Rare and expensive corals

[bananahands]

oh no, I still want all those things...I just can't afford them. Having more or less money does not change my taste at all, where did you get that?

 

I guess, your tastes stay the same but it becomes easier to justify the expenditure. I remember a couple of years ago, looking at the price for the vortechs thinking that was crazy and I'd never spend that much on a powerhead. Now that I'm out of the military making significantly more money, I own one and will likely own more in the future. I guess my point is your lifestyle grows with your income but the problems stay the same.

[lakshwadeep]

the article had some great information, but that guy thinks he knows way more than he actually does, and contradicted what he was saying multiple times

 

There are two authors in that article, and most of it has to do with misleading labels. While they might be writing a lot (which often leads to some contradictions), your own claims are not really specific. If you didn't know already, both are authors of popular coral books, which you will see many people recommending. So, to say you can judge from that article that either author is wrongly acting like an expert is to imply that you know as much or more than them.

[reefer916]

Some very interesting posts:)

 

I didn't mean to offend anyone regarding scraping by with $150k income. I agree with those who posted that people adjust their lifestyle to their incomes. I've been very fortunate throughout my life because I was brought up with my Dad being an Anesthesiologist, so normal to me has been a little tweaked..lol However, it's just money and material things. It doesn't make up the character or quality of a person. I've seen some miserable people who make a lot of money and happy people who make $60k a year. There are a lot of very happy wealthy people as well, but they just have more expensive toys and work a lot more.

 

To answer some of the remarks regarding, where you could find a job making $150k or more a year. There are actually quit a few professions out there that you could make good money. However, it really comes down to how much you want to sacrifice because I haven't found a career yet that pays in the top 3% of income brackets without a lot of education or some business savy and risk.

 

Keep in mind that most people making that kind of money are much older, when they get out of school and start working. For example, I understand the healthcare profession fairly well because I grew up around it and they are predominately my client base. Your looking at getting out of school between the ages of 27-35 if you went straight through and will have accrued between $150-$300k in school debt. By the time you hit that age your looking to buy a house, get married, have kids, save for retirement and college, insurance, and eventually want to purchase a practice. You would be scraping by, if your living off of $150k per year. However, for the most part your beginning pay would be around $150k depending on your specialty and some start off higher.

 

In addition, when your making $150k a year your no longer in a 15-20% tax bracket. You usually pay 28% Federal and 6-9% in State depending on the state. Let's say $150k income and after taxes you net $100k per year. That's really good money and could definitely keep a nice lifestyle, but between a mortgage, insurance, school debt, saving for retirement, saving for college, saving for emergencies, a nice family vacation, and donating 10% of your income to charities. It's virtually all gone...lol

 

Another career that could eventually pay well that doesn't require a BS or BA is insurance sales and financial advising. You could eventually become a Financial Advisor or Certified Financial Planner through taking more classes while your working. That's what I'm currently working on. The CFP takes roughly 2 years of online classes and is a two day test, which is as difficult of a test you could take in the field. You could make great money and sometimes more than most other professions. I have colleagues who make $1 million-$10 million a year. Freaking insane... Keep in mind, that the industry has a 90-95% drop out rate because it's not easy and individuals making that kind of money are in the top 1% of the remaining. Every high paying profession I know requires 60-90 hours a week of hard work with a lot of sacrifice and risk involved. I know there are a lot of college student reefers, so if anyone wants to talk more about what fields they're interested in just let me know. I'd be happy to help...

 

Cost of living:

A 3,000 sq/ft house in the nicer areas of Sacramento costs about $400-$600k right now. You look into Palo Alto or in San Francisco your looking at $1 million-$2 million for a 1200 sq/ft house or condo. So if your making $150k a year your at the poverty level..lol It all comes down to cost of living and what kind of life style your accustomed too. I don't feel money makes anyone better or worse and I have a lot of really good friends who make a lot of money and some who work for the state or businesses.. What you could do with $100k a month. Forget the reef tanks you could fly to your house in the Carribean and snorkel once a month.

 

Very interesting posts about the correlation between prices on corals. Some say that the namebrands, esthetics, truely rare corals, take part in the pricing. I'd have to agree that it's a multitude of factors, which make these beautiful little creature worth it to us. Seems like there was more interests in the income factor though:)

 

Interesting posts and keep them coming...

[lgreen]

Join me in boycotting any person or store who sells corals/inverts/fish/plants that they claim are "rare" or "limited edition".

 

[Psychosis]

I'd honestly expected LE corals to drop even further in terms of price over the last 3 years. Thinking about it, all though any one who has kept a reef tank for more than 6 months is at a minimum passionate about the hobby, its a fairly steep expense. Even a Nano may take a good $200 dollars to maintain a month, depending on the live stock, not mentioning the initial set up cost and our constant need to upgrade (not universal, but I haven't met the reefer that is 100% satisfied with his equipment.) Factor in Live stock purchases and you're looking at a car payment, an insurance payment, etc. In that situation, LE coral (which often requires more dedicated upkeep and attention in terms of equipment) becomes even harder to justify obtaining. I love how a well cared for Purple Hornet looks, but I'm not going to eat ramen for the next week to pick it up.

 

That being said, people are all ways going to pay more for a "hot" coral. Lineage or not, a good looking new addition can breathe life in to a tank. The "hot" coral at the moment would be a Chalice. In a hobby where relaxation can often be the end goal, $100 on a single eye of a slow grower is simply rewarding. You get off of work, play around with the tank for a moment, and notice even the slightest growth in that one eye. In my mind, your normal Mummy Eye is as close as you can get to a true Collectors item, given their generally slow growth. I wouldn't even concern myself with fragging, or getting some kind of return from the coral, because it would be kind of like investing in a car. By the time its big enough to frag, odds are the price has dropped.

 

The trouble is finding a balance between these two view points, and as mentioned, its becoming more difficult to do so.

 

 

 

Off topic, I recently graduated High School, and I work at 7-11. 150 K all most boggles my mind

[notwithit]

It depends 100% on where you live and you live where your work is. Same job in Palo Alto, CA would get paid less than if it was in Pullman, WA as the cost of living in the areas nearby would be very different. On topic, I just wait for the zoas and such corals to lower in price and then I'll go for them as I only get corals that I think look cool, but I'm not going to open my wallet to get 3 heads of a frag and then have it possibly just melt away in my tank.

 

What you studying in Pullman? I'm assuming you're going to WSU there?! My wife and I just graduated from there and moved away!

 

On a side note, going from a 20k a year student job to 80k a year has been really nice, though standard of living for my wife and I hasnt really changed. Just standard of fish junk! hah

[aaron1987]

I too tried to propogate rare/LE corals to offset some of the cost of the hobby but quickly discovered that its not worth the headache.

[johnmaloney]

i love the part in the article about measuring the corallites and the "armchair taxonomists"...lol.. it is a hobby! If anyone can do that in an LFS with a straight face raise your hand. Great writers though, no doubting their contributions to the hobby.

 

I guess the real market then for $300 something or other frags is the people who want first dibs on the new stuff available. That means you have to be a trendsetter yourself, otherwise you are selling to the people who are willing to wait it out being 2nd and 3rd round buyers if not 40th etc...

[jjjo]

I too tried to propogate rare/LE corals to offset some of the cost of the hobby but quickly discovered that its not worth the headache.

Named "LE corals" are a crapshoot. unless its truly spectacular, it wont be "LE" for long...

 

propagating nice corals in the long run can offset costs. in 5 years, a frag of a nice acro that will hold value, will eventually pay for itself and much more. multiply that by a bunch of different morphs, and you make some real bread there.

 

Get suckered into the newest trends though, and you will be one sad person by the time you grow out ____insert name here____