50,000 a year in the army, no kids or wife, living at the barracks pay $100 a fortnight rent and electricity,
Devo76,
I left school after year 10 to become a builder. I started off like you, spending all my wages on luxuries, bought motorbikes, entertainment systems, etc. I'm now 29, I have a mortgage, new work Ute, near new car, 4 month old baby, fishing boat and wedding debt. Now to be fair I have made money in the past from building houses, but what I have now are necessities, (maybe not the fishing boat). When I found out my wife was pregnant I sold my 2 year old honda cbr 600 roadbike, because priorities changed. My point is depending on your weekly wage and how early you want to retire you have to find a balance between saving & spending. Take it from me 17 years old to 29 isn't that far apart and if you blink you'll miss it. With hindsight I wish I started to be serious about a property portfolio when I was 21!Hi Devo76,
A thought provoking question! I am admittedly very frugal, stingy according to my friends. I often take my kids to op shops when they ask for a toy, I get them whatever clothes they need and we have a great time shopping, rarely spending over $10. I think of it as recycling! Until recently I drove a very daggy 1983 magna in a luscious metalic brown. It got me from A to B and the a/c worked, so I was happy enough. though After spending $700 on repairs, I discovered a fresh pool of oil in the driveway. I decided enough was enough and bought a 'new' secondhand car (Ford AU Fairmont Ghia) for $6000. I am so happy with the upgrade because it is such a huge improvment on what I had before, a new BMW could not have made me any happier, in fact I would never feel comfortable spending so much on a car. I had to laugh though when later I discovered that the oil was actually from my husband's ute!
Louise.
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