I don't know how so many of you can afford multiple bikes, and new, or newer ones at that. I'll be lucky if I get to spend $4K on a 20 year old bike...must be nice to be rich...
I wouldn't necessarily call it "rich". In many, many cases, you learn to manage money wisely. You don't go overboard in spending. You learn to pay off what you can, when you can. When one item or debt is paid off, you move that payment to another debt/item. When that one is paid off, you move those two payments to another debt/item if you have such. It is a monetary discipline that is not easily accepted by a vast majority.
It is PHENOMENALLY easier to get INTO debt, than it is get OUT of debt. Within minutes you can be $30K in debt for the glimmer of a new Wing. But, to pay it off with other factors like house payments, car payments, maybe appliance payments, insurance payments and more, paying off that Wing is gonna take the entire term it was set up for.
There's about a zillion variables in this situation. TWO INCOMES from married couple is an outstanding help. If one chooses to stay home, then that makes things that much harder. If one income is substantial, as in say, oh, maybe $100K-$150K a year, and you're wise with your money, that's a great place to be in life. As has been suggested, if you take a percentage of that income and put it in some sort of investment that maybe grows slowly over a life span, and matures at a projected retirement date, then you're all that much better off. That is of course, if you've been wise and set yourself up to be DEBTLESS at retirement.
Education and application of yourself is paramount. If you're only planning on working at McDonalds your entire life, well, then you don't have a lot to look forward to. But if you strive to accel, strive to make yourself better than you were, better than your folks had it, better than the next guy, then you'll end up in considerably better conditions later in life.
Then there's the notion of buying USED and not new. There are literally zillions of deals to be had on this planet, if you're in the right place, at the right time. Buying used can be and often is, a very, very sensible way to purchase. And that includes anything on the planet, not just motorcycles. NEW is good and fun, if, IF, you have the money and doing such does not affect your status to sustain a decent quality of life for maybe you, your wife and your kids.
I never, ever in my life, thought I'd see the day when I'd have THREE bikes all at the same time in my possession. But again, common sense in terms of money management, has helped immensely in my strategy.
The two smaller bikes, the Yamaha TW200 and the Africa Twin are paid off. The '18 Wing, well, it's got about maybe 6 months and it will be paid off.
To me, it's all about using good common sense as we get older and are on some form of a fixed income.
Just because you have some
spare income or money, doesn't mean you HAVE to spend or use it.
Scott
