That's a good point. Set a goal for when you would like a boat for a certain amount of money. Most people that don't get there fail because they don't have a plan with a specific goal in mind. Go for it!:)

don't worry Jay. you'll get there sooner than you think

My wife works and we have 1 kid. I just sold my boat and looking for another. probably around 50-60k. We make good money, but I would like to pay my house off first. You have determine what is comfortable to you and your wife. Check out Dave Ramsey. Read his book and make your own decision.
Dave Ramsey

Jason,

You don't have to get a second mortgage on your house for your boat interest to be deductible. It can just be a regular old loan. It qualifies for deductibility as a second home anyways. A RV can also qualify for the same. But you of course can only have your first home and ONE other home - your vacation home as the IRS likes to refer to it. The three things that you must do to meet the IRS guidelines for deductibility are:

1. Toliet - we have a porta potti
2. Cooking of some sort - one of those little plug in cooktop stoves works
3. You must spend at least 2 nights on your boat during the year.

BTW I work at a CPA firm.

Cyndi

Mrs. 283Check: Did you mean to type 2 weeks?

Jayl13: Working as a business consultant for privately-owned firms for years, I noticed one thing about the successful ones: They didn't notice when they got rich. Most were so busy working to build the business, it just happened on them. (Others who were born into it noticed, and the more flamboiant(sp?) they are, the sooner they lose it).

If getting rich fast is your goal, I reccomend commission sales of high-dollar items or services. The good ones make lots of imcome, but they are a small % of total salesmen. And don't kid yourself, they work long, hard, hours to get there. Doctors and Lawyers also work long hard hours, and have little time to enjoy themselves.

Very few will generate that kind of wealth working as an employee. Most own the business.

If you subordiniate the rest of your life to a fancy boat, you may be able to buy one without making/having that much money. Boils down to priorities.

One last thing: As someone else on the board said, any boat that gets you on the water, having fun, is a good boat.

I pretty much live by what Fred said. Very well put. Be thankful you have a boat :), others standing on the docks think your rich just because you have a boat.

You can afford it, if you want to!!!!!
 

I had an excellent economics professor in college who started his macro class off with a story about buying a Ferrari. He said all of you can afford one if you want to. The question is how bad do you want it versus other things in your life. He then lauched into a discussion of limited resources versus needs and wants (necessity versus luxury). It became very clear that the needs side of the equation is indeed very small. Where the higher cost comes in is the wants. You need a car but do you need a Merc. SL or do you want one; etc, etc.

If you and your wife make nearly $150,000 a year, you can easily afford a $250,000 house a couple of cars and a $200,000 boat. The question is do you want to. You have limited resources to spend. What do you spend it on ?

There is a lot of knowledge in the previous posts. Things like leasing versus buying, buying used versus new, keeping the older car cause it still works just fine, fixing stuff yourself, eating out less often, the list goes on and on. What you and your wife need to do is sit down and determine the priority of your wants. You have more than enough to meet your needs, it's your list of wants that make the boat seem so difficult to get.

My bottom line is, set your priorities and goals, budget your resources accordingly (and stick to it) and be happy. :D

Slingshots right, a lot of hard work. Most of my customers with the high dollar boats are always working. I've seen many performance boats with only 35 hours or so in 5 years. Especially when they're self employed. Sometimes the guy with the 24 Baja has more fun with his boat than a lot of the guys with the big boats and gets to use it a lot more.

Like H20 said, it's all a simple matter of priority ! ;)

The Grass Is Always Greener
 

Success..
Some of it luck, some of it hard work...Some never achieve it. Whats realy important is being happy where you are in life.. Im not that proud so I can say that I dont even make 50K ..My girlfreind makes 75K ..Humbling (think im gonna marry this one).
Im realy enjoying life ..My 24 footer at 80+ is more fun to drive than my bosses 41 Sonic with 1600 H.P.
And always remember " A fool and his money soon part":D :