Boat finance

[mik01]

gday BM - yeah little boy on the way!
due in about 6 weeks!!!

what a learning curve I am in for...

Flex - enjoy the boat mate. you obviously have earnt the right to splash out and you will definitely enjoy every minute of it when you get it!!

my general thoughts on investments are - Don't discount any investment option, including buying a house and renting it out as a good tax break. you can always move in later if you settle down, or sell and hopefully make some coin.

we sold our investment property in Dec, to get out of slowing housing market and get into the depressed share market (which we just did this month).

buy the toys, but invest in sound strategies to look after the mid term future is what we have tried to do and so far, life has worked out good. I splashed out on the boat, although did not spend a lot compared to most!, but it gets me out there and is a great girl to bring me home safely.

[TheRealAndy]

I am 30, paying a mortgage. When we first bought our house, I couldn't afford anything. At one stage we could not even afford a car. Now, my minimum repayments are about $260 week. It is a lot different now however. $450k for a house means a lot of rapayments. A quick type into a mortgage caculator puts that at about $1000 (roughly) week if you a borrowing 100%. You would want to be on a good wage to afford that. I am lucky, I got in early before the boom. Now I am a business owner and am reasonably well off financially. I nearly own my house and I also have some investments (not many, but they are growing).

The biggest point I will make here is that until recently I was quite depressed and drinking a lot. You would have never extracted it from me when it was happening, but it was not good. It nearly cost me my relationship with my wife. I went out an leased a 4wd as a company car and bought a boat. I have never been happier. Even someone at my wifes work made a comment about how much happier she looked as a result. I get out and enjoy life now. The point is, you can be well off financially, own your own house, have lots of investments but they are all a waste if you do nothing with your life. If you have to borrow money to buy a boat then do it. No point taking cash to the grave. As long as you dont go overboard (excuse the pun) so much that you will not be able to afford to retire then there is no problem with it at all.

[Outsider1]

Thanks for sharing that TRA, your honesty is appreciated.

Flex, no problem in borrowing for the boat if you are disciplined about your finances and it sound like you are. As some said, treat it like forced savings.

Can't argue with the life balance statements others have made either, money is not everything. But as someone else once said "Money can't buy you happiness, but it does buy a better class of misery"!

I have spent a fair bit of time and effort on this wealth thing over the years, got pretty good at it along the way, but also learnt lessons about balance etc the hard way. There a lots of "rules" you can find espoused, but I have found that there always good reasons why they can be broken.

What I found was that successful people had an attitude and discipline that set them apart and drove their success. To me finance and wealth creation are all about being disciplined about what you do. That does not mean being a tight arse, or paying for everything in cash. It means having a budget and planning your finances.

For those looking for some guidance I can recommend 2 books, both decades old, cheap as chips and still available;

1. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason

short, simple, easy to read, easy to understand. It teaches you to "pay yourself", one of the keys

http://www.amazon.com/Richest-Man-Ba.../dp/0451205367

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Richest_Man_in_Babylon_(book)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon

and if you can't be bothered reading the book, here is the video!! How easy is that!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...53673251198265



2. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

A lot deeper, but a very worthwhile read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Hill

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=...tq1WaQ#PPP1,M1

and a couple of video clips to give you a feel for Hill and his book(s)






Cheers

Dave

[thelump]

How about this theory. If you borrowed the money to buy your boat at the beginning of this thread you would probably have paid it off by now.

[TimiBoy]

In another life (before boat and owning my own business) I was a senior Manager in an American owned company. Try this in an American accent (take your pick which one, I heard it in all of them) -

"Plan your work, then work your plan"

It works for your finances, business, life. I just wish when I ran it through my head it wasn't in that damned accent!!!

[Seahorse]

Andy, i agree. got to enjoy life. dont they call it spend the kids inheratance.
Iam only mr. average, working for boss, mortgage, but i intend going into hock for new boat somehow. prob need about $25000.
u can always sell it. but enjoy it. truck could run me down tomorrow.