Giving up (small) dreams to FIRE

[dadu007]

I have made a hobbies of film photography and Super 8 film moviemaking.
Unfortunately, the $$$ required for keeping BOTH of these related pursuits and working towards FIRE do not make sense or add up, based on my projected income until and after retirement.
I can keep doing still film photography and achieve my financial goals, but I have to let the Super 8 film goals go. Going to sell the S8 equipment.
I am very sad about that.
What dreams did you have to give up to retire on track?

 

[DrRoy]

I have always loved to travel. Most of the trips we took while working toward FIRE were shorter, in the car, and with a budget. Once we saw that we were well on track DW and I started travelling more and bigger.

 

[Matthew J]

I live in a smaller house than I could otherwise buy, I spend less on cars, I spend less on vacation and travel. I'd like to spend more on each of these things, but I want out of the rat race even more. Comes down to priorities.

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[bclover]

humm,
for me "dreams" are more like ongoing "processes". they will change and morph over time. I love to bake, pretty good at it also and for a time I dreamed of opening my own bakery. then I actually signed up for culinary school. first the tuition was outrageous (30K for a Bachelors in Pastry arts), next it was an excellent program and after I found out all that went into owning my own bakery, I no longer had the same dream.
I never really "gave up" on my dreams just simply modified them or put them on hold.
I always dream of more travel but some times other thins take precedent.
I wanted to stay home with my kids, that was a choice we made even though it definitely meant working longer.

Maybe rephrase it,

 

[Fermion]

I had at one time wanted to buy a boat in bar/inn. While we could maybe swing it, no money would be left for retirement if it failed.

 

[surf n turf]

I always wanted a twin engine sportboat like a 35 Cigarette Cafe Racer or 35 Formula Fastech...and I'd love to get my a$$ back into a late model Corvette or some classic muscle car. Neither will happen because I want to retire early. First world problems.

 

[Sunset]

I have made a hobbies of film photography and Super 8 film moviemaking.
Unfortunately, the $$$ required for keeping BOTH of these related pursuits and working towards FIRE do not make sense or add up, based on my projected income until and after retirement.
I can keep doing still film photography and achieve my financial goals, but I have to let the Super 8 film goals go. Going to sell the S8 equipment.
I am very sad about that.
What dreams did you have to give up to retire on track?

Why would you not not move to digital movie making, it is vastly cheaper, actually once you have a camera and memory card, it is free.

I used to do photography, had my own darkroom, I moved to digital as quickly as I could, back when a digital camera was only 1.5 Meg vs (35mm which is about 25 Meg).

 

[Sunset]

Ok anyhow dreams given up, space travel, scuba diving, corvette ownership, some of them lost their appeal as I enjoy my life more now..

 

[frayne]

Why would you not not move to digital movie making, it is vastly cheaper, actually once you have a camera and memory card, it is free.

I used to do photography, had my own darkroom, I moved to digital as quickly as I could, back when a digital camera was only 1.5 Meg vs (35mm which is about 25 Meg).

My thoughts exactly.

 

[bclover]

Why would you not not move to digital movie making, it is vastly cheaper, actually once you have a camera and memory card, it is free.

I used to do photography, had my own darkroom, I moved to digital as quickly as I could, back when a digital camera was only 1.5 Meg vs (35mm which is about 25 Meg).

My thoughts exactly.

Sidebar.

Actually I know a number of professional photographers who while work with digital still enjoy using film.
One of my friends, Andy who runs a popular 6 week class intro to photography starts out his students using film cameras before they start using their digital.

I'm a phone camera gal so I'm not in this race but evidently film still has quite a following.

 

[Walt34]

At various times I wanted a Corvette, a speedboat, an airplane (which I actually did own for two years in my 20's). While I could swing the Corvette I just don't want it that bad. Same for the boat and airplane, and since DW has no interest in any of those things I think it would be selfish of me to expend that much of discretionary funds for them. Her hobbies are friends and family and spoiling the grandnieces and grandnephews.

So, my hobbies are digital photography, which is essentially free after the investment in gear and software, and small radio control model airplanes that I can fly in the back yard. And I find that I'm quite content and satisfied with that.

 

[BreathFree]

Sixties muscle cars, and old trucks. I've owned several, but never was able to afford to build one the way I wanted to due to costs. Unfortunately, cars and deep sea fishing are the only thing I have ever had a passion for. Both are ex$pen$ive. I still hold out hope that one day after fire I'll be able to fix up my 66 mustang fastback. I gave up on the offshore fishing boat.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

Perhaps since I have always been quite pragmatic, my dreams have been the same (no desire for luxury cars, yachts, luxury travel and such). If it really pains you, upon significant reflection, and that pain does not go away in time, i would not retire until you can pursue both hobbies. My retirement dreams may be modest (having a number of pets and caring for them well, some travel, eating out whenever I want to, paying others for most tho not all home maintenance, continued charitable giving), but ER would not be the happy and quite satisfied experience that it is if i were not able to comfortable enjoy them.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

I've always wanted to build a custom home that would be great for entertaining, especially after my sister built a fabulous custom house. Highly unlikely that's going to happen unless there's some really crazy unexpected inheritance stuff that occurs.

We have not sacrificed travel. We try to travel with all of our vacation days and long weekends.

Everything else is kind of a delayed gratification as I'm hoping the margins of safety for the retirement nestegg will not be required.

 

[dadu007]

Since you asked:
I have my feet big time in the digital imaging realm, too (still photography and video; prosumer-level). There are pros and cons to both technologies, and times and places more suited for each. As you indicate, costs for digital photography are almost negligible, unless you start in with printing photos on your own.

Just as an aside, Super 8 color film is about $30+ per 3-minute roll, processing is another $30. The film is mostly negative now, too, which means you can't project it, you have to have it scanned and converted to a video file. A really good scan can cost $100-$200 dollars. So, you're in for about $250/roll. Just for 3 minutes. Very cool, but very costly!)

For me personally, the analogue (film) world still has a bit of a mystery to it. Unpredictable; slows you down...makes you consider your imaging decisions more precisely. The result is an actual object you can touch and smell; tactile. More of a craftsmanship feel to it. Digital can easily move into the spray and pray, "chimping" mode. Google it ;-) Big lover of the vintage mechanical hardware, too...Also, archiving film is way more dependable and longer lasting than digital files. No contest.

Oh boy, you've got me started! You can see it's a definite interest for me.

Thanks for the feedback so far; I kinda feel like it has to be an all-in or nothing-at-all decision, which may be wrong-headed or a personality flaw. Dabbling doesn't quite scratch the itch, but indulging freely costs a pretty penny and is not good for the balance sheet. I guess I want to be clear about my motivations before selling any equipment and not have "seller's remorse"....

 

[travelover]

Gave up half a shabby, shared cube in a windowless basement office building, a boss who thought I worked for the company 24/7 and was open to new assignments / unannounced travel over the weekend and a company that was facing impending bankruptcy.

But now, after almost 10 years, I've gotten over the sacrifice.

 

[highlow65]

humm,
for me "dreams" are more like ongoing "processes". they will change and morph over time. I love to bake, pretty good at it also and for a time I dreamed of opening my own bakery. then I actually signed up for culinary school. first the tuition was outrageous (30K for a Bachelors in Pastry arts), next it was an excellent program and after I found out all that went into owning my own bakery, I no longer had the same dream.
I never really "gave up" on my dreams just simply modified them or put them on hold.
I always dream of more travel but some times other thins take precedent.
I wanted to stay home with my kids, that was a choice we made even though it definitely meant working longer.

Maybe rephrase it,

$$ wise it was a good move not going the bakery route, they are notoriously hard businesses to make a profit on. They end up being very expensive hobbies.

 

[REWahoo]

$$ wise it was a good move not going the bakery route, they are notoriously hard businesses to make a profit on. They end up being very expensive hobbies.

+1

Years ago a good friend and co-worker pulled $70K out of his 401k and combined that with who-knows-how-much additional $ to open a bakery. The plan was for him to continue to work at megacorp while his wife ran the bakery. After years of planning and months of preparation, wife found out on opening day she was pregnant - with #6.

He kept it going for almost a year before exhaustion forced him to throw in the towel.

 

[Aerides]

I always wanted a somewhat bigger house (maybe a 4/3, 2300+ sq feet). Always wanted a separate powder room - the type for dinner party guests (that we never have) with toilet/sink only, that "half bath" extra. Also some kind of water view , even just if a florida fake-lake (many housing devs start with draining marshy land, plopping in a fake lake for overflow, and building around it and selling "water" as premium.

But that would mean about another $100 - $150k on top of our current home value, plus moving expenses, and oh yeah... at least $5k or more in increased taxes every year. So it would tack on about another 3 years of working vs. ER'ing when we did.

I consider it a deferred dream. You know those little crazy lines in firecalc where you end up with 5x your assets in 10 years? If that happens - we move! If not, I like our 3/2 just fine, and DH would be quite happy to stay here forever.

 

[Souschef]

I have been very fortunate in not having to give up many of my dreams. I finally got to fly a B-25, and next month I am going to learn how to run a diesel switch engine.
The RR society I belong to was just given a 23 ton diesel switcher and I want to run it
I decided at my age skydiving was out, and the Virgin spacecraft flight was out of reach financially

 

[W2R]

I have made a hobbies of film photography and Super 8 film moviemaking.
Unfortunately, the $$$ required for keeping BOTH of these related pursuits and working towards FIRE do not make sense or add up, based on my projected income until and after retirement.
I can keep doing still film photography and achieve my financial goals, but I have to let the Super 8 film goals go. Going to sell the S8 equipment.
I am very sad about that.
What dreams did you have to give up to retire on track?

None.

"very sad"? Whew. That's rugged. You know, if you just aren't quite ready to retire, that is not a crime. It's OK if you wait. And moreover, it's completely OK to just continue to work every day until the day you die if that is what will make you happy. I don't think you should retire at all if it is going to make you feel very sad.

 

[MRG]

Daytrading.

 

[ESRwannabe]

I did some traveling when I was younger and honestly I prefer to just watch a tv show on the cool places I'm in interested instead of go there myself (egyptian pyramids, ancient greece/rome, ancient monoliths, etc). I highly value being able to sleep in my own bed, and I do not enjoy the act of traveling (long time sitting in a cramped car/plane).

For food I believe I can make any dish I like just as well as anybody else. The only problem I have is the time to do it. So if I were retired I'd make my own fancy food.

I don't care at all about impressing other people (unless it impacts my employment). So I don't do much expensive consumerism, and would do even less in retirement.

When I think about my life time dreams, its just to be healthy. Own a small house. Have a pet dog, and spend my time on my hobbies every day (mostly just reading, watching movies, and playing video games).

 

[Walt34]

Now THAT is a neat toy to play with!

 

[DrRoy]

It's not exactly giving up a dream but I have always bought inexpensive cars and kept them a long time, and also only bought as much house as we needed, not what we could technically afford.