Budgeting for 2011 Music and Gear

I hope to sell some stuff so -66.6% gear and + 33.3% music live and mostly recorded.

With the arrival of the first kid anticipated in June and the fact that I spent more this year that the entire rest of my life combined I'm probably done with purchasing gear of any significant price (i.e. Cost > $200) for a long time. This year my equipment expenditures were more than 95% of the total at around $6k. I doubt I'll exceed $500 in total next year, maybe a little more as I plan to get excellent tickets to a particular symphony performance.

A more interesting is what percentage of your income do you allot to audio related items in a year? I've never set any specific money aside for it, the agreement I generally have with my wife is we get to use any overtime cash on ourselves. My personal budget each month is $300, but that includes things ranging from playing golf to buying lunch at work. With my wife planning to cut back at work to about half time we'll be cutting back in a few areas.

Thankfully, I'm very satisfied with my current system and really don't have a significant want for any additional upgrades. But, there's always the list of things to dream about. In all honesty, the only big ticket item that really dream about would be a dedicated 2 channel integrated amp, possibly a Krell or Pathos.

Typically audiophiles split 98% gear 2% music. To do that you have to put your system up and brag about it.

For me I just take a photo of my friends system and tell people it is mine.

Check with your ex wife, and your kids college fund before taking my advice.

Good luck.
Jim

What about shows? You know RMA and CES. Any self respecting goner would be putting 25% in that area. More fun in going to at least one of these. As for your college fund, well I advise your kids set on a goal of going to one of the service academies, a great education, life long friends and the opportunity to build real leadership skills. One of my kids went to the Naval Academy, I also have two of my grand children in the academies, one West Point, the other the Naval. All the kids tell me they would not have missed it for the world.

With the generous input so far, here's the revised 2011 budget.

33% Live Music - The wife is now on board with the audio budget :)
33% Recorded Music - HiRes downloads, vinyl and obscure cds
20% Gear - Vinyl and CD storage is the obvious purchase
10% Audio Show - One local show

Thanks for the help everyone.