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My wife has been infatuated with Turks and Caicos for as long as I can remember – and who could blame her? Blue skies, white sand beaches, crystal clear water – it’s hard to beat. In September 2022, we took a trip to the islands to celebrate her birthday and had a wonderful experience despite running up against Hurricane Fiona. The best part: we booked our stay with Hyatt points and paid $0 for a 1,0000 sqft suite. (more…)
(GCC: Over the years I haven’t been shy about how my favorite part of this little blog is the opportunity to have a positive impact on the lives of others. Now, the only thing even better than _that_ is when somebody takes an idea or concept and just… runs with it. Embrace and Extend! That is exactly what Skip has done… and now maybe you will too.)
One of the many benefits of a location-independent lifestyle is the ability to take advantage of geographic arbitrage. Geographic arbitrage is a valuable tool in our early retirement plan that provides both financial and quality-of-life benefits. It enables us to increase our purchasing power and reduce the burden on our retirement funds while traveling the world.
The article discussed developing a foundation for long-term success. The general gist was to live better for less in the early years of retirement while traveling through less expensive regions of the world. Spending less in the early years allows more of your money to grow, thereby bolstering the survival of your investment portfolio throughout a lengthy retirement.
This was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me. Although the early retirement gears were already turning, my wife and I had not really considered perpetual international travel as an option. However, the logic made too much sense to ignore. Live well for less and travel the world… all while reducing sequence of return risk on our retirement portfolio? Sign me up. (Reducing risk AND lowering future expenses too! Kickstart Your (Early) Retirement)
But… how has this concept held up under the current environment of investment portfolio losses and increasing inflation? I’m here to tell you, very well.
Advertiser Disclosure: This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CardRatings.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
In an effort to reignite travel spending from its cardmembers, American Express released a slew of new benefits to their Platinum credit card in 2021 — one of which was a $200 yearly credit for prepaid hotels through the Amex Travel portal.
Finding ourselves in Chicago for a weekend gave us the opportunity to put this credit, and a new property, to the test at the Four Seasons. Here’s how it went. (more…)
Advertiser Disclosure: This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CardRatings.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Recently my wife I stayed at the Miraval Resort in Austin, Texas, a luxury wellness spa on the banks of Lake Travis just a short drive from downtown. This was an aspirational property for us and since it’s bookable with Hyatt points it was within reach given our stockpile of points that we’ve been sitting on due to limited international travel over the past year. We stayed for two nights in mid-October while celebrating my wife’s birthday and were blown away with the experience.
If you’re thinking about booking a stay here, here’s what you can expect.
Advertiser Disclosure: This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CardRatings.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
