His Hers Money

We stayed at the Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, Jamaica and it was really nice. The rooms were excellent and came with a jetted tub (which we didn’t utilize), four poster beds and a balcony that looked right out over the ocean. A few little things that we appreciated with the rooms is that there was a little mini fridge in the room with bottled water and a variety of sodas in it which where included in the all inclusive and they replenished them every day. Also, the staff came and serviced your room twice a day. First in the morning for the standard daily service and then again while you were at dinner to pick up and turn down the beds. Since everyone came back to their rooms to shower from being at the pool and ocean all the day to prepare for dinner it was nice that they went in and straightened everything up.

The staff was absolutely wonderful and really made our stay super enjoyable. They did a great job in getting people involved in the activities and just making the days and nights fun. It was great to basically see the same people everyday working around the property and they do an amazing job of actually remembering everyone’s names.

The only thing we can’t really rave about was the dining. Breakfast we ordered in to our room each morning which was great. Coffee, fruit, omelets, any breakfast thing you could really want. Lunch we usually grabbed from the beach side grill and it was fine. Burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken caesar wraps, etc. Nothing fancy but it was fine.

Dinner was the one thing we wished was just a little better. FOr one thing, I would have like some air conditioning. Later on at night it cooled off and was plenty cool outside but at dinner time it was usually just a little on the warm side. The rooms all had air conditioning in them but the dining rooms didn’t. The food was … ok…. Nothing great, but you could usually find something to eat that was ok.

So, all in all, as I sit at home drinking a Jamaican rum and coke, writing this post I can say we had a great time. We met some great people, a couple of which we exchanged email addresses with, and look back on it as a great trip. We would definitely consider going back to that or another Sandals Jamaica property.

We were booked to stay a week in Montego Bay, Jamacia. The trip was really planned as our honeymoon but when we boarded the plane that morning I have to admit we were completely unmarried and really didn’t have anything on the books as to plans to actually get married. Our original plan didn’t quite work out for us as to our wedding plans but we were determined to move on and have a great time since it really was our honeymoon.

My big surprise to Him was a upgrade to First Class on our flights down to Jamaica. I had a few upgrade points in my frequent flyer account so the cost was minimal. We had to fly out of BWI airport at 6:30am so it required a VERY early alarm clock setting and departure. It is about an hour drive up to Baltimore and at that hour there is luckily no traffic.

Our flight down to Miami was pretty uneventful. A few really strong OJs and Vodka certainly made the flight go a lot quicker (huge Kudos to our excellent bartender - I mean flight attendant). Our flight from Miami to Montego Bay was pretty much a party mobile up in First Class. Everyone was going on vacation, having a few drinks and just having a great time.

We met some great people on the plane including a rap / reggae artist who was handing out copies of his new CD (it’s pretty good). The flight flew by and before we knew it we were queued up in customs / immigration ready to kick off our vacation.

We were staying at the Sandals Royal Caribbean all inclusive resort (separate post to come reviewing the property and it service). Upon arriving at the airport you are greeted by resort greeters, they take your luggage off your hands and show you the way to the bar. They load everything up and then you board a bus to the resort.

It was only about a 15 minute drive but the scenery was NOT nice. It really makes you appreciate what you have and where you live when you see some of the huts and falling down structures that some people have to live in.

We had a great time on our vacation and met tons of great people. My next post will detail the resort and our experience there.

Well, we have been on a long hiatus for the last few weeks. It all started when I embarked on my eighteen day vacation from work. Yes, eighteen day of glorious non-working hours! I really hadn’t had a real vacation ever since I had started my new job almost a year ago so I was definitely due.

Our vacation was kicked off by a 4th of July party with a bunch of friends. One of our friends was house / dig sitting at a house that had a great backyard so our partying started off there with a great big potluck BBQ. Two of the guests were visiting from the UK and volunteers to whip up some great homemade Indian food. My favorite was a great Tandoori chicken dish.

After feasting for what seemed like hours and consuming a few adult beverages we headed on over to our building to watch the Washington DC fireworks. Our building has an unobstructed view of the Capital Building from the roof. There’s a pool, hot tub and huge lounge up on the top floor and the staff was pulling out all the stops to throw a big fireworks viewing party. Unfortunately the rain moved in along with the clouds and the fireworks were kind of a bust this year. We’ll hope for better next year.

The whole 4th of July weekend took up the first few days of our vacation and before we knew it , it was time to start packing a getting ready to jet off to Jamaica.

Programming note: Over the next week I will try to catch everyone up on our vacation time and bring it back to the present.

When we go grocery shopping we don’t go empty handed. We have a list, our coupons and a plan. This weekend’s grocery shopping trip is an excellent example of what our bill looks like. This is for two people and we are not starting from scratch as we have things in the freezer / pantry / fridge at home already that we are augmenting. I look at what’s on sale, what coupons I have and what we need.

This week’s trip was to Safeway but we don’t always shop there. It all depends on who has the rights things on sale that week.

• Ketchup $.99
• Cheez-Its $1.47
• Cranergy Juice $2.50
• Canned Cat Food 6 - $.33 each
• Kraft Cheese Singles - 2 - $1.50 each
• FF Half & Half $4.49
• Yummy mini ice creams 2 - $1.00 each
• Limeade $1.25
• Duracell 8pk AA $2.49
• Men’s Shave Gel $1.50
• OM Hotdog - 3pks for $1 total
• Lean Hamburger $6.11 for 4.8lbs
• Jumbo Raw Shrimp $5.39 for 0.9lbs
• Green Onion $0.99
• Ginger Root $0.25
• Cinlantro $0.99
• Beer 24pk $12.99 (July 4th parties)

Our total was $50.24 and obviously the beer at $13 was the biggest item but with July 4th parties coming up next weekend we grabbed it at a good price to bring to a big party we are attending. The shrimp was a treat for us which we will grill up for dinner and the hamburger has already been mixed up and made into hamburger patties and in the freezer for later use.

Our receipt claims that we saved $61.34 (56%) off of our bill which in fact we did but we wouldn’t have bought some of the items if they weren’t on sale and had coupons to go along with them. The hot dogs for example we couldn’t pass up at 3 Oscar Myer packs for $1, I just threw them in the freezer for later use. The same thing with the cheese slices, I’m not a huge fan of that kind of cheese but at that price I’ll make so for a couple weeks!

This weekend I was flipping through an old Money Magazine from November of 2007. We usually use the library for books and reading material, to include magazines. Typically you can get recent copies as soon as they become a month old but occasionally I will pick up some older ones as well. The content really doesn’t become outdated to the point of uselessness.

This one particular article was about the number of jumbo mortgages in default, specifically a 65% increase in the number of prime jumbo mortgages in default between June 2006 and June 2007. I can only believe that the trend has continued right into 2008. We live in the Washington DC area so in order to buy a house we would fall into the jumbo mortgage category since a typical 3 bedroom house is priced in excess of $600k.

We currently rent and live in a brand new, very nice apartment building that we are perfectly satisfied with. I don’t expect us to be calling up a real estate agent any time soon in this area. But, yesterday we were taking a little drive to go see the new Extreme Makeover, Home Edition house that they are building this week in MD. We drove down a long, windy road through what turned out to be a very high end, beautiful area.

The houses on both sides of the street were HUGE, not just big, but HUGE! I’m talking jaw dropping, have to look kind of houses. We thoroughly enjoyed the drive and getting a chance to see these homes. What surprised me was the number of For Sale signs out in front of these places. So, I decided to do a little online research into what these homes actually cost and how many were on the market.

I plugged in a started search criteria of greater than $1 million and the results I got back exceeded the max allowable number of 250 so I bumped it up to greater than $2 million and was able to it down to about 200 results. I was in shock that one little town could have that many homes in that price range on the market. This really was a small area that wasn’t too densely populated as each home sat on a significant lot.

In general, about $3 to $5 million got you seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and if you went up to the $8 million dollar range you got around ten bedrooms. Yes, they were beautiful homes, but everyone would agree that this is a bit excessive! I have to believe that people got themselves into mortgages that they just couldn’t handle and in this case multiple mortgages.

If you can’t afford a traditional mortgage on a piece of property than you really can’t afford it in my opinion, clear and simple.

Yesterday I covered the first three ways in the “Six Simple Ways to Retire Rich”. Thanks to automatic 401(k) plans and one-stop investing options, saving for retirement is a cinch. Editor’s note: This article is adapted from Kiplinger’s Retirement Planning 2008 guide.

I promised to cover the last three ways today so here they are!

Simple Way #4 Consider a Roth

I mentioned this quickly in the last Simple way but they give it an entire section in this article. While your 401k gives you your tax benefits up front, the Roth IRA gives you your tax benefits on the other end at withdrawal side. The new Roth 401k also offers tax-free income at retirement. The Roth IRA has contribution limits of $5000 in 2008 and does have some income limitations so a little additional research is warranted but whomever you set your account up with should be able to help you determine your eligibility and limits.

I personally max mine out each year in twelve handy little payments. Most plans will allow you to make monthly contributions directly taken out of your checking account or whatever account is most convenient for you. Again, the younger you are when you start funding this type of account the more you will benefit from the advantage of time.

Simple Way #5 Don’t Cash Out

I personally was kind of shocked by this one. Not shocked by the advice but shocked by the related statistic that they mention that nearly have of all workers cash out their 401ks when the leave their job rather then rolling it over or even just maintaining it there. If you cash the account out you get hit with both taxes and penalties and forget the whole advantage of time, you just started that clock all over!

I have rolled a 401k or two (or even more) in my time. I can’t tell you how easy they make it for you to do it. I have to believe that it actually requires more work to cash it out these days that is does to roll it over. I recently heard a commercial on the radio about a guy who rolled his old 401k over in the same about of time that his friend ate a sandwich at lunch, it really is that easy.

One benefit that I enjoy as a result of rolling all of my 401ks over into one account is that the value of that account is obviously greater that the individual accounts were so I now qualify for a higher level of service from the company who holds my money. Some of the perks are free checks, a special phone service number, fee waived accounts, etc.

Simple Way #6 Sell Company Stock

Many people have a portion of their 401k tied up in their company’s stock. While it’s great to be confited and supportive of your company, it’s not always a great strategy to put all or even half of your eggs in one basket. After the whole Enron scandal and the Pension Protection Act of 2006, employers must now allow workers to cash out their company stock within three years to diversify their 401(k) investments, and many employers now allow their employees to transfer out at any time.

It’s always best to diversify your holdings. This also something you need to look at if you have your savings and investments spread among numerous accounts. If you choose not to roll your old 401ks into one account make sure you look at the overall balance of your accounts as a whole not individually. If you do have a personal advisor than they can do this for you, if not, make sure you bring up any additional investments you have when speaking to the folks at the individual companies.

As always, I’m not a financial advisor, just an ordinary person trying to make the right choices, just like you so please do seek professional advice. I hope my comments and observations help you know what the right questions to ask are and help you make the right choices for your particular situation.