Money Time and Comfort

While recovering I’ve had very little I could do but think about stuff and so some research. I must admit to getting some emotional comfort during this long winter recovery from watching sailing videos. Some things stood out.

If you’ve got the money it’s easy to purchase a comfortable boat and go sailing almost immediately. The fascinating thing is that not that many people who are motivated to make money want to quit and go sailing. A tiny fraction of high earners say enough is enough. Often something happens in their life that causes them to make a major change. Perhaps it’s a brush with mortality and they realize time on this planet is limited.

Young people might not have the money, but they have the time and energy to turn an old boat into a sea worthy comfortable one. Too often people wait until they retire to do a boat project. Most projects take longer than expected. Do you want to go sailing or work on a boat until you die?

So what does a guy like me in his 60s do? I don’t have a lot of tine to waste. While I have the skills to do boat projects, I don’t want to spend all my remaining days doing them. I’m also one of those baby boomers who forgot to make a fortune. So when it comes to boats I don’t want to spend the time and can’t spend the money. That’s where one has to take a hard look at the comfort part of the equation.

A nice big catamaran is super comfortable but way way out of my price range. Certainly can’t afford that. New mono hulls are like floating apartments, but even they are too expensive. That leaves older cramped boats without all the bells and whistles. In short -less comfortable.

Then again, one has to ask: what is comfort? Yeah, I don’t have an ice maker on my boat, but I’m not stuck in port somewhere waiting for someone or parts to fix it. Instead I could be in a remote bay watching the sunset while sipping a warm rum. That’s a trade off I’m willing to take. There’s something to be said for simplicity.

I’ve been writing about boats, but it applies to other things too. Many of us know people who’ve bought expensive luxury cars only to have them in the shop all the time. People buy big houses with huge lawns only find they’ve become a general contractor to get everything taken care of. Either they have to hire people or they become the servant to the property.

-Sixbears