How do you afford DVC?

[toesmom]

I thought it would be fun to start a casual thread to discuss everyone’s DVC journey. How do you afford your contracts and what do you do for a living? When did you buy and what age? I would love to hear anything anyone is willing to share, because I have a huge interest in the psychology that drives a DVC member. I’ll start:

I’m a single, 31 year old female who lives in a rural area with a very modest job working in the front office of a medical complex. I was able to purchase my current 240 resale points by saving quite a bit of my income and being blessed with a very affordable home. I purchased my first contract at age 29.

It is very expensive to buy into dvc. Park tickets are also very expensive. We love dvc but this is not an inexpensive purchase.

But great place to vacation absolutely

 

[airjay75]

That is funny to me because I work with doctors all day and they all say " I wish i was a vet they get checks at the end of the visit"

It reminds of law firm partners I used to work for who would comment that, if they had really wanted to make a lot of money, they should have become an investment banker. Some of these law firm partners probably brought home 7 figures worth of income some years (of course, at a very steep cost to their personal lives). That said, investment bankers do often make MUCH more than that.

So easy to think the grass would have been greener had you chosen a different specialty/profession in life, and I think magnified to the extent it took lots of time and $$ to get to where you are in your profession. I often felt that way in my first years out of law school working long hours at a law firm. Now, looking back, I'm very happy with the path I chose, but I'm sure not everyone reaches that point in their life.

 

[Chuck S]

Well, way back in June 1992, I was 33 years old, working as a manager at a video store. Remember those?! I was on a trip with my Mom, and we purchased DVC. We each paid half for 230 points, the minimum at the time. Mom was 68 years old, and retired from Unocal 76 as a Research Tech in Catalytic Research. We took Disney's offer of 3 year financing Over the next 4 years we did 3 add-ons to bring our total to 345 points. Our average cost per point, including the add-ons, was $53.50 per point. Of course, Mom is gone now, and I'm retired with some investment properties. Not only were prices much better than today, but people seemed to just have more disposable income overall in those days. Currently my DVC Dues are $306 per month.

 

[Tumnus]

Ok, I totally know this is a thread about how we came about our DVC, but please, if any of you actuaries/statisticians have any advice for a college freshmen (my DS) who is majoring in statistics, please pass along. He's doing this in hopes of being an actuary, but worried about AI, job market, etc....anyone?

AI is going to be a tool to help actuaries, I don’t see risk in replacing. Too many things require certifications and AI is still pretty stupid, it can’t do the complex thing a needed. It’s a great career path if you are good at math and can handle the tests (which are brutal). Make sure they get at least one, preferably two, exams done in school and a GPA above 3.25 and they will easily get a job in a lot of places!

 

[mrandmrsthomas0618]

Ok, I totally know this is a thread about how we came about our DVC, but please, if any of you actuaries/statisticians have any advice for a college freshmen (my DS) who is majoring in statistics, please pass along. He's doing this in hopes of being an actuary, but worried about AI, job market, etc....anyone?

Actuarial is a great profession. It takes a lot to get through the exams but once you are on the other side, good job security and salary. And because it takes hard work to get there, co workers are good at what they do. Success and promotions are more earned in this profession.

Actuarial are good at time management so we've always been using tools where we can to be more efficient and I think AI will be no different. Our expertise comes a lot from problem solving for clients and I don't think AI can replicate that.

In terms of advice, best to start studying and taking exams as soon as possible. Having a pass or 2 on the resume is huge when looking for internships.

Let me know if he has anymore questions! Great field imo

 

[byurick]

Guess I'll be the first from the other side here to respond, I don't make nearly as much as many of you and am irresponsible with my money that's how I can "afford" it

 

[Stargazer65]

Guess I'll be the first from the other side here to respond, I don't make nearly as much as many of you and am irresponsible with my money that's how I can "afford" it

Where there's a will, there's a way!

 

[Brian Noble]

Consulting is so interesting to me. I love that you can make more than your base salary.

I have a small technical expert practice on the side. It is nice to have an extra source of income. However, the schedule is both unpredictiable, unforgiving, and I have very little control over it beyond accepting or turning down any particular engagement.

I once asked one of the partners I was working with how he planned vacations, becuase it was impossible to know when he'd be free. "Oh, it's actually easy. I set my vacation for the week originally scheduled for trial, because I know for sure that's the one week trial will not happen."

So easy to think the grass would have been greener had you chosen a different specialty/profession in life

In my field, the "academic financial penalty" is steep. When I graduated, private industry paid about 1.5x-3x more than academia did. Now it is more like 5x-10x, and it can be higher for certain sub-disciplines. A colleague resigned his tenure line a few years back while I was the department chair to take a senior architect job at one of the FAANG companies. He did not give me a number, but described it as "baseball player money."

I often interview faculty candidates who are considering both academic and industry positions. What I tell them: "As a professor, society makes the following bargain with you: You will live a comfortable but definitely not extravagant life. In exchange, you can pursue whatever you think is the most important path for teaching, research, and service."

For some people, that's a more than fair bargain. I know it is for me. But, to be happy in this, one has to adopt an attitude of "this is enough." The alternative is keeping score with money. Since that's a game that is impossible to win, it's pretty easy to be miserable no matter what Line 11 says on your 1040.

 

[Mouseforward]

Now it is more like 5x-10x, and it can be higher for certain sub-disciplines.

It is so unbalanced in nursing that most BSN prepared nurses will earn more in their first year after graduation than tenured nursing professors. We have the unusual situation of a nursing shortage, concurrent with a low nursing program acceptance rate primarily because we do not have enough people willing or able to make the choice to become a professor.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

My parents bought into DVC when it was first available. So I was raised as a “DVC kid”. My parents wanted the same for their grandkids, and they wanted us to have our own points and not just be dependent on theirs so they gifted us our first contract (Bay lake) when we were in our late twenties. We weren’t in a position to buy it ourselves at the time.

We never stayed there, because we don’t like the theming. So eventually we sold it and bought Poly direct.

At this point I was working as a CRNP ((pretty high paying job in my state) and DH was making good money in the plumbing/HVAC business. So we started buying more contracts. At one point we owned Poly, OKW, SS and BWV. After some buying and selling we settled on BWV and Poly, where we own currently and usually stay. Although we recently stayed at BRV and fell in love. We’re talking about buying a contract there now.

DH is now making enough to enable me to be a SAHM, which I’ve been since my youngest (9 yo) was born. I also have a side gig of making and selling cake pops and cupcakes/cakes. This is mostly for fun though, I love making them.

Eventually we’ll have my parents contracts as well (Poly, OKW. BWV, SSR) and it will be nice to have all the points because when we get older we’d like to start going on more frequent trips (we do one 2 week trip a year now, usually in a 2 br villa).

That’s my long, drawn out DVC story lol.

 

[tom1944]

I have a small technical expert practice on the side. It is nice to have an extra source of income. However, the schedule is both unpredictiable, unforgiving, and I have very little control over it beyond accepting or turning down any particular engagement.

I once asked one of the partners I was working with how he planned vacations, becuase it was impossible to know when he'd be free. "Oh, it's actually easy. I set my vacation for the week originally scheduled for trial, because I know for sure that's the one week trial will not happen."


In my field, the "academic financial penalty" is steep. When I graduated, private industry paid about 1.5x-3x more than academia did. Now it is more like 5x-10x, and it can be higher for certain sub-disciplines. A colleague resigned his tenure line a few years back while I was the department chair to take a senior architect job at one of the FAANG companies. He did not give me a number, but described it as "baseball player money."

I often interview faculty candidates who are considering both academic and industry positions. What I tell them: "As a professor, society makes the following bargain with you: You will live a comfortable but definitely not extravagant life. In exchange, you can pursue whatever you think is the most important path for teaching, research, and service."

For some people, that's a more than fair bargain. I know it is for me. But, to be happy in this, one has to adopt an attitude of "this is enough." The alternative is keeping score with money. Since that's a game that is impossible to win, it's pretty easy to be miserable no matter what Line 11 says on your 1040.

I am one of 5 siblings. 3 of us worked in government and have very nice lives. 2 worked in private industry and have done well enough to be in the pool of people who buy multimillion dollar homes to knock down and build replacements. There is a lot of sacrifice to get where they are. I don't think I lost anything by the path I took.

I believe my younger brother may be the one person who actually defeated capitalism. I watched the various corporations he worked for cause distress in their employees lives but somehow, he had been both confident and lucky enough to jump to another company before any of it hit him. My sister was also a star in multiple companies, but she uniquely can handle pressure that most cannot.