Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
CelestialScribe
Jan 16, 2008
I need someone to tell me whether I'm about to be bad with money.

I am 28, and earn $87,000 a year. I earn about $30,000 a year from my small business, and that amount is growing. My employer puts 9.5% of my pay into superannuation, (401k), and I contribute an extra 6% from my before-tax pay. I have $41,000 in my super, and my wife has $11,000, although she won't add to that until she goes back to work in a few years.

I have six months' expenses, savings in every category including for Christmas, car repair, bills, etc. I save 20% of my pay and my stay-at-home wife and I are saving up for a house. No debt. Own both cars.

My cash position right now in total is about $40,000. The reason it's so low is because:

1. I have had medical and dental bills I've had to pay over the past couple of years, that were not covered by insurance. ($2,700).
2. I had to buy a CPAP machine for my sleep apnea. ($1,400).
3. My wife's family lives in the States, (we are in Australia), and so we have visited them, and there was also an emergency visit due to a death. (~$5,000)
4. Car repair, speeding ticket, (yes, stupid). Around $1,400.
5. I am continually saving for travel overseas because my stupid inlaws won't come here.
6. My wife had a baby and stopped working two years ago. Baby expenses, etc. Truthfully not all that much as babies are cheap. But, still.

We've been able to cashflow all of these things.

I have $8,000 in savings for the deposit now, and over $40,000 by the end of the year. (Based on work that has been contracted). That's not including any work I get between now and then, which based on the past few years could be as high as $30,000. I need $80,000 for a deposit.

I want to buy a new bass guitar. I play in a cover band, (that does make money), but I don't need this bass, it's a toy. The bass is $3,200 retail, but a guy is selling a great quality one for $1,400 and it's only five years old.

I have $8,600 in small business funds coming in the next two weeks. Would it be bad to take $1,400 of that and buy the bass? Yes, I am putting money away for taxes.

I think everything is okay. But is that a stupid thing to do? What am I missing?

EDIT: Anticipating the, "where does your money go", question, a lot of it goes to travel. Having a family that doesn't want to travel here loving sucks. Just to get to the states costs more than $3,000 in flights alone.

CelestialScribe fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Mar 11, 2016

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

leper khan
Dec 28, 2010
Honest to god thinks Half Life 2 is a bad game. But at least he likes Monster Hunter.

How many $3k flights per year do you make? I assume that's round trip?

e:trim

leper khan fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Mar 11, 2016

CelestialScribe
Jan 16, 2008
Usually one. We plan for one. Next year it'll be none. I say 3,000 but it can be as high as 4,500 and that doesn't include food, etc. The entire trip usually costs around 6,000.

EDIT: And yes, that's round trip.

CelestialScribe fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Mar 11, 2016

leper khan
Dec 28, 2010
Honest to god thinks Half Life 2 is a bad game. But at least he likes Monster Hunter.
I would probably just adjust some of my discretionary budgets (entertainment, eating out, etc) down and buy it, but I'm generally irresponsible and not great with money myself.

LLCoolJD
Dec 8, 2007

Musk threatens the inorganic promotion of left-wing ideology that had been taking place on the platform

Block me for being an unironic DeSantis fan, too!
I think you should buy the bass. If you've agonized so much over this one purchase, you are probably responsible enough to handle the cost.

Schneider Inside Her
Aug 6, 2009

Please bitches. If nothing else I am a gentleman
Buy the bass dude. Enjoy your life

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer

redweird posted:

Buy the bass dude. Enjoy your life

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005

redweird posted:

Buy the bass dude. Enjoy your life

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22
Buy that poo poo. Money is a vehicle to get what you want out of life.

CelestialScribe
Jan 16, 2008
Thanks people. I don't know what I was expecting. BFC likes to yell at people, haha.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

CelestialScribe posted:

Thanks people. I don't know what I was expecting. BFC likes to yell at people, haha.

If you were like hey I have 20k of consumer debt on high interest credit cards and no savings and no functional planning or impulse control, you would get yelled at.

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

If you were like hey I have 20k of consumer debt on high interest credit cards and no savings and no functional planning or impulse control, you would get yelled at.

Seriously, this.


CelestialScribe, congrats, you're responsible. You're allowed to have nice things.

SubjectVerbObject
Jul 27, 2009
Suze Orman's 'Can I Afford It?' segment is pure gold for these kind of things. Half the callers are "I am in debt to my ears and my wages are being garnished, BUT I WAAAANT IT!" and the other half are "I work 2 jobs so I can max my retirement and pay off my house in 5 years. Is it ok if I get pizza with 2 toppings?'

pig slut lisa
Mar 5, 2012

irl is good


Imagine all the rice and beans you could buy with $1,400 :downs:

Cast_No_Shadow
Jun 8, 2010

The Republic of Luna Equestria is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, cynical population of 714m are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich.

I was really hoping you were spending $3000+ on a first instrument cause you felt like learning while being up to your eyeballs in debt and just had your car repoed. Maye with dreams of being a rockstar and paying it off when your famous. Thats bad with money. Congrats on not being that or owning any horses.

CelestialScribe
Jan 16, 2008

Cast_No_Shadow posted:

I was really hoping you were spending $3000+ on a first instrument cause you felt like learning while being up to your eyeballs in debt and just had your car repoed. Maye with dreams of being a rockstar and paying it off when your famous. Thats bad with money. Congrats on not being that or owning any horses.

Haha, no. I've played for 14 years, and the last instrument I bought was my Ibanez in 2008.

The cover band I play in just started at the beginning of last year, and we do weddings, parties etc. We managed to make $3,000 a piece in the first year, and we've already exceeded bookings for the next 12 months - and we scored a residency at a local bistro/club that pays us pretty well to do a few sets every second Saturday.

So, I hate to call this an "investment", because it's not, but it's not as if I'm jamming to tunes alone in my garage.

n8r
Jul 3, 2003

I helped Lowtax become a cyborg and all I got was this lousy avatar
If you need CPAP because you're a fatty, lose 10lb and use a new guitar as the reward.

Elephanthead
Sep 11, 2008


Toilet Rascal

Cast_No_Shadow posted:

I was really hoping you were spending $3000+ on a first instrument cause you felt like learning while being up to your eyeballs in debt and just had your car repoed. Maye with dreams of being a rockstar and paying it off when your famous. Thats bad with money. Congrats on not being that or owning any horses.

This may be the best strategy such a person may have that has even a slim chance of success. No point in declaring bankruptcy if you can still borrow 3k at 24% interest from guitar world.

CelestialScribe
Jan 16, 2008

n8r posted:

If you need CPAP because you're a fatty, lose 10lb and use a new guitar as the reward.

That isn't how sleep apnea works. But my weight is fine.

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
Buy the bass. Save a percentage of your earnings from the cover band so that you won't have to worry about your next instrument.

CelestialScribe
Jan 16, 2008

moana posted:

Buy the bass. Save a percentage of your earnings from the cover band so that you won't have to worry about your next instrument.

Good point.

QuarkJets
Sep 8, 2008

i was hoping that buying a bass guitar was like your idea of a wise financial investment because you'd become super famous or you'd at least get some groupies who might buy you dinner from time to time, which would save money, so really you can't afford not to buy a bass guitar

Elephanthead
Sep 11, 2008


Toilet Rascal
Won't the lead singer sleep with your boyfriend or girlfriend if you are the bass player? Has this been considered?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

spog
Aug 7, 2004

It's your own bloody fault.

CelestialScribe posted:

I think everything is okay. But is that a stupid thing to do? What am I missing?

Do you have permission from your wife to buy a new toy?

  • Locked thread