Private Islands for Sale

 

The Editors of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Kiplinger.com

Sep 3, 2010

Provided by:

The idea of owning your own island is probably a remote fantasy these days, especially after three years of economic carnage to your bank account, savings, and retirement portfolio.

But come on. It's August. Maybe you're on budget vacation, at the beach, or at a bayfront or lakefront rental. So who hasn't gazed out at an island from the shore, and wondered what it would be like to own your own kingdom, tethered to civilization only by water or air?

Think Robinson Crusoe. Sir Richard Branson, Johnny Depp, and Celine Dion all own their own islands.

Ram Island

Ram Island, Private Islands Online

Place: Machias Bay, Maine, 50 miles east of Bar Harbor
Asking Price: $595,000
Acreage: 16
Undeveloped

One tree, a few sheep, a 20 by 20 foot platform for pitching a tent, and a mooring in the cove. The rest is grass, rocks, and 360-degree views of the ocean and bay.

Charlie's Island

Charlie's Island, Private Islands Online

Where: Near Marathon, in the Florida Keys
Asking Price: $995,000
Acreage: 0.32
Undeveloped

The turquoise-colored roofs you see in the picture are open-air sitting areas with decks, chairs, and a campfire cooking area. But the island also comes with a 38-foot houseboat, not pictured here, that sleeps 4-5 people. Great reefs nearby for snorkeling. All the seafood you can eat.

Snug Harbour Island

Snug Harbour Island, Private Islands Online

Where: On Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
Asking Price: $1,057,000
Acreage: 3
Developed

A two-hour drive from Toronto, this island features a two-bedroom, two-bath cottage with a glassed-in porch overlooking the water, a separate guest cabin with bathroom, hot tub built into the rock outcropping, and a boathouse with deep water mooring. Running water, electric, a septic field. And it has wireless Internet access. So you could get away from it all, but still check your e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

Watch Island

Watch Island, Private Islands Online

Place: St. Lawrence Seaway, near Clayton, NY
Asking Price: $1,950,000
Acreage: 1.3
Developed

There are 1,400 lakes in the Thousand Lakes region of upstate New York. But few of them come with a 6,500-square-foot mansion -- ten bedrooms, four bathrooms, plus a boat house and dock. About an hour-and-a-half drive from either Syracuse or Montreal.

Little Hog Cay

Little Hog Cay, Private Islands Online

Place: Near Abacos, Northern Bahamas
Asking Price: $1,950,000
Acreage: 25
Partially developed

Notice the lagoon that separates the west side of the island from the east. On the west side sits a studio home and a guest cabana with an electric generator. The east side is undeveloped. Marina and airstrip are a 15-minute boat ride away, on the main island of Abacos.

5 Cove Island

Cove Island, Private Islands Online

Place: Howe Sound, British Columbia, between Whistler and Vancouver
Asking Price: $2,950,000
Acreage: 5
Developed

A 30-minute boat ride from the city of Vancouver, this island is up for sale to developers, with an approved subdvision plan.

See All 12 Private Islands for Sale

4 Upgrades That Waste Your Money

provided by

Upgrading your wardrobe and car might sound like a rewarding thing to do. After all, you work hard all day, and you deserve to come home to some luxury during your off-hours. But crunching the numbers shows that these four splurges aren't worth their additional cost. Here's why:

[Click here to check savings products and rates in your area.]

A Hybrid Car

There are many reasons to buy a hybrid car: They look cool, they're better for the environment, and they'll save you money on gas. But before paying a premium for a hybrid - and they do tend to be more expensive - do a quick calculation to see if the purchases makes sense for you, based on your driving habits. First, check the price difference between your hybrid of choice and its non-hybrid equivalent.

Then, figure out how much per year you'd pay for gas with each vehicle, by multiplying the current price of gas by the number of miles you drive annually divided by the car's EPA miles per gallon estimate. Take that cost difference and multiple it by the number of years you expect to own the car. Is the gap big enough to justify the price differential? If you don't drive much, then it's probably not.

Store Memberships

It's tempting to purchase a membership account at stores such as Sam's Club or Costco. You can peruse long aisles stacked full of tempting items. But you have to pay a fee of $40 or more for that privilege, and for many shoppers, the membership never pays off.

Here's why: According to research from Harvard Business School, shoppers are likely to buy more than they would otherwise (including massive amounts of pasta or toilet paper) when shopping at stores that charge a membership fee because they believe they are saving money. Not only might shoppers end up with more macaroni than they could ever eat, but in some cases, the authors point out, products may be no cheaper than at a local discount store, where you can shop for free.

In other words, paying more for membership into a bulk buy store might not make sense.

[See 15 Freebies, From Tools to Treats to Entertainment]

A Rewards Credit Card

The average non-reward credit card carries an interest rate of just over 15 percent, according to the comparison website IndexCreditCards.com. The average rate on a reward card is 17.5 percent - a difference of almost 2.5 percent. While consumers who pay off their balance each month aren't affected by the interest rates, anyone who carries even a small balance is paying more for their rewards card.

While rewards, which come in the form of airline miles, gift certificates, cash back, and other treats, are appealing, they are almost never worth the additional cost that the steeper interest rate imposes. Plus, researchers have found that users speed up their purchases on their credit card when they know they can earn rewards, a trend dubbed "purchase acceleration."

The math shows that anyone with a credit card balance is better off sticking with a non-reward credit card and purchasing those so-called "rewards" with their own money.

[See 12 New Rules for the New Economy]

A Stylish New Wardrobe

Want to spend money so it makes you happy? Then stay away from a luxury-lined closet. Research from the University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin-Madison found that spending money on leisure activities can boost happiness, while spending on material goods such as clothes does not. That's because leisure spending often boosts relationships with friends and family members, and that, in turn, makes us happy.

That means the savvy consumer should skip retail therapy, and plan a vacation instead.

___

--A study from Princeton University found that making more money does make you happier . . . but only when you're making under $75,000-a-year.

--Once you hit that income level, making more money doesn't have any impact on your happiness . . . regardless of whether you're making $76,000 or $50 BILLION.

--In the study, $75,000-a-year seemed to be the point where money stopped being a major source of stress for people.

--At that level, you feel like you can basically take care of all your reasonable financial obligations.

--But . . . while more money doesn't change your happiness, it does change how you view your life on the whole.  The more money people made, the more likely they were to say their life was going well.

(Time)WISE BROTHER MEDIA

How would you feel about eating dinner at a restaurant where they stored their meat at unsafe temperatures, didn't properly rinse off their fruit, and didn't always sanitize a surface after cutting raw chicken on top of it?

--According to a new study by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, you may be eating dinner there on a nightly basis.

--They found that at LEAST one out of every seven people's home kitchens would FLUNK a health inspection.

--To compare that to commercial kitchens, about 98% of restaurants pass health inspections.

--The big mistakes people make at home are keeping their refrigerators at temperatures higher than 41 degrees . . . storing raw meat on shelves above other foods . . . and not fully rinsing off fruits and vegetables.

--To get the data, 13,000 people took a survey and answered questions about their kitchens.  14%, or one out of seven, gave answers that show their kitchen would fail a health inspection.

(WLS Chicago)WISE BROTHERS MEDIA

The Popular Halloween Costumes This Year Include Lady Gaga, "Jersey Shore" And "Avatar"

It's already September third, so we might as well start focusing on Halloween, right?  At least until all the stores start stocking Christmas stuff in two weeks.

--According to a survey of Halloween costume store owners, these are the six hot costumes for this year.

#1.)  The cast of "Jersey Shore", especially SNOOKI, THE SITUATION and PAULY D.  Stores are selling wigs and muscle suits to help you pull off the looks.

#2.)  LADY GAGA.

#3.)  Former Illinois governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH.  A wig that's modeled after his terrible hair is a big seller right now.

#4.)  Characters from "Avatar".

#5.)  Characters from "Alice in Wonderland".

#6.)  Characters from "Twilight".

(Chicago Sun-Times)