I know of a person (whose wife was cribbing to me!) who gets into a new hobby every 1-2 years. That is not so bad.

He gives up on the hobby with the same enthusiasm with which he started it. It could be anything. Suddenly it could be wine making. Or Golf. Or Photography!

Only thing with all these hobbies – unlike reading, running, badminton, etc. equipments are expensive and consume a lot of space at home.

To me this is again a serious case of not knowing what to do with ones time. Even though some people may argue that all these hobbies are better than watching television, his investment in a Golf kit was about Rs. 5 lakhs. This hurts his own retirement plan and bugs his wife no end. Of course being a finance planner it is easy for me to see everything in money terms, not all my readers would be aghast at a guy with a net worth of Rs. 5 crores blowing Rs. 5 lakhs on a golf kit! I think it goes far beyond money.

First as an amateur you do not even know how to pick correct equipment! So you decide that the more expensive it is the better it must be. The shop keeper knows this ‘I know all’ kind of a successful ‘customer’. Selling him anything and everything is easy…so here is a full golf kit packed and kept at home. His walking shoes are keeping it company. Of course that cost less.

Now recently he is in the market for buying some jars for ‘wine-making’. Not sure how long it will last.

I have a different way to attack a hobby. Last year when I had to join a swimming pool, I decided to travel to the pool by a bicycle. I was thrilled when my sis could locate a second hand bicycle in great condition – and she gifted it to me. I love the use, re-use and re-cycle concept – like carrying cloth bags to buy vegetables. Here was a cycle which was rotting in somebody’s house and it was being ‘re-used’. Swimming and cycling about 4-5 times a day became a pattern. Recently I treated myself to a Trek 3700 – a low end entry level bicycle by professional standards, but a joy.

Now I am happy to add a helmet, shorts, cycling T-shirts, a cyclometer,  – all these together cost much more than my old bicycle, but I am sure to use it for the next few years. Perhaps this is the only cycle in my life – 🙂 that I will own.

So if you see a hobby visit their websites – all hobbies have excellent website support – see if you will last through the honeymoon period. Then invest in ‘borrowed’ or ‘begged’ equipment, use it for some time and then go and make your big time commitment – in terms of money.