How to live a life of luxury on a budget.

NickX

OK, this is a thread that I thought about after reading some other posts about living a life of luxury in retirement.

Let me explain what this is about. This forum is a "Money Saving" forum, and as such I very much doubt that many of us are super rich. The super rich do not worry about saving money, they have so much in their banks that they can afford brand new cars, watches, first class travel etc and don't even need to negotiate the prices down.

Now, for us mere mortals who are not super rich, I believe that we can live a similarly luxurious lifestyle, but with a few money saving tips, we pay a lot less than the super rich do. Credit Cards are an essential key to doing this.

First off, as any self respecting playboy will tell you, you absolutely must have flash car. However why pay £160k for a brand new Aston Martin DBS. With fuel prices sky high and hikes in car tax imminent, there has never been a better time to buy a second hand luxury car. For £25k you could have an Aston Martin DB7, for £15k a Maserati, and for less than £10k you could be driving a leather lined BMW or Jag.

Make sure the car is pre-2001, that way it will not be affected by the extortionate hikes in Car Tax. Don't drive it every day so you don't have to spend a fortune on petrol and if you keep the mileage down depreciation will be minimal. Being an older car you can insure it cheaply as a classic car.

Get something really sensible for everyday use, a hybrid, or a smart car, very cheap to run, cheap to tax, but it doesn't matter that its got no street cred because you've got an Aston in the garage.

Now when you buy the car, see if you can get a dealer who will take Credit Cards, and get maximum cash back. Alternatively use a Super Balance Transfer card such as Egg or MBNA to get the cash in your bank account at 0% rate and barter the car dealer down with the lure of all those used bank notes.

So, you've got the car sorted, you now need to be heading on holiday and you dont want to be in cattle class. You can go Business Class without Naomi Campbell's bank balance. Get yourself an air miles card, or an airline associated card such as those supplied by Virgin Atlantic. Build up the airmiles, and use the card to book your flights. It is quite remarkable how quickly you have enough points to upgrade to Business Class.

Alternatively, try and get an upgrade at the airport. Turn up in a suit, they don't upgrade scruffs to Business for free, be nice and polite, charm the check-in staff, and even just cheekily ask if there is any chance. You never know, if you don't ask, you don't get.

If you should suffer any delays with a particular airline, write a nice polite letter to the MD, just saying that you were dissappointed by the delay (nothing over the top), you may just find that you get a reply offering you a free upgrade next time you fly.

You will need to have a priority pass for the Business Class lounges so that you can use them even when your not going Business Class. One of the Virgin Atlantic cards provides this, as does Diners Club. This is essential when there are delays, you can stretch out, check your eMails and enjoy free food and drink.

With hotels a similar deal to the airmiles needs to be done - for instance if you like Hilton hotels, get a HHonours card and build up your points. It won't be long before you are staying at one of their 5 star resorts for free.

OK, anyone else with any ideas for living a life of luxury please post on the thread.

We can all be living the life of Posh & Becks without a premiership footballer's salary :beer:

PROLIANT

Still out the reach of the "normal" working person. just to hold a sub prime visa is enough for most and getting dinner's club etc is out of reach of the "normal" working person, who a trip to Spain would probably be the holiday of a life time for most, so with regard to living the "Walter Mittey" life style of the "club class poker faced rich folk", I think if we can just manage to pay our bills at the end of the month and get a night out and meal we are doing ok.

NickX

PROLIANT wrote: »

Still out the reach of the "normal" working person. just to hold a sub prime visa is enough for most and getting dinner's club etc is out of reach of the "normal" working person, who a trip to Spain would probably be the holiday of a life time for most, so with regard to living the "Walter Mittey" life style of the "club class poker faced rich folk", I think if we can just manage to pay our bills at the end of the month and get a night out and meal we are doing ok.

Thanks for replying Proliant, and I did write this post in something of a light-hearted manner.

I have seen the effort that you have put into the sub-prime thread and I really did not mean this to belittle any of you guys in anyway.

There was a thread earlier from a guy suggesting that in retirement you could borrow around £350k and live a life of luxury. I just kind of thought that £350 is hardly super-rich and it got me thinking about how to live a life of luxury on a budget.

For what its worth, I was thinking that much of the above could be achieved on a salary as little as £23k (which I think is about the UK average), with a few bonuses thanks to stoozing.

Cheers :beer:

PROLIANT

Yes I know what mean Nick, but I long for certain luxuries in life like many people, but it just gets me down when I work my backside off all month and see how much the government take off me and then the bill's and rising cost of living etc, I was not being funny or out in my last post but what else can we do, win the lottery, oh now that would be great, however I don't but the lottery on cos everytime I lose. :rolleyes:

Scousebird_2

NickX wrote: »

the above could be achieved on a salary as little as £23k (which I think is about the UK average),

I must be doing something wrong-lol! What's £23k-CHANGE THE 2 FOR A 1 AND YOU'RE PROB MUCH CLOSER IN MY CASE.

happyhappygal

I enjoyed reading this post NickX and I think it will be relevant for some...

Very well done, and yes, I saw the lightheartedness! :T

Maz

Depends on what your idea of luxury is! My idea of luxury is not having any debt to anybody, which is my present state and I intend to keep it that way!

talana

OK, anyone else with any ideas for living a life of luxury please post on the thread. We can all be living the life of Posh & Becks without a premiership footballer's salary

Light-hearted I know, but who wants to live like Posh & Becks? (or many others I could name)
Loads of money yes, but totally vulgar tastes, no class, no style :rolleyes:

This yearning for the lifestyle of the international jet-set playboy you can keep.
Striving to be financially secure for life is something else though. To be able to say I have no debts, no mortgage, a secure reasonably well paid job and a sufficient sum of savings/investments/assets would suit me fine

vikingaero

NickX wrote: »

First off, as any self respecting playboy will tell you, you absolutely must have flash car. However why pay £160k for a brand new Aston Martin DBS. With fuel prices sky high and hikes in car tax imminent, there has never been a better time to buy a second hand luxury car. For £25k you could have an Aston Martin DB7, for £15k a Maserati, and for less than £10k you could be driving a leather lined BMW or Jag.

That's a choice for a lot of people - a £25k BMW with 3 year warranty and servicing packing or a DB7 with potential bills galore. I know people who have bought used prestige cars and been burnt when they can't afford to pay for a new gearbox etc.

real1314

There's lots of things you can do for very little money, that look and feel like living like a king.

Taking a top class picnic to the right national park can be sublime and a damn sight cheaper than a meal for 2 adults and 2 kids at a Brewster's type place.

Spending money or air miles on getting to places is a waste if you can get there cheaper and spend the extra money on having good food / hotels / experiences.

Maz

Just to add that working for myself because I don't have to 'exist' in a job I hate just to meet the exorbitant mortgage/credit cards and personbal debt repayments/commuting costs, is a luxury to me!