When to splurge...

[phoebemittens]

After a full year of saving, I now have 1.6mill.

I need a Darigan paintbrush (1.4mil), a Royal paintbrush (1.75mill), and a Tyrannian (about 425k).

For some reason, the Darigan brush is REALLY enticing me. However, if I buy it, I'll be back to a measly 200k, which I'm not looking forward to.

How much of a bank account "cushion" does everyone else wait for before they splurge? When I bought last year's royal paintbrush, I had 2mill, so I went back to roughtly the same point. However, at that point I didn't have so much of a shopping list so it didn't hurt too badly.

Should I just DO IT? Should I? Should I?

*agonies of indecision*

[Rainbow Daydreamer]

I don't often have a landing cushion at all. If I see something that would take just about all of my NP, I buy it and flog whatever I've got in my SDB. It's true that my pets get a lot more omelette than I would like, but I can always treat them when I've earned my way back to 100k or so, which doesn't really take that long.

My advice? If you want it-- go for it, before whatever item it is gets a case of inflation. And don't regret your decision.

[Lucifer_Apollyon]

With those big goals you might want to sit on it a while longer. I always try to get the most expensive thing first (in your case the Royal PB) and work my way down. It's easier to save up when you have less to save up for.

[phoebemittens]

Weeell, I'm not concerned about inflation with the hidden tower items, and I haven't noticed Tyrannian pbs going up too fast... maybe I should get that first?

I have to admit I sort of don't want to get the Royal pb next, because that was my last big spluge and I like a little variety.

[Lucifer_Apollyon]

Weeell, I'm not concerned about inflation with the hidden tower items, and I haven't noticed Tyrannian pbs going up too fast... maybe I should get that first?

I have to admit I sort of don't want to get the Royal pb next, because that was my last big spluge and I like a little variety.

Go for the Tyrannian then since it's the most likely to be affected by inflation.

[dandelions]

Buy the Tyrannian, then go for a Darigan pb in trades or auctions, where they're only 1.3-1.35mil. With Royal, you'll be lucky to get a 5k discount in trades.

edit: and as for an np cushion, I frequently find myself with less than 10k in the bank- but that's with a fairly large stock portfolio.

[Ailiel]

Because of inflation, I usually buy as soon as I have the np saved up. So that means sometimes I'm left with 10k! It doesn't take me too long to earn NP so I don't get concerned about it. There are no "emergencies" in Neopets as far as I've found.

In this case inflation doesn't really play much of a role, but just in case you might want to go for the Tyrannian first, then royal. But that's just me.

[Cranberry]

I keep a bank cushion of 5 mil. I like the interest, and I like knowing that I have that NP for "emergencies" -- for example, say a plot prize comes out and I don't earn it myself but really want it. They tend to be cheaper right at the start, when everyone's trying to unload them, so that's when to strike. Or, if you want to buy something other than a plot prize (like a freezer or other expensive BD weapon or even a paintbrush), people are usually unloading those for some cash so they can get the plot prizes, so it's a good time to buy those. Right after the LDP, I snapped up a freezing potion for 5.6 mil, and they shot up to 7 mil a mere week later.

As for the pb dilemma: I agree with the others here; go for Tyrannian first. The other brushes have a fixed price and probably won't retire anytime soon, so you can wait and get those later.

[Huggles]

Nothing. I sell everything I can get my greedy little hands on, including the kitchen sink. The only thing I'll keep are my petpets, and most of my neohome stuff. I like starting at zero and seeing just how far I can go from there.

[Anna the Red]

No cushion for me either. A couple of times I've had to play games for two hours straight to get enough to buys stocks that day.

My first thought is to go get the royal, as I'm getting antsy and don't trust TNT to not retire it soon, but tyrannian is the most likely to get suckered in by inflation, but then again, it's not exactly a popular colour.

[uberstav]

i just hate it when i end up back where i started, so i usually leave at the VERY least around 200k, just so i'm still able to buy job coupons and rs items freely.

[Trouble]

I'd wait, if I were you... Back when I started painting my pets, I always tried having a million left in the bank after I'd splurged on something.

These days I'm going for the Adam avatar, and I'm almost there. I'll reward myself with a Royal PB once I get there, but to be honest, I don't know if I can bear to part with much of my precious hoard of neopoints...

I think I must be a "pixel hoarder". I have close to 18,500 items in my SDB, and I hardly ever sell anything if I can't get an amazing profit from it...

[Officer 1BDI]

My "cushion" used to be 100k, because it's so hard for me to make money on Neopets. I wanted something left over just in case a new item-based avatar or a really nice petpet came out or I stumbled upon a cheap FFQ. Also, when I complete my main, my mutant Zafara will become my active pet, and I always want to ensure that I have the funds to remorph her in the event that Boochi attacks her... again.

When I joined Subeta, I made my cushion 1 million, just because I could. I'm now trying to maintain the same cushion on my Neopets main now that I have over a million NP on it, because as Cranberry pointed out, the interest is really nice. Also, in the event that my account is hacked and they can't break through my PIN, I'd be very grateful for that million in the bank....

If I were in your position, I'd actually buy the Darigan PB. I don't trust TNT enough to rely on the idea that "it won't retire soon," and after trying (and failing) to save for a Faerie PB in the face of quickly rising prices, my motto is "grab it while you can." You'll still have 200k in the bank, so splurging that 1.4 million wouldn't be the end of the world.

And this is somewhat off-topic, but I can't believe the Tyrannian PB is that expensive right now. 6 months ago I bought one for 100k less.

[Wingsrising]

I'm not as conservative as Cranberry, but I also like to have a decent-sized NP cushon despite my theory that you're better off storing your NP as items than in pure.

As with Trouble, I've found that the more NP I have and the longer I have it, the more I feel like I need to be comfortable. I remember when 3 million NP seemed like a huge amount of money to me. Now, when my bank account dropped a smidge below 3 million recently I found myself getting nervous.

However, it really all depends on your income, too. If it takes you a year to make 3 million, than that's probably an unreasonably large figure to have as a cushon. (As an aside: if it takes you a year to make 3 million I personally would skip the PB and invest in the Stock Market...)

[adi_gallia]

I would go for the Royal PB first. Once/if they retire, that's it. there will be no other way to get a Royal pet, unless the Fruit Machine will get them. Darigan and Tyrannian are 'labbable' and so there is always that route if the PB goes beyond your reach.

I like a cushion of about 200K.