Not how I imagined it.

[Berk on a Bike]

[QUOTE 3857178, member: 9609"]Sometimes it is the smaller things - I never felt self satisfied with life until I fitted a private reg onto my van - then I knew I had made it

[/QUOTE]

Same here. I had to change my name by deed poll to YE51RFL though...

 

[jonny jeez]

Thing is being able to say it doesn't matter is very much the voice of experience. Different lives get different experiences - the OP may always find stuff is important to him. And I totally disagree with the "find a job you love and you'll never have to work" as it's vastly unrealistic for most people, especially once you have to keep a roof over a kid's head. Great if you love your job and it pays enough for food, bills and mortgage but if not, do what my dad did - find an OK job, do it to the best of your ability and then spend all your spare time doing what you love.

There's nothing wrong with being proud of the fruits of your labour, whether it's a five bed exec palace or something more humble. There's also nothing wrong with a bit of ruthless ambition - it's only a problem when it negatively affects others.

This is very true.

There is nothing wrong with having aspirations to better yourself either, we shouldn't mix this up with the Op's point. which seems to be a form of disappointment, almost resentment, for not having it all "right now". I suspect that this thinking will lead to a life of debt gained in the pursuit of instant material wealth.

which will, in turn end up as a far more depressing problem than the one the OP faces right now. Live within your means, nothing wrong with expanding your means but don't chase that expansion at all costs.

 

[MarkF]

Other "stuff" usually comes with the "stuff" money can buy you, the only time I've been unhappy was when I was earning the most.

The original post was horrible, it reminded me of a friend who defines himself by what he owns and defines others by what they do not. After 30 years, we were childhood friends and then business partners, it's taken me 3 years to get him out of my life, he lives alone, wife and kids walked out years back, avarice is an unattractive trait.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

Hopefully, you will eventually come to realise the difference between what is important and what is just successful marketing!

This is so, so true

 

[Racing roadkill]

Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, is an all too common trait. Some of the nicest people I know, haven't got a pot to pee in. Conversely, every man jack of the folk I wouldn't wee on, if they were on fire, love banging on about how much stuff they have bought or are going to buy (in fact they actually own very little of it, in the final analysis). If it's something you can buy, it's probably not really worth the aggro. The best things in life, are experiences, 'money can't buy' experiences.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Also, can we stop saying 'the world doesn't owe you anything' or that 'You have no right' I'm fully aware and preach that to 16 year olds who think they have a right to everything when they leave school, before earning it.

I'm not 16, I'm not earning £7.50 an hour, I'm not claiming any benefits, I'm not claiming to be poor, I'm simply claiming that I'm a qualified avionics engineer and am debating the fact that I have created a path, which has led to this moment. The moment when I realise that I can no longer progress to achieve and gather the finer things in life. Thus where in my life to accept this fact? Or when and where to move forward.

A bit blunt, but really. I'm not after a packet of fags and a crate of special brew, I'm after the bigger things.

Thanks.

Your problem is that you seem to think at such a young age, you've made it to the finish line. You're a hell of a lot closer to the 16 year olds you speak disparagingly about than lots on here are to you & still paying mortgages etc. I'm one of the best qualified and senior people in my niche profession nationwide, I earn between average wage and 40% tax bracket, for my qualifications and status it is chicken feed but like you, my career, I chose to become a fully qualified....... over years of 'service' knowing what the future looked like. I assume you have seen what fully qualified looks and pays like in your profeasion and at any time could have weighed that against a shallow materialistic outlook and done something more lucrative (gone robbing banks or joined a boyband?) to satisfy a desire for the finer things in life when you want or determine you've put enough into the pot to be able to take out. You didn't, you stuck at it and now no doubt are in that limbo of too well off & commitments to wish to start again but not as rich as you like. What are you doing to change it - management./promotion courses in your own line? 2nd job? Night courses or OU to qualify into something that pays you what you think you are worth? Badgering Simon Cowell for your big break? Investing in a shotgun and a pair of stockings?

You don't like your situation? that thing you're sat on while typing this, get off it, get off here and make the difference you want to happen.

 

[TreeHuggery]

In the words of the song...
"You'll never see a hearse with a trailer on it

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf-fXn8z1LA

 

[Racing roadkill]

Which usually takes about 4 minutes!

That long?

 

[MarkF]

In about 2005 I was happy as Larry, working with a partner and taking home £2k a month, life could not have been better as far as I was concerned. Then I had a bright idea, soon I was earning £4k.........a week.

My life was utterly shite, my phone never stopped, I couldn't cycle because my phone never stopped and whilst I was talking I'd be receiving msg's to call back, I'd go on holiday and be unable to swim with my kids because I had my phone in my hand, I always needed an internet connection....my family was as unhappy as I was. Thank god for the internet, it didn't take long for others to rip off my bright idea, I am back to less than £2k a month now and blissfully happy again.

I think only a lucky few get enjoyable money, for most it doesn't come without targets, pressure, stress and angst.

 

[EltonFrog]

I have a cousin, with whom I am quite close. She is, by anyone's standards very wealthy indeed by her own efforts, considerable hard graft and a soupçon of good luck. She has all the superficial trappings of her success, a full-time nanny, two housekeepers, two very very big houses, some nice cars, and travels the world for some nice holidays. She is also very generous with gifts to her family and she is a really nice girl. BUT, every time I see her she moans about her work, her staff, the kids, her bloke, the cost of her property and that she is always broke. ( I wish I was broke as she is).

I think she would be happier if she chucked it all in, but she won't she has something to prove, quite what I don't know, but something drives her.

I used to have an acquaintance (he was a friend) a car dealer, a clever shrewd car salesman and good company to be with for a while, his thing was watches in particular the Rolex brand. He had several of them, gold ones, rare stainless steel ones and so on. He never wore them, he also bought fake versions of the same watches to wear. I got bored with him eventually because all he ever talked about was how much money he made, how much money was spending he became a crashing bore.

For a while was bit like them, but the more I had (which wasn't as much as them) the more miserable I became, I have a lot less now, but I have much more time. We all have stories about people we know who seem to have more than us but are not happy.

You can always get more stuff if you want it badly enough, but you can't buy more time, be careful what you wish for. You might just get it.

 

[swansonj]

I think there is a distinctively cycling perspective on this. A couple of summers ago, the high point (figuratively as well as literally) of my cycling to date was achieved at the top of Galibier, reached courtesy of the low gear provided by a Rohloff-equipped, thousand-pound-plus bike. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to fulfil that. But thirty years ago, my previous high spot (figuratively) was achieved by a LeJog. The bike that time had equally low gears ... provided by finding a really cheap unboxed 32-tooth cassette in a random bike shop, fitting it to a dérailleur that wasn't big enough to cope, and consequently having to stop to push the chain onto the bottom cog manually, and being jolly careful never to select big-big or something would have snapped. All on a bike that cost £105 (end of line or something).

I've now got the income to afford a better quality bike and to travel to the Alps if I choose to, and I'll use my income to do those things, and be grateful. But I honestly think that as long as I've got two wheels, two pedals, something connecting them, and a road leading away from my house, the fundamental criteria for my cycling happiness are in place.