Having a mortgage locked in at under $500 a month plus taxes and insurance lets you live a pretty good lifestyle. Regarding sportfishing I bought a boat I could afford, built my hours and became a licensed captain. Then I bought a slightly bigger boat and built a reputation of catching fish, made contacts with big boats and a few years later I was captaining a 50-foot sportfisher when they needed me. Parlayed that into a gig running a sportfisher for the president of a pretty big corporation for 8 years. Golf became an addiction that grew out of my job.