What's holding you back?

[sv2007]

There are so many things that money can't buy. For one thing, it can't buy me a motorcycle because I promised my wife that I'll quit riding when our son's born. That promise sucks. Fortunately, recently (I don't know why), she's agreed that I can get a motorcycle again if I decrease weight. Hooray for being fat !

The bad part is that it's been almost a month and I'm still nowhere close : (

What are some of your desires that you can't have when money isn't an issue?

I think as one gets older, money becomes less of an issue in achieving desires because of one's strengthened financial position. The problem becomes time/health/etc. (or in my case verbal contract).

Ultimately, I think if I don't catch some major illness or something, I'd have to starve myself a week (oh, I'll call it fasting). Local racing season starts in March!

[disneysteve]

The only thing that came to mind when reading your post is our desire to move to Florida.

We definitely can't do it (well we could but we wouldn't) while our daughter is in college here in NJ. So that's 2 more years.

The other limiting factor is my mother. She's 86 and lives about 3 miles from us. I don't think she wants to move but she might if we did. Of course, by that time she'll be pushing 90 years old. So that might delay our relocation.

So it's not all about money for sure.

[Singuy]

The only thing that came to mind when reading your post is our desire to move to Florida.

We definitely can't do it (well we could but we wouldn't) while our daughter is in college here in NJ. So that's 2 more years.

The other limiting factor is my mother. She's 86 and lives about 3 miles from us. I don't think she wants to move but she might if we did. Of course, by that time she'll be pushing 90 years old. So that might delay our relocation.

So it's not all about money for sure.

One of the RPH I work with just moved to FL and bought a house in the backyard of Magic Kingdom. Is this something you are looking to do after your daughter graduates? The RPH is a Disney fanatic and he is loving it...get the entire Magic Kingdom fireworks every night.

[disneysteve]

One of the RPH I work with just moved to FL and bought a house in the backyard of Magic Kingdom. Is this something you are looking to do after your daughter graduates? The RPH is a Disney fanatic and he is loving it...get the entire Magic Kingdom fireworks every night.

Yep. I think my wife will leave me if we don't end up in Florida soon . We probably won't go super close to Disney just because of traffic and tourists and all but we definitely would want to be no more than 30 minutes away. However, Windermere is really nice and is just north of property and for some reason has a totally different vibe than other areas close to property. It's totally residential and "normal" given how close it is to Disney.

[Singuy]

Yep. I think my wife will leave me if we don't end up in Florida soon . We probably won't go super close to Disney just because of traffic and tourists and all but we definitely would want to be no more than 30 minutes away. However, Windermere is really nice and is just north of property and for some reason has a totally different vibe than other areas close to property. It's totally residential and "normal" given how close it is to Disney.

Although Windermere is really nice, I think the most bang for your buck is Winter Garden. You get all the amenities of Windermere (low crime, good schools, nice shopping plazas, excellent landscaping, close to Disney) plus the following

1. Closer to major hwys. I find Windermere to be a little secluded due to all the chained lakes hindering easy hwy access.

2. Lower house prices. Winter Garden south of Hwy 50 is just as nice as Windermere but the houses are a bit cheaper. Basically the two cities are separated by Winter Garden Vineland Road..but because Windermere is "more desirable" like how 90210 is more "desirable", you do end up paying a premium. Houses on the Winter Garden side is climbing though..and is getting more and more high end due to the shared amenities. But expect to pay more $$/squareft in Windermere despite how high end the houses are.

I live in Winter Garden and absolutely LOVES the place. All the schools are A rated, I am 15-20 mins from Magic Kingdom (backdoor entrance via Disney University)..I get on the hwy instantly and reach the airport in 30mins, and downtown in 20...also Winter Garden downtown is miles better than Windermere downtown (weekly farmer's market, good restaurants, year round events..probably one of the best Christmas events I have ever been to).

So take a look! We have 35 NEW constructions going up within a 5 mile radius in Winter Garden because everyone is moving over here..lol. House prices range from 250s to 1.5 million. It is getting more and more high end. The school I am zoned for have people driving lime green lambos and Bently picking up their kids....

[disneysteve]

Thanks, Singuy. We haven't even started to think about looking but I'll certainly keep that in mind. I only mentioned Windermere because we have friends who live there who we visited when we were down in November and I was surprised how non-touristy it was despite being just a few minutes from Disney's backdoor entrance as you called it, just off Reams Road.

When the time comes and we are serious about it, we'll probably head down for a few weeks and do some real exploring. We have multiple friends who live there and the list is growing steadily. I keep joking that pretty soon we're going to have more friends in the Orlando area than we have in NJ.

[Singuy]

Yeah Windermere, if you know nothing about it, is one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Central FL. It is the home to Tiger Woods, Shaq, David Seigel and all the millionaires. Most of the houses are in security guard gated communities surrounding the Butler Chain of Lakes. Any houses on these gigantic lakes are north of 2 million and 7000+ squareft. This is why there's a premium just to have your address say "Windermere" on it.

So it is non-tourisy at all. You want to stay away from I-drive, Dr. Phillips and Kissimmee if you don't want that influx of tourists.

One can only dream but have you checked out Golden Oaks? Not saying anyone should buy one of these houses..but man..talking about a house that is also a collectors item. Once those houses are sold, I bet Disney fanatics will have to pay even higher premium to live on Disney campus.

[DaveInPgh]

I think as one gets older, money becomes less of an issue in achieving desires because of one's strengthened financial position.

The problem with the majority of your posts is you don't seem to realize that YOUR reality is far from the norm in this country. And the crazy part about that is on some of your posts you toss in statistics that you've read. So how can you be so oblivious to the fact that money issues last a lifetime for much of our population?

[DaveInPgh]

Despite a statement in your original post, I will answer your question.

TIME

Time is what holds me back from achieving things not specific to money. Of course if I had enough money and didn't have to work, I would be able to achieve some of those things.

But it enters my mind often how there is not enough time in a day.

[DaveInPgh]

As for your fitness issue, I recommend joining a fitness website and learn how to live a healthy lifestyle. Ignore all of the nonsense about specific diets. It all boils down to calories. Count them, burn more than you consume, and you will lose weight.

[disneysteve]

I think as one gets older, money becomes less of an issue in achieving desires because of one's strengthened financial position.

The problem with the majority of your posts is you don't seem to realize that YOUR reality is far from the norm in this country.

I don't see anything wrong with this statement. People do generally become more financially stable with age. Debts get repaid. Children grow up and become independent. Savings grow over time.

Are there people for whom this isn't true? Sure. There are poor people who will always be poor but for the average working person, even modest savings over time improve their situation as the years pass.

[disneysteve]

Time is what holds me back from achieving things not specific to money.

Great answer. There are many things I'd like to do, places we'd like to go, tasks I'd like to tackle, but I don't have the time due to work. Some of them require money, some don't. But the limiting factor is time. They also require energy but that's an offshoot of time because after 9-10 hours at the office, I have a few free hours in the evening when I could be doing certain things but I'm too tired at that point.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Time. Now we have a lot more money than 10 years ago and a lot less time. When we had time we had no money. Now the reverse is true. Tends to happen with age.

[scfr]

This isn't exactly what you asked, but I'd say Pet Ownership vs. Travel as a Couple. For me I wouldn't call it "holding me back" but rather a "willing trade-off."

After our last dog passed, we waited 1-1/2 years before getting our next dog. We waited until we were emotionally ready, but also we wanted to do some traveling. In that time, we took a long overseas trip and 3 short in-state trips.

Now that we have a dog again, we can still take short overnight trips if we can take the dog with us. And we can (and do) travel separately. But we won't take long trips together that would involve leaving the dog in boarding.

As I said, it's a willing trade off. We definitely want a dog in our life and are willing to delay long trips as a couple until after she passes which won't be for a long time. By the time she passes, we should be retired, so it will be a great time to hit the road (and the air and the ocean).

My needs are met and my and desires are pretty simple. As time passes, they have become more simple. I don't feel that anything is really holding me back.

[disneysteve]

This isn't exactly what you asked, but I'd say Pet Ownership vs. Travel as a Couple.

Along the same lines, I'd say parenthood. There are many things that we don't get to do because of our daughter. Some of it is just general parenting stuff. Some of it is unique to her situation and personal challenges that she deals with. We love her implicitly, of course, and do anything we can to support her. It is just frustrating sometimes when I see other kids her age and younger being far more independent. I'm hoping that she gets there eventually because it would be nice to actually be empty nesters some day and be able to come and go freely.