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Speed Bumps on the Fastlane

RaisingWealth

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Alright, I've got a question for fastlane. I've been working quite a while now to save up 5k that I want to invest. Basically, I'm the exact model of the "3000 to 1mil" thread that's been running for a while.

The problem is that my girlfriend and I are planning a vacation which is going to cut significantly out of my savings. While I do want to go, is it better to value the time that I have as a youth or delay the vacation a few years and wait till I'm in the fast lane to start making those sorts of expenses...

Just wondering what your thoughts are

Basically, which is more valuable:
Living with my youth
or
Using my youth for success now
 
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Redshft

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Basically, which is more valuable:
Living with my youth
or
Using my youth for success now

Your basically asking us what is YOUR opportunity cost? Thats not up to anyone but you to decide. What would you rather do?

Personally, I would budget to go on the trip and spend valuable time with my girlfriend...assuming she IS worth it :love1: and not some puppy love chick you have been dating for a few months. But I would try to keep some money in the jar as well, dont go blow it all. You don't have to spend big money to spend valuable time with your other half.

Enjoy your youth but don't get tangled up in it.
 

Yankees338

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I agree with Redshft.

And if you're gonna go, travel smart. Find good deals. Maybe compromise: instead of going on a lavish retreat in the Carribean, cut back a little and find a less-expensive location with similar attributes.

Or, try discussing the situation with the lucky girl. Try and get on the same page. Maybe that will make your decision easier...
 

RaisingWealth

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But I would try to keep some money in the jar as well, dont go blow it all.

Haha, Yea. Knowing what it takes to earn the startup capital i've got so far would make it almost impossible for me to spend it all at once.

Or, try discussing the situation with the lucky girl. Try and get on the same page. Maybe that will make your decision easier...

Oh, I've got her on the same page. She understands that its not easy to work the money right now, but we'd be visiting her family in poland which is important to her.


Actually, As a bit of a sidetrack for this. What would your recommendations be for a short term enterprise to try to pay for most of this vacation before summer rolls around?
 
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Yankees338

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You're 19? Are you in school?

What is in demand near you? Landscaping? Painting? Those fields have relatively low-entry barriers and can make you some decent money. There's always the web-route, too.
 

RaisingWealth

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Well since it's winter her now their's not much landscaping going on

But I could go out and get a snowplow that should pay for itself come the next couple of snows. (PS: I live in canada it's always snowing up here :p)

As far as web-based goes I've always been really sceptical of that because it seems like the whole "Too good to be true" scenario. Do almost nothing and watch money pour in...

Oh, and I'm done school and currently still rent-free and work-free so I have time and resources to use for various plans.
 

Yankees338

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Well since it's winter her now their's not much landscaping going on

But I could go out and get a snowplow that should pay for itself come the next couple of snows. (PS: I live in canada it's always snowing up here :p)

As far as web-based goes I've always been really sceptical of that because it seems like the whole "Too good to be true" scenario. Do almost nothing and watch money pour in...

Oh, and I'm done school and currently still rent-free and work-free so I have time and resources to use for various plans.
You'll have to put the time in with a web-business if you want it to succeed, but the right ideas definitely CAN produce.

Plowing could work. Run some numbers if you really just need some quick cash. Figure out how long it would take to repay yourself your original investment amount. If it's a pretty good ROI, give it a shot.

My advice, though, even with a business like this, is try to innovate and be better than the competition. Give your customers a reason to stay with you, or give others a reason to want YOU to provide them with that service.

Example: It's snowing here tonight (in NJ). Our driveway was just plowed. I'm going to guess that they missed some spots. They also probably didn't shovel our walkway, so we will have icy steps for the next few days. Being better than your competition can simply mean just taking care of those little, minor details. Of course, the more creative you are with your innovations, the more successful you will probably be! :)
 
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RaisingWealth

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I notice in another post of yours Yankees that you're planning to start up a Web based front end for a B&M pet shop. How did you negotiate that with the B&M shop?
 

andviv

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The biggest problem in my youth was not that I spent... it was that I overspent. I'd pay my vacation trips with credit cards instead of cash. I was just digging a big financial hole.

Usually those trips allow you to take two bags for each passenger. Do you need to take two with you for this trip? What if you sell your services as courier for somebody that wants to send gifts to their families in Poland, and tell them you will charge them $200 to take a bag for them. Do the same when coming back. I've seen that done by some friends that do that for latinamerican countries. One of them does that for a living.
 

RaisingWealth

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andviv Rep ++

Really good suggestion. I probably wouldn't have thought of that. It's also helpful that her family is really involved in the polish community here so theirs probably a lot of people who wouldn't mind sending something overseas to family there.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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I'd go on the trip and enjoy yourself -- celebrate it as the last trip of financial imprudence. However, in the future, understand that these vacations (toss in cars as well) has an opportunity cost with consequences that could extend into decades.

Set a goal that your next vacation will arrive only if you achieve a certain goal -- could be a business goal, a financial goal, anything -- reward yourself for achievement. In my 20's I turned into a Pavlov dog .... I periodically rewarded myself when I accomplished something. Then and only then would I splurge.
 

rcardin

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Oh, and I'm done school and currently still rent-free and work-free so I have time and resources to use for various plans.

Lets see 19, no work, no school, no rent.......Sounds like you are already on vacation:banana:

Are you paying for both of you or just yourself? If she is paying her way it might be worth it for a once in a lifetime experience. If you are paying for the whole trip that is another story.
 
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RaisingWealth

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We're splitting the cost evenly. She's paying for her ticket (well actually her parents) and i'm paying for mine. We're spending 2 months and the total cost will probably be around 2k.

As far as being on vacation already its true, but I'm doing correspondence schooling to get my marks up for my secondary plan of going to uni like the rest of the family. Thats also another reason I'm spending time on the site to try to come up with ideas and move into the fastlane mentality. Since I have this opportunity (really easy life for now) I need to make the best use of it (I.E. Try to pay for the vacation before I go on it).

Basically my goals for the next 2 months is to raise 4k (half of everything I earn goes into savings for buisness plans, so to spend 2k on a vacation I need to earn 4k)
 

Yankees338

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I notice in another post of yours Yankees that you're planning to start up a Web based front end for a B&M pet shop. How did you negotiate that with the B&M shop?
Not sure if that's gonna happen as of now, but I'm happy to answer your question.

The store belongs to my friend's dad. He also owns the warehouse that supplies the store -- the warehouse supplies many other stores, as well -- so the store isn't as important to him.

However, this could lead to some opportunities for you. For example, I remember going to this local retail store with my dad a few months ago to get a new tennis racket for him. While the store sells tennis equipment, their main attraction is skiing and snowboarding equipment, so their busy season is in the winter (really the only time to ski in NJ). The store is decent sized, and they have a lot of inventory. I knew that there was no way that they'd sell it during that busy season, so I asked the owner (who was helping my dad with the sale) what they did with the inventory after the winter. He said that they usually boxed it up for the next winter season to put out as a special (heavily discounted). That got me to thinking, "Hmm...that's pretty inefficient business. They should come up with a way to improve that." I was contemplating whether I should offer to start up an online store selling their merchandise. Not only would it help increase their sales in their peak season, but it'd help bring in some much-needed revenue during the slower months when their goods are not nearly as in demand as the winter. I knew it would have been a good thought, but I wasn't sure it was something that I wanted to do. If I go back shortly, I'm sure they'll be interested, because my friend (who worked there this year) told me that they always get scared after the winter because they barely make enough money to stay afloat.

Anyway, I'm sure there are other businesses near you that would be interested in something similar. Some of them may need that extra stream of revenue to survive, while others may just want to continue growing, but if you're willling to put in the time, I'm sure you can find a business that would consider something like this.

Good luck! Keep us posted!
 
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RaisingWealth

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I think that may just be my plan for paying off vacation costs. I mean with an established inventory and B&M storefront a lot of people will be more comfortable buying online then from stores that are clearly just an online enterprise.

Potentially, some of the management could even be done from Poland while I'm on vacation :p
 

Edge

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The problem is that my girlfriend and I are planning a vacation which is going to cut significantly out of my savings. While I do want to go, is it better to value the time that I have as a youth or delay the vacation a few years and wait till I'm in the fast lane to start making those sorts of expenses...

Just wondering what your thoughts are

Basically, which is more valuable:
Living with my youth
or
Using my youth for success now

Whatever you decide, i'd recommend taking the time to really discuss this with your girlfriend. Right now it's savings vs. vacation, next year it'll be savings vs. wedding/honeymoon, the year after that it'll be savings vs. new car, savings vs. down payment for house, savings vs. private school for jr., etc.

Take the opportunity to discuss it and start planning jointly for these speedbumps, don't ask us what is more valuable, ask each other.
 

RaisingWealth

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Actually, the conversations with her came much before the posting on here. We both understand the requirement of living frugally for now and this is likely to be our last major expense until we are quite a bit more successful then we are now. Since real estate is part of the overall plan, down payment for house is actually the goal of savings so that one doesn't bother me too much. The wedding/honeymoon is the only one that's also bothering us, if we do get married we've decided a smaller wedding and honeymoon is in both of our best interests. Possibly a second wedding the next time we're with her family in Poland but that will likely be fairly inexpensive (other then the cost of getting there)
 
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SteveO

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Time marches on and things always change. (Spoken with my best old man voice). When I was young, we didn't do a lot of vacations that would cost much. I didn't have much for money and had grown up in a poor household. There was never a consideration of getting on a plane, going to a resort or nice hotel, or eating in expensive restaurants.

We went low budget and had fun!

It was usually camping, surfing. Sometimes camping on the beach and surfing.

Once I had a family, we upgraded to an old used motorhome. Our most memorable trip was three weeks up the coast from San Diego to Seattle.

I don't understand spending money if it might set you back. You are young, use that to your advantage.
 

Russ H

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While my fiance' and I would have loved a wedding, we both considered it a total waste of money, and something that would set our plan for financial freedom back years.

So we did the opposite: We used the wedding money for investment (see below).

As for the wedding?

Sharon and I were married on the beach, in Big Sur.

Only cost was the minister and the $5 to park our car/use the beach (we only had one other person, a witness w/a camera, no one else was there).

Well, OK, and Sharon's wedding dress. A beautiful Grecian style number we actually bought in Big Sur, and she wore to formal events (it's really beautiful, and doesn't look at all like a wedding dress).

Spent the wedding reception money on downpayments for 2 houses (side by side) that we planned to convert into a B&B.

Invited all our friends for a "post wedding" reception in the backyard of those houses. Had a BBQ.

Was a blast! :)

-Russ H.

PS Wound up doing a cash-out refi on a different house (the one I was living in) about 6 months later to purchase an existing B&B. Meant that these 2 houses weren't used very much, so we sold them 2 years later at the top of the market, each for at least $120K more than we had paid for it.
 

Yankees338

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While my fiance' and I would have loved a wedding, we both considered it a total waste of money, and something that would set our plan for financial freedom back years.

So we did the opposite: We used the wedding money for investment (see below).

As for the wedding?

Sharon and I were married on the beach, in Big Sur.

Only cost was the minister and the $5 to park our car/use the beach (we only had one other person, a witness w/a camera, no one else was there).

Well, OK, and Sharon's wedding dress. A beautiful Grecian style number we actually bought in Big Sur, and she wore to formal events (it's really beautiful, and doesn't look at all like a wedding dress).

Spent the wedding reception money on downpayments for 2 houses (side by side) that we planned to convert into a B&B.

Invited all our friends for a "post wedding" reception in the backyard of those houses. Had a BBQ.

Was a blast! :)

-Russ H.

PS Wound up doing a cash-out refi on a different house (the one I was living in) about 6 months later to purchase an existing B&B. Meant that these 2 houses weren't used very much, so we sold them 2 years later at the top of the market, each for at least $120K more than we had paid for it.
Makes me want to get married!!! :love1:
 
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Rodolfo

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I agree with SteveO,

Take it easy, dont spend all your money at once, ...
find yourself a way to go on holidays and not spend all the money that you save...
live is about making smart choices and find hidden ways to success.

smart people find ways to entertainment without spending money...

use your creativity!

dont spend more than half of the money you save or else your are gambling.
 

RaisingWealth

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Yea, The reason I'm looking for some way to raise extra capital to pay for the trip before it happens is because I'd really rather pay for it with money earned then to take it out of savings. Also, We're leaving before the plane prices raise (june 18th) and by doing so are saving about 300$ each. Bringing the price for the trip down to more like 1500-1600.

Also, there's another motivation for us going. I'm going to be meeting all of her extended family in Poland as their family are first generation immigrants.
 
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