Who has money for other stuff

[skiadikt]

work situation has changed. more hours, less pay. health problems in the family. higher prices all around ... we have a great deal at our ski house so we still intend to ski as much as usual but we've reigned everything else in.

 

[Beetlenut]

The usual high energy/food and healthcare costs are taking an even bigger chunk of our income. I can only ski if I can get cheap lift tickets, so I joined ACE and have a friend who has a friend..... Now days, it practically kills me to have to pay full price for a lift ticket knowing there are other options out there. Unfortunately it's not always possible to plan ahead for a whole season of lift tickets when you have the basic necessities constantly staring you down!

 

[mattchuck2]

I feel as though I should be doing better than I am . . .

My wife and I both work at pretty decent jobs, but we always seem to run out of money at the end of the month. I guess I'm trying to follow Warp Daddy's strategery. We both contribute 10% of our salary to retirement (I'll also get a pension if I keep working for the State), and we own our house that we bought when I was 26 (and she was 24). It should be good in the long term, but since we're 100% in stocks, it hasn't worked out so well for us lately.

We probably wouldn't be able to afford skiing+equipment+trips if we didn't work at the mountain. It works out pretty well for us, because we get to ski, and we get paid for it. She would argue that it doesn't work out that well for her because she teaches all the time, with very little time for freeskiing. But I teach very few lessons a year (probably about two 1.5 hour lessons a weekend), so I'm in the trees as soon as we get snow in there.

As far as doing other stuff, In the summer, I spend most of my leftover money on Golf and Drinking. We don't eat out much, but I definitely like hanging out with some beers watching football. We also go to Brewfest and Oktoberfest-type festivals. Mmmm . . . Beer . . . .

So we have a plan for the future, but right now we're questioning whether it's worth putting in 30 years of this so that we could retire to some mountain town out West. Maybe we should just move out West now, and scrape by with the bare minimum.

Tough call . . . Slave to the Man for 30 years with solid future prospects, or Broke old ski bums with 30 years of skiing under our belts living off of social security?

 

[deadheadskier]

....the prospect of living off SS in a ski town would scare the heck out of me. Living expenses are WAY high from what experienced. I would go with option 1 in your scenario.....part of the reason I left ski town life behind

 

[Moe Ghoul]

I'm not even counting on SS or what watered down shape it takes in the next few years. I don't look too far past a coupla years horizon max. These ain't warp daddy's markets and economy anymore.

 

[hardline]

I'm not even counting on SS or what watered down shape it takes in the next few years. I don't look too far past a coupla years horizon max. These ain't warp daddy's markets and economy anymore.

SS whats that. it wont even exist when i retire. when i say retire i mean change locations and open another bussiness than is smaller in scale than what i do now.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

....the prospect of living off SS in a ski town would scare the heck out of me. Living expenses are WAY high from what experienced. I would go with option 1 in your scenario.....part of the reason I left ski town life behind

times two..I believe there will still be Social Security even for the younger AZers but the amount it is vs how much everything costs is going to be scant..I'll be happy to buy some lift tickets and hot dogs with my future Social Security. I really wish that money went into a private retirement account...but that's almost politics..oh well.

We all just have to keep squirreling money away..whatever we can..but hopefully not at the expense of enjoying everyday life..it's a tough balance. The amount I'd need for retirement is crazy...

 

[hardline]

....the prospect of living off SS in a ski town would scare the heck out of me. Living expenses are WAY high from what experienced. I would go with option 1 in your scenario.....part of the reason I left ski town life behind

funny thing is now all i can think about is getting back to a ski town. the cool things is i know have a career that would let me work from anywhere as well as set up a secondary ski town biz. i think slowing my life down a bit will help with my quality of life.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

funny thing is now all i can think about is getting back to a ski town. the cool things is i know have a career that would let me work from anywhere as well as set up a secondary ski town biz. i think slowing my life down a bit will help with my quality of life.

If you already have money in the bank, a skitown is great but if you want to carve out an existence for yourself..it's not so great..

 

[ccskier]

I am fortunate of a few things, 1 that my wife and I both have good jobs, she is a nurse and I work in an industry that everyone needs our product. We have cut back a bit over the past few years. She did work in finance and had a huge paycheck. Now I just don't buy the things like I did when we were "rich", the impulse buys, etc... Oh yeah, having a child has slowed down my personal spending, but her spending on him has increased. 2. I was fortunate to marry a gal who grew up in Northern Vt and family still has a house 15 minutes from the mountain. 3. I paid less than $400 for my pass, can't beat that.

Besides gas and usual expenses, I really don't have any ski costs. We will just drive my sedan up there more and leave the suv at home, the dog will just have to hang w/ his grandparents here. I also try to take at least 1 trip out west a season, that is usually pretty in-expensive, usually use tax money for it.

I also try to put at leat 6-10k/year in my 401k, + profit sharing, matching, etc... I was fortunate to buy a house, sell it make money, and put it into the house I have now. I am 30 and have my mind made up that I will not get a penny of social security, it is inevitable. People in the 30 year age bracket will need about $1million in retirement to live, or so they say.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

Other than our daughter we don't spend much on anything other than our mortgage, one car payment, and general living expenses. Right now we're trying to swing it on just my income, wife is taking time off to raise our daughter. I work in the industry so my out of pocket costs for skiing is miniscule...but I don't spend money on anything else...don't have it to spend. I could make 50% more for my position in another industry...but then I'd spend most of those thousands on getting my ski fix and would probably hate my job.

 

[Warp Daddy]

I think You''re going to NEED MORE than that if you're in your 30's now . !

1-2 million right now is a comfortable range

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I think You''re going to NEED MORE than that if you're in your 30's now . !

1-2 million right now is a comfortable range

I think my Dad was saying $3 million in the bank was his magic number..but he'll always have income in retirement due to having a business..

 

[severine]

Or just plan on skiing off a cliff before you run out.

Money is not my favorite subject right now. It will get better once I finish school and can contribute to the household income. Daycare is the enemy. When you'd have to pay $400+/week for 2 to attend, there really isn't any money made after paying the man, gas, clothing for work, etc. Not at my current income capability. This, too, shall pass and things will get better... just have to hang on until then.

 

[ccskier]

Or just plan on skiing off a cliff before you run out.

Money is not my favorite subject right now. It will get better once I finish school and can contribute to the household income. Daycare is the enemy. When you'd have to pay $400+/week for 2 to attend, there really isn't any money made after paying the man, gas, clothing for work, etc. Not at my current income capability. This, too, shall pass and things will get better... just have to hang on until then.

I am happy to say that our daycare cost are minimal, about $325/month, only goes 2 days a week to hang out with other kids. I couldn't imagine $1600/month, that is almost my mortgage.

 

[severine]

I am happy to say that our daycare cost are minimal, about $325/month, only goes 2 days a week to hang out with other kids. I couldn't imagine $1600/month, that is almost my mortgage.

Ridiculous, isn't it? It was $219/week for my daughter when I was still working full-time. Once my son came along, it actually would have been more (because they were both at the more expensive rate) but now that she'd be preschool, I was recently quoted by her old daycare provider that it would cost us $416/week. With the 10% discount for the older child. Gee, thanks. There is cheaper daycare out there, but it's hard to find reputable people. The center where my daughter used to attend was very good and had a curriculum (but it wasn't a specialized school either... it wasn't like Montessori or anything like that, which is appealing but uber expensive).

 

[Dr Skimeister]

Both my sons, 5 and 4 years old, attend Montessori school. The older is in the kindergarten level, the younger in the "pre-school". When we crunched the numbers, the cost differential wasn't significant to other daycare/preschool options. The Montessori program is far superior, though.

 

[Razor]

I can echo Warp Daddy in almost all respects. I'm retired with a public school teachers pension that covers all our expenses. That's a result of many years of living below our means, paying as we went for our two kids' college education, paying cash for cars,etc. Other than skiing, all our activities cost little (road and mountain biking, hiking, the beach, roller blading). We have no bills other than taxes and part of our health insurance, and household expenses. We've lost money in the market recently, but we're only 30% in equities. No need to take major risk. On the other hand, our two 30-something sons are struggling. We help them as much as we can, but I don't envy you youngsters out there.

 

[deadheadskier]

Ridiculous, isn't it? It was $219/week for my daughter when I was still working full-time. Once my son came along, it actually would have been more (because they were both at the more expensive rate) but now that she'd be preschool, I was recently quoted by her old daycare provider that it would cost us $416/week. With the 10% discount for the older child. Gee, thanks. There is cheaper daycare out there, but it's hard to find reputable people. The center where my daughter used to attend was very good and had a curriculum (but it wasn't a specialized school either... it wasn't like Montessori or anything like that, which is appealing but uber expensive).

just tagging this for reference for the next time my better half gets babies on her brain :lol:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

On the other hand, our two 30-something sons are struggling. We help them as much as we can, but I don't envy you youngsters out there.

Do you older guys on here feel like costs/expenses/prices have gone up way more than wages??? I know my Dad was making $50,000 a year back in the 70s...before I was born and he lived really well and had a BMW..now alot of single guys are still making $50,000 a year or less and living pretty much paycheck to paycheck..add a wife and kids to the equation and I don't know how some people do it. I guess bypassing going out for meals, travel and non-essentials. Young Adults have so much more now..everybody has a computer, cell phone, internet service, DVD collections, some have fancy TVs...and alot of people go crazy on their credit cards. I know most people my age save nothing. I have some savings but if I were to lose my job..I'd be screwed..good thing I have job security..