How much $$$$$$ do you make?

[Divin'Papaw]

Am I the only one who thinks this is a rude question?

I do as well

 

[Zieg]

Am I the only one who thinks this is a rude question?

No Walter, you are not. It is an extremely rude question, just like "How many pills do you take a day?".

 

[Diveral]

I have found that the more money I make, the less diving I do. This is probably because the higher paying jobs require more time and with age comes other responsibilities. I probably make at least 10-20 times now what I was making when I started diving but I have a lot less time between work and family.

Oh man you are preaching to the choir. I did a lot more diving on my used scuba gear when I was a broke college student or and enlisted man in the navy than I do now.

AL

 

[jupitermermaid]

I make a lot of sacrifices to be able to dive. It's worth it for me, and it's cheaper (and more fun) than a shrink.

 

[BMR]

I'm in college... I'm broke. Make barely enough to get by on my own. I have my priorities completely backwards. I have lots of (deferred) debt. I don't manage money well, and I buy a lot of things on impulse. Student loans helped finance scuba diving. I'm in a hole..

but...

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!

Indeed you don't have to make a lot to dive but it is quite expensive.

 

[Hoomi]

Everything's relative.

Hey, let's leave my relatives out of this!

Let's see... not counting the money we've already paid against the Fiji trip in 2010, I think my wife and I are pushing $1000 on gear already, and our first OW class doesn't start for nearly two weeks.

Granted, about $300 of that is from my wife's mask alone. With her prescription, getting the Rx lenses jumped from the normal ~$110 to about $220, plus the cost of the mask itself.

We both now have our masks, fins, snorkels, booties, basic rash suits, and dive knives. I also have a BCD I picked up used through the classifieds here at Scubaboard (and which I've already had checked out by the LDS). My wife wants to hold off buying her BCD, as she's still losing weight, and figures it doesn't make sense to drop a big chunk of change on something that may not fit her in another six months. Mine was very reasonable, and I figure it will work fine until I get an idea of what I'd like in a better BCD after getting some experience in the water (while saving me some rental fees in the meantime).

Since we started planning this well over a month ago, we've spread out the purchases over several paydays, making it less of an impact on either the budget or the credit card (trying to avoid putting much on plastic). My dive knife was used from the classifieds, while my wife's rash suit and dive knife were birthday gifts from our kids (she keeps teasing me that her knife is bigger than mine).

We're just middle-class working people, and while this can get real expensive, it's certainly not impossible to work into our budget.

 

[Nemrod]

A good top end set of scuba gear with extras to undertake most types of diving will set you back about .5 Harley units for two people, husband and wife or significant couple (define as you wish not that there is anything wrong with that). A HU is equal to 25,000 dollars USA.

Of course if you buy top end scooters, a boat, a huge vehicle to tote it all in, full trimix capable gear and a rebreather, dSLR in aluminum case with dual strobes and a movie recorder as well, well, the sky is the limit. Most people start small and build large over time, wise purchases up front will allow you to grow without re-purcahsing stuff over and over which get's to be expensive.

If you are lucky to live in a place that affords local diving, you certainly do not need to be wealthy, even if you throw in the occasional vacation trip.

I find the bimodal results, at least when I looked at the poll, interesting and reflective of the slow death by strangulation of the middle class.

I don't think it was meant to be a rude question because he is not asking YOU to disclose, it is just a poll, interesting, but nothing more. The high costs of various things especially nowadays is certainly a concern for many young people, families and others.

N

 

[Nemrod]

I'm in college... I'm broke. Make barely enough to get by on my own. I have my priorities completely backwards. I have lots of (deferred) debt. I don't manage money well, and I buy a lot of things on impulse. Student loans helped finance scuba diving. I'm in a hole..

but...

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!

Indeed you don't have to make a lot to dive but it is quite expensive.

Then I hope you are majoring in a field that pays well or you marry rich. Personally, in my next life I plan to marry rich, work is hard, saving is harder. BTW, every dollar you invest in your twenties is like 10 invested in your forties and fifties. :no

BUT, ya know what, what good are fast motorcycles and fancy scuba gear when you are old and rich, burn it all up now, die fast and in debt to your ears. Safety is way overrated.

N

 

[--tom--]

Since my paycheck is direct deposit into my wife's account, I guess I don't make anything. Now that I think about it, counting my hobbies I am living backwards. Where are the negative numbers on the poll?

 

[nwhitney2003]

Am I the only one who thinks this is a rude question?

I also think this is a rude question but I'm not being asked directly and can choose not to answer. If others want to answer that's fine too.

I'm wondering; what STD's everyone has had or have?