Where are y'all getting your money from?

[Grimreefer89]

im barely above your 85k limit but my wife is a stay at home mom and i have 2 kids. when you consider all that im on a budget. my biggest advantage i believe is i dont drive a vehicle with a note. my truck is 13 yrs old been paid off for 10 years now. thats 500 bucks extra a month for reefing. i diy ALL i can as long as i can still make it visually appealing. im only running a 40 breeder that i drilled and plumbed myself with a eshopps sump i paid 50 bucks for. i did spend some money on lights ( 2x hydra 32's) the ATO and the return pump i felt like these weren't places to skimp. as far as coral goes i dont buy anything i cant afford to kill ($120 is the most ive spent... it died). As far as credit cards go i refuse to pay interest on them if you can get something you actually NEED for the same price without interest go for it. cash is king! ill get my big tank eventually probably 180 gallon to 220 gallon. im thinking around april 2022 though.

 

[Lightspeed]

IDK, i live in Australia, everything is imported and price wise after duties and taxes seems expensive.
Buy the best you can AFFORD, which also means buying good used condition when applicable, but i don't have Radeons and the like, but watch the new black box comparison on BRS, i do have Vipars.

I do work full time, cost of living in Australia is not cheap and i have a mortgage etc.
I buy Gold, Silver and Rhodium when the prices are down, this cycle sometimes takes years so patience needs to be exercised and i sell when the price peaks. Its not hard really, just be smart with your chosen way of boosting personal wealth.
Oh and i don't have kids any longer that i am paying child support for, which increases my monthly income over 25% but my tax bracket is still 25%, so a year ago i was living on literally half of what i was earning but i still managed to buy my precious metals. And i do not drink, while cheaper in the USA its outrageous here in Australia, so its all about personal discipline, budgeting and management.

 

[Weasel1960]

What you don't hear about on here is how many of those 200/300/1600 gallon [RedSea/Waterbox/expensive brand] are paid for with credit cards.
I'm sure many get out of the hobby before those credit cards are paid off.

I have 28 years of Army Reserve and just turned 60, been waiting to collect my retirement for 14 years. Some of that will be me treating myself. While I plan everything out I havent seen very many online supply stores, or livestock websites that don’t have a payment plan.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

IDK, about 25 or so, 250,000 gallons (grin)

Yeah only need one small one at home with all those tanks at work lol

 

[Caseyoidae]

I met up with my old high school chemistry teacher and we started cooking.. in real life working overtime, diy, used equipment and taking it a little at a time. Hoarding equipment helps too.

 

[Pistondog]

IDK, i live in Australia, everything is imported and price wise after duties and taxes seems expensive.
Buy the best you can AFFORD, which also means buying good used condition when applicable, but i don't have Radeons and the like, but watch the new black box comparison on BRS, i do have Vipars.

I do work full time, cost of living in Australia is not cheap and i have a mortgage etc.
I buy Gold, Silver and Rhodium when the prices are down, this cycle sometimes takes years so patience needs to be exercised and i sell when the price peaks. Its not hard really, just be smart with your chosen way of boosting personal wealth.
Oh and i don't have kids any longer that i am paying child support for, which increases my monthly income over 25% but my tax bracket is still 25%, so a year ago i was living on literally half of what i was earning but i still managed to buy my precious metals. And i do not drink, while cheaper in the USA its outrageous here in Australia, so its all about personal discipline, budgeting and management.

Must be getting sweet deals on the gbr corals.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Ladies and gentlemen a kind reminder to keep the thread on point. Any comments that violate the forums TOS can be edited or deleted.

Thank you.

 

[Rijodan]

I am well into you budget, support a gf and child, rent and save. Run a 180g and a 28g aio.

1. Buy a Lotta used, recognize that this really is a seasonal hobby. So many pick it up in fall winter and sell in spring summer when they have more to do.

2. Plan plan plan. Know what you want, save for it, be flexible enough with the plan that if some crazy deal gets you 80% of what you want at 30% of the cost go for it.

3.join a local Reef club, so often these are full of very knowledgeable people that can help guide you through your learning and bounce ideas of of and share shipping costs with whn buying from vendor or auction, and they sell internally. Most of my corals come from other club members at good discounts and sometimes even free if they just want it out their tank. Though please do not join asking for free stuff. For example one guy is giving away every color plating monti in our group cause it grows too fast in his tank. If someone doesn't go get it from him he's gonna trash it. Imagine trashing fist size frags of purple monti, red/orange cause you got left on read for free corals. It happens.

4. Scrimp and save. I pay a low rent for my house, I keep my month to month bills low, drive a vehicle as old as I am, and live a very spartan lifestyle.

Main thing tho. Watch fb market place, craigslist, the dry goods sell forum, make friends with local lfs cause they always know whose selling some old tank.

 

[Tylerfreitas14]

I dont make a ton of money and I do have bills kid,rent,car payment....exc. I just find people in the area who will trade or I grow out and sell to get what I want. I try and make my hobby pay for its self, So I dont use any money I make from my job. I also dont buy the high end stuff for my tank builds i got about $450 into my 55 gallon tank build. But I got about 3,000 in corals. Love my bounce shrooms, high end torches.

 

[Biff0rz]

So, I've done both. Let me explain... 15yrs ago I was reefing (wow a lot has changed). I was 'poor' by reefing standards, probably 50k and in an apartment, I made it work. Slowly bought stuff, budgeted, got 2nd hand items, etc. Yea, it sucked at times like when my return pump went, another $100 wasn't easy on the wallet. But, I had a great tank and more importantly it was FUN! Sure, I didn't have more than 1 or 2 sps but lps/softies are cool too.

Now I'm getting back into it, however, life is much different for me. Am I one of those that bought everything right away? Yep. Does it hurt the wallet? Not a single bit. I think I'm 10-15k into it in like 2 months. Tank, stand, apex, ato, lights, water storage, mixing station, you name it. My goal is to automate as much as possible. All that is fun but not cheap. I buy certain items second hand but most is new or very close to it.

To my point- as you age you (hopefully) get better at managing money and typically will make more at your job. Whatever your income is, do the best you can with it and don't size yourself up to Joe blow, it's an arms race you cannot win. Just have fun with what ya got!

For context I make quite a bit of money now (2%'er) but there are people on this forum that have or make WAY more than I do. I'll never be able to do what they can but guess what? I'm happy with me and my setup. Focus on that.

 

[JohnnyBeagle]

I'm a South Florida personal injury attorney so I fit into the group in your first paragraph but my wife limits my hobby budget so I haven't converted part of our house into a massive aquarium yet.

 

[Scratch08]

I make just under your 85k cutoff, without bonuses, yet my build has officially taken 4 years to "complete", and by complete I mean have water and a few fish...still no corals yet. Like others have stated, planning and budgeting are the two biggest factors that you have to do. I don't necessarily live in a high dollar neighborhood, despite the fact that I live in a tourist city. Actually, my current townhouse was a foreclosure that I got at a really good price(short sale), but still have agood bit of remodeling to do and an HOA to pay monthly and I still have a hefty bike payment each month too. I/we are not "well off" but with planning and budgeting we get to have and do what we want

 

[BackToTheReef]

After my divorce I got a credit card to try and build my credit and for daily use to "protect" my bank account from fraud. I made sure to get a rewards card and used it for my day to day purchases, saved my receipts, paid it off every Friday.

I've earned more rewards (and boosted my credit more) than I can count over the years. Instead of cabelas points I sure wish I could earn BRS points!

 

[Back where it all began]

Yes i live in Manhattan and things are expensive. But that makes you think about how to acquire things at the best price. For instance, I drive to Greenwich Connecticut to my lfs and have established a relationship with them over time, that allows me to get a discount trade materials, etc. they even mail things to me. local clubs too. And no I don’t make six figures.

 

[Rijodan]

I'm a South Florida personal injury attorney so I fit into the group in your first paragraph but my wife limits my hobby budget so I haven't converted part of our house into a massive aquarium yet.

Also this. Gf is my no man. This week alone I was messaging about buying a 125 tank stand and sump for a STEAL was making the money move around in accounts, and was told "no, where would it even go."

 

[Everything Aquatics]

How I pay for this hobby is by selling lobsters

 

[bam123]

Ok, I get it. Be a doctor/lawyer/engineer/software engineer, and make the big bucks to be able to send your kids to Ivy Leagues, have a nice car, AND get an awesome fish tank or 10 out of it.

But for the all of the 5 figure and under people (let's say the cutoff is 85K), how are you doing it? Do you just like...not have kids or something? Is there a trick to all the splurging you're able to do? Are there a bunch of low cost of living areas that I'm just not aware of/don't want to move to?

I keep seeing "I just bought this 200/300/1600 gallon [RedSea/Waterbox/expensive brand] aquarium and what do I do with it" posts, and I'm just...confused...do you just have this money lying around??

I guess I'm mostly just asking because my estimated yearly earnings is currently somewhere at around 40K in a high cost of living area once the job hiring starts again. Which means very little disposable income (bye bye avocado toast, I'll miss you, but aquariums gotta aquarium).

MOVE TO A STATE WITHOUT STATE TAXES, HIGH COST OF LIVING, and ROLLING BLACKOUTS. You will find everything cheaper, including coral prices and your energy/water bills.

 

[Difrano]

I pay for this hobby with hard work. If you work hard you will get the money you want.

 

[TvanB1]

I used to work at my LFS, and a good friend of mine has access to all the big wholesalers (live and dry goods).
I get most of my stuff at wholesale cost which definitely helps!

 

[TvanB1]

I pay for this hobby with hard work. If you work hard you will get the money you want.

This is definitely not always true lol.