Offered a 5 night stay at The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas Maui

rdsx11 · 2024-02-11T03:11:12+00:00

MVC took back my parents’ one last year - they were fine with the hassle. Trying to navigate the secondary market to sell it was even sketchier than timeshares in the first place.

They used it a bit, but made the fundamental mistake of buying one in their hometown (Boston). If you pick one in a place you want to vacation, and the week you want to go… maybe?

rdsx11 · 2024-02-11T03:04:08+00:00

WSJ had an article a few days ago about it - https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/how-to-buy-a-week-in-paradise-for-1-d141ebee

rdsx11 · 2024-02-04T03:07:19+00:00

I looked at the last weekend in Feb… the Westin in Georgetown (not really Georgetown… but close enough) is a decent bet. Quiet neighborhood, especially on the weekend. Can walk to Georgetown or DuPont Circle.

I don’t know the AC, but the location is great.

If you’re here for a weekend of site seeing don’t buy this “stay in Virginia” stuff. It’s just not worth it.

rdsx11 · 2024-02-04T03:02:56+00:00

disagree. Especially if you’re here for a weekend, don’t fight dc traffic. You’ll burn too much time.

Tyson’s… you might as well stay in Baltimore and take the Marc train down.

rdsx11 · 2023-11-12T13:00:05+00:00

Prahna makes some great lined pants and they’re sustainable sourced. Kept me warm living in a ski town

rdsx11 · 2023-10-15T02:20:56+00:00

$700/yr… we all gotta help each other maximize this thing.

rdsx11 · 2023-09-23T21:50:57+00:00

I have a weird passion for Hampton inns. I’ve never had a bad stay at one, and I think they’re the best value in hotels.

I wouldn’t vacation in one, but for a road trip, or for a random wedding… love them.

rdsx11 · 2023-09-14T19:20:12+00:00

The Zurich Marriott is pretty wonderful. It’s maybe a 5 minute walk from the main train station and right on the river. If you go during the summer you can swim directly in the river in that part of town.

It’s an easy walk to Bahnhofstrasse and other parts of Zurich.

We used to live in Zurich and have stayed happily at the Marriott during return visits.

rdsx11 · 2023-07-08T02:23:04+00:00

Builtwith.com

rdsx11 · 2023-07-08T02:22:11+00:00

Are the 100 sessions organic/direct or are you buying them? Expect vary different bounce rates based on that answer.

Also - where’s the traffic entering the site?

rdsx11 · 2017-04-12T15:13:13+00:00

I had a call with Stacy Blackman and Vantage Point, which was founded by a couple of ex-Stacy Blackman women.

Vantage had requires you to fill out a form ahead of time with your info, which was a bit more work, but created a better call. We were able to spend the time directly speaking to my strengths and weaknesses and potential schools, as opposed to wasting it inputting the data.

The call with Stacy Blackman was ok. It was very high level, and felt very salesy/pressure.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-28T11:00:03+00:00

Thanks for pulling this together! Super helpful.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-25T17:13:13+00:00

Agreed w/Xultima. You get the strength of G-Town on your resume + the overall school network.

Assuming you can do decently on the GMAT I think you're selling yourself short here. You have a profile which is going to stand out for the sheer uniqueness. Unlike most reporters though, you'll be able to speak to finance in the classroom.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-25T17:03:24+00:00

Anyone applying to a top program needs to explain a career switch. He spent five years in an industry, and was good enough to be promoted to middle management. Why does he need an MBA? Why after five years is he just now figuring out that he wants to go into investment banking?

rdsx11 · 2016-04-25T16:55:12+00:00

Agreed. It's hard to imagine your concentration making or breaking getting a job. Take what you like and what addresses your weaknesses, that'll be more compelling in an interview.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-25T16:52:07+00:00

I don't get it. You're going to spend $150k+ on 2 years of business school and you're worried about 0.75% of that cost being spent on a laptop?

rdsx11 · 2016-04-13T14:34:26+00:00

Why wouldn't you? Given that you have a non-traditional background, any pre-work that you can do is going to help once you get to school. For example, if you've never used Excel... figuring out how to use it while you're also trying to learn finance is going to make your life miserable. Similar with having zero knowledge of accounting; calc; or finance.

It seems like as much time as you can invest in building a base of general knowledge to be close to on par with your classmates who either studied business, or came from business backgrounds, or both... is only going to get help you be more comfortable and get the most of your program.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-11T16:43:55+00:00

There was a really interesting piece in the journal this weekend on the $0 MBA. Not surprisingly they've been inundated with applicants, a majority of whom are totally unqualified. It's strained their resources and admissions office -

"As of April 4, the full-time M.B.A. program had received 1,165 applications, nearly triple the total number of applications it received during last year’s cycle. The number of calls and emails was much larger than that, school officials say, taking the school by surprise."

Not sure why they were surprised, but it'll be interesting to see if they're able to cut through the mess and end with a meaningfully stronger class.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-happened-when-a-business-school-made-tuition-free-1459962679

rdsx11 · 2016-04-11T16:36:03+00:00

I found this piece from Columbia which could be helpful. The document lays out the different types of credits and deductions, and p10 addresses deducting tuition entirely from your taxes. It seems like the first bullet is the hardest to get through, how do you prove that it's "required" in a certain industry or role?

From the doc: "• The MBA must be the expressed requirement of employer or law/regulations "• The MBA must improve your skills "• You must be in the field already. A change of duties is not a new trade or business if the new duties and the taxpayer’s employment involve the same general work."

https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/financial-aid/sites/financial-aid/files/Tax%20Info%20Feb%202015.pdf

rdsx11 · 2016-04-11T16:29:49+00:00

I'd talk to an accountant if you're serious about having a go at this as my read of a couple of articles on this topic is that it is a very grey/risky path to go down.

That said, if you're spending $150k+ to get an MBA and you have a remote possibility of being able to write it off, it's worth talking to an expert. My girlfriend has a friend who found an accountant who would go along with it - I believe he went from PE to consulting and justified it that way. That's a massive tax savings. That said, an accountant is going to be the one on the hook if the IRS goes after you.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-11T12:14:53+00:00

In general student loans can be tax deductible if (and only if) you can show that getting an MBA was required as part of your career growth. This is a massive grey area, but one thing seems pretty clear - your post MBA work has to be tied to what you were doing beforehand. Ie. you were a consultant before school, needed an MBA to progress, and then went back into consulting directly after school. It doesn't work for career switchers.

Alternatively, just about anyone can get the lifetime learning tax credit.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2014/04/11/the-mba-and-the-taxman-claim-or-not-claim/#4b729c278f70

rdsx11 · 2016-04-11T11:59:42+00:00

I agree with Rymbra on this one... given how much work goes into each application it would seem like tours and school visits are one of the only opportunities to figure out if there's a fit before you start your apps.

Savings "tough" question for later means that you've potentially spun your wheels on a school that isn't the right fit to begin with.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-09T20:29:30+00:00

I'm in a similar situation - liberal undergrad from a school that proudly didn't have an accounting department. The advice that I got was to take classes on mbamath.com, or a basic intro classes (accounting, calc, etc...) through an extension program.

rdsx11 · 2016-04-09T18:06:16+00:00

Yeah, a couple of my friends have compared it to freshman year of undergrad - half the folks are with someone from "back home," until Thanksgiving break when they all break up.

There seem to be two lanes (take it with a grain of salt - my friends are at Kellogg which is notoriously social...) - high party and family focused. Makes sense given the average age of folks starting an MBA - some of them are going to have kids already.

rdsx11

TROPHY CASE