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So, I turned 46 last week and am currently enjoying an extended period of financial stability that I have not enjoyed for many many years. Last month I bought myself a treat..the McFarlane Ymgarl Genestealer model. This evening however, I discovered the existence of the Watcher in the Dark Plushie which I had to have. Then I found the grot mechanic plushie....then I saw the Sassy Nurgling and the great unclean one...and the Gnasher squig and the upcoming Ripper. I have not bought an action figure or a soft cuddly toy since I was about 9 years old, yet today I have spent FAR to much money on silly adorable cuddly fripperies. I fear i May have found my replacement for the oft cited "porsche mid life crisis" syndrome (I cant drive, so an actual porsche is out of the question.

Am i undergoing the mythical "mid life crisis"? Am i going mad? Do you have any tales of spontaneous impulse buying of things that are completely unnecessary in your life?!!

You've come to the Expensive Luxury Item forum to ask if you can buy luxury items?

It's your money man. Go nuts.

Enjoy! That grot is dangerously seductive for all the wrong reasons.....

Most guys' mid-life crisis involve a sports car and a hot young blonde.

My dad's? He got a pickup and a dog.

Me? My whole life has been one long emotional crisis, so I just carry on as usual.

 Vulcan wrote:
Most guys' mid-life crisis involve a sports car and a hot young blonde.

Even Warhammer's probably cheaper than that.

I spent a good chunk of my 30s depressed and burned out, and am only now starting to feel better after having a kid, finding out I was celiac and feeling physically better. And I've found my urge to impulse buy stuff has dropped right away. Probably helps that my unpainted model pile is already friggin massive!

So maybe we always tend to buy more in response to stress or emotions?

Whatever makes you happy, man.

Yes, it's a midlife crisis, but a harmless one. Great re-sale value when you grow out of them though

Probably not a mid-life crisis.

The impulse to buy "luxury" items stems from a variety of sources. Sometimes, it's just the fact your material situation has changed and you can now afford them.

I've seen a couple radical reorientations of one's life that could be called mid-life crises.

Friend of mine moved to Florida, left his wife, quit his job, bought a place on the water and remarried a woman he met at a bar and only knew for a couple months. That lasted 2 years, he met another woman and they've been together the last 5 years. He seems to be settling down now.

Another left his job at the SEC, moved to Arizona, finished his law degree but decided not to practice. He started a gift shop and caters to tourists. Completely different fellow than the one I knew.

Well, we were discussing this on the other forum.

And we reckoned it depends on your previous life experiences.

My parents generation typically married and started families quite young, spending their 20’s and 30’s raising kids, paying off mortgages etc.

Whereas, for me and mine? We didn’t start taking life terribly seriously until our 30’s. Which meant our 20’s spent getting up to very little good and in differing levels of inebriation, and, erm, seeing people we perhaps shouldn’t have, erm, seen.

In short? We had the opportunity to actively enjoy our youth. Those heady days of early adulthood when you can party all night and still be up in the morning for work. Come our 40’s? And it’s out of our system. Maybe not completely, but we don’t feel we missed it, so much as occasionally feel like we’re missing it.

Nowadays I get genuinely excited for a new kitchen gadget, or as will be on the cards in the next 12 months, buying my own home lock, stock and barrel thanks to inheritance.

And despite said inheritance being comfortable, certainly not megabucks? I just don’t feel the need for a big blow out. Buy the house, eliminate debt, nice holiday, yes. But the rest? Forget your fancy cars and fast women, that’s most likely going on any home upgrades that need doing now, and my pension. Because my income is, like the inheritance comfortable but not megabucks. Certainly enough that not paying rent or paying off credit cards will leave me £1,400 a month or so better off. And I’m just gonna enjoy life.

Oh, and get me a Dog.

Anyways, rambling.

Getting back to it? If you’re an empty nester or close to it, or have paid off your mortgage etc? I don’t think it’s a midlife crisis. It sounds like you’re buying things that genuinely make you happy, not things you think will make you happy. Silly, goofy, otherwise non-essential items, just because they make you happy. Not because you’re trying to relive your youth.

That’s not a midlife crisis in my book. If anything, it’s proper healthy spending.

If you pass tomorrow your family will just sell your stuff for pennies on the dollar.

I went through the same thing recently, I cut out a lot of hobbies in my life, but I still
keep getting some stuff because everyone needs some type of escape. But I am also
still thinning the heard, just because I have looked at games I have not touched in decades
and have no plan to do anything with them. If I ever get a chance to do something
they would be about number eighty on the list, which means I am not going to miss them when they
are gone. Remember this is normal for your age, just don't go the other way and get a Toupee,
leather pants, a sports car, and a girlfriend that is a quarter of your age. Those are a lot
harder to resale.

I did something similar but with backing kickstarters. Then a couple of years later everything started to arrive....


On the games front I know guys who have used average life expectancy, worked out how many games they can play, and then sold the ones they won't have time to get round to before they die.

My ex had her midlife crisis before me, so my situation was a bit odd.

Before the divorce I was a stay at home dad, so in a single income family. Had to be real tight with what I spent money on.

After? I didn’t have to justify my spending to anyone. But living with a tightened belt for so long left a lot of habits. Re-entering the workforce left me with an entry level paycheck, so I don’t have the disposable income of people my age would normally have for their crisis.

But if you are keeping a roof over your head, and food on the table, why not spend money on things that make you happy? I have to force myself most of the time, despite having a secure enough nest egg to deal with a crisis or two.

But I’m probably going to get both the fuzzy ripper and servo skull, because they make me smile. And I need more of that.

I don’t get a lot of hobby stuff, as the PoS is deep enough as it is. But they can just sit on the corner of my desk and be cool. Might hang the skull from he celing.

I'd definitely think how much you really want these things and how much they actually change your life. Does the fact that you have more money automatically mean you have to spend more?

Maybe the same amount of money you spend on a whim would really change the life of someone in real need? Maybe doing this will actually make you happier than revelling in purposeless consummerism?

Or maybe you already give your time and money to some charity and don't need my preaching

Some interesting thoughts here. Maybe i should have mentioned that I am now entirely debt free, and in the entirety of last year i bought a total of leviathan, 1 box of new genestealers and 2 of the new hormagaunts, So I'm not normally a big spender.

Anyways, they turned up today and my word, that servo skull really is great

A in reply to Cyel's post above, i volunteer for an animal charity in my spare time and I work for the Co-op, so portion of my wages go straight to different charities every month so i feel I'm covered there

Good to hear that! You are awesome!

 Cap'n Facebeard wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
Most guys' mid-life crisis involve a sports car and a hot young blonde.

Even Warhammer's probably cheaper than that.

Definitely cheaper than the blonde.

ccs wrote:

 Cap'n Facebeard wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
Most guys' mid-life crisis involve a sports car and a hot young blonde.

Even Warhammer's probably cheaper than that.

Definitely cheaper than the blonde.

Get yourself a hot young blonde who plays warhammer

I spend so much time acting like a responsible adult, sometimes it’s nice to just do something totally frivolous; buying plushies would definitely fit in that category. No better reason than “that’s cool, I want it” if you have the disposable income (in fact, come to think of it, that’s pretty much the foundation of GW’s business model…)

Even when I’m being semi-responsible, I use the “having a pint measure”; I will happily spend a couple of hours down the pub chatting with a friend over a couple of pints. These days that works out at about £5 an hour. So if something costs £30, but is going to give me at least 6 hours of enjoyment? Sold!

If you're ever worried that you're doing something childish that previous generations of serious adults would never do, don't forget

1) Many of those adults are trying to buy really old cars that they dreamed of having when they were kids. Even if those cars are really very basic, poor featured or even just outright rustbuckets that take a fortune to even get running.

2) The awesome quote by CS Lewis:

“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly.
When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”




So yeah if it brings you joy; hurts no one else; isn't leaving you open to financial instability or problems and such - go for it.

And, as The Doctor?

Childish? Of course I’m being childish. There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish now and again

Heck, this whole forum is a bunch of people talking about playing game with their toys...

Most people spend up to their budget. Therefore, as your wage increases it can be a good idea to "hide the excess" via increased savings. Therefore, you live about the same lifestyle, but just build up more assets and wealth. This is useful for retirement, large financial goals, and inheritance. Cyel also points out a good use of excess funds.

All that preaching aside, I think this whole thread is just a humblebrag! LOL!

It is great to have money to buy things that make you happy.
If you have a B&M near you they sell the McFarlane 40k figures at good prices.One near to me had the artists proof Ork in and the Ogryn.
They also had two figures from the Apex Legends action figure range that i bought.Very nice looking figures and cool paint jobs on them.Not bad for £7.99 each.

 Da Boss wrote:
I spent a good chunk of my 30s depressed and burned out, and am only now starting to feel better after having a kid, finding out I was celiac and feeling physically better. And I've found my urge to impulse buy stuff has dropped right away. Probably helps that my unpainted model pile is already friggin massive!

So maybe we always tend to buy more in response to stress or emotions?

It's certainly a dopamine hit, to me I limit it to big spending during very rare city-trips, but yeah its a high point of the month then.
I'm in my 40s and have a very big desire to have a kid, had that for 10 years now while also working hard and studying hard .. but considering I live without a smartphone my chances to find anyone are rather slim. All that aside, perhaps it is a sort of cope, a sort of substitute' to spend time buying mini's. Among other creative hobby's/work I guess. Everyone has that inherent drive to create something good.

Let me put it this way - If your loved ones and your fundamental Maslov's hierarchy levels are being met, why worry? Gods put us on this earth to enjoy worldly pleasures they themselves no longer cannot (due to having no longer a corporeal form), the best way we can honour them is to enjoy life in any way we see fit, as long as we do not (knowlingly) hurt others in the process. So go ahead and splurge on them plushies! If they stop bringing you joy later in life, pass them onto someone else who will treasure them and enjoy them in your stead.

We are not born on this world to agonize and feel guilt of our existence. Letting guilt and shame dictate our actions are the only way we can fail our creators.

And speaking of this "midlife crisis" thing some more, is it a problem for you, or some sort of label/judgement other people try to instill on you if you do not meet their expectations? Why would you need to seek approval from others? If they loved you unconditionally, they would never judge you..

As long as you have enough to support yourself in terms of Food, Water, you have a stable source of income, and can afford to spend a little disposable income, I see no problem. As long as you have meaning in life and it is not to fill a void (like drugs, alcohol, masturbation etc). again, I see no problem. Hell, if you want go all Unabomber and say no to taxes, go for it. What have the government done for you anyway?!

What has the government done for us?

In the UK? Largely kept law and order, provided me with an education and healthcare, taken my bins away, kept roads in reasonable condition. Many many many things. Mostly small things which are only small because they’re managed on a large enough scale that they become small.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
What has the government done for us?

In the UK? Largely kept law and order, provided me with an education and healthcare, taken my bins away, kept roads in reasonable condition. Many many many things. Mostly small things which are only small because they’re managed on a large enough scale that they become small.

Counterpoint:...Um... err... well taxes bad. next!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
What has the government done for us?

In the UK? Largely kept law and order, provided me with an education and healthcare, taken my bins away, kept roads in reasonable condition. Many many many things. Mostly small things which are only small because they’re managed on a large enough scale that they become small.

And aqueducts. Don't forget aqueducts.