Buying my Hunting/Fishing combo license this year got me to thinking and brought up that age old question..
At what age does it become unjustifiable? I am currently 35 years old.

At $68 a year (ignoring the fact that inflation or other variables could drive up the costs of licenses) it would make my break even point about age 60.

($1800 is the current cost of a lifetime combo license)

I don't think it is worth the investment past age 25 or so. What do you guys think?

takes 26.5 years to recover the cost assuming no increase in current prices which i highly doubt.

President of the company I work for laid the application on my desk 5 weeks before they went to $1800. I was 28, going on 29 at the time if my memory serves correctly. He was a TPWD commissioner at the time, and I took the hint. Yeah I had just bought a house and was saving for other things but I wrote that check.

At 35 years old, your break even on an annual Super Combo will be in 27 years. You'll come out ahead by 62, three years before the price drop to senior citizen pricing. Senior Citizen Super Combos are still $32. You'll certainly come out ahead still plunking down the $1800 now, though just by not as much as if you'd done it earlier.

If you want to play the interest, time value of money game; by all means, go ahead. Keep in mind, governemtn NEVER lowers fees. So odds are that senior citizen license won't be $32 when you turn 65.

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The only way its worth it is you dont have to deal w/ the lines at academy in August

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You can buy your license online for a few dollars more. Of course it's also nice to have an excuse to spend more money in Academy...

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yes, but if we're playing the time/interest game, then that money should be invested and hopefully grow faster than inflation..

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$68/$1800=3.7% annual 'interest' or 'yield', which will increase the next time licenses increase.

This is about what a lot of bonds are paying, certainly more than what you'll get in a CD. AND its 'guaranteed' to the extent that the State of TX continues to exist along with TPWD. Certainly, you could buy a stock or mutual fund that yields that much, with potential to increase in price, but you live with volatility, too.

I bought mine at $1000, just before moving out of state, so my annual 'yield' is about 25% (I think, not actually sure how much out of state licenses run).

"If you want to play the interest, time value of money game; by all means, go ahead. Keep in mind, governemtn NEVER lowers fees. So odds are that senior citizen license won't be $32 when you turn 65"

They lowered all the state professional lisence fees significantly last year. Mine Went from $200 down to $45.

Really... Wow...

Ok, Do you see hunting and fishing licenses going down over the next 30 years?

My late grandfather bought mine and my brothers when we graduated high school before they went up. He passed away this year and it brought a smile to my face when my super combo was $0.00!

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yes, but if we're playing the time/interest game, then that money should be invested and hopefully grow faster than inflation..

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$68/$1800=3.7% annual 'interest' or 'yield', which will increase the next time licenses increase.

This is about what a lot of bonds are paying, certainly more than what you'll get in a CD. AND its 'guaranteed' to the extent that the State of TX continues to exist along with TPWD. Certainly, you could buy a stock or mutual fund that yields that much, with potential to increase in price, but you live with volatility, too.

I bought mine at $1000, just before moving out of state, so my annual 'yield' is about 25% (I think, not actually sure how much out of state licenses run).

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Not a great analogy, a bond pays your principal back at the end of the term. A better analogy is a lifetime annuity with an inflation hedge.

That being said, I bought the $1000 license for myself around age 40, of which I've recouped about half the cost in 8 years or so. There has also been at least one price increase in annual licenses along the way. At a 40 year life expectancy, that's about a 6% IRR, not factoring the inflation, which makes it higher. For a tax free return backed by the full faith and credit of the Great State, not bad!

I bought one for my then 8 year old son, too. That should work out to closer to 7% IRR for him. At $1800, his IRR drops to @ 3.5%. Still very competitive or even superior to long term muni returns.

I have 2(x) 3 year olds.

I'm trying to talk the rib into setting up a gofundme thing and just collect money from b-day and Christmas to get them a lifetime super combo

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I have 2(x) 3 year olds.

I'm trying to talk the rib into setting up a gofundme thing and just collect money from b-day and Christmas to get them a lifetime super combo

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That's the best gofundme I've ever heard of

I bought the lifetime hunting license around 10 years ago. Then it was only $600 (it was $1000 for the combo). No need for the fishing license since I usually take customers fishing every year and the company pays for it. I wouldn't buy any lifetime license at the current rates. Not worth it.

I always looked at it this way:

Average annual return, adjusted for inflation, on the stock market is about 7% over the long run. Clearly that fluctuates - a lot! But hear me out...

Take your $1,800 for the hunting/fishing lifetime combo... if invested in the stock market, that average 7% return results in ~$126 earnings, on average, each year. That's more than enough to pay the $68 for your super combo with enough left over for beer and bullets.


I bought the lifetime hunting license at $1,000 before moving out of state because I knew I would come back to hunt at my farm in Texas.

$1,000 invested in the stock market at an average of 7% return results in ~$70 earnings, on average, each year. A non-resident hunting license is $315 (general license) plus $7 (archery stamp) plus $7 (upland stamp) plus $7 (migratory stamp). So, the $1,000 invested in the lifetime hunting license nets me $336 worth of "earnings" each year. Easy choice!

Additional $800 for the fishing license -> ~$56 average annual earnings at 7% while the non-resident freshwater license is $58. I don't fish saltwater, so it's a wash and not worth the investment.

As has been stated a couple of times already, if there is a chance your career will take you out of state, it makes it much more worth it (if you still plan to come back to Texas to hunt or fish). Besides, it goes to a good cause. Back when I bought mine the lifetime hunting license was just $300. Still kick myself for not getting the lifetime fishing as well.

Got my lifetime combo a few weeks before the jump from 1000. Glad i got it. Not sure its worth it now for 1800. There's been a few years I didn't hunt at all.

Outside if the Lifetime Hunting License, the other license increase do not remotely keep up with inflation. In 2009, the Hunting License went up $2. Prior to that, I want to say it was 10 years since a price increase.

I know people don't typically believe it (yeah, game wardens have pretty toys), but TPWD runs really lean for the most part. Because of some odd state budgetting, there were legislative sessions where the TPWD biologists were the ONLY state employees to not get any kind of raise (usually 3% over the bianniaum). By 2008, TPWD was in the lowest 10% nationwide (state resource) for their compensation to employees. They were losing employees pretty fast to better paying states (we'll just say pretty much anywhere but Mississippi and West Virginia). That $2 helped get pay on the lower end of the median nationwide.

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My late grandfather bought mine and my brothers when we graduated high school before they went up. He passed away this year and it brought a smile to my face when my super combo was $0.00!

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I was in a TPWD office trying to get a boat trailer inspected and there was an old man buying 8 of them for his grand kids. This was like 15 or 20 years ago. I remember thinking how cool that was.

I hear you ursus. I'd probably rather pay $5-10 more a year for my license at this point though, over a lifetime at $1800

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10 years ago. Then it was only $600

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That's roughly what I thought it still was, but I haven't paid any attention, obviously. The fact that it went up 3 fold means, to me, they really don't want people buying these but they still offer them for whatever reason.

Anyway, the way you want to think about it, investment wise, is to calculate a safe withdrawal rate for your age given a safe rate of return. In other words, how much, as a percentage, can you withdraw from an investment and still have enough funds to pay that annual amount the last year of your life. Let's say a 6% withdrawal rate is expected to last 30 years at the safe rate of return you are looking at. 1800/30 = 60, so if the annual price of a license is more than 60, you are better off with the lifetime. Less = better off year to year. You have to calculate a) your life expectancy (of hunting, keep that in mind; you may live to 105 but will you be hunting then??); b) a reasonable expectation of the rate of return; and c) the safe annual withdrawal rate for that rate of return. This allows you to include principal and interest like a mortgage would. I haven't looked at them, but a reverse mortgage calculator might be ideal for this exercise.

That was the price for hunting only. Super Combo was $1000. I believe lifetime Hunting only is now $1000 and you get a $200 reprieve for combining them with the combo.

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I bought the lifetime hunting license around 10 years ago. Then it was only $600 (it was $1000 for the combo). No need for the fishing license since I usually take customers fishing every year and the company pays for it. I wouldn't buy any lifetime license at the current rates. Not worth it.

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This makes no sense at all. If you take customers fishing and you fish you still need a license...

*the company likely pays for a short term or yearly license for him to take the customers fishing

Until a few years ago, Oklahoma had a non-resident lifetime fishing license. (I don't know if they had a hunting/fishing combo, too.) There are a few people around here with both a lifetime Texas hunting/fishing license and a lifetime Oklahoma fishing license.

That would make no sense to me as to why it's done that way, but solves the problem! Ha.

My dad bought mine at 18 so it paid off for me 18 years ago. If I had bought it myself it would have paid off 3 years ago. I think they make an amazing gift for someone even at the $1800.00

I dont necessarily look at it from the point of return on investment as most of the older crowd does. I got mine as a gift and think it something really valuable to be purchased and given from Parent to Child or Grandparent to Grandchild as a way to continue to pass on the hunting heritage/traditions. If I'm ever lucky enough to have kids I'll prolly start saving from birth to buy a lifetime license for them at the respectable hunting age.

Bought mine at $1,000 or cheaper, Got my sons at the $1,000 price. Kicker for me was that if I moved out of state, I did not have to pay a non-resident license fee which is higher

If you can afford it I think it's worth it. It's for a good cause & is only thing I am OK with when it comes to paying the government.