Archive for June, 2011

Thinking About a Cruise? Take It!

June 28th, 2011

I’m ready to sail again
Months passed from when we first started talking about a cruise until the time we took one. It was the notion of the expense that scared me off. I even managed to avoid making inquiries. The cruise liners leave from Miami or Fort Lauderdale right where we would be.

Travel agent
A visit to the travel agent dispelled fears of the cost; the one week cruise in an outside cabin with a verandah compared favorably to staying in a good hotel and moreover, explained the agent, everything is included in the price. Our first glimpse of crowd management came when we arrived on a shuttle from the airport car rental agency and saw two thousand other would-be cruisers milling around on the dock where the enormous ship was anchored. Our luggage disappeared and we were directed into the passport control line.

On board at last
Finally we walked up the gangplank onto the ship, our first taste of the ‘sea-legs’ sensation. It was impossible to tell that we had left ‘terra-firma’. All this took one hour from the time we arrived at the port. And that was the last time we were aware that there were 2,400 other passengers on the ship with us.

The ship
The ship itself is about two years old and is the very latest in cruise liner design and architecture. It contains every possible facility that anyone could possibly want on a holiday, including 10 restaurants, a gym and spa, bars, an internet cafe, a casino straight out of the Las Vegas strip, a library, a sports deck and a full scale theater that seats about a 1,000 people. We breakfasted with many different people: “You come from where? Wow, how interesting!” and back to their cereal. We generally ate dinner on our own in a different restaurant every evening. Every meal, needless to say, was excellent. The buffet style breakfasts are designed for the many obese guests who piled their plates high every morning. Just watching them enabled me to maintain my diet.

Service
The service was outstanding. The ship boasts a passenger to crew ratio of 2.4, in other words one crew member to every two and a half passengers. The entertainment director announced one evening that the crew came from 60 different countries. The crew were everywhere and still managed to remain unobtrusive. We chatted with members of the crew and listened to how they sail around they world month after month. Cruise destinations change with the seasons chasing warm weather and avoiding hurricane areas.

One week cruise
A one-week cruise is just about enough to get you to remember where everything is. I kept the pocket guide on me at all times. The ship is big. A turn around the walking track on deck 13 is 600 meters. The only sensation of movement – we were blessed with very calm seas – is when one is sitting on the toilet. The hard surface transmits every vibration, but our fears of motion sickness were foundless.

Great holiday
All in all, a great holiday and highly recommended to all those who hesitate about taking a cruise.

Tags: Cruise holiday, holidays, Luxury holiday
Posted in Economy, Finance, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

How I Cleared My $10,000 Credit Card Debt in a Year

June 26th, 2011

Like many Americans, I had a ton of debt that seemed to pile on month after month.
Between credit cards, car payments and suchlike, my debt situation was hopeless. One Visa card had a $1,250 balance and another $5,000. I had a MasterCard with a $1,250 balance and a Discover Card with about $2,500. Enough! I decided to take steps to eliminate my debt without having to make more money. All it needs is a little sacrifice and discipline. Here’s what I did to all but eliminate my debt within one year.

What Is Necessary
I cut the coffee shops in the morning and made my own cuppa. The saving, to my amazement: about $4 per day or $28 per week, for a total of $1,456 a year. I used this to pay off the $1,250 balance on my Visa and even had a couple of bucks to spare. I could have saved that amount by brown-bagging as well.

Downgrading
We went from a two-car family to a one-car family. We sold the car that had payments and kept the one that was paid off. As our car payment was $450 per month that meant we saved an astounding $5,400 in one year. Include the money we saved on insurance at $70 per month or $840 per year, plus what we saved on gasoline at $25 per week or $1,300 per year. In total our downgrade saved us $7,540 for the year. Goodbye Visa Card No. 2 and Discover Card! It was inconvenient, sure, but it saved us tremendous amounts of money each month that we could apply to our debt. We are now back to two cars again, both paid for.

Cash Is King
My new motto is, “If I don’t have enough cash to get something I want, then I don’t need it.” This can be hard as credit cards allow you to make purchases that you otherwise couldn’t. However, they catch up with you, and bring debt.

Top of the Line
You don’t always have to have the best of the best. My cell phone is nice, but not too nice. I also ended my long-term contract with a major cell carrier and now use a prepay service. While my phone doesn’t do all the latest and greatest things, it still makes calls and texts, which is really all I use it for anyway. Besides, not having the “newest and greatest” cell phone is saving me over $80 per month or $960 per year. Nearly enough to pay off my MasterCard.

What’s important
When cutting debt you need to decide what is important. With a little sacrifice and discipline, I have been able to get rid of almost all my debt in one year’s time and sock away a few bucks. At the end of the year I paid off $9,956 of debt. Now, I use my credit cards only to secure a hotel room or a car rental, and I’ve learned the value of what is important over what is wanted. What’s more, I did this without making any additional money; actually it feels like I make more since I actually get to keep some of it now.

Since I’ve cleared my debt I’ve started a new business with a little help from a business incubator.

Tags: Cutting costs, Debts, Getting out of debt, saving money
Posted in Credit Cards, Economy, Employment, Finance, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

The Terms of Huguette Clark’s $400 Million Estate

June 24th, 2011

Bulk of the estate goes to her nurse and a charity
Huguette Clark, the 104 year old daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the United States, died last month leaving a question over what would become of her estate. Clarity was provided this week when her lawyer filed Clark’s 2005 will with the Surrogate Court in Manhattan. Most of her $400 million estate has been left to her nurse and personal friend and to a charity which promotes the arts.

Make-up of the estate
John D. Dadakis, a lawyer from the firm Holland & Knight who filed the will, explained that Clark’s estate is made up of an art collection which includes works by Monet, Renoir, John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase. Her will also included her real estate and financial investments as well as a large doll collection from porcelain to Barbies.

Huguette Clark
Huguette Clark was not a woman that many knew well. For the past several decades she had lived in various hospitals in New York with her only contact being with chosen medical professionals and staff. She had no children and no close relatives. Speaking to the New York Times Dadakis said “When you understand who Mrs. Clark was, I think you clearly see that this is a lady that was very strong willed. Her will speaks for that being strong willed, the way she was.”

Benefactors
The will revealed that Hadassah Peri, Clark’s nurse and close friend, has inherited her doll collection which is potentially worth millions as well as 60 percent of various assets worth $40 million. Clark’s goddaughter, Wanda Styka, will receive 25 percent. She also left $1 million to the Beth Israel Medical Center where she lived in her final years. She left $500,000 to her assistant and $100,000 to a doctor. A foundation established to promote the arts will receive her Santa Barbara estate, most of her art collection, all her musical instruments and her rare book collection. Her lawyer Wallace Bock, and to her accountant, Irving H. Kamsler were left $500,000 each. There was also an explicit note that said no family members would receive anything because of their minimal contact with her.

The Monet
Ms. Clark’s 1907 original Claude Monet painting from the “Water Lillies” series was given to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. This painting alone is probably worth $100 million.

Investigation
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is investigating Bock and Kamsler and how they have handled Clark’s money. Dadakis who is representing Bock and Kamsler in the surrogate court proceedings said the men had done what the heiress had asked them to do. She left them money because they were close to her.

Artist
Huguette Clark was a musician and an artist who, in 1929, exhibited seven of her paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The last known photograph of her was taken in 1930 and she was rarely seen in public following the death of her mother in 1963. She reportedly had a very small group of friends. Her closest friend and former employee, Suzanne Pierre, died in February 2011.

Tags: Estates, Huguette Clark, Monet, Wills
Posted in Business, Economy, Finance, Money | No Comments »

« Older Entries