Living for today vs. planning for the future (1 Viewer)

[NutterButter]

While fully autonomous would be nice, as long as it can handle the bulk of the highway driving, I'd be content. I'll get it to the highway and it can take it from there for a cross country trip. Don't think we're too far from that if we're not there already. I'll set the speed. Just keep me in the lane and manage the speed. Allow me to take my hands off the wheel and my eyes off the road so I can occupy my time in other ways.

 

[Gally]

While the consensus seems to be experience over possessions, its not always so straightforward. Experiences are expensive. Just a basic weeklong trip somewhere in the states probably involves a flight, car rental, room rental as well as the cost of any excursions. That alone sets you back a few grand. Now say you have a crappy rug in the downstairs of your house and you want to switch over to hardwood. That could set you back $10k. Now do you do that and get rid of the crappy rug and have a nice hardwood floor for many years or do you go on a few trips instead that year.
Same could be said for a lot of home improvements. And that's not even taking into account the potential increase in home value depending on how long until you're gonna sell and whether that contemporary home improvement is still considered an upgrade at time of sale. Maybe that's an easy decision for some to go the vaca route, but I could see why a lot of people would choose the hardwood. Personally, I'm a vaca guy, but just saying.

Home renovations only if they add value to the house.

But today's value might not be tomorrow's value. Tastes change. That bathroom remodel that might return $.70 on the dollar today ain't returning much 20 years from now.

There is more than one way to define "creating value". Living in a home that has the amenities you like for 20 years has value even if you don't get a monetary improvement for it in the long run.

 

[Terminalxylem]

It’s been about two months since I’ve been out of work, and it’s given me an entirely new perspective on some things. I think the one thing it’s taught me is to stop taking things so seriously. Stop worrying so much. Everything is going to be okay. Both schools are currently running just fine without me. Making sure I never missed a day wasn’t necessary. Life is going to go on without us when we’re gone. Nobody will skip a beat, and we spend time worrying about foolish things.

Congrats on shifting gears. I especially appreciate the above paragraph. It’s too easy to get wrapped up in inconsequential things, and overestimate how indispensable we are at work. Ultimately, all the really important stuff isn’t in the workplace, and we need to shift our focus to maximizing personal health and interactions with loved ones.

 

[NutterButter]

While the consensus seems to be experience over possessions, its not always so straightforward. Experiences are expensive. Just a basic weeklong trip somewhere in the states probably involves a flight, car rental, room rental as well as the cost of any excursions. That alone sets you back a few grand. Now say you have a crappy rug in the downstairs of your house and you want to switch over to hardwood. That could set you back $10k. Now do you do that and get rid of the crappy rug and have a nice hardwood floor for many years or do you go on a few trips instead that year.
Same could be said for a lot of home improvements. And that's not even taking into account the potential increase in home value depending on how long until you're gonna sell and whether that contemporary home improvement is still considered an upgrade at time of sale. Maybe that's an easy decision for some to go the vaca route, but I could see why a lot of people would choose the hardwood. Personally, I'm a vaca guy, but just saying.

Home renovations only if they add value to the house.

But today's value might not be tomorrow's value. Tastes change. That bathroom remodel that might return $.70 on the dollar today ain't returning much 20 years from now.

There is more than one way to define "creating value". Living in a home that has the amenities you like for 20 years has value even if you don't get a monetary improvement for it in the long run.

That was the point I was originally making when comparing home upgrades to vacas.

 

[ghostguy123]

While the consensus seems to be experience over possessions, its not always so straightforward. Experiences are expensive. Just a basic weeklong trip somewhere in the states probably involves a flight, car rental, room rental as well as the cost of any excursions. That alone sets you back a few grand. Now say you have a crappy rug in the downstairs of your house and you want to switch over to hardwood. That could set you back $10k. Now do you do that and get rid of the crappy rug and have a nice hardwood floor for many years or do you go on a few trips instead that year.
Same could be said for a lot of home improvements. And that's not even taking into account the potential increase in home value depending on how long until you're gonna sell and whether that contemporary home improvement is still considered an upgrade at time of sale. Maybe that's an easy decision for some to go the vaca route, but I could see why a lot of people would choose the hardwood. Personally, I'm a vaca guy, but just saying.

Home renovations only if they add value to the house.

But today's value might not be tomorrow's value. Tastes change. That bathroom remodel that might return $.70 on the dollar today ain't returning much 20 years from now.

It will compared to how much less you would sell for with a 50 year old bathroom

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I would never spend that much on a bike, but I don't care much for biking. If I was into mountain biking, this wouldn't bother me.

Basically, I am cheap and my wife is even cheaper. But we both agree that it's fine to drop some coin on stuff we really like. I drive an inexpensive car and wear LL Bean-quality clothes because I don't care about stuff like that, but I dropped almost $2K on a gaming PC because I really enjoy video games, and that was a good decision for me. As I've gotten older, I quit worrying about stuff like this. I'm happy with my Subaru, and I'm even more happy to take those dollars and invest them elsewhere.

 

[matttyl]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Creating whole life memories is one of the best things about being a parent. Or a human. Heck, Im turning 60 this summer and this week (honeymoon) has been about making the week a great memory for my bride.

Congrats, guy!

 

[matttyl]

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

Also, before COVID hit and used car prices went bonkers my bike on my car was worth more than the car. I take that as a point of pride.

A few of the folks in our biking group are in that boat. I’ll be in it if/when my wife and I both have our bikes on the rack.

One friend has her ~$5k Salsa on her $2k hatchback, and another has her $7k Pivot on her $4k Scion.

 

[ghostguy123]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

I don't agree spending that much on golf either.
It isn't so much spending 7 grand on a bike, it's that I don't think it's necessary to spend nearly that much to get a very high quality bike.

 

[ghostguy123]

Also, if I plan to splurge on something, I try to work a little extra to pay for it.
I bought a mini bike for $1,000. Stupid purchase, but I worked some overtime then bought it after I earned enough extra.

 

[jwb]

While the consensus seems to be experience over possessions, its not always so straightforward. Experiences are expensive. Just a basic weeklong trip somewhere in the states probably involves a flight, car rental, room rental as well as the cost of any excursions. That alone sets you back a few grand. Now say you have a crappy rug in the downstairs of your house and you want to switch over to hardwood. That could set you back $10k. Now do you do that and get rid of the crappy rug and have a nice hardwood floor for many years or do you go on a few trips instead that year.
Same could be said for a lot of home improvements. And that's not even taking into account the potential increase in home value depending on how long until you're gonna sell and whether that contemporary home improvement is still considered an upgrade at time of sale. Maybe that's an easy decision for some to go the vaca route, but I could see why a lot of people would choose the hardwood. Personally, I'm a vaca guy, but just saying.

Home renovations only if they add value to the house.

I dunno - I'll take my hot tub and the big nothingburger it adds to my home's value over the two nice vacations we could have taken for the cost.

 

[ghostguy123]

While the consensus seems to be experience over possessions, its not always so straightforward. Experiences are expensive. Just a basic weeklong trip somewhere in the states probably involves a flight, car rental, room rental as well as the cost of any excursions. That alone sets you back a few grand. Now say you have a crappy rug in the downstairs of your house and you want to switch over to hardwood. That could set you back $10k. Now do you do that and get rid of the crappy rug and have a nice hardwood floor for many years or do you go on a few trips instead that year.
Same could be said for a lot of home improvements. And that's not even taking into account the potential increase in home value depending on how long until you're gonna sell and whether that contemporary home improvement is still considered an upgrade at time of sale. Maybe that's an easy decision for some to go the vaca route, but I could see why a lot of people would choose the hardwood. Personally, I'm a vaca guy, but just saying.

Home renovations only if they add value to the house.

I dunno - I'll take my hot tub and the big nothingburger it adds to my home's value over the two nice vacations we could have taken for the cost.

That's fine, just don't get the hot tub AND take the vacations.

 

[matttyl]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

I don't agree spending that much on golf either.
It isn't so much spending 7 grand on a bike, it's that I don't think it's necessary to spend nearly that much to get a very high quality bike.

You find me a full suspension carbon frame 29’er with some decent components on it for less.

 

[ghostguy123]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

I don't agree spending that much on golf either.
It isn't so much spending 7 grand on a bike, it's that I don't think it's necessary to spend nearly that much to get a very high quality bike.

You find me a full suspension carbon frame 29’er with some decent components on it for less.

That's the only high quality bike out there?

 

[matttyl]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

I don't agree spending that much on golf either.
It isn't so much spending 7 grand on a bike, it's that I don't think it's necessary to spend nearly that much to get a very high quality bike.

You find me a full suspension carbon frame 29’er with some decent components on it for less.

That's the only high quality bike out there?

For the type of trails I ride, yeah.

 

[Terminalxylem]

Figure out all the things you like to do that aren't expensive, and do more of those.
Vacations and cars seem to be the biggest expenses I see people make that I would be against. You don't need a 60 thousand dollar car. You don't need the BEST of everything.
Vacations can get super pricey. People always want to go overseas and whatnot. Maybe a couple times sure, go for it. However, there's probably 100 different cool and fairly inexpensive vacation destination here in the US that people never do, yet they go overseas.
Spending money doesn't always equal more fun.
So, go live for today AND tomorrow, and chances are you will be just as happy today and definitely more happy tomorrow

I'm a huge fan of traveling overseas, even if I haven't personally done so very much. I really enjoyed the time I spent in Korea and China, for example. I'd love to visit Japan, parts of Africa, and much of Latin America.

On the other hand, my wife and in-laws absolutely adore travelling to Europe, where you can do pretty much the exact same stuff that you can do in New York, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, or any other major American city, while surrounded by American tourists in a place where everything is in English. Staying in hotels that are indistinguishable from every Marriott you've ever stayed in. I'm not opposed to visiting London or Madrid or Paris or whatever, just like I'm not opposed to visiting Boston. But if I'm given the choice between an easy, inexpensive trip to Boston vs. a more logistically complicated and expensive trip to Milan, I'll take Boston all day every day. I just don't get the appeal of Europe.

Funny, I‘d have pegged you as a European vacation kinda guy. Not like Chevy Chase, but into all the historical and sophisticated stuff Europe has to offer.

I‘m not interested in haute couture, and like traveling to more natural places. New Zealand, Costa Rica and Argentina have been three of my favorite destinations. Europe is nice too, but is a half a globe away, although east coast cities aren’t exactly convenient either. Gonna go to Japan next month, which is much more accessible for us. Really want to visit Africa, but picking a place without an oppressive government and florid human rights violations is problematic.

 

[Terminalxylem]

My kid just got a nice job building airplanes at Airbus. So please take my appreciation for you guys taking all these trips.

That said after saving 65% of my after tax income over the last number of years I'm loosening the reins there. Did two very nice trips this year and plan on expanding that going forward. Even with the trips I'm still at 50% saved this year. Need to loosen up more.

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

I‘m very appreciative somebody, anybody other than Boeing, is making planes. I‘d love never to contribute another penny to that company’s success, so bravo for your son.

As far as cycling, have you ever considered Europe? I hear there’s some pretty nice mountains there.

 

[Terminalxylem]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

It’s a personal decision, but fwiw, bike expenditures over the last 20 years have been well over half what we’ve spent on motor vehicles in that period. To be fair, a bike was my primary mode of transportation many of those years.

 

[Terminalxylem]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

Good bikes are pretty expensive. I paid 5k a number of years ago for my roadie. So far I've put about 15,000 miles on it, and if we assume that if I average 15mph (totally believable, yes totally!) I've used it for 1000 hours, or $5/hr. That seems reasonable to me.

Nothing wrong with buying Snap-Ons instead of Harbor Freight if you're using them every day.

----

That said I have my eye on a gravel bike and it's going to run me 5.5k. Not even blinking an eye about paying that. I'm holding myself to losing 20lb before I'll get it so I don't embarrass the bike.

Yeah, my most pricey bike is super smooth and responsive, but there’ve been plenty of times I thought tweaking my diet to lose 3 pounds would’ve brought the same performance for several thousand less dollars.

 

[Terminalxylem]

I’m hoping my current (2006] car last until autonomous vehicles take over

Sorry to the break this to you, but despite what seems to be a popular belief, autonomous vehicles are not going to be a thing anytime soon, possibly not even in our lifetimes. I agree with what you and everyone say about not spending too much on a vehicle though.

I think self-driving cars will be a thing, but Americans are too big into personal freedom (for better and worse) to let them be the only choice. No reason autonomous taxi-like services shouldn’t capture a segment of the market, however, and I’ll gladly use them when available.

IMO, once autonomous driving is safer than humans the insurance cost for human driven will force the vast majority to give up the wheel. That's a long way away, though.

I bet autonomous drivers are already safer, though it would be hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

get the bike. i don't ride (i ski, it's expensive enough) but i live in a bike mecca. a lot of my neighbors have 3-10k bikes and they love it. i often have 30k+ in bikes in my yard. i'm the cool house in the neighborhood and am the meetup spot for the kids who build these sick jumps in the canyon across the street. they get water from my house to build the jumps and work on it all day. during covid, they spent 1000's of hours building the most insane courses. miles of trails. so cool.

 

[Sand]

My kid just got a nice job building airplanes at Airbus. So please take my appreciation for you guys taking all these trips.

That said after saving 65% of my after tax income over the last number of years I'm loosening the reins there. Did two very nice trips this year and plan on expanding that going forward. Even with the trips I'm still at 50% saved this year. Need to loosen up more.

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

I‘m very appreciative somebody, anybody other than Boeing, is making planes. I‘d love never to contribute another penny to that company’s success, so bravo for your son.

As far as cycling, have you ever considered Europe? I hear there’s some pretty nice mountains there.

Definitely. I've ridden the Scottish highlands (climbed the biggest UK climb there and a ton of other amazing spots - Sky, etc.) and a bit in Ireland, but never in Italy or France. On the list. Nice to Geneva looks like it would be totally awesome and probably kill me at the same time.

I‘m very appreciative somebody, anybody other than Boeing, is making planes. I‘d love never to contribute another penny to that company’s success, so bravo for your son.

And they decided to reduce force and he just started, so they let him go. Brutal. He's a hard worker, though, and will find something else.

 

[matttyl]

I do plan on doing something totally personal and epic. Right now what's in my head is riding the Great Divide. I think it will take 40 days or so.

Do it if you can. Don’t regret not doing it later. I’ve had some friends ride the Tour Divide - amazing stuff.

I’m in this now vs later boat myself. Very much considering dropping ~$7k on a mountain bike. A nice mountain bike obviously, but do t want to feel guilty about doing it. Financially we can afford it just fine, but one of our daily driver cars was $15k 7.5 years ago and is still going strong (Toyota RAV4). That’s a car! And I’m going to spend roughly half that much on a bike?!

Seems insane unless you are a competitive biker winning tournaments

I am not. Very much enjoy riding mountain bikes. I don’t golf, but folks easily spend a few grand a year on that hobby, why not me with mine?

get the bike. i don't ride (i ski, it's expensive enough) but i live in a bike mecca. a lot of my neighbors have 3-10k bikes and they love it. i often have 30k+ in bikes in my yard. i'm the cool house in the neighborhood and am the meetup spot for the kids who build these sick jumps in the canyon across the street. they get water from my house to build the jumps and work on it all day. during covid, they spent 1000's of hours building the most insane courses. miles of trails. so cool.

I assume you’re out west. Some great stuff out there and I want to go at some point. With a 7 year old who’s just getting into the sport, we either have to ride super smooth flow trails, or something easy enough for me to tow him on the “tag along”. He’s getting more and more capable all the time, though. With him and the wife getting into it, this hobby will get rather expensive as it’s a lifestyle. We bought a travel trailer camper, and then a Chevy Tahoe (used) to tow it. On trips, on top of the Tahoe we have we $5k of mountain bikes, soon to be closer to $10k - and with him getting larger he’ll need a proper bike. We also each have proper gravel bikes for those kind of trips. That said, we all love it and are making great family memories.