FIRE? Unless you hate or are bad at your job, isn't work the best part of life?

zagfles

hugheskevi said:

Lifestyle choices - people may well be frugal in some areas and not in others. I've probably had more cars below £1000 than over it in the course of my life.

One of my best ever purchases was spending about £4,000 buying a brand new 125cc Honda sports bike (NSR 125 R) aged 16 (nearly 30 years ago...). Horrendous insurance cost too, best part of £1,000 p/a even back then.

It may not have had a big engine, but it was still good acceleration (0-60 in about 6 seconds) and reached over 90mph so great for a 16 year-old to have fun with.

Why was it such a good purchase? After that I never cared about big or fast or new cars - the driving wasn't anything like as exciting or challenging as a motorbike, so for me cars are entirely functional, which has saved lots Fortunately I also avoided the temptation to buy nice big sports bikes, and doubt I ever will now I am all grown up and sensible (and speed cameras are everywhere).

There was also a time in South Africa when the bus myself and my partner at the time were on left us at a highway exit, despite us checking beforehand that wouldn't happen. Fortunately a South African couple immediately stopped and offered us a lift into town so it was fine, but moments like that make you appreciate having a car at your beck and call. After spending several years traveling on the road in remote places, it is great to have own car available and who cares what it looks like, just having one is the main thing for me.

Agreed - after motorbikes, cars are pretty boring however fast they are!

Nebulous2

ex-pat_scot said:

Nebulous2 said:

I started cycling around 10 years ago however, and it changed my life. Spending on that has gradually increased, from budget equipment to higher end stuff as our finances improved. I'd now regard a £2000 bike as a moderate one. My new titanium one, which should arrive tomorrow, was more than twice that. 

In some ways I may be too late to benefit from it.

 

My new frameset is £4,000
Extraordinary amount. 
Rest of the bike will be existing bits and pieces.
When finished, it will be the absolute best.
I'm not too late to benefit from it - well not entirely.
However I am wearing old clothes (expensive, but last forever). I haven't changed size (much) since 18.
My colleagues mostly drive Mercs and Range Rovers. I have different priorities and spending.

Frankly @Nebulo@Nebulous2 you will be the perfect age to benefit from yours. You'll hopefully have the time and flexibility to make use of it, and it will make more of a health difference now than it would be when you were younger.

Thank - you, it's very kind of you to say so. My interests are very specific, long - distance endurance stuff, not racing. While speed drops off with age, stamina doesn't drop as much.  That's my theory anyway!

My bike is intended as the best for my intended use - a specific tool rather than an all-rounder.  

Time and  LEL (London- Edinburgh - London) will tell if I'm right! 

chiefie

ex-pat_scot said:

Albermarle said:

It sounds like you need an Operational Excellence expert at your company.  Nothing resolves problems quicker than someone with absolutely no understanding of current processes deciding how your job should be done.  And of course, they should always start on the processes that already work well, involving as many non-experts as possible ;-).  It can all be sorted by a Zoom meeting with no agenda. Arranged without checking your calendar.

Even better than your own in house Operational Excellence Manager , is to hire very expensive consultants to do the same thing . In fact you normally only get one experienced consultant, and a a bunch of wet behind the ear graduates who have never had a proper job.

I am generally that very expensive consultant, and the experienced one. Sadly I don't have a backup team of grads to do the gruntwork

Me too. The staff on the front line are great at working to design and deliver it. It's a joy to work with them. 

The bosses however deny there is any need as it exposes poor management practice after telling boards for years how great they are. 

ex-pat_scot

Nebulous2 said:

ex-pat_scot said:

Nebulous2 said:

I started cycling around 10 years ago however, and it changed my life. Spending on that has gradually increased, from budget equipment to higher end stuff as our finances improved. I'd now regard a £2000 bike as a moderate one. My new titanium one, which should arrive tomorrow, was more than twice that. 

In some ways I may be too late to benefit from it.

 

My new frameset is £4,000
Extraordinary amount. 
Rest of the bike will be existing bits and pieces.
When finished, it will be the absolute best.
I'm not too late to benefit from it - well not entirely.
However I am wearing old clothes (expensive, but last forever). I haven't changed size (much) since 18.
My colleagues mostly drive Mercs and Range Rovers. I have different priorities and spending.

Frankly @Nebulo@Nebulous2 you will be the perfect age to benefit from yours. You'll hopefully have the time and flexibility to make use of it, and it will make more of a health difference now than it would be when you were younger.

Thank - you, it's very kind of you to say so. My interests are very specific, long - distance endurance stuff, not racing. While speed drops off with age, stamina doesn't drop as much.  That's my theory anyway!

My bike is intended as the best for my intended use - a specific tool rather than an all-rounder.  

Time and  LEL (London- Edinburgh - London) will tell if I'm right! 

Fantastic! I've been pondering LEL for a few years. I live on the route, about half way up. 

Bravepants

zagfles said:

hugheskevi said:

Lifestyle choices - people may well be frugal in some areas and not in others. I've probably had more cars below £1000 than over it in the course of my life.

One of my best ever purchases was spending about £4,000 buying a brand new 125cc Honda sports bike (NSR 125 R) aged 16 (nearly 30 years ago...). Horrendous insurance cost too, best part of £1,000 p/a even back then.

It may not have had a big engine, but it was still good acceleration (0-60 in about 6 seconds) and reached over 90mph so great for a 16 year-old to have fun with.

Why was it such a good purchase? After that I never cared about big or fast or new cars - the driving wasn't anything like as exciting or challenging as a motorbike, so for me cars are entirely functional, which has saved lots Fortunately I also avoided the temptation to buy nice big sports bikes, and doubt I ever will now I am all grown up and sensible (and speed cameras are everywhere).

There was also a time in South Africa when the bus myself and my partner at the time were on left us at a highway exit, despite us checking beforehand that wouldn't happen. Fortunately a South African couple immediately stopped and offered us a lift into town so it was fine, but moments like that make you appreciate having a car at your beck and call. After spending several years traveling on the road in remote places, it is great to have own car available and who cares what it looks like, just having one is the main thing for me.

Agreed - after motorbikes, cars are pretty boring however fast they are!

To quote George Orwell in his famous novel "Clarkson's Farm": "Two wheels bad, four wheels good."

MallyGirl

Or you could take up horse riding - you are going slower but it feels faster with the added frisson of your horse having a mind of their own

zagfles

MallyGirl said:

Or you could take up horse riding - you are going slower but it feels faster with the added frisson of your horse having a mind of their own

Even I'm not that crazy  20 times more dangerous than a motorbike!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/03_march/23/riding.shtml

RogerIrvine

"As discussed a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking they need costly additional fluff which doesn't really add value, and as a result they don't achieve FI. We're probably all guilty of this to some extent with some products and services, but some people do it with practically everything they buy! And as a result, can't achieve FI when they want, or even ever." - 

On the other hand, zagfles, there is a strong argument for paying top-dollar to buy into the latest gadgetry, while the penny pinchers wait for the price to drop next year. Frugality, hard work and inching forward can be very improving and all that but in my experience being ahead of the curve - even slightly for a short time - is the best way to start a fortune. Once you get above water and have more money than you need, it is easy.

zagfles

RogerIrvine said:

"As discussed a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking they need costly additional fluff which doesn't really add value, and as a result they don't achieve FI. We're probably all guilty of this to some extent with some products and services, but some people do it with practically everything they buy! And as a result, can't achieve FI when they want, or even ever." - 

On the other hand, zagfles, there is a strong argument for paying top-dollar to buy into the latest gadgetry, while the penny pinchers wait for the price to drop next year. Frugality, hard work and inching forward can be very improving and all that but in my experience being ahead of the curve - even slightly for a short time - is the best way to start a fortune. Once you get above water and have more money than you need, it is easy.

Nah - no argument at all for paying £60 a month for 2 years for a £1000 phone with 50GB of data a month, 512GB of storage, and a super fast processor designed for fast gaming when you mainly use it for WhatsApp and messenger and a few non processor/storage hungry apps, never exceed 2GB a month and never use more than 10% of the available storage. Like some people do. Just because they want to be "ahead of the curve".

Or paying for a £70k for a 4x4 "off road" car that you never use off road.

Or paying £14k for an "exotic" package holiday to a cheap country where you can live like a king for £50 a day.

Or paying £2k extra to get a better seat on a plane for a few hours.

Or paying £200 for tiny portions of food to be artistically presented.

Or paying £1k for a handbag, £10k for a watch etc etc

Nah, I'll stick behind the curve.

RogerIrvine

zagfles said:

RogerIrvine said:

"As discussed a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking they need costly additional fluff which doesn't really add value, and as a result they don't achieve FI. We're probably all guilty of this to some extent with some products and services, but some people do it with practically everything they buy! And as a result, can't achieve FI when they want, or even ever." - 

On the other hand, zagfles, there is a strong argument for paying top-dollar to buy into the latest gadgetry, while the penny pinchers wait for the price to drop next year. Frugality, hard work and inching forward can be very improving and all that but in my experience being ahead of the curve - even slightly for a short time - is the best way to start a fortune. Once you get above water and have more money than you need, it is easy.

Or paying £1k for a handbag, 

Nah, I'll stick behind the curve.

Depends you look at it, zagfles. The handbag abides; and equates to 6p for every time you have posted on this moneysavingwebsite.