members and their systems

@inna At first I thought some of my friends were perfectly normal and thankfully the proved to be otherwise.  Much more fun that way!

Where do folks who don’t spend money on audio equipment get their money.  After all you can’t take it with you....

And I make money by advising people on priorities and resources allocation. 

In rereading the question...My bills are simple - my mortgage.

My resource allocation for money is simple too.  I save a portion of my money for 'fun money' and that is what I have used to spend on audio equipment.  That fun money is purely discretionary and also the money I use for vacations, eating out and such.

I have created a path to my 'goal system' that I discussed with my audio dealer.  And I often buy demo gear - I've even been asked if I would be interested in gear someone was considering trading in.

My advice is simple - don't let your stuff own you.  I do like cars, audio equipment and other than that I don't spend significant money on other things.  

I owned a 991 and the car is so damn good its no longer scary to be in a car that could win the Daytona 500 20 years ago with the AC and music playing.

Technology has made some many of the things I really like more attainable

• a great performing car relative to my first car (1975 Dodge Dart) is downright cheap because it works 99.9% of the time versus 80% of the time.
• speaker technology has improved...a $500 pair of speakers is light years better than my Advents!
• Ok, records are more expensive but streaming is cheaper than buying Maxell XLIIs for the car stereo!

@sokogear 

I decided to 'downsize' both my house and my toy collection. 

Got rid of my 911 and C63S and bought a used Toyota Camry.

@sokogear...I used to own a Macan.  I liked it so much it's why I ended up by buying the 911.

@millercarbon you may be right. I’m not a Porsche guy. Over the cars I’ve owned I’d rank my M3 and Aston Martin Vantage as cars that I enjoyed more.  They weren't better 'cars' and in many ways the 911 was a superior car - it just didn’t connect with me emotionally.

Just like music and audio systems we each have our tastes. I tried the Porsche thing and in the end I realized I would rather have my money enable other things.

@sokogear why would you think a millionaire or billionaire doesn’t evaluate the usage of their money?

$100,000 invested typically doubles every 10-12 years. There’s always an opportunity cost for money. 

The interesting things about members and their systems is it seems folks enjoy their systems...and isn't that the point?

Whether you have a $10k system or you received a stereo from a friend or family member that upgraded their system does it really matter?