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Old 06-07-2006, 18:56   #16
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I work as the designer (&, if necessary, CAD draftsman) for a small marine related manufacturing company. It isn't well paid (about US$48k per year). All I own is a 40' ex racing yacht and a 1992 ford falcon, plus a few bits of furniture. But I have about US$100k invested for a crusing fund, plus about US$50k invested into superannuation, just in case I love beyond 55
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Old 06-07-2006, 21:41   #17
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Its not what you make its what you spend...

It's not what you make it's what you spend.

The trick is to avoid the 2 big money squandering expenses.

Like buying an expensive new car! Warren Buffet once pondered how many 30 year olds would buy/lease a BMW if they realized that such a poor allocation of their capital could lose them over US $750K by the time they're 65!*

The other thing people goof up on is buying too much house (I see this regularly as I'm an architect). Basically, if you can't pay off a 7% mortgage in under 15 years, you've probably bought too much house. The interest costs over a 25 or - gasp - 30 year mortgage are horrendous**.

Plenty of my colleagues drive Porsches - I drive a Toyota (I went 10 years without a car). My house is mortgage free - some of my colleagues don't even own property and none have paid off their mortgages.

Plenty of high earners spend every penny on lifestyle and save little - income isn't actually an accurate predictor of real net worth.

Cheers.

* Compare the purchase ($35K) & financing ($5500) costs of a new $35K car versus a modest $15K used car and run them out over 35 years. Investing the difference of $29K over 35 years will net $815K (assuming a 10% investment). Now if you keep buying new cars your whole life the scenario only gets grimmer!

** A $250K mortgage will require you to pay interest of $350K (30 yrs) instead of $155K (15 yrs) - I think the difference of $195K would buy a rather nice boat and you'll have the house to provide cruising income!!

Check out www.mortgage-calc.com and do your own maths!!
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Old 07-07-2006, 00:26   #18
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Yeah! I spent most my fortune on pretty women and fast boats.

The rest I just wasted......................................_/)
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Old 07-07-2006, 03:14   #19
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I bought my boat for US$5K, put another 5k in and probably 10k in "blood, sweat and tears."

even on those terms, the last part was the only thing that made it affordable.

one real drag to sailing (yachting!) is that it is perceived as a rich man/woman's hobby, and everything yachting is marked up 200% from what it should be. i know, i know, supply and demand and all that ... but it still sucks.

yes, a lot of things are specialized and so the manufacturers soak you for it, but a lot of other things aren't. try comparing common items with their "marine" equivalent (the difference often being nil) and you'll see what i'm talking about.
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Old 14-07-2006, 14:28   #20
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What do you do?

A more appropriate question may be 'What do you do without."
I've never owned a car, average cost of owning one on BC being $650 a month. I don't pay rent , average around $1,000 a month. I dont pay moorage , up to$6,000 a year in BC. I don't spend time in bars and restaurants. I don't smoke.I don't drink, smoke or do drugs.. I don't buy clothes new or anything else I can get used, or free. I don't chase women or try to impress them with shows of wealth I don't possess and don't want to possess( at least not enough to want to give up any cruisin time to possess.)Not owning a car or real estate means they don't chase me.
This makes my cost of living basically food, much of which comes from the land, a bit of diesel now and then, some paint and little else.
This frees up a lot of time to scrounge and build what I need in the way of a boat. I traded a set of plans for the plywood to build the interior of my boat. I scrounged gumwood from shipping crates and hockey stick handles for the trim. The interior cost me around $50. The plexi for the windows came from behind the goal posts of the hockey rink.( Canajan Eh)The paint is free at the recycling centres. You just sign for it. I lived with bare foam for the time it took to find a bit of plywood to cover it. I welded up all my fittings in advance a year before building my hull. I traded a set of plans for the spruce I used for my mast.
My current boat , a 31 footer cost me $6,000 CDN to get to sailing , and living aboard stage in 1984. I pulled together a couple of hulls to pay for the steel and a couple more to finish her to a usable stage. The rest I just kinda picked away at over the years as materials were scrounged , all the while keeping a sharp lookout for anything which was cheap or free and usable.I don't get sucked into the "Style over substance " values that we are constantly being bombarded with.
Now selling the odd set of plans or the odd copy of my book ,and welding up the odd fitting , keeps the bean and rice supply up.
The best way to deal with the money issue is to learn to get along with less of it. Your personal environmental impact is almost always porportionate to how much money you spend.
Brent
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Old 14-07-2006, 16:31   #21
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I am an self employed architect, but with the income I have now I could never afford the boat I have. I made some more $$ in the 80s and had some money saved back then and dumped it all into the boat I bought in 85. Since that time I have been through the upgrades, add ons maintenance which still requires a decent amount of cash. As a DIY and not paying boat yards, the labor side is certainly reasonable. But there are big hits.. new sails... radar that sort of thing and they get paid off over time.

The mortgage was paid off about 5 years ago and the biggest hit was a major engine rebuild which I am still paying for and will be through next year.

Having said that, Shiva is in excellent condition and has lots of creature comforts and up to date navigation and safty gear. I love to sail, but I also love messing about on / with the systems.

Since we don't do expensive vacations and spend on lots on entertainment, clothes, booze, furniture, the boat gets most of the disposable income these days. I intend to move aboard at some point and probably never return to land based living.

Winning the lotto will change our plans... bigger boat and a pied a terre in NYC... a dream we have...

Jef
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Old 14-07-2006, 16:44   #22
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well whit6ecaps it goes like this ditto on every thing above. we sold a house, paid off all our debt, bought a 37' boat, paid cash, i was working part time last yr. when i felt like it, went out sailing three or four times a week then on weekends, still have the boat wouldn't change that at all, but now i work full time to pay for this house and the stuff i/we need for the boat. oh yeh our car is 12 yrs. old, guess we did it right??????!!!!!!!. but like i said wouldn't change a thing the boat is the onlyplace i can be at peace with myself.

mike d.
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Old 14-07-2006, 16:47   #23
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For the last 8 years, I have worked in chandleries ... with the obvious benefit of being able to buy what I needed for our boat at a big (OK ... sometimes HUGE) savings. I am currently unemployed (when we can least afford it) ... but our plans remain intact. In fact, I have often considered writing magazine articles to help the income. The big problem is finding a "hook" ... something to make my article different, and worth buying. My first article will be titled "Cruising when you REALLY can't afford it".

Bob & Lynn
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Old 14-07-2006, 16:53   #24
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Mostly I work in banking . Unfortuanely I work on the honest side or I would have a bigger boat.
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Old 14-07-2006, 20:19   #25
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I kept seeing this beautiful fortyfive footer at the outside corner of a mooring field, week after week looking like it was dying or boredom. So one rainy night with a new moon, I swam out and cut the line. Raised the sail, hung a right, and kept on going out past the jetty. Cost about five hundred bucks for the compressor and air gun to repaint the name and the transom, and a bit more for the new anchor and rode, but it just goes to show there's plenty of boats out there for reasonable price.

The boat's much happier now. Like racehorses, they need regular exercise and the ASPCA is allowed to come take them away if you don't treat them right.
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Old 15-07-2006, 16:24   #26
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Charter captain.
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Old 16-07-2006, 12:09   #27
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Cool Be insured

Our first boat was a cheap old 45 footer that was stolen one rainy night by some turkey who just cut the line, raised the sails and turned right. Never did find that boat. I think someone must have just painted over the name. It wasn’t much of a boat but I had insured it as a new “Swan” and just lied to the insurance company. Bought a 53 footer with the settlement check.
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Old 16-07-2006, 22:16   #28
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Newspaper reporting and editing. Very mobile. Like being an English teacher. Worked in Canada, Australia and Thailand. Freelanced when I could get off my ass.

First mate manages businesses. You hire her and then go golfing. She makes sure you don't go broke.

She is much smarter than me, but I always tell her that the first rule of being a good journalist is to admit you know nothing and be prepared to learn. In her job it helps to know something before you start.
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Old 18-07-2006, 14:30   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Steele
Our first boat was a cheap old 45 footer that was stolen one rainy night by some turkey who just cut the line, raised the sails and turned right. Never did find that boat. I think someone must have just painted over the name. It wasn’t much of a boat but I had insured it as a new “Swan” and just lied to the insurance company. Bought a 53 footer with the settlement check.
Interesting.... Fraud as a boat aquisition strategy! I think I'll pass on that one. I got mine the old fashioned way, I worked and saved for it!

The more common theme here is the right approach, if you are not rich, you make choices. Old car, no house, very light on the dinners out, etc. Buy the smallest boat you can live with instead of the biggest one you can afford.

"Go small, go now."
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Old 18-07-2006, 14:46   #30
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Quote:
"Go small, go now."
Yup, it's mostly about showing up. Sometimes I think it might be just as nice to get a long subsciption to Crusing World and stay home. After a while the thought leaves me though. It does work for some folks.
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