My daughter lived in a couple of high end apartment buildings. They had a space you could rent for parties. I know she had her 30th birthday party in one. It was nice with a small kitchenette.
The thing she appreciated was a package room. A place for all of your packages. She’s in a townhouse now, you can buy a locked bin for packages but there are issue with theft. If you don’t. She mostly doesn’t order anything
My brothers friend came to me a few years ago about his insurer refusing to pay for medical treatment for his kid for what the insurer claimed was experimental. The procedure cost 75k. I got the insurer to cough up most of the cost ( I often represent policy holders in coverage disputes). One of my partners was like “ what will he do if they say no” And I was like “ go out of pocket… he’s paid more for family vacations “. My partner was stunned by that. We have well off clients. But not usually this level. They spend a lot….though not more than they can afford.
Our FA advisor suggests using airline points to upgrade to business class or first class. So far we have not done so, but maybe in your case it would make sense for spending down your miles. But not sure if you’d loose perks dipping below a certain balance(?)
My BIL has a condo about a mile from Surfside. What came out of it at his place was very detailed inspections, and a repair plan that created an assessment on each unit of around $140k (!). Most people got a loan for it
Any balance would have to be disclosed, and would definitely affect the sale price. I think all the older high rises are undergoing similar processes.
I have a friend with a 2br oceanfront condo in the Stuart area, and it’s nice but the HOA fees are around $1500/month! A lot of that is probably insurance, but still.
If you don’t think you’re ever going to use them, why not just transfer them now if you can to one of your kids? Delta unfortunately charges to transfer or gift Miles so that may not be an option if British Airways does the same. Delta also allows using points/miles for hotels, etc. and even if you are being reimbursed if you’re taking a personal trip or you’re being reimbursed out of your own business using the Miles might not be a bad idea instead
I think you mean ShawD, not ShawWife?
@1214mom, yes. I would very displeased if ShawWife had a fiance but am very pleased that ShawD does. We now have to help her plan a wedding in 8 months. Fortunately, she knows the caterers and tent suppliers (and generator and ice machine and …) suppliers who worked with ShawSon and with their two older cousins who got married there. So, she has people to call.
@Colorado_mom, I have done that. On personal trips. On business trips, I’m usually flying business or first and that is reimbursed. I could in practice use my points on business trips and take the reimbursement, but that would be complicated and probably would violate my agreement with my clients.
@jym626, I may do that at some point. I wonder if there will be a point at which I am a) able to travel; but b) unable or uninterested in working. I don’t envision that, but that would be a good time to use the points. We do a trip every two years to Italy and that is now purely personal – ShawWife used to teach painting classes in Italy but now we just go with our Italophile friends and enjoy.
Have fun planning the wedding!
Sorry, this gave me a good laugh (but I needed one today).
Congrats to your D!
Congrats @shawbridge !
Darn - I’ll be in the Canadian Rockies in July, but not September, so don’t worry about inviting me :). Congrats to the Shaw family.
July is a great time to be in the Canadian Rockies (except, I guess for the invasion of tourists) @1214mom. Enjoy.
@BunsenBurner, @Colorado_mom and @FallGirl, thanks. ShawWife just left to meet ShawD for wedding dress shopping.
Ona topic directly related to the purpose of this thread, we have our annual checkup with one of our financial planners. They sent us some homework. The first question was for ShawWife and me (either separately or together) to list our three top financial priorities, but the implication was life priorities that had financial implications. They then asked how well we thought our current financial position was aligned these priorities.
I said that
Do you think I missed something important?
Maybe need a statement about being enough funds for the possibility of long term care? It could be woven into #1 … saying that ideally you could afford any long term care needs that arise, while still having the other spouse stay in the house.
This 100%.
No big revelation, but I noticed that nowhere in there did you explicitly mention a second home. Maybe that’s really not a priority?
@Youdon_tsay, Thank you. I should build that into my list. We have put it off but it is in our future.
@Colorado_mom, it is good to focus on having enough money for long-term care and recognize that the other partner would still want to be at home if possible.
Definitely use the points. Never pay for an airline ticket or a hotel room. Not only do they get devalued over time, sometimes the business goes bust and you lose them. Our kids rarely pay for a hotel or airline ticket either, we cover that if we have miles/points. And they are great to donate, also. Plus, if your wife wants to take a mini vacation and go on a trip with you, why not? Use them to upgrade, if you don’t have a first class ticket.
We are on a trip on the other side of the world. Was able to get 2 first class domestic and delta one suites for these very long overseas flights— with miles and upgrades. Paid only the small tax. Made my day
Or they change…DH and I had a ton of Star Alliance points that somehow evaporated poof. Neither of us was able to recover them when the partners in Star Alliance changed. In addition, we flew a partner airline on a trip that should have netted us each 50,000 or so points, but the partner airline miles never showed up. And yes, we tried and tried…with all sorts of documentation.
Luckily, these points were not part of our retirement plan!
Congratulations on your DD’s engagement and upcoming wedding. Very happy times!
Our next trip is to San Antonio in May for GD1’s First Communion and combination Confirmation (this is not done ‘traditional Roman Catholic’ but with certain rites in communion with Roman Catholicism). DD1/SIL are renting an AirBnB close to the church for visiting close family on both sides. Hopefully SIL will be transitioned out of Army and into FT career by then - but if not, he will be Army reserves and hopefully with good job leads for FT work in his field (cyber security). SIL keeps all his security clearances while in Army reserves which greatly helps on his career field. He can work on additional cyber certifications if a small gap with FT employment.
DD1 and DD2 (25 months apart) are at different stages of personal life while both have excellent careers (DD1/SIL with 5 children, while DD2 has a serious BF of 6 1/2 years). Serious BF is in different FL city for more than 6 months now - and DD2 has helped structure (together) both for herself and for him spreadsheets and monthly budgeting (both paying off debt and expenses separately - his debt at higher level but thankfully we are not involved at all in the whole picture). He had college student loans and expenses incurred between FT jobs - and moving expenses for his first job in FT sports management when he wasn’t paid great and the location was states away. BF continues in his current job until he obtains a better job - he is reducing his living expenses as he is moving in with other single fellows he knows in sports circles (in Ft Lauderdale) now that his lease is up. DD2 has both of their dogs in Orlando rent house (has a nice, fenced back yard and she also has a garage for storage). Their aging dogs will not be replaced when they die (so they say) - both of the dogs were rescue -purebred. DD2 turns 30 and her BF will turn 29. DD1 turns 32 and her DH turns 36. DD2 has always had a M - F civil/architectural engineering job (first working for AL DOT rating and inspecting bridges in Montgomery AL, then got her ‘dream job’ working for a design firm in Orlando using more of her architectural engineering a a Senior Structural Engineer) - BF got his sports management degree in Montgomery (Huntington College) while playing Div 3 sports (Lacrosse). BF is from FL and DD2’s job change was focused on FL cities which would be good for both of their careers. Sports Management is fickle at lower levels of the organizations - in part because supply of individuals wanting to work in the field makes some organizations treat employees as ‘disposable’ with thoughts of ‘easy replacement’, even though it isn’t necessarily so (bad decisions but tied to coaches with contracts, various owner influences, managerial decisions). DD2’s only debt is paying off a car (her car died in 2024 and not a big enough emergency fund) which she purchased used and has less than $12,000 owed (interest free to us - we paid off the car loan to keep her from having to pay interest) - and she takes full advantage of Roth 401k employer matching. BF lived with us for parts of two seasons - he made very good money and his living expenses were very limited with free housing in our home - he ate only a few meals with us; I was like ‘mom’ and did his laundry with ours. He also could use my vehicle instead of driving the equipment van just like DDs or SIL on occasion. Our thinking - we trust our DD with him, why not trust in other ways.
We have gotten to know SIL’s family quite well over the years, as well as DD2’s BF family in FL. Approaching the holidays in 2022, DD2/BF decided it was ‘time’ for our families to meet, and we did so in FL. BF’s mom and grandma visited in our city when BF worked in our city.
Both DDs have had positive influences on their significant other’s personal finances, with DD1 being the strongest (and needing to be with 5 children in pretty close succession).
As 69 YO seniors, we continue to learn a lot and share a lot with DDs. My parents navigated well because my dad was a smart businessman and built/developed some properties that became their ‘cash cow’ in retirement. Dad died 2 days before he turned 64, and mom died at age 77 - and their estate had remained intact thanks to mom not spending beyond her desires and with family oversight being able to remain at home in her decline with dementia.
Paradigm changes with finances continue - as we continue to have ‘strange things happen’ when it comes to the markets and related. We have an upcoming ‘state of the markets’ semi-annual update by our financial group, and then our individual appointment focused on our finances.