Rock Stars love excess. Some rock stars are living lifestyles that require hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly to maintain. Lifestyles with expensive toys, multiple houses, and many luxuries but all of those extras have to be maintained. I know many people who have high priced toys and gear sitting in their garages, rarely used. Some friends have bought boats, ATVs, RVs, and motorcycles with the best of intentions, all of them were hoping to add a little adventure to their lifestyle. Now those high dollar purchases own them! Often my friends turn me down for adventures because they have to work to make the payments for the toys. They have let their freedom go in exchange for stuff.
Tip: Create a personal entertainment calculation for luxury purchases.
Mine is: The item must produce entertainment at a cost of $2 per hour. For example, a movie out for four people costs approximately $45 for two hours for 4 people. Thus $45/2hr = $22.5 per hr, then divide the hourly rate by the 4 people involved 22.5/4 = $5.63 per hour of entertainment. $5.63 is greater than $2. Thus, for me, I don’t go out to movies very often because a movie does not return the value I want for the price. My personal calculation doesn’t add up for a speed boat or an ATV because I can not figure out how to spend enough time in the boat or on the ATV to make it a worth while purchase. Odds are on that they would end up in my garage as I slaved away at trying to pay them off.
However, my calculation works in favor of a fishing kayak that I also use for duck hunting. The kayak fits my lifestyle. I have friends who kayak. I have easy access to good duck hunting rivers. I have access to good fishing lakes and rivers. The kayak fits myself and my boys, so multiple people can use it. It doesn’t cost anything to store or maintenance. I didn’t need to take a loan out to buy it. Here is the kayak calculation.
Cost $500/360 hr = $1.38 hr I calculated 360 hours by estimating two trips a month, of an average of three hours a trip, for a total of five years. I figure the kayak probably won’t last longer than five years, but if it does my cost per hour just goes down.
The entertainment calculation works very nicely for items you will end up owning such as mountain bikes, fishing poles, kayaks, motorcycles, tools, and guns. It does not work very well for travel type of adventures such as vacationing at long distance. Daily adventure and extended adventure are both requirements for my happy lifestyle, so I use the calculations for anything that might end up in my garage and I drop it for anything that qualifies as a life time experience.
Freedom to do is more precious than cool stuff. Use a entertainment calculation to maintain your freedom.
