Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Hung up on money?

[TP]

Now, I'm sure this will provoke a bit of emotive response but we'll see what happens .....

Now, I'm not the worlds best orator, nor do I write the worlds best documentation. I am known to be direct (despite fil2 thinking I was 50 years old from how I come across on the board!!!! I'm 29 damn it! 29!) so I'll just say what I'm thinking. I mean no offence to anyone via this post, I'm just trying to open up a discussion on an issue that I find myself divided on.

I've noticed over the last few months that there is a distinct dislike/bias from people who position themselves as not having much money compared to this who do have more disposable income. Desmo Due has highlighted this somewhat and so has my time on some other forums - non DSC. Why is this so? Why can there be such a hang-up about this? There doesn't seem to be such a big deal made of this in Aus as there is here - is it a hangover of the English classes or is it still alive and well?

Do we get too hung up on this? Does it really matter if one person has more disposable income than someone else? On one thread there seemed to be an attitude from some members that if you didn't do the work yourself and just paid for something to be done on your bike then you were a bling merchant and you didn't have the credibility that you would otherwise have had through personal graft.

Why am I divided? Well, I joined the Aus Army when I was 16 as an electronics apprentice. So that means I didn't finish high school, never went to University etc. Although thats not entirely true, I started doing my MBA last year but couldn't afford the time it was taking. I've done component level repair on cryptographic devices and operated HF, VHF and satellite systems bearers in telecommunications. I then moved into IT and was self taught before leaving the Army with nearly 7 years service under my belt. I did a lot of things myself and was fairly enterprising in what I would do for myself - BUT, I had feck all money. I was married with children a at a very yound age and we had bugger all. After leaving the Army and going into private enterprise in IT I started to lose my time. I earned more money but lost a lot of personal time because of it. Especially with the studying which is neverending in IT - Microsoft release a new operating system every 15 minutes and change their deployment strategy every 5 minutes. This leaves me with less time to do the things I'd like to be able to do and things that I used to get that sense of satisfaction you get from doing the job right yourself (having said that I can get that satisfaction from work, just not as often due to office politics and other crapola).

The flip side to this is that I now have a larger disposable income than I had before. Which means that although I have less time than I used to (my first year at BP I averaged a 59.6 billable hours a week over the 52 weeks despite the holiday's, although this has tailed off since about July last year) I can choose to spend the time I have left the way I want to - with my wife/children, playing sport, with the bike rather than anything else. Probably easier for me to explain that I now value my time more than money.

Does this make me a bad person? Am I now a bling merchant because I have a cleaner who comes to the house and because I get the majority of my bike work done by someone other than myself? Because I can afford to buy a 620 instead of a 600 for Desmo Due? Because I would big-bore the 620 if there was no gentlemans agreement? Because I can afford to have someone do the majority of prep-work for me on the bike? Because I own two Ducati's now, a van and the family car?

You tell me?

I can see both sides of the situation but for me, the overriding principle is that everyone is in a different situation and that people's situations are always evolving. My personal situation has changed dramatically over the last 10 years (my 10th wedding anniversary in November!) and anyone else's could.

Do you feel it's justified to complain because you have no money and someone else has? Perhaps you feel justified to complain about people having no money when they could do something about it and get more?

As I said at the top of this post, I don't mean to offend any individual on this board I'm merely putting this up for debate.

What say you - the DSC masses?

[monstermob 998]

you earnt yer money you spend it-save it, how you like
no skin off my nose
god help any one that tells me what to do with mine!!!
not meant as an aggressive reply just my thoughts
if i had every penny owed to me over the last three years of trading thru bounced checks bad payers etc i could rush out and buy me self a nice desmodici or nice sports car and then spend a fortune on having it serviced and looked after by specialists but im happy with my little 600 and tinkering with it my self cos thats what i like doing and i understand how it works as for cpu's eproms management systems i havent got a clue--i'm a bricklayer by trade how many of those people that know about cpu's management systems etc know how to build barley twist chimneys,decorative dental detail or even know what unsupported corbelling entails---

my point is---- horses for courses -every ones different- live and let live-
oh and no jokes about thick brickies please i have a teachers degree!!

[chicken]

Just the one cleaner then Tony? Ali has a butler and is therefore significantly richer than yow!

[sbwells]

Unfortunately it’s just human nature to compare ourselves with others.

Fortunately my parents never made an issue of what they had and didn’t have. But they did instil the fact that money can’t bring happiness (although is goes along way towards paying for some in certain countries)

We’re all living in a world saturated in marketing. Everywhere we look there’s a billboard or advert telling us what we need.

I need a house, clothing, food and wine. Everything else is a bonus

[electricsheep]

Money or the appearance of money is one of those sensitive subjects. And like most things appearance can be deceptive.

I know several people that have very high incomes, but live very carefully, while others earning much less that spend every penny

I respect people that can do all the modifications and servicing themselves, but I just don't have the skills or time myself. So I have to pay and have someone else do the work

[desmojen]

Good post Tp.
I have always thought time was more important than money, thats probably why I don't have any!
No, my recent career change is to blame, but things will start looking up soon.
I think you're right, there does seem to me to be a bit of a defensive response among people if someone has more money than them. I think it's mainly down to envy myself. I would never diss someone for paying to have work done on their bike, or anything else! Not everyone has the skills to do something themselves, and heck, if I could afford to pay people to service my baby, I would!
Like I said at the beginnig, time is more important to me than money

[dickieducati]

for me it all come down to time as well.

i use the money i have to free up time to spend enjoying myself, be that out for meals with my wife/holidays/nights out with friends etc.

i am lucky that it is possible for me to get someone to do stuff on my bikes or to have a cleaner for the house etc.
that said i have been in the position in the past where i literally havnt had a penny to my name; all overdraughts/loans used up and no cash at all in my pocket and am fully aware that i could possible be there again.

so i try to enjoy it while i can.

life's not a dress rehearsal.

[Mr_S]

Originally posted by desmojen
time is more important to me than money

Time's the key for me too. I've had a number of career changes in the past 7 years since leaving the Navy. All of them aimed at getting more time back for me.

Some have meant a substantial drop in income but I have more time for family etc now. Some were a big risk, including the time I was made redundant on the first day in a job

Ebay is my friend, and on a few occassions I've helped people out with websites, IT issues etc in exchange for tyres, servicing and the like. Not just with Ducati's but my previous UJM's as well, particularly when cash is tight.

[DAVE HARRIS]

When I first lived with annette many years ago we had so little money we lived in rent free accomadation. we lived on the bread line for years, I sold my bike to raise the deposit on our first house and we could barely afford to live for the first 2 years of house ownership.
Now both annette and i work we have no children so financialy we are luckier than a lot of people in that our only liability is our mortgage. Up untill 5 years ago I worked 6 days a week 52 weeks a year as I built my business up, I now take time off for track days, long weekends away at races in europe and close my garage over christmas/ new year. this has cost me a noticable amount but as other people have said money is not everything and time with annette is precious ( someday I will be able to take annette on a proper holiday rather than long weekends but staff problems prevent that at the moment).
Having no responsabilities means I can indulge myself and buy the bikes I want, but we do tend to use them and I cannot bring myself to spend large amounts of money on bling items, this being a product of having no money for so long.
I repair cars for a living and other than fit tyres/chains/ change pads I do not do any work on my bikes ( other than repairing accident damage)I respect people who do all thier own maintenence but cannot face more mechanical work so I pay someone else to do it. If I won the lottery or god forbid my company went bust I would have the time and the inclanation to work on the bikes(mind you washing them might be a start).

dave

[bradders]

*Devils advocate*

so what of social responsibility?? Should those 'with' keep harping on while those without 'sit at the back and stay quiet'??

This board is a mini community - and a faceless one at that. Without expression etc, its sometimes difficult to undertstand a point being made...weeksy sums it up well above. Of course, while someone is posting their latest spend spend spend spree, someone else will be on the verge of bancruptcy, thats life! Just have the understanding to see this if you dont want to offened.

I for one would love to have the ability to do my own stuff but, has proved A LOT!! I dont, I pay people not thru chioce but because I have too.

Time is more important than money...when you can pay the bills! And some posts on here can be so patronising its no wonder people get the hump.

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