I would believe that figure.

At a lot of races there is the crowd of young folks who make a very little but enough to get by (think just out of college type) but then I see a good deal of retired older people who were one doctors, lawyers, big business, or business owners. I think a lot of us are in the $70-$100 range though. That, to me, seems the most prevalent.

I heard a great boat quote “You can ALWAYS buy a boat, you can’t always sell a boat”.

It's purely an uncontrolable obsession. The guy has issues.

Tri doesn't have to be expensive, unless you have very specific FOP goals.

I spent less than $2000 to cover equipment, and that includes everything. Tri suit, tri bike, aero wheels, aero helmet, tri bike shoes, everything, even the treadmill and trainer. Sure, my treadmill is old, but it's a commercial behemoth that will do 10mph at 15% forever. My trainer's dumb, but it makes my legs hurt when I need to as much as anything else. I'm riding a 15yo tri bike, but it's cleaned up with decent wheels, low crr tires and latex tubes. Everything was in EUC or NOS but the tri suit.

Who really needs a coach? There are tons on plans everywhere for everything. I have only paid to get faster in the pool, and some massages every now and then.

Sure, I would like to get all the cool stuff, but it's not really needed. I make a pretty good salary, but I'm putting three kids through private school, I like to travel, and don't want to retire at 70 with a mortgage. It's all about your priorities in life I guess.

I've always said I'll treat myself to a nice fast bike when I can do a 40k tt in an hour, and I'm getting there, but it doesn't make much sense. I'll most likely be disapointed in the performance gains, but it'll sure look nice.

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Pain is inevitable. Suffering is up to you.

Anyone who goes into debt to fund any portion of a hobby is an idiot. Hobby expenses should fall completely under the discretionary income category.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I have a nautique GS22 most frivolous and awesome purchase I ever made. No regrets.

anyone with a coach and a mortage is going into debt by not paying down their house faster.

I wish I could come up with a snappy acronym for the money pit that's horse riding or golf.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

These types of people would be in debt no matter what they do. I don’t earn much but i limit my spending. I use trainer road for my training and only buy new electronics when i need it, stuff like watches and so on. I have a nice bike that i paid cash for, Felt IA 10, i took the di2 off it so it was 2k cheaper, previous bike was a second hand bargain superbike.

Same for anyone who has a mortgage and eats every day!

having a tri coach is a life essential?

I'd spend peanuts if I didn't have to fly to join races (based in Hong Kong). It's my only vice though, so I can live with it.

Just thrown down over EUR500 for Roth 2019, but that will be a summer holiday/bucket list event (I'll never get to Kona, so this is my Kona).

With two school aged/about to go to Uni kids, I shouldn't really do it, but I keep telling myself it's what keeps me sane.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Let's see.......If I have $30K performing for me at 7%.......and I need to purchase a vehicle (insert any expense)......and I can get an interest rate of 1.9% financing.......I'm supposed to pull the money out of the 7%, so that I can avoid the 1.9% interest (and be able to tell everyone 'I only pay cash')?

Debt is not a dirty word. Not being able to manage debt is a different animal.

What you said made perfect sense.

Perhaps I should have said triathlon related expenses or any other hobby related expenses.

Noooooooo.

No matter what your life is financially, live within your means. A bigger mortgage doesn’t make you happy, or a more expensive bike.

A friend told me you always have a dream. Once it’s realized, you find a new dream. Sometimes, it’s easier to leave a dream a dream. (Talking about wanting things)

A Wave-runner makes you happy...

Ever see anyone frown on a Wave-runner?

stevie g wrote:

anyone with a coach and a mortage is going into debt by not paying down their house faster.

Did you mean to write this in pink? If you have a mortgage, you're already in debt. That's what a mortgage is.

You could say this about any non-essential spending. That restaurant you went out to? Skip it next time, could've been an extra principal payment. That toy you bought your kid? Return it, you can own your house 15 days earlier. Live a little.


The interest rate on my mortgage is 2.8%. I would never take money out of the market to pay down a rate that low.


By the way - "Mortgage" Origin: late Middle English: from Old French, literally ‘dead pledge,’ from mort (from Latin mortuus ‘dead’) + gage‘pledge.’

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Strava

+1, not everyone understands the distinction. If you already have the capital, it is a simple math problem and with low interest rates, debt is a smart financial decision.

However, if you DON'T have $30k in the bank, you should probably not buy a depreciating asset even at 1.9%... buy an used reliable car and invest your spare cash in that 7% growth asset

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Strava

Yeah, when they are being dragged back in after 400 meters of an Ironman swim!

you don't have a coach? you're doing it wrong.

I can afford a coach but have only paid for one last year for my first and potentially only IM. I have been self-coached at all other distances. I wanted to make sure I did not overtrain for my IM and wanted somebody to push me to get the most out of myself for that one IM. But I don't feel like I can justify a coach year after year as a MOPer and with my very relaxed goals. I think for big events like an IM or if I do something like DK I'm happy to pay a coach.

Paying a coach is not going into debt unless you’re using credit cards to pay for the coaching and then not paying off the credit card.

I hope you meant to say that paying down your mortgage instead of paying a coach is the wiser financial decision. Paying a coach in lieu of paying extra on the mortgage is not going into debt. The debt is the mortgage.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

what's the difference between a dream and a goal?

definitely live within your means. I'm a MOPer and bought a 2014 Cervelo P2 early 2015 for like $2800. Looking back part of me wishes I would have bough a giant trinity for like $900 less as that would have been fine but I like my P2 and look at as the only tri bike I'll ever have. if/when it breaks if I'm still doing triathlons I'm sure I'll just buy a used tri bike or something less than $2000. and we all know you can spend far less than that. I could just use my road bike and put some clip on aero bars on it. triathlons don't HAVE to be crazy expensive.

My mortgage rate is similar to yours. Bought this house three years ago. Plan on selling it in 5-6 years when I retire. Not putting a penny of extra money into my mortgage because I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about paying it off and the smarter move right now is to plop money into investments for retirement.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

The thought of retirement for someone my age (not yet 30) is totally non existent. My dad retires this month. everything paid off. cars, both houses, etc.

I look at my $70,000 student loan debt for gradschool at 7.8% interest (thank you for raising that from 3% to 7.8% government) - decided my father should use that money for retirement and not to help me - and current housing prices, fed interest rate hikes, cost of used cars, cost of gas, then the cost of all the things that my parents never had to worry about when they were young (internet, cell phone service, computers, actual cell phones, cost of microsoft office), price of going to a movie, hell going on dates, cost of groceries, etc, cost of health care, price of rent, the probability the social security will not exist when I am 60.

figure I will be working until dead. I also make good money too. Most of my friends feel the same way. Granted - I am on track to make superb money in 10+ years so grad school was an investment rather than a potential loss - but retirement is not a thing with my generation. Sure I am going to save for it (IRA, 401K, and separate equity account) best I can but it is not a reality with my generation. The numbers do not work out.

People get a warm feeling from paying off a mortgage although financial advisers will tell you that it just locks up your money; and may not be the best use of it if you can earn a higher return elsewhere. I've had my house 16 years and it will be paid off in about 5 years, but only because I converted to a 15 year mortgage 10 years ago. I haven't put any extra principal into it since there are better investments. I might downsize some year, but then again, I might not.

I believe the same. Shouldn't be expensive.