Wealth and the getting thereof

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telomerase

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It would seem from reading a few posts that most THR members are either millionaires, or, at the very least, unmarried. How in the world can you guys afford to take a day off every month to shoot (let alone buy the toys)? Anyway, I'm tired of working two jobs and never getting a day off. What's your secret to wealth?
 
Who takes days off?

There are 168 hours in the week. If you sleep 56, work 40, groom and intereact with family another 21, eat, sleep and exercise another 21 (three hours a day) that leaves 30 hours totally free, more than a day, or four and a half hours each day. Even if you're working 60 hours a week, which in my book means you have made some serious career choice errors, you have ten hours a week totally free.

When people say they are too busy to do something, it means either:

1. I have several small children, an excuse I accept;
2. I don't really want to do it anyway, so I'm not willing to give it a higher priority than all these other things; or (and most commonly)
3. I watch too much television. The average American is up to about eight hours a day. Cut that out, there's lots of time for other stuff.
 
>If you sleep 56, work 40, groom and intereact with family another 21, eat, sleep and exercise another 21 (three hours a day) that leaves 30 hours totally free, more than a day, or four and a half hours each day. Even if you're working 60 hours a week,

I don't know anyone who works less than 80 (don't let your kids grow up to be researchers), and you forgot commuting time (prob average 10 hours in DFW). But I don't watch TV, groom, or interact with family, so that should leave plenty of time... something is wrong here. Oh, I see it; you left out doing house repairs, cleaning house, and cooking. So if I move to a tent...
 
it's all about choices

I have 1/2 the year off so there is plenty of time for shooting


........golf, fishing (today), chasing women, mt. biking (today), hiking, did I mention fishing??
 
We stopped buying toys - trying to pay credit cards off (see - just because we buy toys, does not mean we have the money to do it). We both work a 37.5 hour week and don't have kids. The house is 3.5 years old and does not need any major fixes yet (thank God), so only an occasional remodeling bug makes us do stuff to the house. We are not millionaires but make enough between two salaries to pay our bills, save for retirement, and have some money left for fun. We shoot once a week or so. 9 mm is cheap. We don't shoot outdoors nearly as often - we try to go once a month or so.

I agree, if you have to work more than a 40-50 hour week and you are not a police officer/doctor/fireman (i.e., jobs where people's lives are dependent on you), I would maybe look at a possible career change.

Sheslinger
 
I'm still young, so I feel like I have years to earn later, though I do have a 401K and other savings and such. No kids, don't really want any at all.

With overtime at work, I have been working about 48 or 60 hours a week on my 12 hour shifts. I am paying off old purchases more than anything though it seems. But with those shifts, I have complete days off, with nothing to do, but since my wife doesn't like being ditched, if she doesn't feel like going to the range, that usually means I don't go...
 
I worked for 31 years to get to this point. Went through the kids, home costs, car costs etc. Now I have the time, an understanding wife and almost all the guns I want (I have all I need, for sure, but it's not the same thing). But I also planned my work life to reach this point, and I've been blessed with a great retirement plan.
 
I'm 21, married, in college full time, and I work about 50-70 hours per week (during the semester I only work 30). When does that leave time for shooting? Almost never nowadays. But this is a temporary stage. Eventually this will all pay off and I'll have a good paying job where I get every single weekend to myself. I have some very nice firearms, and I'm going to be taking training classes soon with Awerbuck. I also just bought my first Mercedes-Benz last December. Notice that was "I", not my rich daddy ;) Aside from school loans, I essentially have no debt. I grew up in a house that was almost 1000 whole square feet. Being independently wealthy is my long-term goal.

Have you ever talked to a licensed financial planner? As far as gun tips go, quit buying guns since you probably don't need them. When your financial situation improves, buy the things that you've wanted. And nevereverever buy them on credit. I would gladly offer financial advice except that I'm prohibited under NASD regulation.
 
I have had a very strict personal rule about only working 40 hours per week. Maybe if there is a rare emergency I would work more.

My next to last boss thought everyone in the IS dept. should work 10% overtime. Did not matter if there was work - he just thought it made us all look "busy" and kept us safe from the bean counters. Whatever. I never did it. I was on salary and I have no interest in working for free.

Anyway - we are moving to San Antonio in a month or so and we have decided to buy the cheapest house we can stand :). We are hoping to find one we like (3br, 2ba, 1400 sf, wood floors, big yard) for $65-75k. We should be able to put down 20% and have a house payment well under $500 - maybe $500 with tax and insurance. That will be less than 1/4th our house payment now :what:

Our cars are paid for and we will be debt free except mortgage and a small student loan.

My dream is to only have to work about 30 hours per week (and how about 3 10 hour days? w00t!).

I used to want a giant home in a fancy part of town, an expensive car, all the goodies, etc. I managed to get most of what I wanted but I did not like the cost. Do not let your stuff own you. If you have to stay in a job you hate and if you cant make the important events in your kids lives, then you are not free and your stuff probably owns you.

My son is growing up so fast. The past few months when I was working, he would cry so much when I left in the morning. I would come home and he is doing something new and my wife would say "yeah, he does that all the time...". It sucks.

Everyone on my street is selling their homes right now. We have all been here for 2+ years and most of the home prices started with a 1 when they were new, and now most of them start with a 3. So what is everyone doing? They are freaking buying BIGGER houses! Rates are lower so they can borrow more, their equity gives them more leverage so why not buy a giant 3800sf home? I mean, your kids deserve to live in a giant, empty house while their parents work dawn to dusk right?

I will probably have to keep working 40 hours for a while - we are looking into what it would take to pay off the home in about 10 years. Then - no house payment, no car payments.

Sure you make less money in some parts of the country - San Antonio has a 80% rating on the Robert Half IT salary survey (meaning if you average 50k in most of the US, you will average 40k in SA) but when you look at how much of your money goes to housing, to me, it makes sense to live in a place where the low home prices pay you more then the increased wages of, say, San Francisco. Just my thoughts....
 
Time, Money, Priorities

I'm married, have five kids, and work part-time (full time in Nov/Dec). I've also got an occasional (two or three days out of town a month) job as a carpenter's flunky.

I've got both less and more time than most people -- it comes in odd chunks here and there, and some weeks go by when I'm so busy I can't even remember my own name. Other times the only thing I have to do is to chase kids and watch them grow. We're homeschoolers, and that takes time too -- but again, it takes time in chunks rather than steadily, since the kids are getting bigger and more able to take charge of their own learning.

It's a two minute drive to the range, the kids are old enough to watch themselves for an hour or so, and shooting is important to my mental health.

A buddy and I worked out a barter deal for a lot of our shooting activities, and we take turns reloading ammo for both of us to use. Yeah, that takes time too, but again, being able to spend time at the range is important to me so we do what we need to do in order to make that happen.

My husband works roughly 50 hours a week, but it's all afternoon/evening work -- so we have lots of time to do things during daylight hours. We watch no TV, except an occasional show on the VCR. We do drag the kids lots of places, museums and zoos and whatnot, and spend plenty of 'weekends' (midweek on his schedule) camping out. He's recently started shooting too and so that means yet more ammo to reload -- but it also means more time together, so it evens out.

pax
 
Define wealth.
Its not what you make,per se', but what one does with what they have. Living within means and not keeping up with Jone's.

I've had money, I have been divorced, I have raised my sibs, supported family in times of sickness and hard times. I have also lost everything('natural disaster'). Currently going through a dry spell, gave up another life to go back to school, times may be hard, family mostly forgot what I did.

Do I miss or could I use the 50K I spent in one year to keep a sis and kids safe during DV, the emergency surgery I paid for another family member, The cancer treatments and and funeral for an ex-BIL--yeah.Right after my ex divorced me she became seriously ill, almost died our history goes back 30 years . We had promised her son a trip upon his graduation, a once in a lifetime deal( before divorce ever came about). Another large in cash pkg delivered, but it was important that the kid make this trip. His real dad had mentally abused that kid. My word is my honor and important he see this. Money went for the trip, and a home nurse for mom. Stupid ? But I did the right thing, and tho broke I'm wealthy with friends. I can hold my head up and know I did the right thing.

Taking on-line classes I babysit an old friend in the hopital, do my homework, He died. I'd been up for 24 hours already but I'd promised my neice to watch her play T ball that next morning. I went and used a rat-holed twenty to buy ice cream for the team. Wealthy in the fact my friend didn't die alone. I got more than twenty bucks back watching my neice run the bases and getting ice cream for the team.

I guess its perspective and priorites. I shoot and train with an old friend on his property. I use reloads. Not bad training to shoot after being up for 36 hrs...motor skills and stuff different...might come in handy...
 
Between raising a young family and establishing my law practice between 60-80 hours a week, I rarely get to go shooting, but when I do, I spend all day from 7am until the light fails, shooting everything I own.

Doesn't stop me from posting here momentarily during the workweek or spending a lot of mental energy and money with a huge firearms customization project every other year. Besides there is always vicarious decisionmaking to be made here through the uncertainty of others posting here.

".38+p snubbie or .357 Mag snubbie?" It's a question I'd normally never ponder as my huge frame and gigantic mitts make a snubby feel like a pepperbox, but here I get to chew on it and say what I would decide as if I were confronted with the choice myself.

Interacting here is not as good as gun buying or shooting, but it beats the heck out of TV and the people I interact with on a daily basis who seem to only know what crime dramas teach them about firearms.
 
Of course there are many definitions of wealth like others have said. But since the original question seemed geared towards monetary wealth, that is what I focused on in my post. Like Pendragon said, there comes a point where your stuff owns you. I'd prefer to have lots of savings/investments plus a lot of stuff that I own. I think everyone's long term goals of wealth can simply be defined as freedom. If you can live on 20K/year and be free, great! If you need $250K per year, that's great too. But just dont' focus on the amount, that is for amateurs. I know people who make over $500K per year and they are anything but free. Assess what you own of real value and see what else you need to feel free...and be realistic! Then its a good idea to establish long term solutions to get there with a licensed financial planner.
 
Only eat out for special occassions. Eating out is hellah expensive and requires hellah bling.
 
Flagrant cheating

>I work 7-5:45, four days a week.

>My commute is a 5 to 10 minute walk.

>John...divorced and out of debt at last.

Well, duhhh. Anyone can be solvent if they're not married, John; I'm disappointed that you would stoop to such flagrant cheating. I appreciate all the thoughts on avoiding rampant consumerism, TV-watching and vampirism (although unfortunately I don't have any of those things, nor can I save money by quitting smoking, drinking, cannibalism, or gambling). re1973, I've been there... which is largely why I'm broke (not that I've noticed that financial distress gives me a wealth of friends; you either have a really good attitude or a really good imagination).

Daniel Flory: I have one thing of real value, an old dog (I have an IRA account but I'm sure Congress will find a way to steal it before I retire). As far as the financial planner goes, if he would come over and guard the credit cards 24/7, then he could be of real value.

And Pax: you are clearly a mythical character (probably one of those implausible Heinlein characters), so it's easy for you to keep expenses down.

I thank everyone for their thoughts. Except that rotten cheater John.
 
The youth want everything now.
It takes some time.

Never would have made it working for someone else and making them rich.
It took me 18 years of hard work to build up my business.

I own my own time now.
Dictate what I want to do on daily basis.

Its good to be King.
 
And Pax: you are clearly a mythical character (probably one of those implausible Heinlein characters), so it's easy for you to keep expenses down.
Click to expand...
Mythical and implausible? That's odd. Usually people just say I'm impossible. :p

pax

If you prefer 'I think, therefore I am' to 'Nom sum qualis eram,' you are putting Descartes before Horace. -- James Thurber
 
I have a :cuss: job. Last week i worked 59 hours in 5 days:banghead:

Most of the guns i have came from layaway. I just put 100 bucks down on a P97. :D




As for the career change! Well mine will start Sept 10 .



On Sept 10 i will be leaving for Army Basic Training! :uhoh:
 
I am a very lucky person job wise. But I understand what it is like to be poor. I was poor once. I lucked into the position I am in now and can buy just about any toy I want save big ticket items like planes or boats.

I can't really say how or why, I just lucked into it, and am humble and thankful.

If you are young, find a niche, make yourself indispensable to a large Fortune 500 company, and stay put. I am 50 and have worked at said company for 31 years. I am on call 24X7 as a mainframe systems administrator, but I have delegated responsibility to underlings and written documentation, and so I am rarely called.

Word to the wise young turks. If you want to name your price in 5 years, learn IBM mainframe OS/390 MVS assembler language. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it. Web techs are a dime a dozen nowadays, so learn assembler, cause those old boys with that key to knowledge are quickly retiring to a beach in Florida.
 
I'm 27 and own 2 of my own businesses. I pretty much work when I want. Just as a little motivation for ya... If you want different results, do something different. If you're broke, that's evidence that what you're doing isn't working for you.

Jits
 
When I was just out of high school, I did an embarassing stint in a multi-level-marketing business. Not disparaging those who make it work, but not my cup of tea.

Anyway - the one thing I remember most and that served me the best out of all the stuff they told me was this:

Everyone is broke.

People who make more money are just "broke at a higher level".
Click to expand...

It took me almost 15 years to understand what that meant. On my way to here, I met a sales lady who made high 6 figures, possibly more. She spent 50,000 on window coverings for her new home - and she essentially lived check to check. It blew my mind.

To me, being wealthy would be having 6-12 months expenses in the bank and being able to cover a month of expenses with half my monthly income and still have money left.

I am opinionated and outspoken. I worked for a boss who did not like that aspect of my character. I am pretty good at channeling it for the good of the company, but he would stiffle me at every turn. I wanted to tell him to go take a leap - but I was too busy trying to keep my job because I was owned by stuff. It drove me crazy. I hated it. But I had stuff that I had to keep - so I sucked it up. Dont get me wrong, I'm not a crank - I was an analyst and I saw genuine security and risk issues that posed serious threats and I was severely threatend when I brought them up in a professional manner. That sucks. That rubs me wrong. But there I was - eating it up and asking for more.
 
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