I make high five figures, wife (who Im also putting through school on my own dime mind you), 2 yo kid. Paid off cars, they're not the 30K kind though. I do undershoot housing aggressively, my rent is 12pct of my net income. I own and operate a PA28R200 outright. My family isn't starving, my wife isn't threatening to divorce me, my kid is provided for and will be groomed to attain at least an undergraduate level of college education. I cannot speak for those who make different choices, but the whole monastic bit about having to tersely tell your family NO! at every instance of discretionary expenditure just to squeeze in daddy's hobby, is pure hyperbole.
And you know this, how?
The average American household spends around 32 percent of their income on housing. While we don't spend that much, we spend more than you do. Inferring from what you've posted here, the difference between what you're paying for housing and what I am would be more than enough to provide for an airplane. Also, inferring from what you've told me here, what you're paying for housing would rent a so-so one bedroom apartment here. Do we have a nice house? Yes, we do, and that means a lot to my wife and daughters. I also did a little more calculating, and came to the realization it would take nearly 20 percent of my take home pay to support an airplane. One fifth of the family budget spent on Dad's hobby? That's not fair to the other members of the family.
in other words, you choose not to own an airplane, it's not that you can't. That's fine but it doesn't mean that someone with a modest income can't own one if they want. our hangar neighbors in IL include an electrician, a pharmacist, and a retired schoolteacher. I'm an engineer. We're just everyday folks like most airplane owners. Many, many peoiple have expensive motorsports hobbies. Hot rods, boats, airplanes, they're all the same thing big-picture.
Like I just said, the cost of keeping even a modest airplane would be 20 percent of my take home pay, and to spend that much on myself would not be fair to my wife and daughters, at this stage of my life. In a little less than two years, our home mortgage will be paid off and at that time we'd have enough to support an airplane. I'm not going to do that, but I may very well wind up with a share of a sailplane, I'm not that interested in power flying any more. It's a neat way to travel, but we don't have much of a need to travel regionally, anyway, it scares my wife.
It's funny that you mentioned other motorsport hobbies. When I first posted on this thread, I was responding to this section of a post:
Dumping toys and dumping toy debt most people could afford a plane.
I have no toys, and to support an airplane, living where I do, would consume all of the whole family's discretionary income. In my book, that is not being able to afford something.
On the other hand, (except for the recent recession and anemic recovery), housing is usually a much better long term investment than an airplane.
But I too live in less house than I can afford and own more airplane than my financial planner thinks I should.
Neither are investments. Airplanes are expenses, just like cars. Houses aren't really investments, but they are a cost effective way of having a place to live. Seventeen years ago, we put down $71,000 on a house, and since then, we've been paying almost exactly in principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and maintenance as we would to rent a similar house. The big difference is that our $71,000 investment has grown into about $375,000 equity. In two more years, we'll have it paid in full, and we'll probably have around $420,000 in equity. After that, the house will probably just about exactly keep up with inflation, maybe get a little ahead. But, in addition to the house holding its value, we'll be able to live in it for just taxes, insurance, and maintenance. We'll be living in a nice four bedroom house, but paying for a modest one room apartment, and when I retire, we'll be able to sell it, pay cash for something smaller, and add a big chunk of change to our retirement kitty.
I missed this thread while the survey was still active, but I agree that it can often be done without a 6-figure income. I did pretty well for 5 years while I lived in a no-mortgage condo in an area where property taxes are very low, with no other debt or encumbrances. It's getting harder now that I'm living in an apartment in an area where the property taxes are so high that there is NO WAY I could afford to own a house here. I'm hoping to still be able to do it by renting my old condo out. If that fails, my aircraft ownership days will probably be over.
So much of depends on where you are in life. Back when I was single, I used to race cars, and I was spending what would be the upkeep on a light single's worth of money on it each year. As always, that was my choice. I had a decent little townhouse, drove an old Aerostar van that doubled as a tow vehicle, or rode a 10 year old motorcycle I paid cash for. Like others have said, it's no sacrifice when it's what you want, and like you said, if you're not spending much on housing and have no debt, you can spend a pretty fair proportion of you income on hobbies, especially if you are single. Married with children and a mortgage is a very different story.
I really hope your condo gets rented, I'd hate to see you lose something you love. I've never owned an airplane, but I did have access to my father's when he had it, and it was nice.
