I consider everything I spent in audio to be a write off, I’m not looking to get money back from it. I’ll only buy something if I know I have the money for it. Although at this stage it’s not money that’s the main issue, it’s physical space.
I think you’re perception of what you are willing to spend on equipment will drift as you experience what higher quality audio can deliver. I would never have spent more than a few hundred on headphones but now that level seems like an impulse buy and I’m planning around headphones and equipment in the thousands.
It also doesn’t help that manufacturers seem to be brining out products that are becoming more expensive or maybe that’s just my perception of it
See if you get into audio production and build out a studio to rent out or offer whatever services you can write things off lol
On that subject, I don’t either, but I also don’t like talking about it with the mass majority of people because it typically just brings useless discussion and detracts from a discussion about audio which then becomes price and whatnot. So it’s easier to really deflate the value of things to not get into those discussions imo. But if it’s your SO or someone that will be impacted/should know about your spending, absolutely tell them the truth lol. But if random people start asking what things cost, sometimes it really is better to just not say or give a much lower number to avoid hassle
Ding, ding…my feelings on the matter exactly. In every hobby unfortunately I have to work my way into high dollar territory and that dollar amount value fluctuates dependent on the product and its perceived value to me.
It’s true, making diagrams of my electronics setups is weirdly fun! I keep a diagram for my retro video game setup, since I have five different consoles with two different kinds of video connections that output to three different places, lol. I’m thinking of switching all my SCART cables to use component instead so everything matches and I can reduce the number of switches and converters I’m running, but I’m not entirely sold on it yet. (I also have a diagram of my living room, but that one’s less exciting.)
My sister learned a big money lesson in college where she found out that she spent her remaining money from financial aid at Starbucks. She said before she knew it her $600 or so were gone. Honestly might have been 1k, can’t even remember.
I made sure to learn from her experience with Starbucks lol
THIS really seems the way to do it. I’ve known many, for sure including myself that maybe spent a bit above our means and could never comfortably afford something and I always saw those people agonizing about whether something is worth it. They would say, it’s just I have this 1k headphone laying around and I don’t use it etc etc. Just agonizing over them not needing it, and I personally would go in and out to stop spending money. But then I had that one longer than most hiatus and figured out exactly what zaph mentioned. As long as I take my time to have enough money to buy something audio related and still have decent money on my bank I have nothing to worry about. And I even look at other gear that I have and maybe don’t use as hey, if something breaks down I can still use this as a replacement. Or it’s just something that is nice go have, look at etc without pondering if maybe I should sell it for something else etc etc.
And seriously thanks to @Zaphain for existing and proving what a good mentality that is! Because he’s one of the only people I know who is extremely patient in terms of legit saving for his upgrades so well that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him go out of his way to sell anything. And he’s also never been someone who worries about the money aspect and how much money he’s pouring into the hobby because he’s so responsible with his money!
I saw a financial advisor coworker do the math on what investing that $3 per day would mean by retirement. It’s easy math, but compounding interest is always impressive when you put it into real life terms.
I have been advising my students (and sometimes forum members, lol) about the importance of compound interest and investments and that a little bit goes a long way. Here is $100/month from Age 30 to 65 at 8%. Sometimes a picture goes a long way.
This is also considering that the S&P 500 has been performing at 46% in the last five years (yes, we’ve been having an up market). Just a comparison and food for thought.
I should have changed the scale to annual.
In addition, at 8%, you should double your money about every 9 years without adding anything additional to your investments.
Sidenote: From last Nov to now, SP500 is up 29.32%.
Yep. I was saving 5-10% from my paycheck back when that amounted to a delivered pizza. Back then my fellow low paid co-workers thought I was being weird and particular. I haven’t done the math, but I think it may have paid off, lol. Or at the very least in my waistline.
I’m reading Moneyball right now, and that book demonstrates nicely how people are bad at making decisions because of how emotions (hope and fear usually) color our perceptions. Data is useful !!!
As long as the data are measuring something useful, like dollars over time. THD% at 1Khz, not so much.
I list all my spending in a spreadsheet, just to have an idea how much I spend.
Is not super detailed (categories: Food, Household, Entertainment, Tech, Misc.)
Mobeyball is a great book. If you wanted to delve deeper into the Sabrmetrics and analytics side of Moneyball, I could recommend you a few books I’ve read. Fascinating stuff.
Ugh, i just realized every “budget priced” system combination i have spoken about in the past few months runs a minimum of $10k - $15k at MSRP if taken in whole from A-Z to include music source and included hardware/accessories. This just made me a bit sick to my stomach and embarrassed. Yeah, more so than any other hobby playing w/ audio equipment has really messed up my perception of cost and emptied my wallet.
I think also it is a good opportunity to get some joy out of how cool the stuff you have must be! Like, wow, it must be pretty amazing! I can only imagine how it sounds. That’s really cool and I am lucky that I get to come here and vicariously hear the details from you guys with the expensive cool shit.
I hope that comes across the way I mean it. Truly, it’s a thing I really do enjoy on this forum. That everyone can unashamedly gush about their cool shit whether it cost an arm and a leg or just a finger and that everyone else genuinely enjoys it with them.
I noticed this building my last keyboard when I used to scoff at anything that costed more than a $100 keyboard wise. I bought keycaps at a $110 like it was nothing.
There’s a certain joy in getting the most out of something that has no business sounding as good as it does for the price you paid for it. Also the joy of sniping a great deal on some used gear, the thrill of that IMO lasts a lot longer than buying expensive shit.
