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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When you hear the word timeshare, you probably think: bad investment, can’t sell them, high fees, low flexibility, outdated.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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2017 Budget Year In Review
It’s that time of year again. No, I don’t mean Christmas. I mean dusting off the transaction history for this past year from Personal Capital (link) and sifting through…(checking total amount of transactions)…2,097 transactions! Boy, what fun it is to calculate net income…yeah. It has certainly been an interesting year. The first half of the year was largely focused on travel, and mid-way through the year, Peter changed jobs and work locations. Let’s take a look at the numbers and then we’ll provide a summary of the good, bad, and ugly. Please note that we will publish only the percentages of our expenses compared to our after-tax income (or disposable…
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The Real Cost of Travel
What is the first reaction you receive when you tell someone that you’re traveling? I ask this question, out of curiosity, because whenever me and Ruby go traveling during the year, people we talk to sometimes express surprise and often ask us how we can afford to travel so much. One of the most common questions we’ve received is, “Are your families rich or something?” (for the record, no!). Travel is classified as a “leisure” activity, but that leisure word really means “luxury” for most people in the United States, at least from my experience. It’s as if there is a bit of a stigma attached to the word here,…
