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New Toys Balance and Decisions - How Do You Spend?

Fun facts about money. The Federal Reserve is a foreign bank that has no ties to America or its government. Every dollar that is borrowed from a bank loan or credit card charge didn't exist until it was borrowed. Every dollar that was created from the debt has a interest payment owed. The IRS is the Federal Reserves collection agency that has a main purpose to collect the interest on the money that Americans have borrowed from the Federal Reserve and the money was created out of thin air when Americans borrowed it. The debt can never be paid back unless it is in real assets such as gold or land..
 
20 some years ago I made what turned out to be some very good real estate investments in partnership with my late father, who was recently retired at the time. When we decided the time was right, I retired and we sold our business and our property. The proceeds from my half were enough for me to move back to my home state, and outright buy a nice moderately priced house on a decent sized chunk of land and have a sizable nest-egg left to live on.

Everything I have, I own. I have no debt. I own one CC with zero balance for emergencies. I have a budget set out that will see me through, even if I make it to 100. I allow myself some "fun money" each month, and as long as I don't exceed the limits I've set, I have enough each month to buy a good airgun, or use that money for my R/C hobbies. I love my Weihrauch and Diana guns, and there's not been anything terribly new or exciting in the R/C world lately, so that's where my fun money has been going.

It's all about having a plan, a budget, and the discipline to stick with them.
 
Most people I know don't even struggle with this. They buy cars worth twice their annual salary, spend all their money on going out and their hobbies, save nothing.

My friends tell me I'm too cheap and I need to actually enjoy my money instead of being a miser.

The crux of the matter revolves around finding the right balance between frugality and the pursuit of life's passions. I'm contemplating whether I should continue my frugal approach and diligently save or, alternatively, invest in a few new high end PCPs.

I've always believed in investing in top-tier gear when it comes to my passions, following the "buy once, cry once" philosophy. However, I also prioritize financial responsibility.

The question I'm wrestling with is finding the right balance between frugality and enjoying life's pleasures, especially when it involves our hobbies.

At what point does frugality hinder life's pleasures, especially when investing in quality gear for our passions?

Your experience would be invaluable. I appreciate your perspective and eagerly await your thoughts.
The balance comes some where between life is short and pay yourself first (have a plan for retirement). Far too many people blow everything they earn or take for some, and work until they die.

In my opinion, once humans reach their mid 60s, we are on borrowed time. The reason I say this is you never know where your health will go. Some pass away around then naturally, some develop diseases like dementia, and some live until they are 90 while still maintaining their wits.

True, some of this could be attributed to life choices like smoking, drugs, alcohol, or exercise. We are all born with our own genetics and a time line that we don't know, yet (technology), when it will end. Our choices in life may shorten or prolong that.

With the aforementioned stated, your mental health is also part of the equation, so Y.O.L.O! when you can and buy once, cry once! 🤘
 
Life is luck and nothing more. Investing and saving do not have a guarantee. And even then, you may not have the health to enjoy it. I've watched enough people age out and become bitter.
The balance is like eating the last piece of pizza. Will you regret it afterward or walk away satisfied? Only you can answer that.

Most estates are valued on stuff collected through life, not on how much money they had in the bank.
 
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I have never been good with money, but then i became a house owner, and that changed things in my brain.
So as i became a house owner i also became new car owner where i have before been 2 hand car owner.

I am now on a meager pension given to me by my benevolent rulers, and i have never saved money like i am now, i can actually get myself new and expensive toys 2 times every year if not 3, and still have a ballooning savings account in the bank too.
I always pay cash- i always pay with a bill, and the coin i get back go strait to my piggy bank, and it finance the new toys.
Using that approach i save at least 1000 DKkr a month ( 145 USD or so ) but most months i think i get close to 2000 Dkkr in the piggy bank.

Now before i was also a substance abuser ( pot ) for many decades, and i still was when i got the house, but my addiction only cost me 5 -600 USD a month, my friend on the other hand he spent 1700 - 2000 USD a month on weed, pretty much smoking all the time.
And mind you we was smoking at whole sale prices not end user.
The more accepted drug alcohol, well that i dropped as a teen, CUZ it sure did nothing good for my then even more meager intellect.
I was of course also strung out on the death sticks ( cigarettes ) but i gave those up before they got really expensive, today my intake of those would be a 4 - 500 USD a month habit.
So thank ( insert your favorite deity ) i cold turkeyed on those too.

When i was young and also strung out on the liquid state sanctioned drug ( alcohol ) well a night on the town could easy cost me 1500 USD.
Money going towards booze en mass, various powders for the nose, and splashing around, so yeah there was plenty of "girls " around our little group, each of us spending money like that.
Of course that is way more then a machine worker apprentice make a month back then, but beside my education, well lets just say i was a nasty piece of work, the kind i today think should be dragged to the nearest street corner and terminated.


Immediate spending plans.

As i have worked up a extra buffer, well next week or so a GFX card for the computer, the about to release AMD 7800 XT card, spicing the deal with a new mouse too ( nothing fancy ) and probably one more 256 GB memory card ( i already have 12 of those, and only use 2-3-4 at the time )

And hopefully before September are over a Epic airguns Two rifle :)
 
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my only advise is do not limit yourself too much in life before retirement , have a plan . "save" for your new toy if you need to . i have CC but i pay off every month never incurring interest . A friend of mine said ," you have no idea how much money you will have after retirement , just from not having the cost to go to work ."
 
My personal adventure began with a small budget being the main factor in my initial decisions. Personally, I'm glad I started with "entry level" priced stuff. It motivated me to learn to get the most I could from that equipment but, more importantly, I believe my shooting skills & technique developed more quickly BECAUSE of that equipment (Benjamin Discovery & Marauder, Hatsan BT65 &AT44). When I finally saved enough for upper tier equipment it was a phenomenal step up in feel, fit & accuracy & the progress I had made in skills & technique felt more in line with the superior equipment.
BTW, I'm the one who originally posted the "What is it with us Old Guys" post mentioned earlier.
 
I believe it was Frank Sinatra who said he who dies with the most toys wins and I'm sure Frank felt pretty confident he had an edge but you know what... as a friend of mine likes to put it... we're all just circling the drain. Which is true, sooner or later that vortex is gonna get you. I think the trick is to have the toys you've always wanted and enjoy them because you never know when your play time is over. This past December I woke up one morning and couldn't get off of the bed because I was having a stroke. Fortunately it was brief and didn't leave me with any permanent disability. I survived throat cancer 12 years ago and have been cancer free. I have other serious health issues as well. As my neurologist puts it... I've dodged quite a few bullets. I've never been lucky monetarily, never won the big pot gambling or won the lottery but I have been lucky in life.
I worked a full career of 42 years at a job that I loved which provides me with enough money to live comfortably and have the things that makes me and my family happy. So for me a few HW's and a couple Diana's of various calibers and a smathering of pistols is enough to make me happy and content.
 
It seems like you're between
● your desire to get something nice
and
your sense of responsibility that it seems unwise, wasteful, whatever, to spend "so much" on something that is just a hobby.


➠ Instead of being in that constant battle between desire and responsiblity —
you might take a quiet hour and think through your monthly financial surplus, taking into account your future plans, retirement, car replacement, etc.

➠ Considering all these, come up with a fixed monthly amount that you feel is responsible to spend each month on your hobby.


Have your salary account move that amount into a separate account every month — your airgun money.
Whenever you feel the desire to buy "somegunthing" — check your balance and buy it if you have enough.

😊 And you can do so without feeling bad, because in a quiet hour of rational decision making you decided that this amount is reasonable. 😊



I appreciate your attitude — especially in a culture where many spend without much thought,
go in debt without much concern, and
spend it all on themselves, despite so many people suffering great needs.

Matthias
 
I humbly submit that today it seems quite fashionable for many to deny any reality without the use of medication.
An eternal truth is still valid, which is reality does have a way of gangster slapping even the most foolish face in due season.
The unstoppable logic of accounting itself eventually imposes a reality that no one likes.
Bottom line in our own pursuit of HAPPINESS seek out true wisdom from those who have been dancing successfully on this stage longer. Remembering tomorrow is promised to no one, so use your today time very wisely friend. :cool:

"Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not offend the imbeciles" ~Dostoieski
 
Fun facts. Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, warned that banking institutions were more dangerous to liberties than standing armies. He warned that allowing private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, would deprive the people of all property until their children woke up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

The president that allowed a private foreign bank to issue the US it's currency said. "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence
 
Fun facts. Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, warned that banking institutions were more dangerous to liberties than standing armies. He warned that allowing private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, would deprive the people of all property until their children woke up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

The president that allowed a private foreign bank to issue the US it's currency said. "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence
And yet he signed it