Daughter’s college fund is set. Daughter’s 401k is set (yep, you can do that, up to 6k/yr for minors), & now that she’s coming of working age, she’s gonna take care of funding half the $ herself.
The scholarship I founded was paid for by extra evening freelance because I’m a workaholic. This audio fun-time was founded & funded by the same extra freelance, but due to doctor’s orders that life of extra supplimentary freelance income’s gotta stop: health issues arose from 20 years of working 100+ hour weeks, multiple all-nighters in a row to meet deadlines. I’ve got to clock out at 6pm and that’s that. Which is dang tough switch when your mind & body are set in their Work All The Time Never Relax ways.
Now, with a steady full time (at long last!) staff gig & 3 Emmys on my shelf, I’m taking doctor’s ORDERS TO RELAX and got into this "sit down in a comfy chair and listen to music" hobby as a new thing to obsess about. Bipolar’s got a "collection / optimization" factor to it, thus chasing the white rabbit towards a great system. As another part of this "new relaxation regimen" (lol) I’ve taken on a few more ’hobbies’. I’m also a judge in other regions’ Emmys, set up a courseload of training for myself for personal development, interpersonal development & professional development, just started as a trained volunteer at an animal shelter, am a mentor in the Childrens’ Media Association, the leader of a Peer group at work, and am in a FranklinCovey 1-on-1 program with a personal development coach there. With all that, my "relaxation" time is now reallocated and I just wanna get the "setup" stage of my hifi station complete and just get in to plopping my butt down and listening. It bugged me that I had to turn the Phonitor all the way up to eleven to listen to records.
So... I first and foremost obsess about optimizing finances for family: maximizing my personal 401k (double 100% match by employer up to 5% of salary), monthly contributions to our short term savings & long term investment account, monthly contributions to my daughter’s college fund (with 90k there, 4 years still to save, and she ain’t goin to no Ivy) & the scholarship (3 scholarships at $1k apiece means one good 2 week long evening freelance gig a year)...
We’re good there.
And mind you: we ain’t richie riches. We’re month to month too, like everyone & their brother’s uncle. I wore hand-me-downs growing up & my mom cut our hair & sewed the drapes & made our backpacks from old denim. I finally made it a step up from that & I’m grateful for that grounding practical humble reality.
This, what I"m asking about here, is really a "settling in for the long haul" end of game gear scenario. If I sell the Phonitor / Schiits to get the Ferrum, then that’s it. I’m good. If the system I’ve got (streamer, play records & cds) can get by just fine without a respectable amp/DAC, then I can sell the Phonitor setup & reallocate those funds. That’s fine too. But as this is to be the last expenditure on audio gear (even including flagship headphones), I just want to make sure I’m set. I really don’t know if just using the turntable’s pre-amp is ok, or if it’ll like blow up my Audeze some day because just using a pre-amp isn’t what you’re supposed to do!
Hence, turning for advice to y'all who know worlds more than I ever will about this stuff.
