pow4ever Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 Lots of smart people here. Economy in general have been on my mind a lot lately. The rules of economy play a huge part of our life and I feel I been missing it. Just starting a thread to talk about all things related to economy of carving. Just seeding this thread: How many people are into the FIRE/#vanlife (financial independence retire early)? I like Money. It's a tool in the tool box and the security it provide is important. I am frugal/elCheap-O because I don't want to work till the day I die. The day I don't have work unless I want is far away but never hurt to plan ahead. Build on top of thread to be more comprehensive so it's more on topic: Which Ski town to live/retire/invest in? Have you done the math on how much does it cost per day/turn? ski pass + gas + lodging + equipments + food and etc. What's a good formula? I get about 25 days in a season at about 120 dollars per day (no ski pass as I live far from the mountain). Day trip/bus cost about $105. When I do go ride; trying to do at least a weekend. So the sunk cost of driving/time is amortized. It gets expensive... Let's hear any Pro Life Tip on saving $$$ Day trip with pass is probably the cheapest but I hate driving with a passion. Result of long daily commute I belong to 2 ski club and I even worked for a tour company on the weekend to feed the addiction... How much does a vendor in this niche market of Alpine Snowboarding make in a year? Inspired by reading this http://forums.alpinesnowboarder.com/topic/47598-oxess-obsession-success-who-knew/ Oxess: From the article Each year Brunner and his team produce 700 boards, 200 acrobatics skis and 30 carving skis. He pay out 6000Franc a month to employee A board from Oxess costs 1,500 francs Make the math easy: say 800 boards x 1500 = 1.2 Millions Francs per year 100k goes to employee Material cost? Let's say the margin is 50% I have no idea if that's high/low. Leave us at 500k a year. after Operating cost/marketing/r&d? Should still be a decent living. I understand it's a passion. There are "easier way" to make money... Just want to show that a decent living could be made even with this niche sport of our. more pople should get into it lol. How much productivity get lost in the forum when I should be working? In the winter time... way too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyt. Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 Riding/skiing are both becoming more expensive. From equipment, and lifts/pass, gas to get there and lodging it's up there. I would say it is a luxury that we love to do. I have heard that some resorts let you ski for free when you get to a certain age? Maybe retire and work part time at a resort that offers the lifestyle that you want. There are always some local deals like ski swaps and other perks that could keep you in some gear. Find a sugar mama to take care of the rest?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 Calculating vendor profit, one must not forget tooling and develpment cost, those will make steep cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 My wife and I are big believers in FIRE / Mustachianism. No specific FIRE date in mind, but we have our eyes on that goal. As far as cost, yeah, this sport is pricy and I ride less than I used to, partially because the cost, partially because I'm sick of driving 90 minutes to the ski area, and partially because our local ski areas have gotten so crowded over the last 5-10 years or so. I did the math and found it cost me $20 in gas for every round trip to the ski area, plus tickets of course. I ride the most in the spring when I can get spring passes because I don't get up enough days to justify a season pass, and the day tickets are too steep now for more than a handful of days a season. I bet Brunner is making substantially less than 500k euros a year...just a hunch though, I don't have any data to back that up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveo Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 1 hour ago, Dan said: I bet Brunner is making substantially less than 500k euros a year...just a hunch though, I don't have any data to back that up. He makes CHF72,000 per year. The rest gets reinvested in R&D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 17 minutes ago, daveo said: He makes CHF72,000 per year. The rest gets reinvested in R&D. Oops, I should have said 500k CHF, my bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softbootsurfer Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 Homemade Bindings cheap, Boards from Burton cheap, Clothes from Burton and Spring Sales cheap and a pass that cost under 500 for unlimited on all 4 mountains, plus...free Bus Pass to and from Slopes...if you are doing it cheaper than this, Bravo !! as for Life? we make choices, what is your priority? whatever it is? You selected it... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pow4ever Posted February 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 In the article: he paid employe 6000 a month. which is 72000. I don't think that's for him. I am sure there are benefits hence put it in 100k range. I get there are operation expense(fix cost, big expensive machine loan)/capital expenditure(one shot deal). The cost is amortized over time. Pretty sure the government want their cut Insurances, R&D the bills piles on. Once again I am by no mean saying the our beloved niches vendors are making a killing. Just that it's possible to make a decent living. "If you do something you love; you don't work for the rest of your life". My intention is to see more engineer/builder/tinker get into the space so that I as a dumb consumer can day dream about buying gears I don't need with money i don't have to impress people that I like lol... @Dan Lean or fat FIRE lol? Hear hear. Right on with everything you wrote about driving/cost of snowboard trips. We are lucky/privilege to be able to do this. Right now my naive way of thinking which make sense to this dum dum: lean fire + van life + maybe work part time = ski bum and stay single lol... 5 minutes ago, softbootsurfer said: Homemade Bindings cheap, Boards from Burton cheap, Clothes from Burton and Spring Sales cheap and a pass that cost under 500 for unlimited on all 4 mountains, plus...free Bus Pass to and from Slopes...if you are doing it cheaper than this, Bravo !! as for Life? we make choices, what is your priority? whatever it is? You selected it... exactly! That's why the study of economy fascinating me. Able to put a price on things and explain our behaviors. I thought about it; just pack things up and live the Milk man dream! Just way to chicken sh!4 to actually do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 24 minutes ago, pow4ever said: @Dan Lean or fat FIRE lol? Hear hear. Right on with everything you wrote about driving/cost of snowboard trips. We are lucky/privilege to be able to do this. Right now my naive way of thinking which make sense to this dum dum: lean fire + van life + maybe work part time = ski bum and stay single lol... I guess more fat than lean, but I think our "fat" is pretty lean by civilian standards. The biggest single challenge right now is thinking about the cost of health insurance between FIRE and when we qualify for Medicare - that ramps up anticipated costs a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuisanceIV Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 I work at a ski resort on the weekends(free epic pass). So it costs $20(for gas) per riding session if I drive myself(1hr 30 min) and not carpool or take the employee shuttle. I'm a student, and between riding and school, I have little time for much anything else. I played a video game for 2 hours for the first time in like 2 months ). I try to buy used gear or highly discounted equipment. I just don't have the money to buy new and support the sport fully. Random expenses, like car repairs(From loading up my car with so many bloody miles driving to resort) are hard to calculate, since I'm not just driving to snowboard. Losing my girlfriend really brought down food expenses. Not being decadent and buying drinks at bars and weed really makes this sport affordable. I suppose it comes down to what one wants to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chouinard Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 2 hours ago, softbootsurfer said: a pass that cost under 500 for unlimited on all 4 mountains, Details please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 "FIRE" - I'd not come across the initialism, but that's kind of what I did, intentionally. There probably aren't many people who run football clubs who made money from being footballers. Perhaps see a lot of football by serving hot dogs at a stadium, but it's unlikely to lead to financial independence. Then again, I live in a country where people vote to be poorer... it all depends on your priorities and options. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softbootsurfer Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 9 hours ago, Chouinard said: Details please. over 70 ? Step up and get your pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 (edited) 44 minutes ago, softbootsurfer said: over 70 ? Step up and get your pass 30+ resorts unlimited with 399 https://www.magicpass.ch/ Edited February 1, 2019 by pokkis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 No politics, please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pow4ever Posted February 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 Boot packing Highland to earn a free pass:https://www.aspentimes.com/news/bootpacking-highland-bowl-hardwork-but-rewarding/ $514 for 70+. Fake document = profit? McLoving it...https://www.aspensnowmass.com/plan-your-stay/tickets-and-passes/passes Just some thoughts diarrhea: Feel like ski/snowboard industrial is prime for a disruptor of sort. There are couple threads show that it's getting more and more crowded. when the resources is constraint; it tend to spark innovation. P2P/shared economy comes to mind. I am sure we all have spare gear. It doesn't need to stay at home. i would like to see it get use rather than collecting dust. amazon-like ski locker? Legal/not legal: More and more pass are RFID based. RFID can be clone. Like sharing Netflix account; can we share ski pass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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