Things To Do In SW Florida

By Chanelle Bessette | NerdWallet

Whether it’s a 5% increase or a 20% bump, a pay raise at work is an opportunity to take charge of your financial priorities. A small raise might not seem like much when it’s broken down into a biweekly paycheck, but over time, that difference in income could provide a boost to your lifestyle or be put toward other financial goals.

Whether you decide to pay off debt, pad your safety net, invest, give back, improve your quality of life or treat yourself, a raise is a good time to think about the direction of your financial life.

Keep an eye on lifestyle creep

Many personal finance experts warn against “lifestyle creep,” which is when you begin to spend more as you earn more. Lifestyle creep can take the form of buying more conveniences — like ordering food in more often — or buying more expensive or higher-quality items, like sturdier hiking boots or a better brand of skin care products.

“If you get a raise and use it to buy a new car or a new home or go out every weekend, your rate of spending might surpass your new income,” says Mabel Nuñez, founder of the investing education site Girls on the Money. read more

Corra, a 2-month-old African elephant, skipped onto the savanna for the first time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park on Thursday morning.

Within that first hour, she scampered alongside mom Nadirah, explored a log and interacted with her aunts and grandmother. She played with her food, a stack of hay, freshly fluffed by Walt Disney World cast members.

And she mostly ignored the tourists rolling by as part of the park’s Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction, even after one cried out “It’s a baby!”

Corra is a big baby, weighing in at 312 pounds, an increase from her 200 pounds when she was born at Animal Kingdom in December.

“She is very much a little kid,” said Dr. Scott Terrell, director of animal and science operations.

“They’re always a little clumsy with their trunk, and she tripped over her trunk and she stumbled in,” he said. “She loves to climb on things. … She loves to play with bubbles. The team will give her a bubble bath, and she loves to blow bubbles. She loves to play in the water. She loves to annoy her big sister Stella. read more

By ALEX VEIGA (AP Business Writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week to its highest level in 10 weeks, a setback for prospective homebuyers ahead of the spring homebuying season.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 6.77% from 6.64% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.32%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, pushing the average rate to 6.12% from 5.90% last week. A year ago it averaged 5.51%, Freddie Mac said.

The increase in rates echoes moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing loans. Stronger-than-expected reports on inflation, the job market and the overall economy have stoked worries among bond investors that the Federal Reserve will wait longer before it begins cutting interest rates.

Hopes for such cuts amid signs that inflation has declined from its peak two summers ago has been a major reason the 10-year Treasury yield has mostly pulled back since October, when it climbed to its highest level since 2007. read more