Hi
Originally Posted by
Whirlybird
Oh dear, what a dilemma! Sometimes I am just so, so glad that I'm an impulsive person who doesn't plan my life down to the last dotted i and crossed t....or I'd never ever have made it to this great job I have as a flying instructor. After all, none of my decisions about flying made any long term sense, as lots of people made it their business to tell me at the time. But I went with the flow, and my gut feelings, and what I wanted to do at the time, and it worked.
Fair enough, but people are all different, no? I imagine that many of the decisions I've made in the last ten years or so would have been different if I didn't have children. But I do and, while I would be happy to live in a garden shed and eat nothing but baked beans to finance my flying, they would not. Nor should they have to. Much as I like flying, my family is more important to me than flying.
The terrible thing is that, if I told my wife and kids that we had to move to a crumbly old house and give up holidays, etc., so that I could pay for my flying, they would support me. And that is precisely why I couldn't contemplate such a thing. I guess that probably makes no sense to anyone but me.
What's more, I can't really bugger off to a cheaper country for a month to learn to fly, appealing as the idea might be. If I was contemplating a career change that might be a reasonable action to take, but for a hobby? I don't think I can justify that.
I don't want to put my life story up for public scrutiny, but my wife and I put off having children until almost the latest that was biologically possible. We both had things we wanted to do that would be difficult or impossible with children. The natural consequence of this decision, however, is that my children will be entering higher education, or starting work, or whatever, sometime after I have (hopefully) retired. The money I am spending on flying -- money I am incontrovertibly spending on
myself -- is money that I ought to be saving to give the next generation of Bears a helping hand when they need it most. Of course, they may grow up to be stockbrokers or captains of industry, in which case they can bloody well pay for me to resume flying in my dotage
It's not a case of planning my life to the last dotted t, but having children in your 40s does mean you have to be a bit careful about long-term finances. You don't have as long to recover from financial screw-ups that affect your kids as you do when you're 20.
As I said, the situation would perhaps be different if I could fly anything smaller than a C172; but anything smaller is like a coat on me.
Best wishes
Bear