Secret Beach Access is Cool

My family recently visited Martha's Vineyard for a week renting a house in Edgartown. As an added benefit this house came with a "Beach Key". A Beach Key is basically a key that gives you access to a private association beach. Its actually a non-buildable, deeded piece of real estate that sells for $225-$350k.

You might wonder why anyone would want to pay that much for essentially access to a beach but it is a very nice amenity.

First I must say that everything on the island is so cryptic. The directions to this special beach are some like ...

" drive .9 miles past XXX, then take a left at a row of mailboxes then bear left at the Y in .5 miles and take the second right 1.1 miles from the mailboxes and take the dirt road that dead ends at a gate"

It took us two attempt to find this secret gate. (Honestly they could have said take a left then your second right, but I think the cryptic directions are part of the charm!)


Secret Locked gate

Path to the ocean

Path through the dunes


Ahhhh, private beach

General Stores are an old time favorite

One of the things I love about Martha's Vineyard are the General stores. You can find almost anything in a General Store from Coffee to a Hammer. Each time I visit the island I make it a point to visit a store and hopefully uncover a new one. Here is a list of the General Stores that I know of on the island.

1) Alley's - West Tisbury
Probably the most well know General Store on the island is Alley's in West Tisbury. Its in a great location and has that olde time appeal and I challenge anyone to try and find something they don't have in stock.



2) Chilmark Store - Chilmark
This General Store is located in "downtown Chilmark" and only opened seasonally. Its very well know for the great green rocking chairs on the front porch. They have awesome pizza and amazing homemade pies. More than once I've found myself rocking on the porch and saying 'hey I know that person' - so I guess its also a good celebrity watchers spot as well.


3) Chappy General Store
I haven't actually been inside this store. If you ask me it looks a little bit like a scene out of the movie Deliverance. I've heard they charge some pretty outrageous prices as people really have no choice. This is the only commercial store on the island.



4) Granite -Edgartown
Initially I wouldn't have considered this a typical General Store as it lacks the outward charm of a traditional store. However, as you step inside you can quickly realize they have everything from Toys to Hardware.



5) Katama general store
I know their is a general store in Katama but on a recent visit I couldn't find it. I'm pretty sure this is it and it was probably not opened for the season yet.



As far as I know there are no General Stores in Aquinnah or Tisbury.

Car buying is frustrating

We've needed a second car for over 3 months now but I've continued to push off the act of car shopping because of my extreme distaste for the process. Unfortunately, we could no longer wait so we purchased a car this past weekend. This was my first new car purchase since 2001 and while I used the internet heavily to research and price our choices the whole process was pretty much just as horrible as I remembered.

We used the following research tools;

• Vehix.com - This site had some video test drives although they are the kind which basically don't tell you anything wrong about the car or model you are looking at.
• Cars.com - I found their reviews, which were mostly third party, very helpful with quick easy access to picture. (I actually used the mobile very of this site during some of our visits at different dealers.
• Comcast - Searchlight - This is a cool feature of On-Demand which actually includes video reviews which would tell you things to watch out for
• Dealer/Brand sites - I found Jeep.com to be the most useful site which allows a user to build a car then search dealer inventory (many sites have this feature, but I found Jeep the most accurate).

Overall, These sites were basically useless. The reason - Ultimately, when buying a car you are buying of the availability of the lot. If you build a car online selecting your option you still have to settle for the type of cars on the lot that best meet your needs.

We were looking for a mid sized SUV which could seat up to 7 so looked at the following cars:

Volvo XC90 - Very small, the third row couldn't fit an adult. We liked the safety features of course but overall the car was very plain and featureless. The pickup was slow (we test drove the V6 model). Also, I really disliked the salesperson, who basically assumed we were ready to buy the car after a short test drive. He also had no idea about the car so much so the finance guy had to come over and answer most of my questions.

Saturn Outlook - This car was huge. Even in the third row an adult would be comfortable. It had good pickup for the size and features like navigation which we liked a lot. This would be the perfect car if we lived in the suburbs and had 3 kids. Unfortunately, as we live in the city it can be difficult to navigate the narrow road much less fit in our small driveway. The salesperson was great and even let us take the car home for the weekend as a test drive. The only negatives were Front wheel drive and the size.

Jeep commander - We decided to check this car out at the last minute and I'm glad we did. It is much smaller than the Outlook but still has a third row which can be used in a bind (plus it was roomier than the Volvo). It came fully loaded with Navigation, DVD, etc. and 4 wheel drive. The salesperson was great, the warranties were even better so we bought it. The sticker price was about 4K lower than advertised on the Jeep site. Net net we basically got it for the advertised price on the Jeep site including tax, titles, and an extended lifetime warranty. They really sold this lifetime warranty which basically extended the 3 year, 36K mile warranty for life provided you have the car inspected every 5 years. We usually own cars for 6-10 years so I went for it (against my better judgment, knowing someone is getting a commission) however we all the electronic equipment in the car is probably worth the additional $2k.

Taxes are making me a better recordkeeper

I've always done my own taxes. I've filed electronically since 2000 using Turbo Tax. I've always felt the need to do taxes on my own perhaps so I could get a better appreciation for my finances and my own contribution to the Federal and my State's income. I've managed to do (in my own opinion) a decent job of navigating the arising life complexities like buying/selling a house, getting married, earning more money, selling stocks - all while still reducing my tax basis to a comfortable level.

This past year was somewhat different. We earned more and sold a lot of misguided stock holdings (e.g a couple hundred shares of Qwest Communication which hover around $2 per share).

During Tax season I learn two lessons;

1. Cost Basis record keeping is very important

Unfortunately, most of the stocks we sold were legacies from my wife. It was very piecemeal and didn't amount to much plus we had very little knowledge of the cost basis. This was a huge project to research and guesstimate. One action that I walked away with was the HUGE importance of keeping track of your cost basis on all investments. After finishing our taxes, I checked all of our current holdings and was surprised that even using Quicken that a number of our investments didn't record cost basis. As a result, I spend a lot of time researching and recording the cost basis manually for everything in Quicken so if and when we sell another stock it won't be such a tax nightmare. This is especially true if you invest in DRIPs!

2. Our deductions started to disappear due to income

I was somewhat disappointed to realize the typical actions that I've done each year to reduce my tax basis stopped working this year as effectively as they have in the past. Even with an interest only mortgage, charity contributions and a loss on selling stocks we actually ran into some of our deduction getting limited. We didn't get nabbed for AMT but our combined income pushed us out of previous deductions and reduced others. My action item this year is to better understand what type of actions I can take to help reduce our tax responsibility. Having a child this year we hopefully help. I found it frustrating to get our deductions limited because we live in a very high cost of living area and earn just living salaries. Too bad the IRS doesn't take into consideration your zip code, cost of housing, commuting, etc.

I strongly believe everyone should do their own taxes even if it is just one time. I constantly hear people only reference the difference in the amount they over or under paid (e.g. I'm getting $1K back or I owe $5k). However, very few people reference the actual tax paid (e.g. I paid $10k or $30k, etc.)

Increased Savings Goal

The biggest impact to my overall net worth in 2008 will occur as a result of a significant savings effort. To date, I've identified 4 major savings goals.

1. DRIPs ($30k)
2. 401k ($31k) Complete
3. 529 plan ($8k)
4. Cash Reserve ($24k)

I have completed goal number two so far (you can see my progress on the right). I recently increased the Cash Reserve savings goal from $22k to $24k. I did this primarily to get to an even number - if I attain my goal that will increase my cash reserve from $76k to $100k. My cash reserve account is money set aside for a vacation/retirement home.

I've started to tackle my DRIP contributions and I'm in midst of researching 529 plans which has taken more time then I figured initially. I've yet to decide on a specific 529 plan but hope to do this by the end of the week so I can begin to make contributions - to date I just have $500 allocated to open this up.

Interestingly enough, my net worth has not changed since the end of 2007 (even with saving over $36k so far this year). This is primarily due to the down market. It can be a little depressing to save so much yet see no material impact on net worth - however, I know that I'm laying the right foundation and it should pay off in the long run...

New arrival brings financial uncertainty

We added a beautiful baby girl to our family this March. This is our first child and it has been super exciting and I can easily say that seeing her for the first time was the greatest moment in my life. I'm a planner so I've been constantly thinking about the impact of a child regarding our personal finances. Honestly, I'm at a little bit of a loss for how it will impact our ability to acheive financial independence.

I see two major impacts which include;

1. Daycare - Will my wife go back to work?
2. Goals - How will my goals including retirement change?

Will my wife go back to Work?

I was fortunate to have a stay at home mother growing up. As a child I feel the support that my mom provided truely helped create a ideal childhood environment. We never really wanted for anything - as a matter of fact I felt pretty blessed to have most things I needed or wanted. Looking back on it we didn't have the biggest house or the means of many of my friends but as a kid I never realized that - probably cause it just doesn't matter if you have a loving household. The more I think about it I'd be very happy if I could create a similar environment for my kids. Having my wife stay home will certainly impact our short and long term finanical goals but it might be the better option. Of course, this is dependent on my wife's interest to be a stay at home mom. So far, I know she is committed to at least a reduced work schedule.

How will goals change?

At this point I feel like my goals including my view of retirement are staying the same. Having a child has given me even more ambition to make my goals a reality. I'd like to share my love of the Vineyard with my daughter (it might be a while till she appreciates it). We will take her first trip there in a couple of months. I have taken a longer term approach to securing a second home. Given the uncertainty of the current markets and not knowing the true cost of a new child I think I will continue to take a wait and see approach.

First savings goal of the year complete!

I established 4 savings goals for 2008.

1. Save $30k in my 5 DRIP accounts
2. Save $31k in 401k contributions
3. Save $8k in a 529 plan
4. Save $22k toward my vacation house

This is really the first year that I've established formal savings goals so its been very helpful to track progress. We are basically trying to focus more on savings versus gains from investments. Well, I can check off goal #2 as my wife and I aggressively tackled this goal first. To date, I've been a little disappointed in my progress against establishing a formal savings plan to achieve the remaining 3 goals. Next up, DRIP accounts.