How much should I spend each year on punting

[The Professor]

Good evening Gents,
Was contemplating my navel and punting expenditure and came across an article which recommended how you should spend your hard earned cash.
The 50/20/30 rule suggests you should spend 50% of your income on living expenses, 20% on savings or achieving your financial goals and 30% on wants or discretionery spending.
Being the type I am (and luckily never having rugrats) my living expenses are much lower, my savings considerably higher and my wants no where near 30%.
Although as I enter my pre retirement stage I am lucky to be in a very comfortable financial position, I realize that maybe, I should start to splash out more and allocate more of my funds to that 30% mark.

Often there are threads on here about how much to spend on punting weekly, etc do you think this 50/20/30 is a good strategy?

Me thinks that to get to that comfortable financial position it might be prudent to allocate more into savings esp when you are young.

We all talk about a work/life balance and I know that in the past I have not had as much fun as probably I could have, based on this strategy.

Would you say 30% of your income spent on mongering and other Me activities ( trips, restaurants, events etc ) is realistic?

Puff Puff Prof

PS No I'm not an accountant.

[bradpitt]

I don't think we can land on a % figure. Spend the amount that meets your personal goals. You sound in a similar place to me. You might have looked at your financial future which appears to be on track. I don't live a lavish life and don't envisage that will change.

The question for me is do I wish I had spent that money in another way?

Yes, I did compound some of those spends into some Sydney visits and spent too much in a short time.
Yes, I should move to more frequent local visits of shorter duration.


But one thing I do know about this spend is I have to keep it to myself. I can't tell friends or family of a wonderful $15k trek through Nepal, or $15k spent rebuilding a school in Botswana or $15k building a homeless shelter in South Brisbane. Compound that $15k over the next 10 years and that's $150,000 that i could have put to some other pursuit.

[Blueshirtguy]

I don't think we can land on a % figure. Spend the amount that meets your personal goals. You sound in a similar place to me. You might have looked at your financial future which appears to be on track. I don't live a lavish life and don't envisage that will change.

The question for me is do I wish I had spent that money in another way?

Yes, I did compound some of those spends into some Sydney visits and spent too much in a short time.
Yes, I should move to more frequent local visits of shorter duration.


But one thing I do know about this spend is I have to keep it to myself. I can't tell friends or family of a wonderful $15k trek through Nepal, or $15k spent rebuilding a school in Botswana or $15k building a homeless shelter in South Brisbane. Compound that $15k over the next 10 years and that's $150,000 that i could have put to some other pursuit.

I can't disagree with your logic Mr Pitt. Mongering is a secret experience that, other than on this forum, is not shared with other people and so it does feel like the money we spend kind of disappears with nothing to show for it. I too have that guilt that comes about when I add up what I've spent and compare to other experiences and as you've described, even really noble pursuits like building schools etc. The thing is, even if you look at the pursuits you've mentioned, the people that do these things, while they do impart a benefit on the people they help, in my experience, they also do those things for themselves. They have a need that they need to meet. Sometimes its the feeling of having helped someone, and sometimes its the feeling that after they have helped someone, they can come home and feel good when they tell other people that they went and helped other people. Either way, its still something personal to them and meeting their needs. And so I see mongering as a very similar thing. We all have needs, and for various reasons us mongers don't have those needs met by a partner (of which some of us have while mongering and some of us don't). Mongering gets those needs filled and makes us more content in our own lives. In addition, the money spent, while sometimes going straight into the casinos pockets, more often it goes back to families to make their lives a little better. Our money does help people somewhere along the way. It's really no different to a hair dresser. Woman spend a ridiculous amount on hairdressers only to wake up the next day and shower and wash any hard work put into straightening or curling etc down the drains. There is often very little to show for the money spent, but the client who pays to get their hair done feels good at whatever event they are going to and the money goes to the family who provided the service. It's a service that we choose to spend on to help us meet needs that we have.

To the question of how much to spend? I don't think you can put a number on it. It is going to be purely dependant on individual needs and your financial position. Like all vices, I think the main thing is to make sure that you are in control of the situation and not the other way around. You need to know what you're spending and ensure it is not exceeding a level that puts you into a dangerous position. After that, do what you want to with your money. We only live once.

[harry444]

Being retired I need to consider a few things. Number one, I don't feel I have an obligation to leave my son a large inheritance, just modest plus inheritance from my ex, he will be quite comfortable. So I figure I can spend heavily on girls for the next few years, until things stop working.

[harry444]

Some waste money on a rapidly depreciating expensive car. I waste money on a pay per fuck. Who is to say which is better value.

[Blueshirtguy]

Some waste money on a rapidly depreciating expensive car. I waste money on a pay per fuck. Who is to say which is better value.

If you're worried about VFM, then this saying should help, "if it floats, flies or fucks, its cheaper to rent it" and should put your mind at rest. I've been married and divorced, and then had a serious relationship that ended, and I have definitely spent more on those 2 endeavours than I have in all my punting combined, and the sad thing is I think I had more sex punting than I did in my marriage, so where's the VFM in that!! Its all about perspective I guess....

[harry444]

There is lot of politically incorrect stuff on here, but we all know that it is true. Another 10 years or so and men will grow balls and get sick of it and the pendulum will swing back to a more sensible mid position.

[Up2me]

Interesting consideration Professor.

I simply couldn't work to a 50/20/30 rule, it's far too structured for my way of thinking.

Not sure exactly what my break up would be as a percentage but as a general rule, i spend what i have to on living expenses and then whatever is left, i (very roughly) bank half and blow the other half on what takes my fancy and makes me happy at the time. Then once or twice a year, i give the savings a hit and have a splurge on an O/S trip.
I don't worry about saving a huge nest egg for my old age because that is what my super is for and i might not make it to old age anyway.

I can't take it with me to the other side, my son will get the house when i kick the bucket so he will be fine, don't want a pack of hyena's fighting over my hard earned when i'm gone, so "me" activities are not going to miss out on their fair share of the budget while ever i am fit, willing and able.

[nosha]

If you are following the barefoot investor buckets it should be more like 10% on Splurge which would cover mongering....

Its more like 60% for everyday expenses, 10% long term saving, 10% splurge, 20% firefighter (unexpected bills).

The emptiness and continual hunt that many experience probably warrants an entire new thread.... I don't think one will ever be content with mongering, the hunt is hard wired in our DNA from thousands of years of evolution... Some more than others, because of our ancestry... There is a great book called Sapiens or any of the youtube stuff by Jordan Peterson if you want to find true happiness and contentment.

[gpeck80]

Compound that $15k over the next 10 years and that's $150,000 that i could have put to some other pursuit.

. Nope. More like 30k ....


minus inflation over that time so in real terms maybe 22k.

[gpeck80]

Punting is still cheaper than a divorce. Way cheaper.

[bradpitt]

. Nope. More like 30k ....


minus inflation over that time so in real terms maybe 22k.

I did consider writing "compound $15K over 10 years and that $200K" but decided not to delve into NPV.

expenditure this week has been just $220 so I guess I have under performed.

[Frank Walker]

As soon as you descend into spreadsheet economics for punting you may as well quit, it's not a game with a positive NPV.

Just spend what you can afford at the end of the day, and what that will be will be highly subjective to the individual.

I do wish more punters on here got smarter and saved money and travelled overseas annually for whoring expeditions, as opposed to paying domestic rates for a much more substandard service. If more people did that, it would force the domestic market to change as a result. The approach requires discipline because you're trading domestic frequency versus a stack over 1-2 months, but if you actually perform both operating models I bet you'll come out the other end saying the overseas method was far better.

[gpeck80]

All good hobbies are expensive. Gym. Sport. Fishing. All involves money. I dont think of expensive hobbies as being a net negative, since they also reduce stress and thats good for your health, which improves your overall ability to make money to replace the money lost over time.





Or maybe I just enojoy sinking into pussy.

[4FoW2]

[QUOTE=Frank Walker;2475703 I do wish more punters on here got smarter and saved money and travelled overseas annually for whoring expeditions, as opposed to paying domestic rates for a much more substandard service. If more people did that, it would force the domestic market to change as a result. The approach requires discipline because you're trading domestic frequency versus a stack over 1-2 months, but if you actually perform both operating models I bet you'll come out the other end saying the overseas method was far better.[/QUOTE]

The trouble is I would say a good 75% of punters on here are of the domestic variety. Telling wifey I am just popping over to Thailand for a short course in Buddhism is problematic.
To me, the domestic market will change when guys here grow some balls and walk more, demand better performance and as you said, get some discipline into their punting MO.

Yes punting OS is superior but realisticaly how many OS trips can you take per year even if this is an option. The tyranny of distance sometimes works for us but in our pursuits not.

I have often thought if I had free reign and wanted to punt purely OS how long could I go without needing a fix then I'm probably looking at 3, maybe 4 weeks, if I am lucky. So that equates to 12 trips per year.
(Although I do have some FIFO mates in Perth who work in the mines who spend 3 weeks working, 1 week in Bali and repeat) Plus its only 3 and a half hours there.
4FoW2

[gpeck80]

To me, the domestic market will change when guys here grow some balls and walk more, demand better performance and as you said, get some discipline into their punting MO.
4FoW2

I think the biggest issue is, Brisbane isnt Sydney. In Sydney you can get an ML to give you a bbbj from as low as 0.8 of a pineapple. And thats a 21 year old cutie. Because theres probably 5 or 6 of them per customer. And its legal to advertise and legal to do more risque stuff.

[bradpitt]

I do wish more punters on here got smarter and saved money and travelled overseas annually for whoring expeditions, as opposed to paying domestic rates for a much more substandard service. If more people did that, it would force the domestic market to change as a result. The approach requires discipline because you're trading domestic frequency versus a stack over 1-2 months, but if you actually perform both operating models I bet you'll come out the other end saying the overseas method was far better.

I will fit in 4 overseas trips this year. Financially it is about the same but the quality is so much better. Pay by the night instead of by the hour.

BUT domestic is a much needed convenience.

[joeblow251]

Yea, Im hoping to go twice a year now that the borders are open and it is getting easier to getting into and out of countries - problem is that's a long time between drinks

[bradpitt]

Yea, Im hoping to go twice a year now that the borders are open and it is getting easier to getting into and out of countries - problem is that's a long time between drinks

that's why you/we a reliable domestic market. maybe someone will make a submission to this weeks Canberra "skills" shortage talkfest. An increases in working visas for Taiwanese & Viet girls would be my suggestion.

[warwick1]

To quote the great George Best, "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars, the rest I squandered"............