Things To Do In SW Florida

Commuters who rely on Florida’s plethora of toll roads are about to save some money.

The state is renewing a discount program that was in place last year, and expired at the beginning of 2024. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday it’s being renewed for another year, effective immediately.

The program applies across the state, the governor said at a news conference in Miami, but “South Florida and Central Florida have the most, of course, and I think more people will save in those two regions than others.”

Frequent commuters on Florida’s Turnpike, the Sawgrass Expressway, and the Interstate 95 and Interstate 595 express lanes would benefit.

Anyone who has 35 toll transactions a month automatically gets a credit on their monthly toll statements. That threshold makes the program apply to people who commute to work almost every day, not those who regularly split their time between working from home and traveling to work.

“You don’t have to do anything. And you’ll see it on your May bill to show up if you reach that threshold where you, we know you’re commuting, you’re gonna get a 50% reduction,” DeSantis said. read more

Alexandra Skores | (TNS) The Dallas Morning News

A captain flying on a commercial airline’s largest aircraft can bring home an average of $348,252 a year, based on recent pilot contracts that passed over the last year.

That’s just the best of the best when it comes to being a commercial airline pilot — a career that comes with years of high-earning salaries and benefits. But to get there, pilots need to invest into training and flying hours, which can often come with mounds of debt. ATP Flight School estimates it costs $108,995 to become a pilot when starting with no previous experience or $86,995 when starting with a private pilot certificate.

So what are the top commercial airlines for pilots to earn the big bucks? Here’s a list of a few.

American Airlines

At American, first-year pilots are at a flat rate, Tajer said. A first-year, first officer at American would be paid $116 an hour in 2024 under the new contract. Depending on how often that new commercial airline pilot would fly, that could mean an average $114,180 annual salary starting out, Darby said. read more

By Kimberly Palmer | NerdWallet

Financial stress is so common that certified financial planner Katie Lindquist says almost every client she has tells her they are feeling it.

“They don’t know what they should be doing with their money, and they feel like they should know. They feel shame around their money habits, which is a huge driving force of stress,” Lindquist says.

To alleviate that tension, Lindquist helps them get organized and take inventory of their financial accounts and goals. “People who have financial plans are a lot less stressed because they know where they are and where they want to go,” says Lindquist, who is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

To combat overwhelming feelings of money stress, financial experts suggest taking these steps:

Normalize the feeling

Knowing how common financial stress is can help people realize there isn’t something wrong with them when they feel it, says Bari Tessler, author of “The Art of Money” and a financial therapist in Boulder, Colorado.

“Increased financial anxiety has everything to do with interest rates, inflation, job challenges, life curveballs and world events,” Tessler says. Those stressors impact almost everybody. It can lead people to freeze and ignore their finances or to check them too obsessively, she says, neither of which is helpful. read more

Florida could become yet another state to legalize recreational marijuana after the state Supreme Court determined Monday that the question should go before the voters in November.

If approved with 60% of the vote, the constitutional amendment would allow adults 21 or older to “possess, purchase, or use” up to 3 ounces of marijuana products, as well as legalize marijuana accessories.

It would also allow medical marijuana treatment centers and other state-licensed businesses to “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories.”

The approval comes two years after the court ruled a similar marijuana measure was misleading and struck it from the 2022 ballot.

This time, the court ruled 5-2 that the amendment had a singular purpose and clear language.

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody had opposed the measure, arguing it shouldn’t be put on the ballot because it would be misleading to voters as she thought it didn’t make clear marijuana is illegal under federal law. read more

Jeff Ostrowski | (TNS) Bankrate.com

In a real estate transaction, there’s always some level of negotiation. If you’re the seller, you face haggling not only with prospective buyers, but also with the person you’re working with to seal the deal: your real estate agent.

Thanks to a federal lawsuit that was recently settled, the way real estate commissions work will change in July 2024 (pending court approval). If you’re looking to save some money, here’s what you need to know about how commissions work, and how to agree on a rate that both you and your agent can feel good about.

How real estate commission works, and who pays for it

A generation ago, real estate commission rates were typically around 6% of a home’s sale price. But the average real estate commission rate has gone down in recent years to just under 5% of a home’s sale price, according to Real Trends, a real estate research and consulting firm, and to Anywhere Real Estate, the parent of Century 21, Coldwell Banker and other brokerage brands.

Under the current system, the fee is typically paid by the seller at closing, and it’s customarily split down the middle between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent. (So, for a 5% commission, each agent would earn 2.5%.) On a $400,000 transaction, which is around the median sale price nationwide, the 5% fee amounts to $20,000. read more