One of the most exquisite private homes in the entire San Diego area is now up for grabs.
Those of you who have a passion for architecture will have probably heard the name Richard Requa before. His firm, Requa and Jackson, was arguably the busiest architecture company in the 1920s in San Diego.
Whenever you see a charming, classic Spanish Revival property as you’re driving or walking around the city, chances are it was designed by Requa.
The architect was heavily influenced and inspired by the Andalusia area of Spain, and his works tend to reflect this. Requa even developed a signature style, known today as ‘Southern California Architecture.
The Old Globe Theater in Balboa Park, the D. E. Mann House at 1045 Loma Avenue in Coronado, the Del Mar Castle – these are some of Requa’s most well-known works, and they all showcase his unique, laid-back, Spanish-inspired Californian style.
Another one of Richard Requa’s iconic projects is the William A. Gunn House, located at 1127 F Avenue in Coronado.
It was designed by Requa and Jackson, with Milton P. Sessions serving as landscape architect, and completed in 1925 for Michigan furniture maker W.A. Gunn.
It’s one of the most beautiful examples of Requa’s Southern California Architecture, and it’s now looking for a new owner whose pockets run $39 million deep.
How Coronado Castle’s current owner Brian Mariotti took Requa’s design into the 21st Century
The jaw dropping mansion at 1127 F Avenue is also known as the Coronado Castle, and for good reason.
The property is reportedly roughly four times the size of an average Coronado lot, totaling 26,000 square feet and offering a lot of privacy and outdoor space.
Coronado Castle is an architectural gem protected by the Mills Act — a status that serves to significantly lower property taxes for the property. While lower property taxes are definitely nice to have, this property offers a lot – and we mean A LOT – more than that.
The current owner of the Requa-designed Coronado mansion is Brian Mariotti, the CEO of Funko, the toy company best known for its licensed vinyl figurines and bobbleheads.
Marriotti bought the 6,000-square foot property in 2017 for $12.2 million, and then purchased the lot right next to it, thus significantly expanding the site at 1127 F Ave.
The owner also invested heavily in upgrades at the Gunn house, but was careful to also preserve the building’s historical heritage.
The result is a stunning mix of 1920s Spanish Revival architecture and modern, laid-back California touches. Everything that was added to the home had to blend in with Requa’s original vision.
Paul Schatz, the owner of Interior Design Imports, who worked on the house with the Mariottis, told the Wall Street Journal that ‘the goal was to make everything new look as old as possible.’
Mixing business with pleasure – from home office to Star Wars-themed home theater, this property has it all
There are many highlights to this incredible property, but this is definitely our favorite: a 26-seat home theater featuring life-size Star Wars memorabilia, such as statues, weapons, and helmets.
Just imagine hosting a Star Wars movie marathon with family and friends, watching the original trilogy on a 20-foot screen powered by state-of-the-art 4k Max laser projector. Not too shabby, right?
The 7,000-square-foot Star Wars-themed basement also features an indoor golf room with a simulator, a tennis area, and it houses Mariotti’s impressive collection of toy figurines.
But the most impressive feat is the basement itself, which was not part of Requa’s original design.
The 15-foot-deep basement took six months to complete and required a 4-foot concrete foundation; the entire thing had to basically be ‘shoved underneath the existing house,’ as Jim Papenhausen of Papenhausen Construction told the WSJ.
In the end, Mariotti and his team were able to complete the project without damaging the historic structure in any way.
While a Star Wars-themed home theater and a massive toy collection exhibit area might not sound like the most practical amenities, the house does not disappoint when it comes to functionality, either.
The Mariottis understood the requirements of modern life, and turned the house next door into a four-car garage, and used the extra land to build a new family room wing and expand the outdoor area.
New owners will be able to enjoy a six-hole putting green, an outdoor living room area, a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen, all bounded by century-old trees.
The house also incorporates four bedrooms, six full bathrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a 14,142-square-foot guest house, a 1,300-square-foot home gym, and a spa with a massage table and a sauna.
For digital nomads, there is also a home office situated on the third floor at the top of the mansion’s castle-like tower. This area offers stunning views of San Diego and also includes an outdoor patio with a bar and a fireplace.
If you’re still not convinced that this is a one-of-a-kind property, a Spanish-influenced castle in the heart of California, then feel free to take a virtual home tour below, and find more details about this architecturally distinct house here.
Chris Clements, Jan Clements, and Lennie Clements of Compass are handling the listing.
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Let’s start off with everyone’s least favorite kind of data. Without checking, do you know how much you have in debt? And how much of that total is interest?
Are you cringing? I certainly am whenever I think about how much debt I owe.
Turns out, we’re not just worried about debt, we’re planning our lives around it. CBS News reports that 74% of student loan borrowers in Gen Z and 68% of Millennials are putting off critical financial decisions — like saving for emergencies and building a retirement fund — because of student debt.
This crisis means there’s a huge market for Changed, a microsaving app that funnels your spare change directly toward debt payments.
What is Changed?
Changed uses the “round up” model popularized by other spare change apps like Acorns. The Changed app rounds your purchases to the nearest dollar and transfers the rounded-up amount to a bank account, which then sends the money to your loan issuers.
Changed was founded by Dan Stelmach, who figured spare change installments could help his debt load go from ridiculous to manageable. And an automated savings app could do the work for him.
In 2018, Stelmach and his brother Nick Sky pitched Changed on the reality show Shark Tank, walking away with an investment to kickstart the company. At the time of this writing, they’ve helped borrowers pay down over $25 million in total loan costs.
Read more: Student Loan Debt: Understanding the Growing National Crisis
How Does the Changed App Work?
Download Changed on the Apple App store (for iOS) or Google Play store (for Android). There are links to download on the Changed website.
First, you enter your basic sign-up information (address, birthdate, phone number). This is only used to set up your account.
Next, Changed opens an FDIC-insured savings account for you through the financial software company SynapseFI. Banking info is encrypted and secure, as with any savings account. The account is for storing your funds until they’re transferred to the student loan provider.
Then, you’ll enter your student loan information by linking to your loan servicer. Changed links up to almost all federal and private loan servicers — if your lender isn’t listed, let Changed know and they’ll help you add the info manually.
Changed walks you through where to find all your student loan stats, like your account number and the date your loans were issued. You can round up from multiple accounts, and from more than one servicer. You can also pick which account you want to fund first.
Read more: How Student Loans Work
Finally, you’ll link your Changed account to your checking or primary spending account(s). Changed doesn’t store your checking account info, it just has you log in through the app.
From there, the app looks at your spending patterns and starts setting aside your spare change. If you’ve used other microsaving apps, this pattern will be familiar.
Each time you make a purchase, Changed rounds the purchase amount up to the nearest dollar and saves the difference. If you buy a cup of coffee for $3.45, Changed would round up to $4 and save the extra 55 cents.
Once your total round-ups reach $5, the app transfers the money to your Changed savings account. Round-up transfers are limited to $10 a day so you don’t overdraw your checking account by accident.
Once the round-up amount in your savings account reaches $50 or $100, the app transfers the money from savings to your debt balances. Until then, the money’s still available to you. Loan payments take about five to 10 days to process, and Changed limits them to $500 per week.
It’s worth noting here that Changed payments do not replace your regular payment plan. (That would be nice, right?) Instead, they help you reach your payoff goal a little faster — or a lot faster — without much effort on your part.
Read more: The Pros and Cons of “Spare Change” Investment Apps
How Much Does Changed Cost?
Changed charges users $3 a month. The app is free to download; charges kick in once you start using it.
The monthly fee covers the cost of maintaining your savings account and moving money to your loan servicer. There’s no free trial period — once you start, you’re committed. Changed auto-renews your subscription each month. But the $3 fee covers all the site’s features, so you won’t be hit with extra charges.
Changed Features
Progress Screens
Changed lets you see your repayment progress in real time, which can be super motivating.
You can toggle between a few different screens on the app. The home screen has a nifty visual to show how the money you’ve “squirreled” away is adding up.
Other screens show you:
Round-up amounts from each purchase
Extra payments applied to your loans each month
How much each payment saves you in student loan interest
How much you could save over time
How early you could pay off your loans
Pick Your Savings Speed
Changed has a few different savings speeds — Budget, Standard, and All mode — which you can select or change. This is a good feature for people whose income or expenses fluctuate.
You can also pause transfers for 15, 30, or 60 days if you need to budget money toward other goals for a while.
Extra Payments
On the other hand, if you want to accelerate your savings speed, Changed is all for it. The “BOOST” rocket on your home screen lets you make an additional single or repeated transfer of $1-20 toward your loan principal, on top of the money you’re already saving.
Read more: Principal Only Vs. Principal and Interest. Which is Better?
Link a Credit Card
If you can link your checking account to a credit card account, Changed will round up your credit card purchases. Round-ups go through the checking account so the charges don’t raise your credit card interest.
Have Another Payer Help Out
If a family member or loved one is chipping in to help you with loan costs, Changed lets them sign up for their own account. They’ll link their own checking accounts, but they’ll need your info to link their loans. You can also use this feature if you’re giving a helping hand to someone else.
Other Features
For those who want or need to refinance, Changed has a ton of bank offers on the site so you can compare interest rates.
If you have time and want to be really extra — by referring a friend, buying from a Changed sponsor, or taking their “Know Your Loan” course — Changed gives you “perk points” which enter your name in a weekly drawing to win free payments.
Read more: Student Loan Refinance Options
Stash My Cash
Changed can also help you build your savings accounts. You can choose to split your round ups and put some in savings and some to debt.
For example, you can choose to put 75% of your change towards debt but move 25% of the money into your savings account.
This will help you meet other goals while you still make progress towards your debt.
My Experience Researching Changed
I found Changed to be refreshingly forthcoming about the limits of their automated savings app. They follow federal guidelines about which loan costs to pay first — fees, interest, and principal, in that order — and they don’t promise that payments will go directly to the principal.
Their main communication method is email; I couldn’t even find a phone number on the site. I prefer email contact, so that’s fine with me.
But down to brass tacks: How much money would I save with this app? Changed, like most micro-saving apps, can’t give you an estimate before they look at your spending patterns — round-up amounts can be all over the place depending on your spending habits.
I figured many of us could spend enough to make $50 in round-ups in the average month. Then I crunched some of the latest available averages on student loans from Education Data:
The average federal student loan debt per borrower is about $37,693.
The average monthly student loan payment is around $460.
The average interest rate is a rounded 6%.
So, let’s say a borrower pays off a $37,693 loan at a 6% interest rate for 10 years.
Without any microsavings from Changed, they’d make an average monthly payment of $418.47. Their total interest would add up to $12,523.35.
With $50 a month in Changed microsavings, their average monthly payment would go up to $468.47. Their total interest would be lower, since they’re paying down the loan more quickly — just $10,648.63.
Changed would save this borrower $1,874.72 in total interest payments over the loan’s life. Even subtracting the $360 you’d pay in 10 years of Changed fees, that’s still $1,514.72 saved in interest.
These savings may be even higher if you have a larger loan principal or save more through round-ups.
It’s hard to argue with these numbers, so I may have to give Changed a try.
Who Should Use Changed?
People Who Struggle to Prioritize Extra Loan Payments
Part of the magic of spare change apps is that they take away the cognitive work of saving money, or the part where you have to remember to transfer a little extra into savings (on top of all the other things you have to remember).
If you’d like to make extra loan payments but you doubt you’ll actually make it happen, Changed may be for you.
People with Competing Financial Priorities
Micro-saving apps are designed so you don’t miss the extra round-up cash, because the transfers are so small. Maybe you want to apply heftier payments to other debts with higher interest rates, like credit cards. Changed makes sure you’re not neglecting your loans in the process.
Borrowers with Single or Multiple Loans
If you have more than one loan and you want to direct payments to a specific loan first, Changed can arrange this for you.
Borrowers in Deferments or Grace Periods with their Student Loans
Changed lets you get an early start on loan payments if you can, without affecting your repayment status.
Frequent Debit or Credit Card Spenders
The more you spend, the more round-ups you’ll have (within the $10 daily limit). If you already spend a lot on your debit or credit card each month, you’re likely to build savings quickly.
Who Shouldn’t Use Changed?
People Who Want Full-Service Repayment Assistance
While Changed has some borrower education, it doesn’t offer specific guidance — like comparing different repayment plans or exploring your options for loan forgiveness. It can work in tandem with other debt management resources, but not as your only resource.
People Who Use Other Round-Up Apps
More specifically, if you already use a no-fee spare change app or you’re already budgeting to make extra payments to your loan servicer, you probably don’t need Changed. The fee covers the work of Changed taking these steps for you.
People Who Want to Pay off Their Debt ASAP
Changed doesn’t pay your loan providers until you’ve gotten to $50 or $100 in your round-up savings, which could take some time. Setting aside extra money for student loan payments on your own may get the job done faster, if you have the funds to do so.
Going on an African safari can be the chance of a lifetime to see some of the world’s most iconic wildlife up close, experience Earth’s extraordinary untouched corners, learn about new cultures and reconnect with nature.
A safari trip can also be the opportunity to make sustainable, responsible choices about how and where you travel, and to maximize the impact your travel spending has on conservation, community and environmental programs in various destinations.
Many travelers decide where to go on safari in Africa based on their schedules and the seasonality in individual regions — both in terms of the weather and the animals they will most likely see. Others focus on sighting specific species, resulting in visits to places like Rwanda or Uganda to trek and see mountain gorillas or trips to destinations like Kenya to observe the endangered pachyderms at a rhino sanctuary.
Sustainability can be another excellent factor in determining where you should go on safari, though. Many of the most reputable safari outfitters and camps put sustainability front and center in their operations, combining environmental practices, conservation commitments and community outreach to create the ultimate holistic travel experience.
Doing a little research on the regions you are considering for a safari and the specific tour operators and lodges in your chosen location can make a huge difference in the effect your tourism dollars have on things like wildlife preservation campaigns, economic development in local villages and minimizing the overall environmental footprint of your individual journey.
Unlike some other forms of travel that let you book certain components — flights, hotels, cruises, etc. — a la carte by yourself, many safari companies require you to book the bulk of your trip (if not all of it) through them or a partner agency or operator. Because of this, you can ask these representatives about their sustainability track records and even specific programs while planning your trip. Any reliable operator should have materials on hand to send you to help you make your decision.
Here are some of the factors you can investigate to determine just how sustainable your safari can be, plus some of the safari companies undertaking meaningful measures in this sphere by weaving principles of environmental consciousness, wildlife protection and community development into their core ethos and operations.
Eco-sensitive camps
For North American and European travelers, going on an African safari typically necessitates carbon-intensive long-haul flights and sometimes additional bush flights to reach remote regions. In order to limit the rest of your carbon footprint while on safari, look into the eco-credentials of the camps or outfitters you are considering.
Many safari camps, for instance, now run mostly or even entirely on solar power. At both andBeyond Nxabega and andBeyond Xaranna in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, 80% of the camps’ total electricity consumption is supplied by solar photovoltaic plants and Tesla Powerpack battery energy storage systems.
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Nearby, Wilderness’ Chitabe and Mombo camps run on 100% solar (as do 17 of the company’s other camps), and Wilderness has plans to retrofit and invest in further solar power for all new camps and camp refurbishments. Not only is that great for the environment, but it’s also the best means of ensuring an uninterrupted power supply to guests in an area with little other infrastructure.
Cheetah Plains, an exclusive-use safari villa in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Nature Reserve, now uses Toyota Land Cruiser electric safari vehicles with Tesla batteries that are charged via solar power to whisk guests across the reserve’s thousands of acres, creating a zero-emission game drive.
In Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, Usangu Expedition Camp is steering a different path, developing safari vehicles that run on ethanol, which is derived from molasses produced in the southern part of the country, instead of diesel. The staff even calls the vehicles “Gongos,” a type of traditional Tanzanian gin, since the ethanol looks and smells like the spirit.
But alternative power and fuel are just the start. For its part, Chitabe recycled the wood from an old set of raised walkways to create a chic bar and lounge area for its current guests. What’s old is new again … and looking better than ever.
Many recently built and forthcoming safari camps are being constructed using both traditional materials and techniques, such as thatching and weaving completed by local artisans, and up-to-the-minute technologies like 3D printing and innovative recycling methods utilizing salvaged materials to limit their physical footprint.
Time + Tide Chinzombo in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park was designed to be completely dismantled if necessary so as to leave a minimal trace on the landscape, and Wilderness is currently constructing a new tented camp in Botswana’s Mbabe concession called Mokete that can be completely disassembled as if it had never been there.
Simple measures can have a large impact as well. Camps like Wilderness’ DumaTau and sister Little DumaTau in Botswana’s riverine Linyanti region provide guests with Healing Earth’s all-natural, biodegradable bath and body products during their stay to minimize harmful runoff from the camp’s water management system.
For its part, the Elewana Collection of lodges in Kenya and Tanzania launched its “Ban the bottle” initiative in 2018, giving guests reusable water bottles that they can fill up at stations in the camps. The outfitter estimates that doing so in just six of its Kenyan lodges saves around 160,000 plastic bottles from going into landfills each year.
Elewana also dropped plastic straws the following year. Even more fun for Elewana guests is the opportunity to toss out seed balls (little nutrient packs that encase seeds of Indigenous plants) during a walk or game drive somewhere along their journey so they’re doing their little part to help revegetate the wild places they are enjoying.
Wildlife conservation
It seems obvious, but without wildlife, there wouldn’t be safari camps. For that reason, many safari companies actively support and participate in wildlife conservation efforts, some of which are specific to individual regions while others are more widespread.
Guests at andBeyond’s Tengile River Lodge and Kirkman’s Kamp, which are near each other in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Nature Reserve, can certainly get a thrill sighting the area’s thriving lion and leopard populations on game drives. However, guests may not know that their guides are also logging those sightings and providing the information to Panthera, an organization dedicated to tracking and protecting big cat populations around the world.
Various other andBeyond camps, including Phinda Private Game Reserve and Ngala Safari Lodge, help fund rhinoceros anti-poaching units. Guests at Ngala can even observe researchers tagging rhinos’ ears with microchips to help monitor the highly endangered animals. These are individual initiatives, but they are all part of andBeyond’s overarching commitment to conservation and community projects that it supports through its Africa Foundation.
Likewise, Elewana Collection has a charitable arm called The Land & Life Foundation that underwrites various efforts such as the Wildlife Warrior Program, which has clubs in primary schools throughout Kenya and Tanzania. The children who join can take part in activities to learn more about environmental and animal conservation. The club currently counts around 2,200 members and even provides primary and secondary educational scholarships to many of them.
High-end safari company Singita, which has lodges in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Rwanda, established its Singita Conservation Foundation decades ago with a 100-year plan to protect Africa’s wildlife and wilderness for future generations. These days, it partners with other nonprofit trusts and funds on a plethora of projects, including rhino reintroduction and protection in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in Zimbabwe, land management and anti-poaching efforts in South Africa’s Kruger National Park and combating invasive vegetation as well as helping in the recovery of megafauna like elephants and buffaloes in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.
Community improvement projects
Without buy-in from local communities, conservation efforts would go nowhere. Those who live in or near game reserves and national parks need to benefit from the tourism revenue that these natural wonders generate. That’s why many safari companies’ conservation drives include community-based components.
One telltale sign that a safari company is supporting the communities where it operates in a meaningful way is simply through employment. Specifically, whether its camps employ people from the villages or regions that surround them in high proportions. Not only is this a boon for economic stability and growth in places that might otherwise be destitute, but it ensures that tourism dollars stay in the area and benefit the people who live there.
Many safari companies’ commitments to communities go beyond employment, though. Praveen Moman, who grew up in Uganda before his family had to emigrate to the United Kingdom, founded Volcanoes Safaris in 1997, pioneering the high-end safari experience in both Uganda and Rwanda.
While the Volcanoes Safaris’ lodges have become mainstays for both gorilla and chimpanzee trekking, it is perhaps the company’s nonprofit organization, the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust, that will be its most lasting legacy. The trust supports preservation efforts for the great apes of the region, but it also underwrites innovative, community-based programs that guests are encouraged to explore during their stays at the lodges.
“When I set up Volcanoes Safaris in 1997 in southern Uganda and then in 2000 in neighboring Rwanda, the area was just coming out of the Great Lakes conflict,” Moman told TPG via email. “This experience made me realize how important it was to not only focus on the lodges we were building and the gorilla and chimpanzee experience that we wanted our guests to enjoy, but also that local people need to get tangible economic benefits from conservation and ecotourism for them to support the great apes.”
“Therefore,” he continued, “I felt that it was important that the lodges should be connected to the communities around them. In each lodge, we have set up different community projects.”
At Volcanoes Safaris’ Virunga Lodge in Rwanda, for instance, guests can take a guided afternoon walk through several villages near Lake Bulera to see firsthand the impact of projects such as the “One sheep per family” program, which provides one sheep to each family in three nearby villages (more than 500 so far), thereby supplying them with sources of meat and milk along with natural fertilizer for their sustenance crops.
The lodge has also donated 250-plus water tanks to families in these villages, which help in the catchment of the region’s abundant rainfall and ensure that there is a steady supply of water for drinking and crop irrigation during the dry season.
In Livingstone, Zambia, near Victoria Falls, Tongabezi, which is an elegant lodge along the banks of a tranquil stretch of the Zambezi River, has underwritten the Tongabezi Trust School (also known as Tujatane) since 1996, providing education and meals to children who live within walking distance of the academy. There are currently nearly 300 children between the ages of 3 and 17 enrolled, all of whom can take advantage of the classes and curriculum, as well as the music, sports, arts and computer facilities. What’s more, the school provides funding to send some of the children on to secondary schools and even universities, ensuring a new generation of leaders and professionals with a commitment to the local community.
In Botswana, both andBeyond Nxabega and andBeyond Xaranna share several community-based projects, including the drilling of water boreholes for the communities of Gogomaga and Tsutsubega so that their inhabitants have steady sources of usable water; and funding a school in the rural farming village of Sexaxa near Maun (where the area’s main airport is) so children no longer need to walk three hours, some of it through dangerous terrain, to attend the nearest school.
Longer-term development
Ongoing outreach and individual community projects aside, several safari companies have established philanthropic organizations or arms with a broader purview of economic development and social services not just in the areas where they operate, but in entire countries or regions.
Micato Safaris is one of the best-known luxury safari operators, partnering with premier lodges from multiple companies in Africa and Asia to create bespoke itineraries for its guests. However, it also underwrites AmericaShare, which was founded by a Micato Safaris employee named Lorna Macleod more than 35 years ago to support both community development and access to education in Mukuru, one the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.
Today, the philanthropy operates the Harambee Community Centre, which has library and computer facilities as well as recreational grounds, in Mukuru itself. Residents can come for a quiet place to study or work, look for employment and take advantage of other services. AmericaShare also supplies fresh, drinkable water in the area via multiple distribution points.
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Students hard at work at AmericaShare’s Harambee Community Centre. ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY
Guests who go on safari with Micato in Kenya get to visit the community center to learn more about its efforts and meet students who have benefited from AmericaShare’s various educational undertakings during their stay. Those include supplying school uniforms to local children, sponsoring scholarships to primary and secondary schools, and sending some of the most vulnerable children to private boarding schools around Nairobi. In fact, for every safari the company sells, Micato provides the funds to send a child to primary school.
Micato also supports other efforts like Huru International, which supplies sanitary kits and reproductive health education materials to young women (more than 210,000 to date) throughout East Africa who might otherwise have to miss school or work due to the lack of reproductive health services in rural communities. By empowering women to take their health into their own hands, Huru helps them support their families and communities (not to mention cultivating their own careers) in ways that would not otherwise be possible.
For its part, one of the most targeted yet impactful ways Wilderness carries out its conservation mission beyond the day-to-day and lodge-specific measures it takes is through its Children in the Wilderness program, which was founded in 2001.
The program aims to cultivate new generations of homegrown conservation leaders in Africa’s rural communities by hosting student clubs at schools with activities that focus on environmental sustainability and wildlife education. Children in the Wilderness even brings kids to one of its camps on a yearly basis (7,800 to date) so they can learn firsthand about the importance of wildlife conservation. The program provides scholarships to high-achieving students, and some even return to become guides with Wilderness.
On a recent trip to Botswana, my guide at Little DumaTau, Segopotso Oja (See for short), was a former participant of Children in the Wilderness. “I was born and raised in a small village called Eretsha, located in the eastern Okavango Panhandle,” Oja told me later by email when I contacted him after my trip to ask more about his experience with Children in the Wilderness.
“Wilderness works closely with the community in this area, and when I was 10 years old, I was given the opportunity to join a Children in the Wilderness Eco-Camp,” Oja continued. “Here I grew to learn about and love the wild, and recognize the importance of protecting our wilderness, and this experience inspired me to pursue a career as a guide.”
Spending time in the bush helps combat some of the negative portrayals of wild animals that village children are typically taught, Oja told me. “Once they explore the wilderness, this opens their minds and changes their way of thinking to realize the value of conservation and that there are other career opportunities available to them in the conservation and hospitality space.”
That’s the path that Oja himself took. He has since worked as a guide not only at Little DumaTau, but also two other Wilderness camps, Vumbura Plains and Mombo.
Oja also views his continuing role as an ambassador for Children in the Wilderness as crucial to the work he does and the future of conservation. “It gives me a chance to meet with youngsters when we host them in our camps,” Oja said, “and pass over the love of being a conservationist to the younger generation.”
Minimize your footprint and maximize your impact
Aside from picking a safari company with sustainability efforts you want to support, there are a few things you can do as a traveler to make your safari adventure more sustainable.
Long flights produce a lot of carbon, so you could consider a carbon offsetting scheme to reduce the footprint from your journey to your safari destination.
Don’t overpack since bush flights on small planes mean your luggage will be restricted anyway. What’s more, many safari camps provide free daily laundry, so you don’t have to bring too many outfits along. Plus, by limiting your luggage, you’ll reduce the amount of fuel burned on the planes carrying you to your various camps.
Among those clothes, make sure you bring some made from fabric with sun protection factor. That will reduce the amount of plastic-packaged sunblock you need to bring along. Opt for mineral-based sunscreens (look for those labeled as “reef-safe”) rather than conventional ones since the latter have chemicals that might be harmful to the environment as well as your own body chemistry, according to an increasing body of scientific evidence.
You might also want to leave your usual shampoo and conditioner at home since safari camps tend to provide eco-friendly, biodegradable products that are easier to manage waste-wise in the fragile ecosystems where they operate.
Finally, while safaris tend to be expensive, think about whether you can factor in a charitable donation to your budget. After all, if you’ve done your homework and picked a company with sustainability efforts you support, you might want to do just a little bit more good during your trip by making an unrestricted donation to the measures the group has underway.
One of the most magnificent mansions in all of California, Hearst Castle has a rich history that captivates audiences just as much as its striking architecture.
Built more than a quarter mile above the Pacific Ocean, the California castle that was formerly known as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for The Enchanted Hill), is a historic estate in San Simeon, Calif.
Perched on a hill halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles along the Central Coast of California, Hearst Castle was originally built as a private home for publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
Hearst, who was one of the wealthiest people alive at the time, is said to have been the inspiration for Orson Welles’ iconic Citizen Kane movie — whose protagonist lived in “the world’s largest private estate,” called Xanadu.
While Welles’ portrayal of Hearst was less than favorable, Xanadu — a name inspired by the ancient city of Xanadu, known for its splendor, and later picked up by Bill Gates as a moniker for his longtime home near Seattle, WA — captured the grandeur of the publishing magnate’s palatial estate.
Now, one century after W.R. Hearst started building his opulent home, Hearst Castle is registered as a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark — and is welcoming visitors who want to revel in its illustrious past.
So we thought we’d delve into the storied history of one of the grandest private homes ever built in the Golden State.
The history of Hearst Castle
Construction of Hearst Castle took nearly thirty years, from 1919 until 1947.
Conceived by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and his trusted architect Julia Morgan, Hearst Castle would become a mansion worthy of one of the wealthiest men alive at the time (named Casa Grande).
The main estate was surrounded by three guesthouses (called Casa del Mar, Casa del Monte and Casa del Sol).
But the property traces its history all the way back to 1865, when William Randolph Hearst’s father George Hearst purchased the original forty thousand acre estate and Camp Hill, the site for the future castle.
In 1919, William Randolph Hearst inherited $11 million and the family’s estates — including the land where his future castle would sit on.
With his fortune, Hearst created a publishing empire of newspapers, magazines and radio stations.
To this day, the Hearst family remains involved in the ownership of Hearst Communications. Some of their common-day magazines include ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, O, the Oprah Magazine,and Men’s Health, as well as newspapers such as San Francisco Chronicle and The Advocate, and websites such as Delish.com and BestProducts.com.
But, back to the castle.
Due to the popularity of his publishing empire, Hearst was financially able to build his dream house. And with the help of “America’s first truly independent female architect,” Hearst and Julia Morgan began dreaming up Hearst Castle.
Morgan was a pioneer.
The first woman to study architecture at the School of Beaux-Arts in Paris and the first to have her own architectural practice in California, she was also the first female winner of the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.
For over twenty years, Hearst and Morgan collaborated as close friends and business equals on the grand castle, making it her most well-known creation.
Hearst Castle’s many rooms and endless amenities
The end result was beyond spectacular: when it was finally completed, the Hearst estate had a total of 42 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, and 19 sitting rooms.
The sprawling grounds of the castle spanned 127 acres, encompassing gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, its own private theater (a rarity back in the day), and an airfield.
The pools alone are so magnificent they’d warrant a visit to the castle just to revel in their beauty.
The Roman Pool — the castle’s indoor pool — was built to mimic an ancient Roman bath.
Featuring shimmery glass mosaic tiles inspired by the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy (created by British muralist Camille Solon, according to Architectural Digest), the pool resembles a mesmerizing sea of blue and gold.
The outdoor Neptune Pool — which has its own Wikipedia page — was built and rebuilt three times, each version a larger size.
In its now final form, the pool is 104 feet long, surrounded by Ancient Roman Revival and Greek Revival style pavilions and colonnades with 17th-century bas-reliefs.
During Hearst’s lifetime, the property was also home to the world’s private zoo.
Even today, visitors who tour the castle are taken aback by its grandeur.
A tour of the grand rooms of the Hearst Castle will have you walking 2 to 3 miles to visit just the essential places, like the Assembly Room, Refectory, Morning Room, Billiard Room and Theater. But the effort would be worth it, as you’d be stepping in the footprints of some the most well-known people of the 20th century.
Who lived (and socialized) at Hearst Castle?
Hearst Castle was originally built as a family home for Hearst, his wife, vaudeville performer Millicent Willson, and their five sons.
But after years of Hearst’s longtime affair with actress Marion Davies, the couple separated.
With Millicent out of the picture, Davies moved into the castle and the couple hosted A-list parties with some of Hollywood’s elite stars, including Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton and Clark Gable, to name just a few.
Politicians such as US President Calvin Coolidge and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as well as other notables including Charles Lindbergh, P. G. Wodehouse, and Bernard Shaw were also guests at the castle.
Typically, guests gathered at Casa Grande for beverages in the Assembly Room and dinner in the Refectory.
During the day, guests were left to fend for themselves and enjoy the elaborate grounds. They played tennis, went horseback riding, and played croquet or golf while enjoying the views.
Of course, everyone packed their swim trunks for a dip in the outdoor pool. And in the evening, guests watched the latest Hollywood films in the private theatre before retiring to the luxurious accommodations provided by the guest houses of Casa del Mar, Casa del Monte, and Casa del Sol.
None other than Charlie Chaplin once commented on the impeccable hospitality he experienced at Hearst Castle.
“Dinners were elaborate, pheasant, wild duck, partridge and venison,” Chaplin reportedly said. “[Yet served] amidst the opulence, we were served paper napkins, it was only when Mrs. Hearst was in residence that the guests were given linen ones.”
During the elaborate social gatherings, Morgan continued to build the castle until its completion in 1947.
Hearst died in 1951 at the age of 88.
What happened to the castle after Hearst’s death?
As they say, all good things must come to an end.
After Hearst’s death, his longtime lover, Marion Davies (who was excluded from his funeral) was forced to move out.
And his trusted architect and close friend, Julia Morgan, closed her San Francisco office after a successful 42-year career and reportedly became a virtual recluse until her death in 1957.
In 1958, the Hearst Corporation donated Hearst Castle — including the gardens and most of its contents — to the state of California.
That same year, Hearst Castle was opened to the public for the first time.
In 1972, Hearst Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1976 it became a United States National Historic Landmark.
Currently, at Hearst Castle…
You’d think Hearst Castle would be a hot location for Hollywood films.
However, commercial filming at the castle is rare. Since 1957, only two big projects have been granted permission to film here.
In 1960, Stanley Kubrick’s film Spartacus used the castle to stand in as Crassus’ villa, and in 2014, Lady Gaga‘s music video for G.U.Y. was filmed at the Neptune and Roman Pools.
Since its opening in 1958, Hearst Castle has become a major California tourist attraction, attracting crowds of close to one million people every year.
Who owns Hearst Castle?
While the Hearst family maintains a connection with the castle, the estate is now a historical landmark owned and operated by the California State Park system.
In 2019, socialite Amanda Hearst, W. R. Hearst’s great-granddaughter, married Norwegian film director Joachim Rønning at the castle (which was closed to the public only for that one day).
But the castle is now a museum open to the public as a California State Park and registered as a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark.
And it’s quite a spectacular spot.
From a north-facing terrace, visitors can look out into the Santa Lucia Mountains and as far as Junipero Serra Peak.
Not to mention the art.
There are four original 16th-century tapestries from the Deeds of Scipio Africanus series hanging on the walls of the Assembly Room, CNN reports.
With most of the original objects on display, Hearst Castle is a magnificent museum not to be missed if you’re in the San Simeon area.
And if you happen to be planning a visit to San Simeon, with the Hearst Castle as the main attraction, here’s a handy map with all your accommodation options nearby:
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Rent control apartments can be rented by anyone, and the rent increases are usually low and predictable. This is because the annual adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index CPI plus somewhere between 2%-10% of your rent. The combination of CPI + the % increase can never exceed 10% total. The law also sets that the landlord may only increase your rent once in any 12-month period. So, if in 2022 your rent was $1500 upon your anniversary/lease renewal, your rent could have a maximum increase of $93. Because the CPI was 4.2% and the city allowed an additional 2% increase, your rent would be $1593 upon renewal.
We wrote a whole blog about it it if you want to Read more…
Or if you want, just check out the rent control buildings below and score yourself some new digs!
One of the worst things about renting is the inevitable rent increases that you get every year. But don’t worry, there are ways to combat the impact of those rent increases – like finding a rent controlled apartment!
Rent control apartments have a cap on how much your rent can be increased each year, so it’s a great way to avoid sticker shock when your lease comes up for renewal. How rent increases are calculated can be a little tricky, but we’ve got all the details right here. So if you’re looking for some peace of mind when it comes to your monthly housing costs, take a look at our list of Washington, DC rent control apartments below.
1673 Columbia Road, NW Washington, DC 20009
Simple elegance. The best things in life don’t have to be bragged about. They can be simply appreciated each time you arrive home. The Calverton Apartments are in in the heart of the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. An array of restaurants and grocery options are within minutes of your apartment. Inside, you’ll find updated kitchens with energy efficient appliances, grand living rooms and large windows for natural light to pour in. Whether you choose to rent a studio, one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment, you will be treated to beautiful hardwood floors and ample closet space. This is thoughtful living.
Hilltop House
1475 Euclid St NW Washington, DC 20009
Hilltop House is a hidden jewel of the Adams Morgan neighborhood. This community offers studio and one-bedroom apartments for rent. Each apartment has large windows and breakfast bars; creating a cheerful, open, and bright atmosphere. To keep apartment living and budgeting easy, all utilities are included with your rent. Hilltop House faces Meridian Hill Park, where residents may take in a variety of social and cultural events. Every Sunday the park is activate with kickball leagues, yoga classes, Frisbee sessions, and drum circles. Just a couple of blocks from the Hilltop House apartment community is the Columbia Heights Metro station with access to both the green and yellow like. Hilltop House Apartments have the perfect location to take in all that Washington, DC has to offer.
Meridian Park Apartments
2445 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009
Enhance your interaction with your home and its surroundings. Meridian Park offers spacious and affordable studios, one and two bedrooms apartment homes for rent. Featuring updated kitchens with stainless steel appliances, new cabinets, and countertops. The neighborhood is comprised of iconic Meridian Hill Park on its western boundary, booming 14th Street Corridor in the neighborhood’s core, legendary U Street corridor to the south, and row house lined streets lined in-between. Meridian Park is just a quick walk from the Columbia Heights Metro station. Your key to the city is here.
Clarence House Apartments
4530 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20008
Looking for a studio, one or two-bedroom apartment? Want to be walking distance to the metro, the Giant, Whole Foods, pharmacies, dry cleaners, restaurants, shopping, and great schools? Start your apartment search at Clarence House apartments! Living here means having access to all of our neighborhood’s hidden gems. Stroll to a concert at the Austrian Embassy, enroll in a music class at the Levine School; become a regular at the iconic bookstore Politics and Prose or visit the Hillwood Museum.
4550 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20008
The Frontenac is nestled in the heart of elegant upper-Northwest. The Frontenac boasts spacious apartments with updated kitchens and bathrooms. Its classic architectural style, evident in our grand lobby’s high ceiling and in our apartment units’, arched doorways and traditional wainscoting, attracts tours of local art history students.You can meet your neighbors or take advantage of WiFi on the Frontenac’s peaceful roof deck or in its spacious laundry room. Take a stroll to the Van Ness metro station, Giant, Whole Foods, pharmacies, dry cleaners, restaurants, shopping, and great schools for students of all ages. Our neighborhood is full of hidden gems..
Sherry Hall Apartments
2702 Wisconsin Ave NW Washington, DC 20007
Located on one of DC ‘s primary arteries, Sherry Hall is nestled in Glover Park between Georgetown and Cleveland Park. Many of Wisconsin Avenue’s most popular restaurants are within walking distance. Inside your apartment home, beautiful hardwood floors, brand new kitchens, and large windows enhance and brighten your living space. New kitchens are equipped with stainless steel appliances including a gas range, granite counter tops, and light wood shaker cabinets. All utilities are included so you know exactly what your monthly expenses will be: no surprises, no math!
2800 Woodley
2800 Woodley Ave NW Washington, DC 20008
At 2800 Woodley, you’ll find large and varied floor plans, all of which include abundant closet space, central air and beautiful hardwood floors. Unique features, such as huge windows and a secretarial desk, lend a sense of charm to your new home. The building is situated on a quiet side-street, yet it lies only steps from the heart of Woodley Park. Some of D.C.’s most popular restaurants and trendy shops are within easy walking distance. Or, if you can’t find what you’re in the mood for at home, hop on the Metro and explore the city. The Woodley Park Metro station is only two blocks away. 2800 Woodley is city living made easy.
Naylor Overlook
2633 Naylor Road, SE Washington, DC 20020
Completely renovated one, two, & three bedroom apartments and duplexes for rent. These spacious floor plans feature stainless steel appliances, microwave, dishwasher, lots of cabinet space, ample closet space, brand new bathrooms, and hardwood flooring. Located in the Randle Heights area of Southeast you have the city in the palm of your hand. Take advantage of having grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, pharmacies, nail and hair salons in close proximity. You ‘ll never have to leave your neighborhood!
Wakefield Hall
2101 New Hampshire Ave NW Washington, DC 20009
Wakefield Hall’s decorative facade gives way to just as beautiful apartments. Hardwood floors, updated kitchens, and walk-in closets create a charming and comfortable living space. Wakefield Hall is located near U St./Cardozo Metro Station, giving you access to all DC has to offer via the yellow and green lines. You can step out your front door and experience the cultural vibes within your neighborhood.
The Shawmut
2200 19th Street NW Washington, DC 20009
Classic style and modern amenities are the perfect combinations to make you feel right at home. This pet-friendly building in the heart of Adams Morgan, just across the street from Kalorama Park, creates a comfortable living space for all. The Shawmut’s elegant, New York-style exterior gives way to beautiful one and two-bedroom apartments featuring hardwood floors, 9′ ceilings, and updated kitchens.Step outside and you are in the heart of a vibrant, thriving community. From the bustling 18th St Corridor down to Dupont Circle, you are never far from the energy of Downtown DC. Want to get away? The L2, 42, 43, and H1 bus lines are right outside your front door with direct connections to the Green, Red, and Yellow metro lines.
1380 Fort Stevens Apartments
1380 Fort Stevens Drive, NW Washington, DC 20011
Located in the Brightwood neighborhood, 1380 Ft. Stevens boast comfort and affordability. Spacious one and two bedrooms apartment homes with updated kitchens and baths. Less than a five minute walk from your front door you can find over 15 casual dining options including Julia’s Empanadas, Serengeti Restaurant, and Sabor Restaurant. When it’s time to head to the grocery, Safeway is only .4 of a mile down the road. Commuting is a breeze with bus routes 52, 53, 54, E2, E3, E4, S1, S2, and S4 stopping right outside the property.
1400 Van Buren Apartments
1400 Van Buren NW Washington, DC 20014
Located in the Brightwood neighborhood of Washington, DC, you’ll find this charming brick building offering spacious one and two-bedroom apartments. Less than a ten-minute walk from 1400 Van Buren’s front door you can find over 15 casual dining options including Julia’s Empanadas, Serengeti Restaurant, and Haydee’s Restaurant. When it’s time to head to the grocery, Safeway is only .4 of a mile down the road. Commuting is a breeze with bus routes 52, 53, 54, S2, and S4 stopping right outside the property. The Takoma Metro station is just under a mile away.
Penn View Apartments
2515 R Street, SE Washington, DC 20020
Design cannot be defined by one component but rather the artful intersection of style and function. Located just minutes away from Capitol Hill, Penn View apartments offer affordable efficiencies, one, and two-bedroom apartment homes for rent. Penn View’s luxurious kitchens and functional floor plans are just a few of the features you’ll find at this community. Quality is always on trend.
Eddystone Apartments
1301 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005
Logan Circle and the 14th Street corridor are becoming the homes of some of DC’s most exciting new restaurants. Live one block away from the excitement at the Eddystone apartments in Logan Circle. The impeccably maintained community has a reputation for top quality service. Combine that with gorgeous efficiencies boasting sunrooms, stellar views and huge walk-in closets and you have your ideal new home. Close to the action…far from ordinary.
Hillside Terrace Apartments
1812 23rd Street, SE Washington, DC 20020
Looking for an apartment to rent, but want to live in a quiet neighborhood? Fall in love with Hillside Terrace. Our apartment community is nestled in the tranquil neighborhood of Randle Highlands. Randle Highlands is best known as a small residential neighborhood in Southeast Washington, DC. Hillside Terrace’s garden-style apartment buildings are charmingly situated on professionally landscaped grounds. The studio, one, and two bedroom apartments feature updated kitchens and baths, as well as ample closet space and some of the utilities are included with the rent. The Hillside Terrace community is just a short car trip from all of downtown Washington, DC’s entertainment and shopping.
1818 Riggs Place
1818 Riggs Place, NW Washington, DC 20009
Built-in 1920 1818 Riggs Place is nestled off the beaten path but yet it’s in the heart of Dupont and all it has to offer. 1818 Riggs boasts hardwood flooring, open floor plans, and walk-in closets. 1818 Riggs truly is a walker’s paradise with countless dining options, everything from Five Guys to Thaiphoon and Lauriol Plaza right at your doorstep. The Dupont Circle Metro station only steps away as are the following bus routes 42, 43, H1, L1, and L2. 1818 Riggs, Dupont Circle’s hidden gem is your gateway to all of Washington, D.C.
Chatham Courts Apartments
1707 Columbia Road, NW Washington, DC 20009
Feel the pulse of the city in the center of Adams Morgan, outside the hustle and bustle of the thriving city awaits. Inside Chatham Courts find a quiet serenity from the moment you come in the front door, you will know you’ve found somewhere special. At Chatham Court, you will find apartments with spacious closets, remodeled kitchens, high ceilings, over sized floor plans, and hardwood floors that make a dramatic impression. The building is conveniently located within easy walking distance to the heart of Adams Morgan.
Cortland Apartments
1760 Euclid St, NW Washington, DC 20009
Come to the Cortland Apartments in Adams Morgan; you’ll find your choice of affordable studio, one-bedroom, and two bedroom apartments for rent in Washington, DC. These large apartments in one of Washington, DC’s most popular neighborhoods, offer multiple closets, foyers, beautiful hardwood floors, and large windows to welcome in natural light. The building is conveniently located one block from a Safeway grocery store, Starbucks, and countless dining options. In addition to Adams Morgan’s active social scene, The Cortland’s location is enhanced by its convenience. Living here means you are within walking distance of Dupont Circle, Woodley Park, and U Street metro.
Looking for something different? Search available apartments in the Washington, DC area now.
Equal Housing Opportunity
The housing provider will not refuse to rent a rental unit to a person because the person will provide the rental payment, in whole or in part, through a voucher for rental housing assistance provided by the District or federal government.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. Rental providers will not refuse to rent a rental unit to a person because the person will provide the rental payment, in whole or in part, through a voucher for rental housing assistance provided by the District or federal government.
To live in a rural, suburban or urban area, that is the question. When you’re thinking about moving to a new location, you need to think about the rental and the area in which it is located.
Each type of area — rural, suburban and urban — has its merits. In this article, we are going to deep dive into what it’s like living in a suburban area. We will touch on rural versus urban areas, as well.
So, let’s jump in so you can decide if renting an apartment or home in a suburban area is right for you.
What is a suburban area?
When you think of “the burbs,” you may picture a housing community outside of the city center and full of tree-lined streets and charming houses sitting side-by-side. While this is a little cliche, the general idea is accurate.
Suburban areas are generally more residential, have less dense populations and are located farther from the city center itself. Here is how the Census Bureau defines each type of area.
Rural area
Rural areas are defined as areas with open countryside and fewer than 2,500 people. Rural areas are small towns with a less dense population, typically located in areas with more open spaces and fewer commercial buildings. Rural areas have less expensive rent but fewer amenities and activities.
Suburban area
Suburban areas are kind of like a hybrid between rural and urban areas. They are more populated than rural communities but less crowded and populated compared to urban areas. Suburban areas are also closer to the main city center or urban area.
Metro or urban area
Urban areas or metro areas are your large city centers. Think San Francisco, Chicago or Manhattan. Those are large, metro areas comprised of both residential and commercial areas.
For a city to be considered an “urban area,” it must have a population of at least 50,000 people or more or have “urban clusters” with a population between 2,500 and 50,000 people, according to Census Bureau information.
The exact definitions and delineations between rural, suburban and urban are muddy. However, you can easily think of rural as the smallest type of town, urban as the largest and suburban somewhere in the middle. It’s the Goldilocks of city sizes and areas.
11 qualities of a suburban area
Now that you understand the difference between rural, suburban and urban, let’s dive into some of the things that distinguish a suburban area. Depending on the person, these qualities could be upsides or downsides, but we will let you be the judge of that.
1. Space
Because you aren’t located in the heart of the city, you’ll generally have more living space in a suburban area. If you rent a home or townhouse, you’ll likely have a yard and patio of your own to enjoy. If you rent an apartment, you can probably find larger apartments for a more reasonable price compared to an apartment in the city itself. Living in a suburban area, you’re likely to have more space in which to spread out.
2. Located near common amenities
Living in a suburban area, you’ll be near common amenities, like grocery stores, coffee shops and gas stations, but you may not be within walking distance, as you would in a city. Because things are more spaced out in a suburban area, you’re close to amenities but may need to catch a bus or take your own car. Not everything is within walking distance in a suburban area.
3. Larger houses or rentals
In a suburban area, you have more real estate to work with. This means that the houses and apartments are generally larger in suburban areas compared to the metro area. You might be able to find a two-bedroom apartment that is comparable in price to a one-bedroom or studio in the city. You’re farther from the city but you’ll find more space for your dollar amount.
4. Close-knit community
When you’re in a suburban area, you’re part of a neighborhood. This means you’ll likely be a part of a close-knit community where you know and love (or hate) your neighbors.
However, you’re not too close, literally, that you can’t have your own peace and quiet. If you’re looking for an area where you’ll bond with your neighbors, a suburban area might be right for you.
5. Medium-sized population density
If you’re looking for a place to live that is populated but not overcrowded, a suburb is a good bet. You’ll definitely be around more people compared to a rural town but you aren’t on top of each other like you may be in a city. Suburban areas are known for their medium-sized population density.
6. Peace and quiet
For some, the constant motion in a big city is appealing. However, if you are looking for a more relaxed vibe, consider a suburb. As we mentioned, you’ll still have a lively neighborhood, but it’s more quiet and serene compared to a place like the Big Apple.
7. Less crime
Typically, suburban areas experience less crime per capita. While crime can happen anywhere, it’s more likely to occur in an urban area. You can check out the state of safety in your area before you move to a location to understand the rate of property and violent crime.
8. Higher cost
Because you’re getting more space in a suburban area, you’ll pay more compared to rural areas. You also might pay more for a home compared to an apartment, but, you are getting more bang for your buck. Urban rental prices can be quite expensive as you pay a premium for your location in the heart of a city. Make sure to find a rental you can afford before signing a lease.
9. Longer commute
When you live in a big, urban area, you can rely on public transit or easy walking commutes to get from location A to B. However, in a suburban area, you are farther away from downtown. So, if you work in the city itself, you may spend more time commuting than if you lived in the city center. Take the commute into consideration before you make a move.
10. Fewer jobs
Suburban areas may have fewer job openings compared to downtown, urban areas. However, if you are willing to commute, you can find several options for work nearby.
11. Farther from cultural landmarks
One of the perks of living in a big city is your access to cultural landmarks and activities. Most cities have museums, historical landmarks, concerts, plays or other cultural events that take place daily. While you can still enjoy these amenities while living in a suburban neighborhood, you aren’t as close to them as you would be living in the city itself. But, plan a date night and you can still enjoy these cultural attractions on the regular.
Find your next rental in a suburban area
Have we convinced you that suburban life is right for you? At a high level, you’ll have more space and more privacy. However, you may miss out on the walkable nature of living in a city center.
Take a tour of your prospective apartment or rental and the surrounding area in the suburb to see if the whole situation is a good fit for you. Then, begin your house hunt and find the perfect new place to call your own.
Are you interested in early retirement? Today, I have a great interview with Kristy Shen, who retired with $1,000,000 at the age of 31.
You probably know Kristy from the blog Millennial Revolution. Millennial Revolution is a popular early retirement resource, so I’m excited to share this interview with you on how she reached early retirement.
In this interview, you’ll learn:
How they calculated how much money to save
What made them want to retire early
Whether they live comfortably or not
How much time they spend traveling
The careers they had before early retirement
The sacrifices they had to make
And more!
This interview is packed full of valuable information on reaching early retirement.
Enjoy!
Related content:
1. Tell me your story. Who are you and what do you do? Can you go into detail on how much you saved for early retirement, how you chose that amount, etc.?
We are Kristy and Bryce, and we are world-travelling early retirees, having left the rat race in our early 30s back in 2015.
We were both working as computer engineers, but after almost a decade of trying to follow the “traditional career path” of buying a house and working until we’re 65 to pay it off, we realized that those old rules didn’t really work for our generation and we tried something different.
So we saved and invested our money instead, and when our portfolio hit $1,000,000, we retired and never looked back.
2. Can you explain how early retirement works? What is the 4% rule?
The 4% rule states that if you retire and start withdrawing your 4% of your portfolio, each year adjusting for inflation, you will statistically never run out of money.
It was based on something called the Trinity study that looked at historical stock market data and tried to figure out the safe amount to withdraw in retirement that won’t deplete your savings. 4% is the answer they come up with, and we used that as a target for how much we needed to have in order to retire early.
We knew that our annual spending was $40,000, so that means our Financial Independence target was $1,000,000, because $1,000,000 x 4% = $40,000.
3. When did you begin saving for early retirement?
We were saving the moment we started to work, but it wasn’t initially for early retirement.
As I mentioned before, we spent the first half of our careers trying to save up to buy a house, but because we live in a high cost-of-living city (Toronto), real estate just kept getting more and more expensive even as we tried to save up for a down payment.
Eventually, we got sick of playing what we thought was a rigged game and started looking for something else to do with our money.
When we stumbled across the FIRE movement, that was our “aha” moment, because we realized that at our current trajectory we could either spend our money on a house and then spend decades trying to pay it off, or hit our FI target and retire in just 3 years.
It was a no brainer.
4. What made you want to retire early?
Besides the frustration of the real estate market, something happened at my work that really crystallized my decision to retire.
Out of the blue, one of my co-workers collapsed and nearly died at his desk. The ambulance had to be called and he needed to be rushed to the ER. He had been working 12 hour days continuously for months, and the doctors told him that his health was so bad that it was equivalent to him smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day, despite the fact that he’d never smoked.
And the most eye-opening thing about that whole experience was that rather than making any changes to his lifestyle, he was back at work just 2 weeks later because he couldn’t afford to stop working and paying his mortgage.
That’s when I realized how messed up my priorities were.
5. Would you say that you live comfortably?
Absolutely.
FIRE isn’t about sacrificing your happiness for money. If it were, it wouldn’t be sustainable. Instead, it’s more about being strategic and making conscious decisions in how you spend. For example, when we were working, we would still spend money taking 2 vacations a year because travel was (and still is) important to us.
On the other hand, owning a car wasn’t important, so we relied on public transportation instead. Now that we’re retired, we travel the world teaching other people how to pull off FIRE themselves.
We also discovered that travelling the world is less expensive than living in a North American major metropolitan city.
6. How much do you spend traveling each year? What do you spend your money on these days?
Before the pandemic, we basically lived nomadically and hopped from country to country every month, so for us travel is not so much an expense as it is just part of how we live. Since we left, we were surprised to find that travelling isn’t nearly as expensive as when we were working.
By using AirBnbs and HomeExchanges to live like a local and spending time in lower cost-of-living areas like Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, we were able to make living nomadically cost less than living in a high cost-of-living city all year, which is about $40,000 a year for the two of us for the 6 years since retiring. Once the pandemic happened, we had to come back to Toronto for a family emergency.
We thought our living expenses would skyrocket (especially given the rise in inflation) but surprisingly, our expenses plummeted in the last 2 years to $34,000 (2020) and $39,000 (2021) due to lockdowns. This year we’re projected to spend $42,000.
We love spending money on travel, eating out, massages, and walking tours.
7. What career did you have before you retired? Do you think you have to have a high income in order to retire early?
We’re both computer engineers. I worked in finance and Bryce worked in a semiconductor company.
Having a high income definitely helps, but it’s still possible even if you don’t make that high a salary, and we’ve featured readers on our blog that are on their way to achieving financial independence as teachers, nurses, plumbers, and all sorts of other professions.
One reader even went from homeless and unemployed to $100K net worth in just 1 year by following our strategy.
With the recent popularity of remote work, more options are opening up for people to super-charge their savings by moving to a lower-cost city and baking the difference, so if anything early retirement is becoming more accessible to more people as time goes on.
8. Do you still earn an income in early retirement?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, but I had to put my dreams on hold to pursue a practical career that makes money, but once we left we could focus on actually making my dream a reality.
So we created our blog Millennial-Revolution.com, and we wrote a book Quit Like a Millionaire. To our complete surprise, both projects now make money, but we continue relying on our initial $1M portfolio to fund our day-to-day living expenses and treat any extra income we earn in retirement as fun money.
9. What sacrifices or hard decisions did you have to make to reach early retirement?
It was really hard bucking what I like to call the “cult of home ownership,” not just because we lived in Toronto where everyone is obsessed with owning real estate, but also because I’m Chinese, where owning a home is such an important part of my culture that it’s considered unthinkable not to buy a house.
I fought with my parents about that so much that we basically stopped talking for the first year of my retirement.
Our relationship has improved since then, but it was really difficult for me at the time to basically be the only one doing this in my group of friends and family, but now that I did it, I now know it was the best decision I’ve ever made.
10. What do you do for health insurance in early retirement?
When you travel, medical care is not nearly as expensive as back home, so a monthly travel insurance policy really isn’t that expensive.
For example, we’re currently using a company called Safetywing and insurance costs $42 USD a month.
If you have to live in the US, you would be eligible for federal government subsidies to pay for your insurance from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since your earned income would drop to $0 after retirement.
11. What are your long-term plans now that you are retired?
More writing, travelling and teaching people about FIRE.
We also have the time and space to help out with family members whenever health issues come up.
12. If you were starting back at ground zero, what would you do differently?
I wouldn’t have wasted so much time chasing after a house like everyone else, but all things considered I think we actually avoided many of the mistakes that trip a lot of people up, like getting into a ton of student debt or picking the wrong career, so I can’t complain too much.
I would say, we probably should’ve started investing earlier and not sat on the sidelines after 2008, trying to save up money to buy a house.
This made us miss out on years of investment gains.
13. Lastly, what is your very best tip (or two) that you have for someone who wants to reach the same success as you?
If you want to retire early, surround yourself with people who are also on a similar life path because those people will sustain you on your journey.
When I was doing this, the FIRE community wasn’t as big (or well organized) as it is today. Now, there are FIRE meetups all over the world, so find your local group and introduce yourself. It’s also a good idea to start learning how to invest as soon as possible.
You can learn via our free, step-by-step investment workshop and our book Quit Like a Millionaire.
Are you interested in early retirement? Why or why not?
This is the first of a planned series in which I interview friends and family about their attitudes toward money. Most of these will be anonymized (and much shorter). Some will not. This first interview is with Scott Durbin, a member of Imagination Movers, a rock band for kids. This band is an entrepreneurial venture that required a huge leap of faith.
Scott, what made you and the other Movers decide to form a band? And why a band for kids?
Once you get into your 30s, you begin to feel opportunities to be creative evaporating. This time in our lives is often devoted to starting families, working for the company, paying bills to stay above the proverbial water, or working on our various relationships (wife-husband, boyfriend-girlfriend, other). I could get philosophical about the conflict and guilt of doing something seemingly self-indulgent versus being a good father/husband/worker, but let’s save that for another day. Luckily I have an amazing wife!
Several forces led to the founding of the Imagination Movers.
1. First, the guys in the group are very creative fellows. Creativity bubbles to the top given an opportunity.
2. Strangely enough, having families created an environment that allowed us to pool our creativity. That and proximity. When the Movers started, we lived within walking distance from one another. We all started having kids at the same time (minus Smitty who is the Mover without children). Kids have birthday parties. Parents gather. A ritual is established, and instead of going to bars or wherever to hang out with your mates, you’re left with your two-year-old’s birthday party as a means of convening. But it’s all good. These gatherings became the second peice of the puzzle.
3. When you have kids, you are immediately introduced into a foreign culture. You acclimate yourself as best you can, discovering the latest coolest educational toys, kids’ music, enrichment opportunities, places to play or visit, restaurants where kids eat free, any video/audio that might make your kids smarter — the whole kit-n-kaboodle. You discover your children want to listen to something over and over and over and over and over again, so as a survival parent, you want to make sure you can tolerate whatever that music is. This was the third key to development of the Imagination Movers.
4. Meanwhile, my wife has a friend who works at the local PBS affiliate. My wife’s friend often asks me to participate in commercials or promos they do. So there I am dancing for a commercial advertising the station’s fundraiser, a Beer Tasting Fest. The commercial is a hit, so I am receiving a lot of local affiliate PBS love which I put on the shelf for later use. This is a fourth thread. (All these threads will come together, so stay with me.)
5. Finally, I am a huge fan of Mister Rogers and Captain Kangaroo — people who possess a sincere desire to better the lives of their audiences and an almost palpable integrity that assures you they are not full of crap. And on top of that, they are REAL and not cartoons. I love cartoons just as much as the next guy, but heck, you know live action children’s entertainment is needed. A cartoon can only model so far or translate so much. It’s two-dimensional. So when Fred Rogers passed away, I felt called to take his place. Sounds crazy, but that become this nagging gut thing for me. I wanted to create a local kids’ show that treated kids like people and not consumers. This was the last factor in the band’s creation.
So here’s where the threads start coming together:
I mention that I want to start a local kid’s show to my wife’s friend at the local PBS affiliate.
I talk about the idea with my friends (and future Movers) at parties or the local grocery (the neighborhood essentially).
As I begin waxing, I arrive at a name for the show — “Imagination Movers” — and a broad concept that Movers work in the other-worldy land of imagination, and it’s the job of a Mover to bring people good ideas when they have idea emergencies.
I pitch the initial notion to the guys at a party. They’re in. We start writing a treatment/script in the attic of Dave’s house that we plan to pitch to the local PBS station. As we work on the show, music becomes a cornerstone. Rich and Smitty whip out the guitars and jam. Since the first script is about ‘healthy snacks’, most of the songs are in that vein. Well, we start writing songs and sometimes play them at get-togethers. People love the songs. Really love the songs.
We pitch the show to the local PBS affiliate and they love it, but with PBS-type entities, they have NO money. We are disappointed, but everyone loves the songs. So Rich decides to invest in a home studio and we begin recording the music we wrote for the show.
The rest is Mover history.
So why did we become a kids’ band? For the most part, our children/families were where we were, and what we were about, so our songs became part observations of our lives, part honoring our wee ones (and hopefully creating something meaningful for other wee ones), and a sincere desire to be the new Mr. Rogers. But in our case, Mr. Rogers has been divided into four parts, and instead of wearing a cardigan … wears blue coveralls.
What was your family’s financial situation at the time you started the Imagination Movers?
At the time the Movers started, I was entering my sixth year of teaching. Picture if you will, being the ‘bread winner’ on a teacher’s salary. Ahhh, the luxury of it all. My better half worked full time-ish as an office manager for a web firm and was earning a little less than me. Our income, however, was supplemented by a rental property. Even so, we rented to friends and consequently asked for $150 month lower than market value for the area.
Having two wee ones, we were quite honestly living paycheck to paycheck. We had some credit card debt but nothing crazy.
Our biggest financial problem — and this sounds strange — was vacations. Here’s the recurring scenario: we would finally get ourselves into some kind of financial stability and then boom, we would go on a family vacation and put ourselves right back into a mini-hole. Not trying to shift blame from self, but ‘we’ were not as frugal when it came to vacations as we should have been. My wife having been raised in a close knit family that always took summer vacations, was pretty adamant that we take similar family vacations. The problem with vacations is that you’re more apt to splurge thus obliterating your vacation budget. It’s the mentality of saying to yourself, “Hey, we’re on vacation! We won’t be able to do this for awhile or eat this good or whatever.” And soon enough, your food budget no longer exists and you’re stuffing your face with $20 crab cakes. Viva la vacation!
How did starting the Imagination Movers affect your personal finances?
For a while, everything we did was out of personal pocket. As the organic nature of our project began to take root and blossom, it was clear that some kind of real investment needed to be made so our Big Ideas could be realized. That investment was a gut check: it meant we needed to use more of our own money. So began the Movers. Honestly, everything we did — from purchasing blue suits to buying equipment (such as a PA and wireless mics) to investing in a home studio — came from the pockets and sacrifices of Rich, Scott, Dave and Smitty. The great part is that we so believed in what we were doing that money, time and energy aligned themselves and we went into overdrive.
Rich and I were the initial big investors. Dave and Smitty pitched in when possible. Rich took the burden of financing a home studio, which led to the biggest collective cost we faced early on: the creation of our first audio release, Good Ideas. Taking into account the manufacturing of the CDs, paying someone to master them, and PR, we were looking at a few thousand dollars head-on. We didn’t have much disposable income, but we found the money. (I think Smitty sold plasma. I sold balloon animals. Dave panhandeled and Rich washed cars.)
All in all, to get the Movers started, we had to get out the shovel and dig into savings so the machine could begin to turn. Our first big hope was that sales from the CD and early shows would allow us to reap what we sowed. Either we’d get back what we paid into the project, or allow the money we made to lead us to other opportunities. The latter became the yellow brick road.
So to answer your question: my personal savings was hit, parts of my home were converted (putting up shelves for inventory, setting up a network system, getting filing cabinets), and little costs (mailers, paper, postage) sometimes cut to the bone. Instead of buying a six pack or going to a movie, my disposable income went to buying CDs and labels to burn early demo copies for people.
How did you and the other guys feel about this? It sounds to me exactly as if you’ve been starting a business. Do you feel this way too?
We had big ambitions from the start. Although it seemed like a great side project, we secretly treated it as an opportunity to become self-employed and as such worked it like it was a small business. I took on the role as visionary, aspiring to some very lofty goals.
When our demos turned into real products, the fire was lit and we added more goals: creating a coloring book based on one of the songs, printing t-shirts, looking to establish distribution for our burgeoning product line. You name it, and we were plotting it. We even financed a trip to Toy Fair in New York in an attempt to introduce the world to the Movers.
I will say we were smart about resisting investment from outside of the group. Some financial advice we received led us to just say no to third party investors. I remember something about us selling securities in the group if we did so; in other words, we’d be opening ourselves up to a very complicated financial and legal world.
We also had some great friends who encouraged us to form a business plan. Sounds incredible impetuous, but we formed an LLC, met with local business leaders (Idea Village, a business incubator in New Orleans), and started working on goals.
Naturally, guys in the group participated in the project as best they could. Some did much more than others, but we were aware of the sweat equity certain people were giving early on. Rich and I were in working situations that allowed us to devote more time to the project than Dave and Smitty. Dave was working hard as an architect and Smitty as a fireman. We were — and still are — doing something that we loved, so turning it into a business simply allowed us to keep everything on the up and up, as well as kept us organized.
Scott, how did Hurricane Katrina affect the Imagination Movers? How did it affect your personal financial situation?
Katrina, without question, was a reminder of just of fragile we are; how life can turn on a dime with very little warning. Its effects were truly devastating, but with destruction there comes new life and so it was with my family personally and the Movers professionally. First off, Katrina destroyed three Mover homes and most (if not all) possessions. Here is a picture taken near our home a few days after the levees broke.
Keep in mind, most of this water stayed around for days. Sadly enough, photographs, videos of a child’s birth — you name it — met a watery and moldy grave. Actually, it went further than that — it destroyed the neighborhood. The places you went to have coffee, ‘make’ groceries, the church you attended or the school you dropped your kids off were gone. In the blink of a wink, everything you saw for miles became ghost-like. Even today — more than a year plus after — empty houses, lonely streets, lost neighborhoods now whisper for anyone, anything to bring them back to their former selves.
The Mover office was also trashed. Countless CDs, coloring books, musical instruments were ruined. And guess what? The Movers didn’t have insurance. We had liability insurance, but we were so small and Mom-and-Pop-ish that we hadn’t needed more insurance — or so we thought.
Luckily Smitty lived on the West Bank, so although his home experienced minor wind damage, it escaped the destruction. The material things naturally hold memories, but not life and our thoughts focused on the well being of him and others like him soon after Kat hit.
Right after the disaster, everyone was reeling from the new reality we were forced into and for all intent and purpose had not processed the extent to which our lives would change, but we knew at the very least we did have the Movers. In particular, the Movers had two shows booked in Texas, one in Dallas on the Labor Day weekend and another in Plano. With the exception of Smitty (who was knee deep in search and rescue), we all rallied and went to Texas to fulfill our obligation. Quite honestly, no one knew about their jobs or future income or anything. All we could see in front of us was a small payday and so we went with quite honestly the clothes on our back. We had no instruments, no Mover suits — nothing, but we went. And we played. Here is a picture of the Mover suits we used in place of our trademark royal blue ones. Note: Kyle is our ancillary Mover and plays drums for live shows with us.
Life afterwards was surreal. We no longer had a place to live. My family lived with my parents and my brother and his girlfriend in a tiny house with one bathroom in Lafayette, Louisiana (about two hours west of New Orleans). My job as a teacher was in limbo. I spent time in line for food stamps and wondered what queer curiosity tomorrow would bring. All the while I was still a dad and husband and the well-being of my family was paramount to everything I did. I’m sure the rest of the Movers felt the same way.
Personally speaking, my family received help from people we knew and didn’t know. Friends sent us giftcards for bookstores so we could buy the kids books as our wee ones love to read. Other friends and people we didn’t even know sent assistance of clothing and toys and hope. Churches helped. Companies helped. People helped us restore the basics. The Movers too received emails of support and even a guitar was sent. The emails, for the Movers sake, really kept the project going. The simple act of someone somewhere taking the time to share with us how important what we did — musically speaking — meant in the lives of their children (many whom were going through the same situation as us) humbled us. Buckled our knees. We knew. We knew we had to continue despite the overwhelming sense of powerlessness we all felt.
All in all, looking back, I am a better person. Though I wouldn’t wish the ordeal on anyone — the goodwill (and Godwill) of so many showed taught me about selflessness and how truly to give of the heart. As for my personal financial situation, well I was unceremoniously dumped from my position as a teacher in an independent school in New Orleans. I hold no grudges but wished they would have done it with a little more humanity and compassion. It was a phone call and a FedEx package. Either way, no job meant no income and no health insurance. My wife had to go to work full time so we could have health insurance. Our situation was so transformed that we were unaware of what might happen next (food stamps, unemployment, ect). Lots of ‘what ifs’ came along. Lots of ‘how did we get here.’
On the good side, the reality of our immediate financial situation was: we forced ourselves to save, to tore up those proverbial nuts for winter. Some pluses included no longer having to pay some of our bills: electric, cable, water, etc. We did receive some emergency funds from Red Cross, FEMA and some monies from of our insurance companies. All in all, our financial situation was made very clear to us: the ins and outs of our money was front-and-center and we were forced to deal with our financial situation head on. Credit card debt — what to do about mortgage payments on a home we no longer lived in — paying rent, too — you name it. We dealt with how we were going to handle it, especially having lost my salary.
Since I had no job, the Movers became a full time gig. As it did with Rich and then later with Dave. Any reason we had not to jump headfirst into this venture disappeared and so we signed with Disney. What a crazy juxtaposition that is — you sign a deal with Disney and you still are having difficulty making ends meet. Most people believed we were rich once the Disney deal came — biggest misnomer you could ever imagine. Hopefully our financial situation will improve, but the fact is: reality and perception are clearly two different things. Our main source of income is not Disney. Instead it was and is playing live. It’s our favorite thing to do and so we do it — right now to survive financially and emotionally. As a sidebar: Major props to Music Rising as it was a Godsend. Without it, the Movers would be instrument-less.
It’s now been a year since Katrina. How are things now with the band? With your financial situation?
A year plus removed from Katrina, it seems everyone yearns for routine and normality. My life now is spent in a city two hours west of New Orleans. I am the only Mover who has not returned to NOLA. My family sold our house after having sat on it, hoping the city and state would give us reason to reinvest and rebuild. Translation: a plan of some kind or another. Unfortunately, they have failed miserably in my humble opinion. The local leadership has become invisible and crime has riddled a city in desperate need of hope.
The world wonders why the Saints meant so much to the city of New Orleans. The inside scoop: a simple football team allowed the city to be one, regardless of color or creed or financial state. It allowed all people to smile and be hopeful because the city itself didn’t offer those commodities.
Back to the Movers — We’ve been fortunate to have videos rolling on Playhouse Disney so it does raise our profile. We’ve been working our tales off to make half of what we were making as professionals: architect, journalist and teacher — so we could make this dream come true. Sidebar: Smitty still works as a fireman in New Orleans. Shows you our true reality. Even with that said, we have opportunity and that is all we can ask for. We finished a pilot presentation (we felt was incredible) and five new videos which will hopefully air soon. All of the filming was shot in LaPlace (which can be considered Greater New Orleans to some). We felt humbled to know that an idea we created was now employing 75-ish people, most of whom were from the local area. Good story. Gives you lumps in your throat.
As I type this, I really have no idea what the future holds — financial or otherwise. I just hope I can make my next payment! Money is, after all, like all the things lost in Katrina: it comes and goes. A person defined by money gets short-changed by life. Family and friends are what make life special.
Thanks to Scott for sharing his story. Look for more money interviews with other real people in the coming months.
To date, the Imagination Movers have released the following:
Compact Discs Good Ideas (2003), Calling All Movers (2004), Eight Feet (2005) DVDs Stir it Up (2005)
Want to hear what the Movers sound like? Here’s a song called “My Favorite Snack”. This song is popular among both the kids and parents we hang out with. You can find more mp3s for download at the Imagination Movers site.
Scott reports that the group has a brand new CD coming out on a major label in March. Want to hear what the Movers sound like? Here’s a song called “Clean My Room” that — among other things — reminds me of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion”. You can find more mp3s for download at the Imagination Movers site.
Thanks to Scott for sharing his story. It’s a great example of the need for emergency funds and the realities of entrepreneurship (and making money from hobbies). I hope to do more money interviews in the future. I’m exploring the idea of making these podcast-based. If you have any thoughts on this, drop me a line.
If you’re a Netflix fanatic like us, you’ve probably binged shows like Selling Sunset or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, meaning you already have an idea of what life is like in sunny Los Angeles — and its ritziest surroundings.
The truth is, Cali living is just about as glamorous as you’re imagining. Just by walking on the streets of L.A., you’re bound to bump into Hollywood celebrities at some point in the week — and there’s no place with bigger odds for celeb spottings than Beverly Hills.
Biggest celebrities living in Beverly Hills, California
If you’ve ever wondered what celebrities live in Beverly Hills, we’re here to solve that mystery for you. Because it’s not just housewives who live here if you know what we mean (we’re looking at you, RHOBH fans).
Some of the most famous people in the world reside in Beverly Hills, and we’re about to give you a run-down of our favorites.
After a little bit of real estate detective work, we’ve compiled a list of celebrities who live in Beverly Hills at the moment – they do tend to move around a lot. If you’re planning a visit and are thinking of taking a tour of celebrity homes in Beverly Hills, then make sure these next Hollywood stars — and power couples — are on your list.
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
Celeb power couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen paid $14.1 million to buy Rihanna’s former home in Beverly Hills back in 2016. The couple and their two children made the most of their stunning home during Covid19 lockdown and shared jaw-dropping images of the family hanging out at the property.
But the couple was soon ready for a change, and they listed their long-time home for close to $24 million in the summer of 2020. They found their new dream home pretty quickly, and it was another Beverly Hills gem that cost them $17.5 million – a price worth paying for the zip code alone (90210).
The couple’s new home features 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a 10,700-square-foot open floor plan, and 24-foot ceilings. They also get panoramic city-to-sea views from almost every corner of the house – a pretty nice upgrade, if you ask us.
SEE INSIDE: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend’s house, a Beverly Hills trophy home
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
A sporadic Shark Tank host and savvy investor, Ashton Kutcher knows how to wisely invest his growing fortunes. And it’s no surprise that the former That 70s Show actor, along with his equally (if not more) talented wife joined the ranks of celebrities living in Beverly Hills.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher live in a striking hilltop farmhouse that overlooks the rest of Beverly Hills. The two have taken the farmhouse life seriously and set out to turn their million-dollar property into a fully sustainable farm.
Fun fact: Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and Mila Kunis have the sustainable L.A. farmhouse of your dreams (and ours, too, for the record).
The design-obsessed couple gave us a tour of their six-acre property for the cover of our June issue: https://t.co/DDOzrGEiSr pic.twitter.com/5LS1WPYu7c
— Architectural Digest (@ArchDigest) May 18, 2021
KuKu Farms, as the couple lovingly call their homestead, now features a well — that irritates the land — and a corn field, on top of a sprawling garden full of squash, tomatoes, lettuces, and more.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking the property is a rural farmstead. In fact, it’s one of the most beautiful celebrity homes in Beverly Hills, proving that style and sustainability are not mutually exclusive.
Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson owns many properties across the country, but his long-time residence is located in Beverly Hills, on the notorious Mulholland Drive.
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The multiple Academy Award winner is a veteran Beverly Hills celebrity resident, having first bought his property in 1969, purchasing additional parcels over the years to expand its footprint. He even bought Marlon Brando’s former neighboring home in 2005, razed it, and had it rebuilt.
Nicholson’s Beverly Hills home is also famous for darker reasons. It’s here that director Roman Polanski reportedly abused an underage girl, while Nicholson and his then-girlfriend Anjelica Houston were away.
The original house that used to stand on the site burned down, and various other incidents took place on Mulholland Drive, leading some to claim that the entire area is cursed. Maybe that’s what inspired David Lynch to make a movie about it.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s Beverly Hills abode is in a league of its own. The singer paid $25 million for movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn’s home back in 2015 — yeah, that Goldwin, you know, of Metro Goldwyn Mayer?
Swift’s mansion was actually granted landmark status in 2017, which means the young musician now owns a piece of Hollywood history. The property has never before been owned by someone not part of the Goldwyn family, so Swift is also writing history, if you think about it.
The 10,982-square-foot mansion is to be restored to its former glory, with the approval of the Beverly Hills City Council, of course.
The singer also owns a sprawling house in Rhode Island, which got a shout-out on her 2020 album, Folklore, with the song The Last Great American Dynasty paying tribute to the wealthy (and eccentric) socialite that owned the house before her.
SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift’s Holiday House — Home to “the Last Great American Dynasty”
Adele
Grammy-winner Adele is another Brit who has a thing for California living. The singer purchased her first home in Beverly Hills in 2016 for $9.5 million, and her second in 2018, after splitting from husband Simpon Konecki.
She didn’t venture very far to find her second home, though, as the two properties are across the street from each other. Adele’s second Beverly Hills abode cost her $10.65 million and was built back in 1961 in the gated community of Hidden Valley. It was previously owned by film producer Michael Hertzberg, according to the L.A. Times.
But the singer didn’t stop there.
Adele added another stunner to her real estate portfolio in 2022, when she shelled out $58 million for a property previously owned by Sylvester Stallone.
Adele’s sprawling mansion boasts the iconic 91210 zip code and is located in Beverly Park, which is still pretty close to Beverly Hills if you ask us. The new luxurious estate is now her home base, although she continues to own several properties in Beverly Hills.
SEE INSIDE: Adele’s house in Beverly Park, the $58M ‘house that Rocky built’
Sandra Bullock
Actress Sandra Bullock is also part of the elite group of Hollywood stars who reside in Beverly Hills. Our beloved Miss Congeniality paid $16.9 million in 2011 for a seven-bedroom mansion right next door to Ricky Martin.
Bullock also used to own a 3,153-square-foot home right above the Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip, which she rented out for a whopping $18,500 per month. She reportedly had enough of her role as landlord and sold that property in 2018.
An avid real estate investor and collector, Bullock has an impressive real estate portfolio to her name. While her current home base is in New Orleans, Louisiana, Bullock also spends time at her residences in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Austin, and New York City, to name just a few.
In early 2021, the actress paid $2.7 million for a 1946-built bungalow nestled in the mountains above Beverly Hills. The multi-acre property features 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a swimming pool with a waterfall, and gorgeous views. The Hollywood actress likes to keep her personal life private, so there’s no telling how much time she gets to spend at each of her various properties.
Jennifer Lawrence
Hunger Games star and Hollywood darling Jennifer Lawrence moved into her gorgeous Beverly Hills home back in 2014. The luxurious five-bedroom home came with a price tag of over $8 million, and an impressive list of previous homeowners, which includes Jessica Simpson and, shocker, Ellen DeGeneres.
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The property boasts a romantic, European-inspired vibe, which you might not have expected from a strong personality such as Lawrence. The actress enjoys beautifully landscaped grounds, a koi pond, a swimming pool, and even a home gym. No wonder she’s in such good shape.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
Actress Nicole Kidman and her husband, country singer Keith Urban purchased their current Beverly Hills residence in 2008 for roughly $4.7 million, adding to their already heavy portfolio of real estate.
Since the acquisition, Kidman and Urban upgraded the property to include fun amenities for their children, including a jungle gym, a pool slide, and a chic cabana.
Their main residence is still in Nashville, but they own properties across the U.S., and their Beverly Hills mansion is reportedly one of their favorites. We say reportedly, because the couple is very private, and not much is known about their whereabouts. Even the interior of their Beverly Hills home remains a mystery, but we can safely suspect that it’s nothing short of glamorous.
Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington Whiteley
Next up on our list of Beverly Hills A-listers is probably the most good-looking couple on the planet. British movie star Jason Statham and supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley settled in Beverly Hills in 2015, when they paid $13 million for a stunning five-bedroom mansion.
Their incredibly beautiful home was designed by Jenni Kayne, and is a perfect mix of contemporary architecture and timeless elegance. We wouldn’t have expected any less from the Victoria’s Secret model, as her taste is always impeccable.
You can take a peek inside the couple’s Beverly Hills mansion by watching Vogue’s 73 Questions With Rosie Huntington-Whiteley video:
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Not to mention that Statham is a passionate houseflipper. The couple and their young son spent lockdown at their modern mansion, where Rosie even filmed several Youtube videos sharing her beauty and style tips.
Kendall Jenner
Kendall Jenner’s art-filled Beverly Hills home is so gorgeous that it was even featured in Architectural Digest. The supermodel gave us all a sneak peek inside her sprawling, $8.55 million Mulholland Estates home that was once owned by Hollywood bad boy Charlie Sheen.
Jenner purchased the house back in 2017, and she listed a team of experts to help her redesign it to her heart’s desire. The result is a cozy, serene, and quiet escape from Jenner’s busy daily life, and a perfect retreat away from the prying eyes of the media.
The 6,625-square-foot home features meditation corners, a peaceful backyard, and an art studio where Jenner gets to unleash her creativity.
SEE ALSO: Keeping Up With the Incredible Homes of the Kardashians – the 2023 edition
Jeff Bezos
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is another celebrity with an impressive real estate portfolio under their belt. But this one is on an entirely different level, because Bezos owns the most expensive property in Beverly Hills, and probably one of the priciest in California.
Bezos paid a whopping $165 million for the Jack Warner Estate, previously owned by David Geffen, in early 2020. It was a record sale for a private residence in Los Angeles County, and one of the priciest residential sales in the country.
The Warner Estate was built back in the 1930s and is a one-of-a-kind historic gem worthy of Great Gatsby-style parties. Since purchasing the luxurious mansion, Bezos invested heavily in upgrades, adding a pool house, a powder room, and more high-end amenities.
Lizzo
In October 2022, acclaimed singer and songwriter Lizzo paid $15 million to snag Harry Styles’ former luxury mansion in Beverly Hills. The house was built in 2019 and boasts the legendary 91210 zip code, as well as 5,300 square feet of living space, 3 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms.
Nestled in a private, gated community perched in the mountains atop Beverly Hills, Lizzo’s new home was owned by singer Harry Styles from 2014 to 2016. Since then, the property was remodeled and upgraded to meet the needs of modern A-list buyers like Lizzo.
The musician has not been shy about showing off her new digs, posting content on social media of her enjoying her stunning home theater or gorgeous infinity pool.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky
Rihanna made the news rounds in 2023 after headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, reaching another level of awesomeness in her career. Luckily, she’s got quite a few luxury properties to retreat to and unwind after an adrenaline-driven show.
The singer boasts quite an extensive real estate portfolio, splitting her time between her properties in Beverly Hills, Century City, the Hollywood Hills, and Barbados.
Rihanna had a busy year in 2020, purchasing a five-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills’ 91210 zip code for $13.8 million. Just months later, she paid $10 million for another four-bedroom mansion right next door. This investment might be a sign that this is where the singer and her partner, Asap Rocky, plan to settle down and raise their growing family.
The 7,600-square-foot home was built in 1938 and features 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, huge walk-in closets, marble bathrooms, large private terraces, and stunning views. But above everything, the property offers privacy from the inquisitive eyes of the paparazzi.
Who knows, the house next door could house a recording studio, additional security and staff, or more baby rooms!
SEE INSIDE: Rihanna’s house in Beverly Hills
These are just some of our favorite celebrities who live in Beverly Hills. This eclectic enclave is a magnet for Hollywood stars, so the list could go on and on, but we’ll stop here – for now. Stay tuned for more celebrity-related real estate coverage on Fancy Pants Homes!
More celebrity homes you might like
Where Does Lady Gaga Live? Check Out Her ‘Gypsy Palace’ in Malibu See Travis Scott’s House: a $23.5M Ultra-Modern, Yacht-Inspired Mansion Cardi B’s House in Atlanta is Pure Old-World Luxury The Alluring History of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion
If you want more financial discipline you are probably looking to curb impulsive spending, save money, or maybe just achieve financial stability.
Building self discipline your financial decisions is an important part of building wealth over the long run.
What’s Ahead:
Why is self discipline the key to becoming a good saver
Being a good saver requires self discipline since there is so much fun stuff to do and buy. You are exposed to more advertising than anyone in the history of the world, and the marketing companies know a lot about psychology and exactly how to get you to part with your money.
So it takes a lot of self discipline in order to fight those tactics and stay on course to meet your goals. You have to have a clear goal and know that meeting that goal is more important than anything you can buy.
It requires a lot of self discipline to overcome the temptation to delay gratification of spending money and to save it instead.
Steps to develop self discipline
Step 1: Set a goal – then break it down into regularly recurring actions
What exactly do you want to achieve? It could be to build a fully funded emergency fund, start investing, pay off your debt, or even achieve financial independence – or anything in between.
Write down exactly what your goal is and the date by which you want to achieve it. For example, you may want to pay off your credit card debt within one year.
Then break down exactly what actions you need to take on a regular basis. Make these actions as small and as regular as possible. A small daily action is better than a larger monthly action.
For example, if you owe $10,000 on your credit card you’ll need to pay $833.33 off each month. Is that doable? If your budget allows for that, great. If not, you’ll need to figure out what exactly you need to do make up the difference.
If your regular payment is $150 and you can pull an extra $200 per month from your monthly budget that means you’ll need to come up with an additional $484 per month. If you have time to walk dogs after work you may decide to pick up a dog walking client for a few walks per week. At $25 per walk you’d have to walk the dog 20 times per month to make up the $484 you need. If you picked up a client that needed the dog walked everyday after work, you’d have the full amount.
You now have a goal and an action plan to make that goal happen.
Here are a few examples of short, mid, and long-term goals, but feel free to fill in the blanks with your own personal financial goals.
Short-term goals
Saving money each month towards your emergency fund
Going out to dinner with friends twice a month
Small household projects (planting a small indoor garden, painting a room, etc.)
Mid-term goals
Saving for a weekend getaway
Paying cash for your next car
Paying off your credit card debt
Long-term goals
Down payment on a house
Paying off your student loans
Putting money away for retirement
Read more: How to prioritize and save for multiple goals at once
Step 2: Track your progress
You’ll want some way to visualize and track your progress. A lot of people find this extremely motivating.
Using the example of paying off your car above, you could make a thermostat and color in a section each time you make a payment, representing the amount of money you’ve paid off (or is left on the loan). Or cover a piece of paper with stars (or anything else) and color in a star every time you send in your payment, each star representing one payment or a set amount of money.
Hang your tracker on the fridge so you can see it every day to remind you of what you are working towards. Make it a little celebration each time you get to fill in more of your tracker.
You can also go digital with your goal tracking. Apps like Empower offer a few different services for investing and checking up on your financial health. But, in this instance, I’m referring to the free tools they offer to keep track of your net worth.
You can create an account with them without opening an investment account. The wealth management and planning tools are the ones that you will probably be most interested in to help determine where you are at currently.
You can connect all of your financial accounts within the tool. These will be things, such as:
Checking account
Savings account(s)
Investment account(s)
Student loan account(s)
Auto loan account
Mortgage account
Credit card(s)
Medical debt account(s)
Sometimes, it can be pretty scary to see what your actual net worth is vs. where you want to be.
But, I use this as a driving force to work harder every month to increase my overall net worth. Because the faster I can get my net worth up, the faster I can get to my long-term goals.
Step 3: Find your tribe
Find people in your life who are working towards similar goals. This will help build self discipline because you’ll have a community that is embodying the new behaviors you want to build.
If you meet regularly with others who are paying off debt, you’ll have more discipline to follow that same path. You’ll have someone to share your successes with and a friend who can help when you are struggling.
Contrast that to when your friends regularly encourage overspending. Just going out to have a meal or a drink with friends can end up costing $100 or more in some instances. Something that sounded so innocuous, has now completely derailed your goal.
This isn’t to say you need to replace your entire friend group – not at all. But it will be up to you set a budget for having fun and then stick to it.
For example, instead of having two-three drinks, only have one. Go out for lunch instead of dinner, or a matinee instead of a night movie.
All of these options still give you the freedom to hang out with your friends and enjoy your life, but it won’t cost you nearly as much. And when you stick to your budget, your future self will thank you for your discipline.
Read More: The Cost Of Friendship – How Your Friends Affect The Way
Tips to meet your financial goals
Determine your needs vs. your wants
Setting up your financial goals and a way to track them are the first steps. But staying on track can get tricky when life happens. This is where needs vs. wants come into play. There are things that all of us want to have. But these are the things that can throw us off track so fast it will make your head spin.
So keeping in mind if the item/service is a need or a want can help you have more financial disciplined. Just remember to think long and hard about any purchases before you pull the trigger. If it is a need, then go ahead and do it. But if the item is actually something you want instead, it’s usually best to hold off even for a bit to make sure you still really want it as much as you think you do.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
When it comes to purchasing wants, you have a few other options that can save you a ton of money. If there is an item that you are wanting to purchase, but it simply isn’t in the budget, what might be some other ways to achieve the same goal?
Reduce, reuse or recycle may just be the best option here. If you have things in your house that you can get rid of (and maybe even make some money off of their sale), then that is one way to get the potential want. Sell your old stuff and then use the proceeds to purchase the new want item.
Or, if you can reuse an item you have in your house already, paired with something else, in order to create a similar item, then why not do that? Sometimes, all a table or chair needs is a fresh coat of paint in order to feel like a completely new item. So get creative and think outside the box about things you already have at your disposal.
And if all else fails, recycle your old items. You may not make any money off of them, but you could potentially get a tax write-off. Plus, it declutters your space, which can make it feel like a completely new room. Sometimes, that is really all you need.
Make it automatic
No matter what you goal is you can probably automate at least some of it.
If you want to save more, schedule automatic transfers from your checking to your savings. If you want to pay off a certain amount of debt each month, set automatic payments to your accounts.
Having these transactions happen automatically will remove the friction that can be caused when you have to manually make that extra payment, or save that extra money. You can always go in and stop or change the automatic payment if you can’t swing it one month, but making it the default will cause it to happen more often than not.
Of course, don’t set yourself up for failure. Setting an automatic payment without a plan to make sure the money is available will cause more harm than good. Create a feasible plan and realistic goal, then set it up to run without any extra effort from you.
Read more: Put your money on autopilot
Put your emergency fund in a high yield savings account
If you are working on building your emergency fund – or already have a solid savings account – you’ll want to make sure you are getting the most interest possible. This will help grow your savings rate since you’ll be earning a little extra interest each month.
Interest rates on high-yield savings accounts are higher than they’ve been in years, and the difference between online accounts and those at your local bank are huge. So, while these high yield savings account rates may not be anywhere close to the average return you will get on investing your money, it’s still nice to make some interest on your savings.
The best high yield savings account, in my opinion, is the CIT Savings Builder.
Read more: How Much Should You Save Every Month?
CIT Bank Savings Builder
CIT Bank Savings Builder has a very competitive APY – compared to the pennies you get from a credit union account.
You only need $100 to open an account and they charge no maintenance fees. To earn the highest APY, you need to get your account up to $25,000, or you need to deposit at least $100 monthly. See details here.
The CIT Savings Builder has a completely online platform, so everything can be done directly from your smartphone, just to make life simpler. They are also FDIC insured up to $250,000 per account type.
CIT Bank. Member FDIC.
Summary
Overall, it is extremely easy for our money to flow through our fingers like water. This is why you have to be cognizant of what you have and where you want to be with your finances.
If you want to avoid debt, save more money, or invest for your future then it’s important to develop self discipline in your finances.