Can't Justify an Expensive Hobby Even If I Can Afford It

[livingalmostlarge]

What's the hobby? I'd spend it and work another year to buffer if it's that expensive. But I like traveling a lot and spend a lot now.

 

[JoeWras]

This thread went in an unexpected direction!

 

[explanade]

Maybe the OP should ask his children or heirs, since an expensive hobby might impact them more than the OP.

 

[JDARNELL]

What's the hobby? .

It took 125 posts for this question to be asked. Impressive!

 

[MercyMe]

Maybe the OP should ask his children or heirs, since an expensive hobby might impact them more than the OP.

We are a childless couple and the last of our gene pool. All of our relatives are older than we are so there will be no heirs other than the charities in our will. But if we die before 95, they will do well enough, expensive hobby or not.

I'd spend it and work another year to buffer if it's that expensive.

Thank you. Nice way to look at it. My wife and I can both work an additional year and cover 80% of 10 years of the hobby. She's onboard with that but it won't change my concern that this hobby is too expensive. It would suck to work an extra year and then not get into the hobby!

If there is an element of "addiction" to the hobby, I'd suggest that just MIGHT be a reason not to go back to it. Forget the money! Avoid addiction because addiction is potentially bad for you.

Maybe I oversold the idea of it as an addiction. Or maybe it is the addiction that made me write that last sentence.

If after spending the initial amount to get you started in this hobby, you still retain enough to afford the ongoing expenses with a 4% WR, then you can afford it.

Our plan gets us to age 95 with a 2.7% WR inclusive of the hobby expense.

It may still be hard and does not feel right. Many of us can identify with this, because we were not born "with a silver spoon in our mouth". We got to where we are today by being frugal. And when we spend an amount that seems extravagant to us but routine to a rich person of blue blood, we cannot help feeling guilty, particularly when we still think of people who do not have as much as we do.

Exactly! Exactly! Exactly! Good to know that someone understands. Thank you for posting this.

I think the fact that you are so reluctant to tell us what it is means that you're leaning strongly toward thinking it's not justifiable. So how can we respond?

I'm not that reluctant to say what it is. I just didn't want to add bias to the replies. I'd rather get opinions about how others spend money on things that are simply too expensive without their answers being tweaked to reflect a disagreement with my former hobby. Not sure why the hobby can be polarizing, but I've been badgered, belittled, and berated for it... due to it seeming ostentatious.

God will say that you should have given more info to the ER.org crowd so that they could have better answered your questions.

Truly wishing I never wrote the part about God. Would take it back if I could at this point, especially in light of what one poster wrote.

That said, if you can't justify your spending/hobby to YOUR own satisfaction, maybe you had best move on.

I guess my hope was that some others out there had expensive hobbies that were hard to justify but did it anyway. I hoped to see it in the same light.

What's the hobby?

Club racing. In my racing class, it is not cheap.

 

[MarieIG]

No, not shocked. I don't see a problem with that hobby. (Thought maybe you were talking about big game hunting or some such thing.)

We had a boatload of kids. Accordingly, we had to have different priorities. You didn't, which allows for you to fund your hobby without depriving anyone else. I also see that you do allocate funds for charity.

So, work the extra year if that helps - and set aside the additional funds for your hobby and enjoy. (My opinion of course.)

 

[NW-Bound]

It may still be hard and does not feel right. Many of us can identify with this, because we were not born "with a silver spoon in our mouth". We got to where we are today by being frugal. And when we spend an amount that seems extravagant to us but routine to a rich person of blue blood, we cannot help feeling guilty, particularly when we still think of people who do not have as much as we do.

Exactly! Exactly! Exactly! Good to know that someone understands. Thank you for posting this...

One way to cure oneself of this problem is to hang out with people with more money than you do, or at least with people who do not have the problem with spending.

When you see people blow away $1M/year or a lot more, what you spend will be so minuscule you don't think much about it.

The problem is if you overdo it and try to keep up with the blue blood, it can bankrupt you.

 

[jollystomper]

My affordability is more about time than expense.

This is a great point. At this stage, what makes a hobby "expensive" and "tough to justify" is not being able to spend the desired time on a hobby.

This year, instead of a 1 year golf membership, I paid for a 2 year one to get a little discount. The only thing that would make it expensive and tough to justify is not being able to play frequently. Because I am able to play a lot, it is not expensive as I can spend time on the hobby.

Conversely, before I retired I bought an inexpensive "starter" drone with camera, as I wanted to add flying drones as a hobby. However, in 4+ years I have probably tried to fly it a half dozen times. I cannot justify buying a fancier, more expensive drone now, as I know I will not spend much time with it.

 

[Romer]

Club racing. Sounds like fun and I can see the adrenaline of doing that.

Kind of like me with offroad going down narrow switch back paths with a 2000 foot drop, gets the adrenaline going

I think its an important aspect of the question and if that is something you enjoy and you can afford it, I would do it.

My hoppy is expensive, not so much for the act when I am off trail, but the setup the building the vehicle, the maintaining, the fixing etc etc. Of course, the travel costs are not cheap either. I get a lot of stuff out of it that doesn't provide any monetary value. It provides social interaction, the technical aspect of preparation and execution and the personal enjoyment I get out of it. I know I am doing something most people don't get to do. I feel there are a lot of similarities between the two hobbies.

 

[Koolau]

My BFF that is now half a million dollars in debt at age 78 was always into some form of racing. That's how he got in such a state - well, that and charging up anything and everything on credit cards.

This guy was actually quite successful in all his racing endeavors. He won his national class several years in mud-bog racing. Currently, he is into drag racing. He hole-shots the young guys who just can't believe it. Unfortunately, "winning" might mean a big trophy or a couple hundred dollars.

Back in the early 70s, I looked into a SCCA racing class in such stock cars as Opel 1900 sedans. To prevent over prepping the cars, all races were claiming (anyone could buy anyone else's car for list price plus $500.) SO prep had more to do with setting up the caster and camber, tires, removing jack and spare tire and back seat, etc. A few folks pulled their engines and balanced and blueprinted them but I'm guessing a lot of those got claimed. The tech inspection did check for compression and volume changes, so milling heads or 60 over bore would have got you disqualified.

I never carried through as it sounded like a lot of w*rk and would have been time consuming in the extreme.

If club racing is your thing - I'd say "go for it." Nothing to be ashamed of as long as you can afford it.

We want to see some videos if you decide to go for it! Have fun.

 

[Car-Guy]

This guy was actually quite successful in all his racing endeavors. He won his national class several years in mud-bog racing. Currently, he is into drag racing. He hole-shotsthe young guys who just can't believe it. Unfortunately, "winning" might mean a big trophy or a couple hundred dollars.

That's becoming a lost art...Back in the day all drag racers had to learn how to launch their cars. Nowadays, not so much skill is needed (as in almost none) with so many AWD cars, launch control, etc. I'm having that problem now with my new Challenger (new car but old school)... I haven't worked on it much, since I need to get some decent tires on the rear first.

Those Dodge racing commercials you see on TV smokin the tires is worthless in the real world. Fun to watch, but that's it.

 

[explanade]

Racing at 78?

He's getting around the age where there should be concern whether he should be driving at all.

 

[Koolau]

Racing at 78?

He's getting around the age where there should be concern whether he should be driving at all.

Short of dying of a heart attack or stroke at the wheel, I wouldn't worry about this guy. When we travel together (heh, heh, usually to a drag race) I always insist that he drive my car. I trust him more than myself and he is the only person on the planet that I do trust more than myself to drive my car. I think that's a vote of confidence. YMMV

 

[OldShooter]

... Club racing. In my racing class, it is not cheap.

In any class, it's not cheap. I raced SCCA for about 15 years, mostly Formula Ford. Racing in the 1980s I figured my weekends cost me a little north of $2,000, a number that included a share of a $3,000 winter engine rebuild. I got my tires, new every weekend, at dealer cost of $400. In today's dollars it's probably at least $5,000 per weekend.

It's a blast! And it is addictive -- the rush you get on the track in traffic is like drugs and the intensity cannot be described -- it has to be experienced.

78YO? I don't know about that. Even when I was racing in my 30s there were always young bucks who knew they were going to live forever and that if they bonked the car daddy would pay to fix it. I could beat some of them but not all of them.

@MercyMe, I say "Go for it!" but with a couple suggestions: First, find an "arrive and drive" experience. The work involved in maintaining a car used to be estimated at 40 hours for each hour of track time. Also, the work involved a lot of crawling around on the floor, something that at 75YO I simply could not do. Maybe you are in better shape -- I hope so. Second, arrange a doctor visit, explain your plans, and get a serious battery of stress tests. I lost a 40YO racing friend one weekend -- he died of a heat attack in the middle of a race. One of the other competitors was a doctor and went to work immediately but was not able to save him. Forget about the SCCA physical's value. Compared to what you need it's a joke.

Have fun and report back.

 

[Car-Guy]

Racing at 78?

He's getting around the age where there should be concern whether he should be driving at all.

Depends on the individual. I have a friend that is ~83 and still drives very well, IMO. My DW had an aunt that drove until she was ~90 and was very doing well until she fell at home and broke her hip... Never drove again.

OTOH, folks like my dad and my BIL should have never been given a license even when in their 20's. Like Ralph Nader once said about the Corvair, they were unsafe at any speed.

 

[kgtest]

My spouse and I have not retired yet, but I'm posting this question in this part of the ER forum because I think it might get the most helpful responses here.

What if you 100%, absolutely, positively can afford a certain very enjoyable and very expensive hobby, but you simply can not justify the cost?

I've read that you should never tally up the expenses of what you enjoy doing for fun whether it be boating, flying a plane/helicopter, travel, etc. But I did it anyhow because we have been tracking all of our expense for many years. I'm a value seeker, though now I can't bring myself to rejoin the hobby because I know the costs all too intimately. Yet I've been miserable ever since I left it a couple of years ago.

I know...

• you only live once
• you can't take the money with you when you pass
• there are no awards for being the richest person in the cemetery
• we tend to regret the things we didn't do

Have you had an expensive and hard-to-justify hobby? Did you leave it due to the cost? If not, how did you carry on with it?

I don't know about expensive, but I have been a value oriented person before. I am not FIRE. The thing that flipped my switch was the death of my sister. She was always very diligent with her money but about a year before her death I could see her non-eternal viewpoint shifted and we no longer discussed money strategies, or prosperity in general at that point. All she cared about was making memories with her family knowing her time would likely be limited. She passed away at 47 and since then I just sort of am like, what is a life lived if I can't do fun things, and if that costs money, or more money then I would have normally spent so what. I still have my financial goals, but I realized I don't need 5 million dollars to retire. So yeah I have been living it up, spending a lot of money on my family, our activities and vacations.

 

[38Chevy454]

I used to drag race, dedicated drag car. It does take a lot of time, money and effort. I still miss it. I could afford to do it, but at this time I prefer to be able to take my DW with me in one of my hot rods. Racing was fun for me, not so good for her. It also gets to be a bit consuming and it is nice having the freedom now to get away instead of having to keep at it for the racing season.

If you want to do the racing, then do it. Health can change, do it while you can.

 

[explanade]

If you rent cars these days, at least through these car booking engines, they base the lowest rates on ages 30-65.

So they're discouraging people outside this age range from renting through them.

 

[aja8888]

Depends on the individual. I have a friend that is ~83 and still drives very well, IMO. My DW had an aunt that drove until she was ~90 and was very doing well until she fell at home and broke her hip... Never drove again.

OTOH, folks like my dad and my BIL should have never been given a license even when in their 20's. Like Ralph Nader once said about the Corvair, they were unsafe at any speed.

I hang out wit a dozen or so 70 - 75+ year old guys each day and have been for years now. We all drive. And two of us are still into classic cars. One guy just got thru restoring a 56 Ford into a very nice restomod.

not all older folks need to quit driving.

Bruce's '56:

 

[Car-Guy]

I used to drag race, dedicated drag car. It does take a lot of time, money and effort. I still miss it. I could afford to do it, but at this time I prefer to be able to take my DW with me in one of my hot rods. Racing was fun for me, not so good for her. It also gets to be a bit consuming and it is nice having the freedom now to get away instead of having to keep at it for the racing season.

If you want to do the racing, then do it. Health can change, do it while you can.

I never was much good at drag racing even with my Vetts. I never really had the right tires and therefore never could master the launch. These days I just don't have the reaction times needed to get good at it anyway. I don't need or use it often, but I still love to have that raw power on tap at highway speeds. No skill needed.

 

[Car-Guy]

I hang out wit a dozen or so 70 - 75+ year old guys each day and have been for years now. We all drive. And two of us are still into classic cars. One guy just got thru restoring a 56 Ford into a very nice restomod.

not all older folks need to quit driving.

Bruce's '56:

Very nice.

 

[NW-Bound]

Youse guys' hobby costs money. Mine makes money.

And I don't care for the noise and all that physical work and the danger. I enjoy mine in solitude and serenity.

Different strokes for different folks, as they say.

 

[Dog]

Hehe, OK, I'll play.

I bought a boat last year a nice 21 foot ChrisCraft;

It's for sale now, I don't need it anymore because I upgraded;

Damn the expense, full speed ahead!

Nice upgrade!

 

[38Chevy454]

I never was much good at drag racing even with my Vetts. I never really had the right tires and therefore never could master the launch. These days I just don't have the reaction times needed to get good at it anyway. I don't need or use it often, but I still love to have that raw power on tap at highway speeds. No skill needed.

Drag slicks make all the difference. My car had 14 inch wide tread x 32 tall rear slicks. Pulled up the front wheels about 6 inches at every launch. Normal street tires will never get the same traction as slicks. Reaction time is also partly practice, but also can be easier with electric or electronic aids. Roll start drag racing is getting more popular, in part because of high performance front wheel drive. FWD is fighting physics, and we all know physics always wins. But traditional dead start drag racing will always be king. I agree that big power on tap at highway speeds is fun all the time.

And I don't care for the noise and all that physical work and the danger. I enjoy mine in solitude and serenity.

Guess it is the ear of the beholder, but a nice race or healthy street engine at WOT is music to my ears. No matter which type racing, they mostly all sound good to me. Except for rotary engines, they are just obnoxious noise to me.

 

[neihn]

I found my new hobby during covid - It is Flight Simulator.

My father was in the SVN Air Force during the war, we lived in side the airforce base Tan Son Nhut Saigon. As kit I saw air crafts flying in and out the base (some with my father in the cockpit) and wished that I would become a pilot when I grow up.

Now to be realistic, the closest thing to my flying dream is flight simulator .
I tried flight simulator several times since the late 90, but not until now that I got hooked ( technology advance, CPU/GP speed, satellite mapping, internet speed etc.. make the simulator becomes so good and it could be right at your home)