The Good Life

Everyone wants the good life. If we’re on vacation wouldn’t it be nice to stay at the Four Seasons rather than Holiday Inn? If you have to buy a car wouldn’t a Mercedes be nicer than a Honda?

I’m writing these words as I begin my first vacation in seven months. I’m sitting in first class on a cross country flight to California wine country – the good life indeed. But it’s not what you think.

I assume that you think since I’m rich, I always fly first class or that maybe I even charter my own jet but that’s about as far from the truth as you can get. It’s true that I’ve gotten used to flying first class, not having flown coach in over two years but it’s not because I’ve been free with my hard earned money. I use miles to upgrade, miles I’ve accumulated on a credit card that I pay off every month.

The service and amenity gap between coach and first class is wide but hardly worth the difference in price. At the level of wealth I’ve achieved, spending like that would quickly lead me to lose any security I currently enjoy.

I check into my hotel leaving a credit card for “incidentals” and go on to enjoy a week of relaxation visiting vineyards and wineries, going out to diner and sometimes doing nothing at all. The unit I’m in is a one bedroom suite with a kitchen, living room, a full bathroom and a bedroom suite with an incredibly large walk-in closet and a second full bathroom with Jacuzzi tub not to mention the large deck overlooking the pool and ocean. When I check out, the bill is just $18.

The low bill is explained by the fact that this is a timeshare rather than a traditional hotel. Sure I had to purchase the original timeshare and pay yearly dues as well as an exchange fee when I trade into other resorts but that amount of money pales in comparison to renting a hotel for every vacation.

While I don’t want to turn this post into a defense of timeshares, I do want to point out how I’ve been able to use a product well in order to maintain a certain quality of life.

My original timeshare cost $18,000 in 1999 which I paid cash for. There are yearly dues that amount to about $700 a year and an exchange fee of $130 each time I book a trade. I usually use the timeshare two weeks a year for a total cost of $960 a year. For that $960 I stay in units much as I described above sometimes even bigger with more amenities.

As a contrast let me tell you what happened after checking out of the timeshare on this particular trip. Mrs. Obscure and I had decided to extend our trip a little and spend Friday night and Saturday in Santa Monica before heading back east on Sunday. We booked a nice hotel for those two nights in a typical hotel sized room. When you opened the door, everything was there to see, the bed, the desk, the armoire that held the television and some draws, two night stands, a small closet and the bathroom. When we checked out early Sunday morning the bill came to $544. Based on my $960 a year for the timeshare those two days were more than I “paid” for the week in the one bedroom giant of a suite. Had we stayed at this hotel for the entire week rather than the timeshare the bill would have been a staggering $1,666.

I enjoy the good life but I’m not willing to mortgage my real life for the occasional treat or the appearance of a level of affluence that simply isn’t there. When I take my next trip in February I’ll be flying coach because I’m out of miles and simply can’t justify the cost of actually buying a first class ticket. I want the good life but I know it will come in time as long as I’m careful with the present.

Sure I have a good life but it isn’t what you think. It’s not simply because I’m rich that I can enjoy the finer things, it’s because I’ve been prudent and planned and use the proper tools to achieve my goals. It’s not because I’m rich that I have great vacations, it’s the great vacations that have made me rich in more ways than one.