Things To Do In SW Florida

Katie Kelton | (TNS) Bankrate.com

Jamie Feldman, 35 years old, lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. and is currently paying off nearly $20,000 in credit card debt. She’s also the co-host of Debt Heads podcast. After being laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, she maxed out a credit card while spending to keep up with her social life.

“It was a lot of social commitments,” Feldman explains. “A lot of weddings, a lot of expensive dinners in New York with friends who were making more money than me, a lot of inability to say no to things even if I couldn’t afford them or didn’t want to do them.”

She thought of her debt as something she would deal with later — until later came, and she was in over her head in interest charges and minimum payments. Feldman made a decision to stop shopping and dining out for one month to see how it affected her budget.

“Unsurprisingly, it made a huge difference,” she says. “It was the first time I was really looking at my finances and seeing where my money was going, what I was spending it on and what I was bringing in.” read more

Gatorland is rolling out an in-park tribute to its rescue animals past and present. The first stars of its new Alligator Walk of Fame now can be seen along the attraction’s breeding marsh boardwalk.

“It’s a way to try to get more news out there, letting more folks know about our conservation program through Gatorland Global,” said Mark McHugh, president and CEO of the attraction — “to protect, conserve and educate is our mission there.”

Gatorland just marked its 100th rescue animal with an alligator now called Homey D, named after the Home Depot store he had been living behind.

The first alligator Hall of Famer appearing on the north end of the walk is Chester, who became the first rescue in 2002. Chester was famously a threat to dogs in a Tampa neighborhood. At the time, state law prohibited attractions such as Gatorland to take alligators from the wild, McHugh said.

After hearing about Chester, “we contacted Florida Fish and Wildlife and asked for a modification of that rule so that we can purchase them live from trappers,” he said. That was the first time that had happened in the state, and now rescue alligators can live out their natural lives at the South Orange Blossom Trail attraction. Chester resided in a prime Gatorland location until his death in late 2022. read more

René Bennett | (TNS) Bankrate.com

A common financial struggle for Americans is deciding how much money to devote to savings versus paying down debt. While the answer varies on a case-by-case basis, it’s often important to strike a balance between the two.

Wiping out high-interest debt on a timely basis will reduce the amount of total interest you’ll end up paying, and it’ll free up money in your budget for other purposes.

On the other hand, not having enough emergency savings can lead to even more credit card debt when you’re hit with an unplanned expense. More than 2 in 5 (43 percent) of U.S. adults with a balance on their credit card say emergency or unexpected expenses are the reason for having this debt from month to month, according to Bankrate’s Credit Card Debt Survey.

While there’s no right answer for everyone on how to juggle debt repayment and saving money, here are a few scenarios for when each choice makes more sense.

When to make saving a priority

Here are some valid reasons for putting more of a focus on saving money than reducing debt: read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate held steady in June for a third consecutive month, as baby-boomer retirements affect the size of the labor force and the hospitality industry has shed some jobs.

The Florida Department of Commerce on Friday released a report that said the state’s June unemployment rate was 3.3 percent, unchanged from April and May.

During the three months, the labor force of 11.07 million people lost 27,000 participants, including a reduction of 13,000 from May to June. The estimated number of people out of work remained at 361,000 in June.

Jimmy Heckman, the department’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, attributed the decrease in the labor force primarily to retirements, while saying workforce participation remains strong among people ages 25 to 54.

“We’ve looked at things like discouraged workers, workers that feel like there’s no opportunities out there for them. Those numbers have remained really, really low over the past 12 months,” Heckman said during a conference call with reporters. read more