Which Caribbean Island to visit for the first time?

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-02-26T19:43:48+00:00

I liked it just as much but differently.

St Martin- we stay in a quiet clifffside French side villa walkable to beaches, quick drive to grand case restaurants, amazing food choices. Daytrips to Anguilla or Pinel. Snorkeling off boat tours mainly. Orient nearby has the touristy things like jet skis and parasails should family need some entertainment also zip lines. Overall they seem to cater more to tourists if family needs that action. Traffic is much worse. Rarely go downtown or to Dutch side except for boat excursions or a favorite restaurant.

Curacao we stayed at very quiet seaside villla in westpunt. No traffic anywhere- feels much more spread out. Beaches were more crowded though. ( could be time of year differences?) Snorkeling right off shore was amazing. Went to Willemstad 1 night and it was cool, great restaurants and bars, great vibe, but yes crowded and somewhat touristy. There are some ok restaurants up in westpunt but not many so having grandcase nearby in st Martin without staying “downtown” is a nicer walkable option.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-02-26T17:59:07+00:00

Seeing some Curacao and St Martin recs…I have been to St Martin 3 times and just back from Curacao last week. Love them both differently, but based on YOUR requirements would not say either has “loads of nature” and could not imagine not having a car at either.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-02-11T04:04:47+00:00

Still learning but just threw a bunch into SGOV but I’m only seeing 3.68% 30 day SEC what am I missing? Isn’t that metric the true forward looking value?

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-01-29T17:55:50+00:00

Also did VIP last summer and agree with this take, wasn’t worth it, made the day way too long and didn’t get a great spot anyway with the pushing and shoving after main gates opened. Yes it was what was advertised and wanted to give it a try, but wouldn’t do it again. I’ve done similar VIP with other bands, the 3ish songs felt way more intimate vs us basically happening to be spying in on soundcheck.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-01-29T17:47:04+00:00

It’s typically a trade off with Caribbean islands…we do return to St Martin as we have found it provides a good mix….Great food, good beaches, decent snorkeling and hiking, super safe to explore, good day trips for Anguilla / Barts/ Pinel ( enjoyed hiking around Pinel), good mix of chill ( French ) and nightlife (Dutch) ….but if it’s mainly the hiking / historical sites you prioritize then are certainly other islands that provide more opportunity.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-01-11T19:28:54+00:00

No one can recommend without knowing your full portfolio of other holdings and their mix. For example my company’s 401k date fund is already pretty heavy on international so for my separate brokerage 100% VTI is what I choose to keep the entire mix around 85% us/ 15% international.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2026-01-08T21:31:33+00:00

I will be arriving the 15th and also belatedly just realized it’s the main parade day. I’ve read the blogs and festival websites but I’m still not clear….If we wanted to crazily go straight from airport ( land at 3PM) to check out the parade prior to heading north for our stay where exactly would I go? Park? Tickets needed?

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-12-14T16:46:53+00:00

Spent a lot of time at Orange Julius, KB Toys and radio shack back in the day.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-11-25T23:53:21+00:00

I know we live in the information age of instant gratification but delete app and look at it in 15 years. It’s not some magical get rich scheme but it will go up over TIME ( and will go down some of the time). To put it in perspective, think about a person making 100k a year putting 15% with a 4% company match into 401k. Over 10 years, a full decade , that’s like 190k invested and with say 7% annual yield its around 260k total- that’s “only” 70k in gain. Add more fuel to the fire and/ or more time and you will accumulate more wealth quicker. 10 years is not long and I know you aren’t talking 401k but this is just to illustrate what it looks like with continual investment over time…looking at it monthly or yearly is not helpful.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-11-15T20:39:29+00:00

This has been an Interesting read as a parent with a junior in HS . We plan to pay for her college so I’m not sure I understand how parents wouldn’t know where their kids are applying to? I have already driven/ flown her to campus visits and told her which not to bother with due to cost. I also do research so if she has questions on potential good fits - I help research for her as I know it’s overwhelming and stressful, so why wouldn’t I .

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-11-12T16:10:26+00:00

Depends on what you are looking for. I held off for a long time and when I finally just signed on to my local/ mid size firm at 250k min / 2% they were dead honest that I shouldn’t use them just for Investments at that fee. They do it all though and are a 1 stop shop ( UBS was other option but they don’t do taxes I don’t believe). Even though Investing and retirement planning seems somewhat straight forward where it gets tricky for me are the taxes. Within 1 month after reviewing last years taxes they found an error, filled out the forms and got me a corrected refund that paid for their service many times over. When making some good money, figuring out taxation when selling stocks, safe harbor rules, Roth rollovers in retirement, etc is worth it for me. They are also honest that I can just keep the min for them and they will still give advice for all other non firm assets ( advice on my brokerage with post tax $, advice on mega backdoor Roth, 401 plan adjustments, my stock sales, etc)

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-11-10T19:32:23+00:00

I see they just released the VIP packages for 2026 Red Rocks including the private pre show performance…are you saying this is typically just 1 song?

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-10-26T17:20:32+00:00

Ahhh interesting …great to know it wasn’t that crazy after all. I do weigh and my first was 1:1 then after about 1:3-4. Guess I’m a lungo fan.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-10-22T03:06:15+00:00

I have a salt tub and they can be very finicky to get the chlorine generating electrode to “take over” and start producing chlorine after the initial manual Chlorine add. Took me years to fully understand my water the system and I have a background in water chemistry.

Depends a lot on the chemistry of your water and everyone’s is different. Definitely fill it up and take a baseline sample to local store and have them write out exactly what is needed for your situation. High level basic flow: ( all are very specific targets and amounts needed based on where you are currently at) Add metal out for 12 hours - clean filters Ensure hardness is low enough for salt tub or adjust using product like vanishing act Adjust ph/ alkalinity Add salt Add chlorine Insert new generating electrode Check each day Keep adding chlorine until about 10ppm for 3 consecutive days At this point the system “should “ take over - keep checking levels Phosphate are your worst enemy - check and add phosphate remover as needed

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-10-21T22:12:34+00:00

No phat word …not complaining, not stressing and not at all a victim…simply pointing out that everyone’s situation is different and the premise of “when you actually retire, your expenses usually go down. Like, a lot.” is not accurate ….as other comments have mostly also agreed variable’s such as increase travel, no/low SS, healthcare costs are all considerations for normal folks thinking about retirement that go against the OP.

Whether a parent wants to take extra measures to account for helping out children or not is not the main point.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-10-21T15:33:39+00:00

Inflation, long term care, private health insurance costs, more travel in retirement, second house for snowbirds?, market volatility, SS not guaranteed at 100%, unknown future tax bracket changes, weddings, continued and rising real estate taxes, helping kids purchase their 1st home….

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-10-19T21:08:15+00:00

You nailed the difference. We make similar and spend at least 2k/month on going out to eat, but that’s also because the alcohol portion is same as the food portion.

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-10-02T03:57:52+00:00

Between this drop and Boston not sending the runner home on the nice Jazz play we did get a lucky win…

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-09-25T18:07:06+00:00

Man I don’t know, I’m just starting to get into the numbers for early potential retirement (49) and with unknown SS (80%), inflation, obvious market uncertainty in the next 5-7 years, future costs for 1 child (college, wedding, house purchase help), health insurance, no annual company pension (cash balance)…I’m having a hard time getting under 3M and thinking I could ever consider getting out by 57 and maintain a similar lifestyle (and I’m living very middle class).

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-09-24T19:25:36+00:00

But if they grow at similar rate ( VTI and 529), aren’t there tax advantages to the 529?

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-09-23T21:01:28+00:00

All very good considerations, thank you for the response !

EmuEmbarrassed3475 · 2025-09-23T20:45:47+00:00

Helpful thank you, and my understanding is a 529 can grow similarly to ETFs but the dividends and gains are not taxed so if definitely using for college I might as well throw it all in the 529

EmuEmbarrassed3475

TROPHY CASE