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I totally agree with mike's statement. I enjoy every minute of boat ownership and want to have a boat that does exactly what I want it to do.
After some financial advice, keeping your debt/income ratio inline imo is more important than where the money goes at the end. whether you buy a big fancy boat on a 15 year note, or a cheaper boat and have jetskis, motorcycles, utv's and the such, or a second house, it's all about managing what you make and making sure you are liquid enough to get out if you need to(not upside down)..
to the op, it does make me sick to see 20somethings at the lake in 75k boats being towed by 50k trucks and guessing they are either from money and no respect for what they have or mortgaged to the hilt and one paycheck away from financial ruin.. sad thing is the courts have made bankruptcy all too common of a way out..
I agree with mike and Scott, but why use your own money when you can use someone else's (the banks, CU's etc).
I agree with you 100% here. I'm working on finding the perfect house for myself right now in every way - cost, space, area- whole 9 yards, the reason I didn't trade my boat in on the Supra, so I'm having to make sure I can manage my money correctly and have my backup funds in case something were to happen.
Stereotypes ruin it for those of us who actually busted our @$$'s for what we have! I will say though, you can tell those who actually care about their possessions (most likely those who did work for it) and those who's been handed it just simply by their attitude and the way they go about boating. Now, I have actually asked someone who looked to be my age on an X-45 MasterCraft how they got their boat and have gotten the straight up answer his dad bought it. All I could do was... *FacePalm*
And YOLO? HA! You'll only hear me say that in it's full form on a rare occasion such as this one! My real motto is hakuna matata!!
My opinion is it's better to own and control your cash flow. True financial freedom is not having a nut to cover each month. I've never been a fan of financing an asset that declines in value. Big items like a house you have to finance. but most everything else you don't. Buy used, save your cash until you can upgrade. I know it's not sexy and doesn't look as cool in your driveway, but I sleep a lot better at night.
To each his own. I have always assumed that 20 year olds with big expensive toys don't last long in the food chain of life. I also don't want to be the 70 year old who tells stories about the high point of their life at 25.
is it better to be 70 and have no stories to tell? your only young and able to recover from physical abuse from things like wakeboarding for so long. take advantage of your youth, i dont want to be like my dad and say "i could do that too if i were 25" i want to be 50 one day and say, "i used to do that when i was 25"
I really don't mind young people on the lake with their toys or daddy's toys. I have no way to know if they appreciate it or not. I can only worry about what I can do for me and my family. I like it more if those people are slalom skiers (but that if rare).
I am amazed at the number of people on the forum that have newer boats and are spending thousands on stereo equipment for said boat.