Financing Gear

[absane 0]

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Student loans seem to be popular amongst the college crowd.

But, I mean... how do they do that? Register for classes, pay for them in full with the loans, and then drop all the classes before the 100% refund deadline?

Don't forget to pull!

[popsjumper 2]

Hell, I don't know. I left college over 30 years ago...back when it was cheap.

Hvance may be able to answer that.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Hvance 0]

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Hell, I don't know. I left college over 30 years ago...back when it was cheap.

Hvance may be able to answer that.

Back when the earth was still cooling college was cheap Andy.

Depending on the type of loans, you may be able to simply borrow more than you need. I don't know the details. I didn't pay for my rig that way.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

[SivaGanesha 2]

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But all it takes is one look at the financial situations of so many people to know that going into debt for toys is not a good move.

What would you recommend as an alternative?

If someone continues to rent, then there are costs to that as well. If you pay the DZ $50/day to rent a $5000 rig, then you are effectively paying 1% of the cost of the rig per day. If you plan to jump more than 20 days in a year, then even charging a rig to a 20% p.a. credit card is going to be a wiser move.

Not to mention the fact that someone renting isn't going to be taken as seriously in the sport, and may be subject to "student rules" even if they have a license, etc. And it's probably going to be tough to save while shelling out all that money for rentals.

If you advise someone to quit the sport entirely and come back when they have money to buy a rig, then there can be a dollar cost to that too, especially if they need to go through some of AFF again.

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[virgin-burner 1]

just buy something cheap that will get you in the air. heck, u guys dont even know what kind of prices we pay around here, a new rig with everything easily runs up to 10k around here..

i paid for my 94 javelin with a sabre 3.5k, for that, u can get a basic rig in the states NEW.

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Ron 7]

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What would you recommend as an alternative?

Jump only one day a mth and save the money that you would normally spend jumping and on rig rental and save it till you can buy a used rig. Get a PT time job to fill your other free days and use every cent of that job to save for your rig.

Want something? Work harder for it.

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If you plan to jump more than 20 days in a year, then even charging a rig to a 20% p.a. credit card is going to be a wiser move.

Unless like most people you don't pay the rig off and end up at the end of the "term" still paying on the rig.

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Not to mention the fact that someone renting isn't going to be taken as seriously in the sport

Being concerned with how others think of you is not the best *financial* move.

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and may be subject to "student rules" even if they have a license, etc.

Again not really a big deal.

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If you advise someone to quit the sport entirely and come back when they have money to buy a rig, then there can be a dollar cost to that too, especially if they need to go through some of AFF again.

Never advised that. I would recommend not putting AFF on a CC however.

1. Rent one day a mth, make 5 jumps

2. The other 7 days a mth work a PT job... Even making min wage that's ~ 200 mth you could save for a rig.

3. Buy a used rig

Here is one for 1600 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=97545;d=1

Here is one for 1900 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=97965;d=1

Here is one for 2100 with a 170 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=98091;d=1

Here is one for 1200 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=98696;d=1

Here is one for 1500 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=98951;d=1

Here is a smaller one for 1500 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=98999;d=1

Here is another one http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=99817;d=1

Now, none of them are "sexy", but they all seem to be in decent shape and will let you jump without dropping thousands on credit.

You can even save MORE money by buying one piece at a time.

So in 6-10 mths you could make 30 to 50 jumps and at the end have your own rig. So it clearly can be done... You will not be the cool kid on the block, you will not have cool matching gear, you may have to deal with being looked at like a student longer than you would like.... But it clearly can be done.

My first rig was 1500 and it was an older rig, but worked well enough that I put about 500 jumps on it. I was making about 12k a year when I bought my first rig.

And like I said in my first post, "I am 99% sure this advice will be ignored, and about 90% sure that someone will claim I am being stupid and to "live for the moment".... But all it takes is one look at the financial situations of so many people to know that going into debt for toys is not a good move."

YOU are in charge of YOUR life.... You can live your life in debt like everyone else and throw your credit card at any and everything you want... Or you can make smart moves and live debt free.

Yes, my wife and I are debt free. Both drive 2006 cars. Save for retirement. We are in contract to buy another house that we will take a loan on, but if we liquidated a bit we could put over half the purchase price down (without touching 401's or Roth's). I make about 300 jumps a year (working at a DZ doing AFF and Tandems PT, along with my team training and fun jumps) and she makes ~150 a year. While SCUBA diving and traveling (Panama 10, Bahamas 08) AND I was laid off in 2009 (hence no trip that year).

Read #1 and #5 on this list: http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-110926-6907-5-top-5-tips-to-build-wealth-and-success?ywaad=ad0035

So it can be done.... The question is if you would rather live like everyone else and live in debt, or live like a weirdo and actually have money and invest so your money works for you.

It is your choice..... I used to think people like me were stupid too. I ran up credit so I could jump a bunch.... Life now is MUCH better.

You get to choose: Put things on credit so you pay interest to others and let them live better or invest and have others pay you to live better.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[beowulf 1]

Ron,

That is just crazy talk!! Living with in a budget!!! Who wants to do that!!

[Sapphire 0]

I think your advice is spot on! I'm recently licensed and although rental gear is going to keep me from doing tons of jumps, I'm not in the position (nor do I care to be - already made enough mistakes financially) to finance new/used gear at the moment.

I am always looking at gear in the classifieds and dreaming of my new rig... but it'll have to wait until I can pay cash for it. Someday...

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" ~ Helen Keller

[beowulf 1]

Keep looking through the classifieds and look at buying one component at a time. It can make buying a rig cheaper. That's what I did for my first rig.