MedEwok wrote:
A coronary PCI (to use one of Peter’s examples) or MR imaging and the like won’t cost you anything extra.
This leads to the German system being the second most expensive in the world at about 11% of GDP,
According to OECD statistics it’s actually the fourth at 11.3%, after the US, Switzerland and France. But there are eight countries between 10.0% and 11.0% so there isn’t a lot of difference at the top.
MedEwok wrote:
Then flight time would no longer be seen as “wasted” for the family, and it is easier to spend money on something we all benefit from rather than just a hobby of mine.
I my opinion, one should always work toward this goal even if it means supersizing on your initial flying (just to get experience) and downsizing later (only fly in good days, enjoyable destinations only), if you want a hobby of yours only you can fly single seat aeroplanes
The problem is your family & friends may not enjoy GA flying as much as you do, so you need something else in the mix/destination that is non-flying related so others may enjoy it, this is something that you can’t solve with time & money (say, you have time & money to get an IR as add-on to your personal experience but your guests don’t enjoy IMC flying, so expect to be a bit disappointed by its value, probably you should have gone for a seaplane rating if your family likes boats?)
MedEwok wrote:
However, as long as I am still very inexperienced as a pilot my wife doesn’t want to fly with me, which is somewhat understandable but doesn’t really help me to get more experience…a vicious cycle!
Well, I have heard that one before and it usually does not change with experience. Most wifes hate to fly in small planes, those who don’t are the few “lottery win” for pilots but they are about as rare. The usual thing I have seen is that wifes “allow” their husbands to do the license expecting him to fail or give up then get into panic once he passes and flatly refuse to come “before he has got experience”. But even after 1000 hours or more, they still have very important things up every time they should. Once that circle has started, most of the time you can forget it unless you one day can afford either a parashute plane (which removes some of the panic, but not all) or a biz jet. And keep her away from articles talking of “Doctor Killer” airplanes, particularly in your case 
What you might want to try is to ask her if she’d come along to see how it is with a FI in the RH seat for “safety”. Or mention that there are planes with parashutes and if she brightens up to that, well, you’ll have to convert to a Cirrus.
Then again, some pilots don’t help with the situation as they talk about their training and insecurities which come with it. While I am of the opinion that one should always be open to a wife, this is one bit I keep telling newbies: Don’t talk about accidents and don’t show insecurity during training, talk to other folks (you don’t intend to fly with you) and best your instructor. Most people are inherently afraid of flying and will react very negatively to the indication that a pilot may be inexperienced or insecure.
(to be fair, doesn’t happen with spouses only, most buddies people count on coming along will be jumping out of your way fast and be the busiest folks alive when it comes to finding a time to go flying… I’d think you are lucky if one out of 20 colleagues will eventually come along. )
MedEwok wrote:
This leads to the German system being the second most expensive in the world at about 11% of GDP, beaten only by the hilariously expensive American health system at some 16% of GDP (UK at 8 or 9% IIRC).
As the old saying goes, why do we spend so much on medical care? Because we can.
Obviously you have to earn money to spend it, and the more you have, the more can be spent on non-essentials like discretionary medical care, including cosmetic stuff and so on. I’m going for my regular dental check this morning. FWIW my family medical care costs about 4.2% our gross, plus the amount contributed by my employer. That leaves enough to do other stuff like fiddling with planes and flying.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
However, as long as I am still very inexperienced as a pilot my wife doesn’t want to fly with me, which is somewhat understandable
I think it’s also about age and life experience. When kids are part of the equation things change and it makes sense to be cautious.
My girlfriend flew with no hesitation with me right after the PPL. But we were younger and had no kids. We flew once with the little one aboard but it was just a local flight in a very new plane. Somehow I do think twice if we should both be onboard alone when flying further away, with one and soon two kids. That’s why I fly the Cirrus. Might not be rational but like many people who give up motorcycling I started flying a plane with a parachute when I became a father.
In a Super Cub you have to be very rich in time :)
I think this thread shows that there are many angles to the time/money problem. It’s basically a question of what one wants out of life and how to achieve that goal.
My personal experience is that a job that pays well enough to fly GA regularly will also be a job that leaves one with little spare time. YMMV.
The next aspect is that “free time” itself is distributed among many activities. Having responsibilities in addition to paid work will drastically reduce “free time”. The most draining is probably having very young children, although taking care of elderly relatives can be just as much “work”. Generally, having a family reduces your leeway on how to spend your time considerably. However, most humans have a natural desire not to live alone, so family seems preferable to a single life even if you get to fly less (again YMMV).
In the end the ultimate combination of having plenty of money and time to fly (Or pursue other activities of one’s choosing) will be rare and hard to achieve without a bit of fortune. The situation tends to ease when one gets older, income increases and the children are grown up.
My wife recently remarked that I try to live the life of a 50something (doing lots of stuff both for work and as a hobby) while being in my 30s, and this just doesn’t work
The rich in time have the option of gliding clubs – quite a few airline pilots started out in these, hour building doing tug duty, and learning superior energy management in glider aerobatics. If you have time these clubs are the most economical way to gain experience.
Snoopy wrote:
I think it’s also about age and life experience. When kids are part of the equation things change and it makes sense to be cautious.
(The quote was actually MedEwoks but of course it applies to me as well)
It certainly does. The primary thing however is trust and quite a few pilots I know found out the hard way that their spouses think very lowly of them when it comes to capabilities such as flying a plane. One guy whose better half flatly refused ever to fly with him quoted it to me as “You who can not repair our sink or hit a straight nail in fly an airplane? Forget it!” and when told that they would not have given him the license if he was so incapable she mused that the examiner must have been one of their flying gang. I have not seen this guy for ages flying so I suppose he stopped. Personally, I find this quite insulting and it should be a reason to question a relationship, not for the flying part but for the fact that she seems to think him a totally incapable guy. I could not live with someone who distrusts me for the simplest things r asks things of me which I am not trained for (I am no plumber for starters and the guy I am talking about was mid level banker).
Snoopy wrote:
Might not be rational but like many people who give up motorcycling I started flying a plane with a parachute when I became a father.
That makes a lot of sense. And for those of us who can not afford to do so, to be more careful when flying SEP´s with the family. VMC day only for starters or IMC with plenty of ceiling. But the fact of the matter is that in this case most of us should also stop driving or leaving the house at all. And that will have very bad consequences, as even subconciously people will start blaming their loss of life quality on the kid. I really don´t want that to happen.
MedEwok wrote:
My wife recently remarked that I try to live the life of a 50something (doing lots of stuff both for work and as a hobby) while being in my 30s, and this just doesn’t work
Well, family life and hobbies usually don´t match unless you have a very understanding wife. Most of my colleagues totally retire from any hobby they have until the kids are in school, some only ever come back once they are out of the house. But that is a choice: Family vs freedom. I also have stopped flying since 2 years, which was not a concious decision but a simple result of having NO time at all beyond a few forum posts in my lunch break at work. I also have stopped most other activities but tending to my daughter is something I also relish very much. I hope to be back flying within a few weeks now but we shall see. Time in any case is the most precious comodity and we all lack it.
For those with enough time and too little money to do the flying they would want to do: read Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism.
Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondohes just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didnt absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasakis humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalisms potential.
One of the main themes here is that many gather stuff that is only meant to impress others (Steven Jobs: Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life)
Another main point is that it’s not about minimisation as such, it’s about just gathering the stuff that you really have a passion for and thus can provide happiness.
If there is such a thing as a thing that provides real happiness (i think so) I guess most pilot/owners are doing the right thing. You fly for passion or (even better..) combine it with utility and not because you want to show your wealth. For showing off it would be stupid to choose an airplane anyway. Sitting there most of the time in a drafty hangar for no-one to see, and that lovely sounding ATC officer doesn’t see much of you either at 10.000/40.000 ft. And the admiring glances of the FBO people are just a reflection of them thinking ‘ha, here’s an other rip-off opportunity 
Showing off wealth is done by buying a Ferrari and driving up and down Main Street/ High Street/ Plaza Mayor for hours
