thomas15

I named my boat The Minnow

Very cool!

I truly love hearing about others who worked hard to pay off a note and now can enjoy that item without the pressure of have to make a monthly payment.

So proud of you @Way north bass guy ! Enjoy your boat my brother!

Please allow me to refresh your memory (7/20/22): "Yes but my problem is I have no cash no 3 or 2 k for the best of deals. Bank turned me down but it’s all my fault."

My fishing partner doubles as my honey. You might think that having our personal finances under control is a synonym for some kind of privilege or good luck but Sue and I struggled early in our life together so that we could afford to put our two kids through college and live comfortably in retirement. We like to think about it as being a mature adult, are we wrong? If you think that we are of the opinion that you are in some sort of a financial crisis it might be because you told us in the older thread that you were turned down for a $4K personal loan?

At my workplace I'm known in a general sense as the person that takes budgeting and money management seriously. It wasn't always that way, years ago I (we were) just like everyone else, spending to make myself happy, to make spouse and me happy. It is commonly called living paycheck to paycheck. Finally we (spouse and me) made this massive lifestyle change which didn't go unnoticed by my co-workers. Some took it as me becoming anti-social or maybe a member of some religious cult, others thought of us as aspiring millionaire want-a-be's. I have noticed that across the income and age spectrum where I work many will approach me to ask questions about the company 401K or budgeting tips. I'm not an expert but know a few things. From those encounters I have come to conclude several things and of course I don't know everyone's financial situation in detail but many I know are living on the financial ragged edge. Not a city where I want to visit because all of the motels there have lumpy mattresses, and I personally cannot get a good night's sleep there. But many seem to not be bothered. As Darth-Baiter so eloquently states we are best served by worrying about ourselves. This I agree with. I'm sure he would also agree though that when someone asks a question we answer as truthfully as possible. Speaking for me, it's time to walk away on this one. The correct answers have been stated over and over again, nothing new left to say. I say this is all sincerity, the degree of maturity here is well above average. I really mean this.

It really looks like this is the only possible treatment for this particular rash.

60% of US households, and that includes singles, married couples, couples with children, single heads of households, married with and/or without kids, single parents with kids and single/married/kids with pets, do not have $500 on hand to cover a $500 emergency expense. Many many many of that 60% cannot pay for that $500 emergency out of savings because in their personal lives they have not figured out the difference between wants and needs. I can say with absolute certainty that I do not need a boat, I do not need a Tacoma, I do not need a collection of fishing poles and tackle, a collection of competition ready handguns and that my wife does not need her dog, chickens, pigeons, and a new living room sofa, and we as a couple do not need a 2 week vacation together. These are all wants. We do however need a roof over our heads, oil in the tank, food on the table, clothes on our backs and transportation to our place of employment. To cover our wants we are putting off retirement, spouse is working to 69, I'm working to 74 or 75, not because we need to but rather because we want to. I recognize that I cannot own certain things because in my younger years, in our (spouse and me) early days together, we made some poor money decisions and that is the reason why we don't have a bigger boat tied up at a dock at a vacation home on Lake Gitchie Gumee. I have learned that I'm not entitled to, or owed anything, that I don't deserve anything, but I need as an adult to look past the tip of my nose and do things today that my older self 5 years from today will thank me for. If things were to go sideways for us financially speaking, the first thing to go is my boat, the second thing to go is my truck. The second to last thing is our home, the last thing is our cash emergency fund because we will need that to procure replacement shelter. The fact that the question is being asked speaks volumes as to the feasibility of this project but if you can somehow move a want into the needs category then the decision is easy. You may be asking yourself why all the ranting from little old me? This is simple, we had a huge cash flow scare about 10 years ago and that forced us into a fight with reality. We discovered, and that by the Grace of God, that we could fix the bulk of our mistakes and get our finances under control. This was a lot of hard work and was exhausting but it taught us a valuable lesson, actually several lessons. 10 years ago I was a competitive handgun shooter classified as a Master in open revolver class, shooting 2 matches per week plus practice. At that time I was of the opinion that I would be shooting competitive matches up to the day I died. Finally, the day came when I realized that shooting was a want not a need. My life did not end and my social structure did not crumble, hard to believe but true. I'm very passionate about personal finances.

Speaking about cars or trucks not to change the subject but to the OPs feeling about driving an SUV when you are a pickup kind of guy. A few weeks ago we had a family get together at my sisters place. My brothers and sisters and in-laws are good people but there is a tinge of dysfunction somewhere because I haven't seen one of my brothers and a few other family members in over 20 years. So my truck is a 2020 Tacoma (nice truck) my wife's car is a 2012 Ford Escape (SUV), this car has just under 200K miles and a bit of rust in the wheel wells. My wife is uncomfortable in my Taco so we took the Escape because this is about 300 miles of driving. I was feeling a bit defeated because I'm the only one of my siblings that is not retired (I'm 65) and it looks like I'm poor because our daily driver is a bit ragged in the margins, but we commute together 100 miles/day. But the truth of the matter is we are not poor, we have a decent household income and savings and paid assets and are in good shape financially, so really I don't to be honest care what cars or trucks other people have, all I want is something that gets us from point A to point B and we have enough cash on hand to buy a brand new car tomorrow but our priorities are more focused on getting our nest egg as big as possible. When my wife retires in Dec 2025 we will get her a new car but we will also have 6 figures just in our cash in savings account to pay for it and since I'm probably going to work a few years more will drive the Escape to work rather than kill the Taco. And why 70 or longer? Because the difference between SS at 62 and 70 is for me is north of about $1,500/month and if I wanted to buy some new toy I don't want to be in agony for months about how to pay for it. So it's partly due to us being blessed by the Lord Jesus but we also do our part and are mindful of solid management and decision making with what we do have. So to sum up my feelings on things we want to own. On the day we closed on our home we felt happy but nothing compared to the happiness when 12 years later we walked out of the bank after making the last mortgage payment. On the day I brought my Taco home it was all smiles but 26 months later when I paid it off the there were literal tears of joy. Never had any debt on my boat, saved up and paid for it in cash. I would personally feel like a real chump if I couldn't make a car payment or fill the heating oil tank or frig because I had to have a boat or didn't want to be seen driving an SUV but that is a personal decision we need to make for ourselves. My wife and I act like we are broke, we spend money like we are broke, people think we are broke, we budget, we eat at home and we do for ourselves everything we can do for ourselves rather than pay someone else and we don't buy luxury items willy nilly and that is the reason why we are not actually broke.

I also remember the first post. It's not because I'm mean or anything like that, but a boat is something you get when literally everything that costs money is covered, you have a cash emergency fund in hand and then the boat comes out of excess. The most joy I get from my little boat comes from the fact that we have zero debt, a paid off home, a paid for truck, money in the bank. If it were not for that I would not own the stupid thing. But to the subject at hand, you are an adult and it's your money, do what you want, you don't need our permission.

Looking Good!

I have a Taco and was thinking about getting an old school truck cap. The Leer fiberglass cap painted to match the truck with a hinged window is about $2300.00 You can get this with roof racks I think that is a few hundred extra. That would give you a place to tie your boat and secure extra storage.

When faced with such a dilemma such as should I buy a fiberglass or aluminum boat, I usually settle that internal argument with a compromise. Get one of each!

As a kid we went out in the Atlantic Ocean in our 14' wood skiff with 14 HP many times. Only on nice days and that boat had considerably more freeboard than most 12' Jon boats. Still, I wouldn't do it on a dare today.