Yatri

Filed under: Debt, Saving Money, Retirement advice

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Frank Armstrong -- founder of Investors Solutions and author of several books including "Save Your Retirement" (FT Press) -- on what Gen Xers and Gen Yers need to do to have a happy retirement.

Open a 401(k), but only if your company matches and the cost isn't too high. Otherwise, open your own 401(k) or IRA. Most importantly, pay down credit card debt and "rights-size" your life.

Podcast: Tips for Gen Xers and Yers on saving for retirement originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In England, specifically Titchfield, Hampshire a small family jeweler has taken it upon themselves to create the most expensive Christmas ornament in the world.

According to Mark Hussey as reported in the Telegraph, a partner in Hallmark Jewellers he had a vision about making something special and had done some research into the priciest ornaments currently available. He had been working on the piece for almost a full year starting just after Boxing Day 2008, which is traditionally the day after Christmas. Even though they would love to find a buyer for the fabulous piece he did mention that he wouldn't mind finding this special ornament on his own tree come Christmas Eve.

The ornament itself is composed of 18 carat white gold and is studded with over one and half thousand diamonds. Two rings consisting of 188 red rubies surround the body of the ornament. It took over 130 hours just to set the gems in the piece. The National Association of Goldsmiths independently valued the bauble at 82,000 British pounds which depending on the exchange rate is just over $130,000. All of this hard work and expensive gemstones are not going unprotected. In something out of a James Bond movie the decorative ornament is encased in a special container framed in steel an 6mm thick laminated glass. If the alarm is triggered a internal signal will fill the shop with smoke.

Will the name Hallmark become associated with Christmas the way Faberge is permanently linked to gorgeously designed and bejeweled Easter eggs? Only time will tell, but if you'd like a very splashy ornament for your tree you know where to look.

Filed under: Decor, Jewelry

Most Expensive Christmas Ornament Valued At Over $130,000 originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Europe, BMW

Normally we can think of some cute little anecdote to kick these here posts off with, but today... can't do it. BMW is raising their prices by 0.4 percent across the board on vehicles sold in North America. This price increase takes effect on January 1, 2010. Why? BMW isn't saying. And while less than a percent may not sound like much, if you're buying a stripper 760Li ($136,600), that's like $600!

There is a tiny sliver of good news. The three vehicles that just got introduced to this continent in December -- the ActiveHybrid X6, ActiveHybrid 7 and the 550i Gran Turismo -- are unaffected by this price increase. Of course as all three of those vehicles haven't proved themselves in the marketplace yet, so that sliver is even tinier upon second glance.

But it's not just the base prices that are going up. Destination & Handling fees are on the rise as well. Every new BMW is coming with an additional $50 tacked onto the 2009 $825 price, for a total of $875. And yes, this fifty dollar increase applies to the two new hybrids and the Gran Turismo as well. Happy New Year!


[Source: BMW]

Happy New Year! BMW rings in 2010 with price increases across the board originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the first time in over a hundred years, we get an inside view of how Dunhill manufactures its beautiful leather goods. Never before has Dunhill shown the outside world how the world class craftsman create their products. In this clip we get to see a portion of the film demonstrating the making of Dunhill's Double Document Case.

While we have always admired the finished product, watching the craftsmen at work makes it all that more interesting. It happens in the Walthamstow workshop and all by hand. Each leather artisan is responsible for the construction of a piece from start to finish and includes a stamped card with their name on it inside the finished product. The sense of personal pride taken by the master craftsmen translates into the highest quality and standard of work for Dunhill.

From the consumer's perspective, watching the skills and techniques involved helps one understand the price tag of over 1,800 British Pounds Sterling for this special bag. The company has a hundred and sixteen years of experience and the same processes that were used in the beginning are still being employed in the crafting of their leather goods today. Anyone who has an interest in fine products should find this glimpse, albeit orchestrated for film, into the manufacturing process at Dunhill fascinating.

Filed under: Men's Style

Dunhill Lets Cameras Roll In Their Workshop originally appeared on Luxist on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Hatchback, Volvo

Possibly the biggest news to come out of Volvo's announcement of pricing for the 2011 C30 is that there is going to BE a 2011 C30. We ogled the nipped and tucked C30 T5 in Frankfurt and came away even more smitten than before with Volvo's neo-brake. The revised fascia and nipped and tucked bumpers bring the C30 into line with the future of Volvo design, however shaky that may be.

It's hard to deny the allure of the stylish little dumpling, and it won't even break the bank. Available in the United States exclusively in T5 trim for 2011, $24,600 (plus *$850 for destination and delivery charges) will get you into the Swedish hatch with a 227 horsepower inline-five hooked to a six-speed manual. If the swoopy Swede isn't enough for you in stock trim, the C30 T5 R-Design brings lowered ride height and a monochromatic bodykit that makes the car look like it's hunkered way down over its new 18-inch wheels.

The best part of the R-Design package are the suspension tweaks. Volvo says the stiffer bushings make the steering more direct and the rack's ratio is faster, too. Spring rates are up, and both the dampers and the swaybars have been stiffened, as well. Sounds expensive, doesn't it? Not so much - $26,950 (plus $850 D&D) strikes us as a small bargain for the nattily styled Volvo hatch with sharpened teeth. Of course, that's before a visit to Ye Olde Options List, where the bottom line can get pretty daunting pretty quickly. Press release posted after the jump.




[Source: Volvo]

Continue reading Volvo prices 2011 C30 T5 from $24,600, C30 T5 R-Design at $26,950*

Volvo prices 2011 C30 T5 from $24,600, C30 T5 R-Design at $26,950* originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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URL shorteners have been around for years, but they were mostly afterthoughts rather than legitimate businesses. That all changed with the rise of Twitter and short-form, 140-character blogging. With limited space for tweeting, the URL shortener business has boomed. Bit.ly has grown tremendously, companies like Coke have even made their own and even Digg has gotten in on the action.

Bit.ly has not had any major threat to its market share, but that’s about to change. We’re learning that Facebook now has its own URL shortener. It’s unclear how long fb.me has been operation. What is clear, though, is that it’s appearing more and more in mobile links and within the Twitter stream.

Currently, Fb.me seems to be rolled out on a limited basis. As Inside Facebook points out, the Facebook URL Shortener is already in use on the mobile interface. Whenever links are shared within a mobile interface (i.e. an m.facebook.com link), it is now automatically shortened using fb.me.

It’s also active for Facebook usernames. For example, the short URLs fb.me/mashable and fb.me/benparr will take you to the Mashable fan page and my profile page respectively. This works for any username in the Facebook system.

It seems clear to us that Facebook has bigger plans for fb.me. It could be that any content coming out of Facebook could utilize the fb.me URL. It could even offer integrations with Facebook analytics, Facebook Connect and other Facebook tools — something that should concern Bit.ly.

Our guess is that you should expect to see a lot more of fb.me very soon.

Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter

Tags: facebook

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Samsung ST5500 WiFi camera hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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