Slow and steady wins the race
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
Six years ago, I opened an account where I put aside ~50 EUR every month. The purpose of this account was to slowly build up a buffer so that I can buy musical equipment whenever a I come across a good deal of something I desire. I have been looking at a pair of Finnish Genelec studio monitors for about 15 years. They are called the 8050 and they are ridiculously expensive, and they are also quite rare on the 2nd hand market. I have been scanning the trading sites for years and have only seen them a couple of times and when I did, I wasn’t fast enough and someone else grabbed them before me. But if you keep your eyes on the target and are consistent, there are only two options: Either you will find a used pair, or you will save up enough money to go and buy them brand new.
I have been so close to pull the trigger many times on a smaller model than the 8050, or a different brand, but that would have only been 99% right. My gut always said “No, you should wait a little more.” I am glad I listened to my gut because a couple of weeks ago I finally got hold of a seller with a pair of mint 8050’s and I was fast enough to grab them. They are now resting on their speaker stands in my studio and I am confident that they will serve me well as long as I am able to make music. Equipment like 8050 studio monitors age very well. These loudspeakers never become obsolete and if they should malfunction, they can be repaired and serviced despite their age. That’s one of the major benefits of buying items of the highest quality.
If I hadn’t had my musical bank account, I wouldn’t have been able to grab those speakers on the fly like I did. A major investment is wise to discuss with your wife first, because “happy wife, happy life”. But my musical bank account does not abide to this rule. I only put aside 50 EUR per month and that is about the price of a haircut. You don’t need to discuss every little purchase you make with your significant other. That’s the beauty of having a little savings account like this one. Combined with a clear target and patience and enough time, you can get whatever you want, whether it is a pair of insanely expensive loudspeakers or anything else. By doing a little every day you will do a lot in one week. And in six years you will grow that account quite a lot.
Buying a pair of second hand 8050s in the south of Sweden is not as easy as it sounds, because they are large and the speaker cabinets are made of solid metal. You do the math. These things are HEAVY and not fun to ship. But the seller was a very helpful guy who offered to arrange the transport with a mate of his who does work trips to the North of Sweden every week. The loudspeakers could hitchhike on one of the journeys to the north. However, they wouldn’t get all the way to me but rather end up in Sundsvall. I am also grateful for my friends who can help me out in times like these. I remembered that I knew a guy in Sundsvall who perhaps could grab the 8050s when they arrived and then I could go and get them in my own car. They are definitely worth a couple of hours drive. Then I would be very flexible and could go and grab them whenever our schedules coincided. Turns out I didn’t even have to do that. Tony, my friend, proposed that he could find another dude who could drive the loudspeakers the rest of the way to Umeå. Which he did! If you’re reading this Tony, I can’t thank you enough!
I guess this must be a form of synchronicity. I waited for many years for the right occasion to pull the trigger and as soon as I did that, it has felt as if the whole universe has conspired to help me out. So what’s the moral of this story? Slow and steady wins the race.