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Is Graceland Worth visiting?
Elvis Presley was born in 1935 and died in 1977 at the age of 42. In between, he became the biggest selling artist of all-time with the biggest television broadcast in history (1.5 billion people; yes, billion), and basically the biggest pop culture icon there ever was. After his death, his private mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, the beautifully named Graceland, was shrewdly turned by his ex-wife Priscilla Presley into one of the biggest tourist attractions in the United States. It’s an impressive operation, and since we saw it first-hand today, my memories of it are pretty fresh. Is Graceland Worth Visiting? When you arrive, you have to pay a $10…
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Is Owning a Timeshare a Good Investment?
When you hear the word timeshare, you probably think: bad investment, can’t sell them, high fees, low flexibility, outdated. And many more, I’m sure. They’ve made a few people very rich (the guy behind Westgate Resorts) and also infamous (same Westgate guy, who tried to build the greatest mansion in the world in Orlando and it went so bad Hollywood made a documentary out of it). Is a Timeshare a Good Investment? We recently took advantage of a timeshare offer from SPG’s Vistana Vacations to spend 4 nights in Los Cabos, Mexico at their Westin Los Cabos resort, and attended the obligatory 2-hour presentation by a friendly and charming salesperson. …
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Travel
I began my first full-time job out of college in Jacksonville, FL, in April of 2010. In the time period between April 2010 and October 2013 (about 3.5 years), I’d traveled to the following places: Los Angeles, and Spain (Barcelona and Madrid). Those were fun trips, but that was basically it. My weekends consisted of watching sports, movies, TV, reading, and the occasional video game (Football Manager, if you must insist!). Sort of like the “nerdy single guy lifestyle”, if there is such a thing (if there isn’t, I’m claiming it). Travel was always in the ether, always something that I thought about, but never in a serious enough way. I’d…
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How Much Are We Spending? – January 2016 Edition
Hello there! Every month, when I (Peter) do the budget, I take a look at how much we spend as a percentage of our income on all of our expenses, from utility bills to mortgage to dining out to travel. How to read our spend report: For privacy purposes, we don’t actually put in the actual numbers of our earnings. We earn our income through a variety of means: By both having full-time 9-6 type jobs. By side hustling for extra cash: By renting out our spare bedroom on AirBnB (to get $20 off your first booking, let us know so we can email you a referral code). You…
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The Search for our Second Rental Property
After we bought our first rental property in October 2016 in St. Augustine, FL, and successfully rented it out on a one-year lease, we were determined to get a 2nd rental property in 2017. Jacksonville and St. Augustine both had promising areas, affordable prices, and a wide pool of renters thanks. We didn’t think it would be easy, but we were confident that we’d get that property and continue to build our net wealth. It didn’t quite work out and here is a house by house look at how it went wrong and how we should approach the same situations in 2018. The Search for our Second Rental Property …
