Boat Owners Are Rich?

[ahicks]

Myself, I stopped caring what others think about me/what I do a long time ago. It's just not important to me. It's not a part of who I really am. I tend to hold those cards pretty closely. Think whatever you like.....

For what it's worth, when I owned a plane, I noticed others who owned planes rarely drove new cars. They drove 10 year old cars, just like the one I was driving....

This led me to believe, that when it comes to our possessions, most of the time it's about priorities.

 

[LuvBoating]

Funny, but when we lived in Parker, CO, a co-worker of mine where I worked at in Denver, after I told her that there was a house for sale in Parker, told me "why would I want to live in a rich and snobby area like Parker?" She didn't know we had an older (1989) bowrider then and I didn't want to tell her so she have more leverage to bad-mouth where we lived. I simply looked at her and said "there are those that can afford to live in a nice area and Highlands Ranch is even more "uppity" than Parker."

But, people spend their money in different ways. A lot of folks think that somebody that owns a home with a nice pool in the back, are rich (or well-off") and many are. Boats aren't cheap to maintain, especially if not done by the owner, but then again, going on a hunting trip isn't cheap and neither are many other things.

Sometimes I think people who use to watch Robin Leach's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, take hearing "we've got a boat" and think about that show and the boats that were in it.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

I do not fall under any category of "rich" except that I am rich with a wonderful family - which is most important anyway. A boat is something I have always wanted because I love being on the water. We don't have cable or directv - we watch tv over the air with an antenna. We rarely go to movies. We don't spend ridiculous amounts of money to go look through binoculars to see a football game or concert. We paid off our vehicles and didn't trade in on new ones because they are good vehicles. I work 2 jobs to have a little extra

Everyone makes sacrifices for the hobbies they enjoy. Those people that say all boat owners are rich - ask them what they do for fun. Everyone spends money on hobbies of some sort. Its all about personal choice.

Now some boat owners - are stinkin' rich - and good for them! They made it up the food chain, and deserve the spoils that they find enjoyable too. Maybe someday one of those will invite me out on their boat (if they don't mind slumming with the commoners for a bit.. LOL)

 

[capecodtodd]

I think most people think that a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into. I saw a funny cartoon the other day where a guy was asked what it was like to own a boat and he said stand in a cold shower and tear up $100 bills.

It is perception. Having a towable boat means you need something solid and strong to pull it with and most choose pickups and those are not cheap. Having big toys means you need a toy hauler.
Having a boat that is docked or moored means that you have money to spend on all the fees associated with having essentially a cottage on the water.
Yesterday I was out on a friends boat and the sea was too rough so we hit the river and the boats along there were amazing. There were all sorts of boats along the river worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more resting at docks in front of homes worth millions. Now that is rich.

 

[dwco5051]

I have been on a 163' yacht that burns 13.6 gallons of fuel per second at full throttle. they budget $150k USD in fuel per day at sea.

my 75 gallon tank with a $200 per outing trip is cheap.

I spent a lot of time on several different 437' "Yachts" that would burn up around 30 barrels of fuel (1200 gallons) an hour at efficient cruising speed and several times that a flank speed. Fortunately the cost was split by about 300 million owners.

 

[jkust]

Just buy a couple of supercharged waverunners if you want to literally burn money on gas. We go through 37 gallons on each waverunner in a weekend plus whatever my 350mag mpi uses. We are fortunate to be in a position from hard work and risk taking that we do not have to think about money.

 

[Leardriver]

I don't have any guilt about being successful. I am not ashamed of a lifetime of good choices, hard work, sacrifice, and determination.

 

[ajgraz]

Do you work for a living?

If so, then you are rich and the gummint will tax you accordingly.

 

[jkust]

I don't have any guilt about being successful. I am not ashamed of a lifetime of good choices, hard work, sacrifice, and determination.

So fantastically few people are in this position. When given the choice of doing thing A or thing B where as thing A is difficult and provides no instant gratification, people chose thing B. Then those choices accumulate over time and suddenly you are 50 and still have a mortgage and live check to check and utilize credit to live a middle class lifestyle.

I'm now over 40 and it is interesting to see how few people from your past have truly made it though we all had the same opportunity. Of course many folks will say that you were lucky or I've even heard the argument that most people just aren't as smart and so they didn't have the same chance at success with is really stretching.

I say we are 'fortunate' to be in a position but the reality is that my wife and I simply outworked and out hustled everyone and the money followed. Not because we are super geniuses but because we've seen and lived being poor as children and we both agreed that poor sucked. What doesn't change is our conservatism. While I see people loading their 100+k boats at the public access for the day with 15 years of payments, my wife and I have 7 figures of real estate on the lake free and clear in a large portfolio of real estate also free and clear but have a 20k boat if i'm lucky with two eleven year old cars. Those people chose choice b or so it would seem when chatting with them at the sandbar.

I suppose my take is own your choices and don't look to a third party to fill in the gaps of the bad ones with the forced charity intermediary which unfortunately is rampant. Not here but in the general populace. Luckily there is no shortage of success in this country. If you aren't a wealthy person, luckily you still can be if you want. Other than one of my neighbors who won one of the largest lotteries in history, you just have to do the work.

As to your point, do I feel guilty for making good choices and having it now be evident in our lifestyle....absolutely not.

 

[JimS123]

Other than one of my neighbors who won one of the largest lotteries in history, you just have to do the work.

Years ago one of my neighbors won millions as well. He already lived in the newest and biggest house on the street. He spent $8 every week on lottery tickets. He had a professional job at the time that would have paid ~$120,000 in todays money.

After his windfall, he bought an even bigger house, new cars and trucks and what would be a $80,000 boat today.

What he DIDN'T do is stop buying tickets nor quit his job. Last time I saw him he still had all the new stuff (now quite old) and he was just beginning retirement.

I guess he was a type A person...

 

[jkust]

Years ago one of my neighbors won millions as well. He already lived in the newest and biggest house on the street. He spent $8 every week on lottery tickets. He had a professional job at the time that would have paid ~$120,000 in todays money.

After his windfall, he bought an even bigger house, new cars and trucks and what would be a $80,000 boat today.

What he DIDN'T do is stop buying tickets nor quit his job. Last time I saw him he still had all the new stuff (now quite old) and he was just beginning retirement.

I guess he was a type A person...

Yeah, this guy went crazy with ultra high end stuff as well but he's pretty young. He won many hundreds of millions.
Oddly enough I have another neighbor that, though older than us, they are 100% choice B people. It's odd but their take is that they could die tomorrow so spend every dime today and payments on everything. No retirement savings, don't own a house. They do not have high income jobs so their stuff is all run of the mill but it's new and its all on credit.