to me, thats not a tough question at all....
if you dont live to see retirement, then whats the difference where or how you spent your money, or how much fun you did or didnt have doing it.
I choose option 3.... live for now, because you arent getting any younger, or healthier or richer, (if you are getting richer, then you will soon be able to change your lifestyle again anyway) and your dreams probably wont change until you live it and get it out of your system, or you have a life altering accident that kills the dream.
why wait to start living your dream until its too late?.....if you have a boat, and retired from the job, its not really even a monetary thing, as its cheaper to cruise than it is to own a home, pay taxes, insurance and with all the maintenance and yard work, garbage and water bills included, plus all the other peripheral expenses that occur just because you are living there...
almost everyone, rich and poor alike, is waiting for their dream to materialize for a couple of different reasons, or at least using them as an excuse for not going now and making it happen.
we are either waiting for retirement, or for when we get to feeling better, or until we make more money, or until we get the "right" boat.....(or until the kids leave home
)
sometime these are legitimate reasons, but sometimes they are only an excuse to set on our butts and do nothing but dream about it.... cuz dreaming takes no effort and is without risk....
buy the boat you want, fix it up and start living toward the dream now. tomorrow or next month may not be too late, but next year might... but then it wont matter anyway.
Live like YOU want to, live for now while planning for later and YOU will be the happiest....