Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-21-2016, 08:28 AM   #301
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
dixonge's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Jalisco, Mexico
Posts: 1,745
Quote:
Originally Posted by rayinpenn View Post
I'm wading a few feet from shore tossing my lure (a crocodile) into the jones beach inlet with the hopes of finding striped bass or blue fish. A 40ft cigarette boat comes flying by, loud, obnoxious and in my eyes -useless. A mindless, conspicuous display of wealth and nothing more. Turn the key point the nose and go. It screamed hey look at me. Impractical and a waste of our limited oil. The fish are spooked and I'm more then annoyed but It is a beautiful day, I'm in no rush and I know bluefish are a ravenous lot.

I didn't hear her until she was nearly abreast of me - a 40ft something sloop. Both mainsail and jib taught in the steady breeze. She was moving along, silent, stealthy, beautiful and substantial. Oh she too cost a pretty penny but she could sail to Bermuda on little or no fuel, just skill and experience - she was a delight to the senses.

Wealth like most things in life is a choice: the ugly conspicuous cigarette boat or the beauty and stealth of the sailboat. No matter how much I fantasize , in the end, I always opt for the sailboat.

Timex watch, modest reliable cars, No toys -I chose to leave no wake.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum


A poet in our midst!
dixonge is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 05-21-2016, 08:39 AM   #302
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,681
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobbieB View Post
Another good time to buy a car is right at end of month. It makes their numbers look better to not have to carry inventory for another month and the sales guy might just need to make his "quota bonus"
I happened to buy my last car just before the dealership was bought out by a larger conglomerate, something which helped me get a good deal.
__________________
Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

"I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"
scrabbler1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2016, 09:41 PM   #303
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Cocoa Beach
Posts: 414
Quote:
Originally Posted by rayinpenn View Post
Wealth like most things in life is a choice: the ugly conspicuous cigarette boat or the beauty and stealth of the sailboat. No matter how much I fantasize , in the end, I always opt for the sailboat.
To each their own, I would prefer the "ugly conspicuous cigarette boat" if I had to choose. Luckily I don't as I have never been much interested in owning a boat, although I like friends who do!
Lucantes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-22-2016, 07:12 AM   #304
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucantes View Post
To each their own, I would prefer the "ugly conspicuous cigarette boat" if I had to choose. Luckily I don't as I have never been much interested in owning a boat, although I like friends who do!

Personally, I'd prefer a pontoon boat, equipped with stereo, cooler, and grill. But I would note that cigarette-style boats seem to come with an owner resembling W. C. Fields, and an assortment of string-bikini clad supermodels, probably the owner's grand-daughters...
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire

...not doing anything of true substance...
HFWR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-22-2016, 09:25 PM   #305
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Cocoa Beach
Posts: 414
Quote:
Originally Posted by HFWR View Post
Personally, I'd prefer a pontoon boat, equipped with stereo, cooler, and grill.
+1 even better! as long as somebody else owned it!
Lucantes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 05:22 AM   #306
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1,867
Oh so you like the cigarette boat allow me to enhance your fantasy - there was a bikini (barely) next to him.

Working where I do, for as long as I have -I have developed an exaggerated dislike of conspicuous comsumption. There was a time when I would have written off the cigarette boat as to each his own. Not now it strikes me as vulgar - loud, selfish and wasteful. I am cursed to see the impact excess and how often it is spending money you don't have. I am a data cruncher working on projects where I get to see the terminal side of these excesses.

It hard to just say they are all just numbers because I know behind those numbers there are people, many are families. It is one thing to just not have a lot of money because of low income - that I can appreciate. What troubles me is to see the ease of falling victim to the monster that is consumer credit. Oh you think it is their problem because they "made their bed.." Your wrong it is all our problem - our society is weaker because of our addiction to credit. IMO that cigarette boat is a extreme example of a society with the wrong values. Too much Miami Vice and too little 60 minutes (Kudos Morley). Think of the house of cards that was our last credit crisis. So many are living on the edge waiting for the next shake.. It is bound to come.

Hey do you think that bikini (barely) would consider having a fling with an old man with a timex, CRV, and a new knee. I guess not - but that's ok.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forumh
rayinpenn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 05:25 AM   #307
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
pb4uski's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,263
While I understand your feelings rayinpenn, for all you know the boat could be fully paid for and a very small percentage of the owner's net worth.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.

Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
pb4uski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 06:33 AM   #308
Full time employment: Posting here.
Jack_Pine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 834
I heard over the weekend that Morely bought a Bentley with winnings from a card game.
__________________
The Constitution. It's not just a good idea...it's the law.
Jack_Pine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 06:50 AM   #309
Moderator Emeritus
Bestwifeever's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 17,773
A little Rolls sedan passed us yesterday while we were walking to the library and try as I might to be personally offended by the driver's decision to buy it or wonder if his children were starving, I could only think, sweet car. It was.
__________________
“Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Bestwifeever is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 07:54 AM   #310
Moderator Emeritus
Ronstar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,543
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bestwifeever View Post
A little Rolls sedan passed us yesterday while we were walking to the library and try as I might to be personally offended by the driver's decision to buy it or wonder if his children were starving, I could only think, sweet car. It was.
Reminds me of a Rolls Royce incident a few months ago. I brought DW to the seamstress shop. A 30 wish guy pulls up in a nice Rolls. Gets out and brings a few pairs of jeans in to be hemmed. Really? What man has his jeans hemmed?
Ronstar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 07:56 AM   #311
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Philliefan33's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 1,677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronstar View Post
Reminds me of a Rolls Royce incident a few months ago. I brought DW to the seamstress shop. A 30 wish guy pulls up in a nice Rolls. Gets out and brings a few pairs of jeans in to be hemmed. Really? What man has his jeans hemmed?

A short man.
Philliefan33 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 08:05 AM   #312
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
Quote:
Originally Posted by rayinpenn View Post
I'm wading a few feet from shore tossing my lure (a crocodile) into the jones beach inlet with the hopes of finding striped bass or blue fish. A 40ft cigarette boat comes flying by, loud, obnoxious and in my eyes -useless...
I do not know about useless, but loud will bother me. A Rolls Royce is not loud, hence all OK with me.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 08:39 AM   #313
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7,968
Quote:
Originally Posted by haha View Post
Whether something is "worth it" can only be decided by the consumer. IMO it is a bit overbearing for me to tell anyone that his/her choice in anything is not worth it, or somehow morally deficient or that it shows anything other than taste. Some people prefer to dress well for example, or buy their women friends jewelry, or buy organic foods, or BMWs or expensive gold clubs.

If someone can't afford it, or he feels superior by not buying something, great, he should not buy it.

Ha
My go to Vietnamese store near City Market in Kansas City closed - the closest I could come to New Orleans Po-Boy bread.

Can I afford to import? Sure but it is Painful.

heh heh heh - nothing I've found up North comes close - even the daily Vietnamese loves were only semi-close. Driving down for Leidenheimer's ZIP loaves hasn't anything to do with wealth/leisure. Just a slight obsession.
unclemick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 08:40 AM   #314
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Amethyst's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,596
If you refer to women as merely "the bikini next to him" I would say you do not deserve them....

Quote:
Originally Posted by rayinpenn View Post
Oh so you like the cigarette boat allow me to enhance your fantasy - there was a bikini (barely) next to him.

Hey do you think that bikini (barely) would consider having a fling with an old man with a timex, CRV, and a new knee. I guess not - but that's ok.


h
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
Amethyst is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 09:11 AM   #315
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Colorado Mountains
Posts: 3,165
The blue collar city I was born in and still frequent has an obsession with hot rodding. Always has. There is a large lake west of town and some of those hot rodders have taken their obsession onto the lake. Those super fast boats are probably more expensive than a hot rod, but those guys put their heart and soul into their hobby.
Hermit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 09:21 AM   #316
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
calmloki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,280
Quote:
Originally Posted by rayinpenn View Post
Oh so you like the cigarette boat allow me to enhance your fantasy - there was a bikini (barely) next to him.

Working where I do, for as long as I have -I have developed an exaggerated dislike of conspicuous comsumption. There was a time when I would have written off the cigarette boat as to each his own. Not now it strikes me as vulgar - loud, selfish and wasteful. I am cursed to see the impact excess and how often it is spending money you don't have. I am a data cruncher working on projects where I get to see the terminal side of these excesses.

It hard to just say they are all just numbers because I know behind those numbers there are people, many are families. It is one thing to just not have a lot of money because of low income - that I can appreciate. What troubles me is to see the ease of falling victim to the monster that is consumer credit. Oh you think it is their problem because they "made their bed.." Your wrong it is all our problem - our society is weaker because of our addiction to credit. IMO that cigarette boat is a extreme example of a society with the wrong values. Too much Miami Vice and too little 60 minutes (Kudos Morley). Think of the house of cards that was our last credit crisis. So many are living on the edge waiting for the next shake.. It is bound to come.

Hey do you think that bikini (barely) would consider having a fling with an old man with a timex, CRV, and a new knee. I guess not - but that's ok.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forumh
Re: 60 Minutes

Last night while dozing through 60 Minutes they were talking needle skyscrapers being built in NYC - 75' at the base, 1500' tall, 105' at the top. Built as residential units, a single floor single unit (say 9000 sq. feet?) would run $20,000,000. Location location, heck of a city view.

They mentioned that they were built as stores of value for the buyers; so much like the vacant Chinese cities built and invested in by the Chinese?

I like to remind myself that there are a lot of different levels both above and below - not much point being too proud or too humble because it is a huge world.
calmloki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 11:53 AM   #317
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 1,188
I realize sometimes I do too good a job hiding my wealth. More than one time I've been offered help to get on assistance if I needed..it isn't that hard you know.. you politely decline.. I'll manage.. but you always get that bleeding heart person that just won't accept no because they think your embarrassed and I end up feeling guilty.

I may have to re-think what I look like when I go out... ie like when some guy at Aldis gives you his cart and wont' accept your quarter to help you out... hmm maybe I've gone too far. hoping he's just being nice or doesn't want to bother with a quarter in his pocket.
karen1972 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 12:05 PM   #318
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 5,856
Shortly after retiring early we downsized and sold our home. We intended to buy but have just kept renting because of the market conditions.

We travel frequently, usually for 8-12 weeks. Some of our friends, and no doubt some of our relatives, think that we are spending/squandering the equity from our former home on travel. We have done nothing to confirm or deny this even though several appear quite desperate to know. Not really their business...is it.
brett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 12:09 PM   #319
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
Quote:
Originally Posted by calmloki View Post
...I like to remind myself that there are a lot of different levels both above and below - not much point being too proud or too humble because it is a huge world.
+1

When I go out in the world, nobody cares that much about me or my look, unless I do something to attract attention (and why would I care to do that?).
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2016, 12:11 PM   #320
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
athena53's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,322
Quote:
Originally Posted by rayinpenn View Post
Wealth like most things in life is a choice: the ugly conspicuous cigarette boat or the beauty and stealth of the sailboat. No matter how much I fantasize , in the end, I always opt for the sailboat.
One of the first things I asked about the lake behind our house when we were considering buying the house was whether power craft were allowed. No. (It' sonly a 3-acre lake.) That was the right answer.

I LOVE my kayak! I like to sneak up on birds so I can watch them.
athena53 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Hiding Wealth from Your Wife tlahbanana Other topics 97 07-12-2015 09:53 AM
Hiding behind pseudo names windsurf Other topics 79 10-17-2008 12:35 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:16 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.