u/Damnsandwich

My dad is a retired ER doc. Clearly a bright guy that can think on his feet. Serious bass fisherman that graduated from float tube in college to bass buster with a trolling motor, then just stopped there. For one, that’s all he and his buddy needed to navigate East Texas ponds no bigger than 50 acres, but what I think is really driving it is a fear (for lack of a better word) of learning something new. ”I don’t know anything about outboard motors, so they just aren’t for me”.

Fast forward. He sold the ranch we grew up on that had a 15 acre bass lake and now lives on a 200 acre share-owned private lake that allows outboards but caps the hp at 10. This is where he wants to spend his remaining days drinking Crown Royal, eating pimento cheese sandwiches and fishing for bass. A life well lived. It‘s great, but fishing that lake with a 40-thrust trolling motor like he’s used to is, well, arduous. There’s a reason all the neighbors have 3-6 hp outboards.

And then there’s me, to my chagrin living the suburban life in Dallas. And I find myself falling into the same trap. “I don’t know anything about outboard motors, so they’re just not for me”. Even though what’s on the other side of that knowledge gap is a much more enjoyable time with my dad in his remaining years and my own kids.

What drives the fear is simple- motor is going to break down when he’s on the other side of the lake and he’s not going to know how to fix it. For me personally, I feel like I could learn to change a spark plug, maybe blow a carburetor clean, but I don’t know if I could diagnose issues in the fly, and anything beyond that would be beyond where my mechanical brain reaches.

So generally my question is, when any of you folks were beginners, did you have the same fear? What got you over it?

It’s more so anyone deriving a sense of superiority from getting up at the ass crack of dawn to do (enter activity here). You aren’t necessarily more disciplined, happier, in better shape or more determined to be successful. I go to sleep and get up when my body tells me to and am doing just fine.

I know this has been asked before, but every situation is slightly different. , Secured a $200k HELOC at 5.45% fo the next 9 months, then prime. 10 year draw period, during which I only pay interest.

I had originally planned to finance $150k of a $350k renovation and pay off furiously during the intro rate period. Once I got the principle down to half of what I originally had borrowed, I had planned to begin raising cash for a vehicle purchase.

I expected all of the above to take about 18 months.

Fast forward to today and it looks like the car’s close to its last leg.

So my question- considering I’m only required to pay principle, do I put about $25k down on a $65k vehicle, and use the HELOC to pay cash for the rest? This would bring my total borrowed fo car and house to about $195, but again, 5.45% interest only for the next nine months, then it resets to prime flat.

Secure job. $275k household income. No other debt. Have brokerage I could access if things hit the fan.