Things To Do In SW Florida

In 1971, when parts of Orange Avenue were still surrounded by orange groves, a young couple from Los Angeles relocated to Florida and decided to open a record store.

Everyone seemed to think they were crazy, even the company representatives that sold them records. “They saw us going out in about six months,” Hanna Skrobko said. “Surprise, surprise.”

More than five decades later, Skrobko is bidding farewell to the store she owned with her late husband, a place she said became a hot spot for fans of vinyl records and independent music.

“We made it because we were too full of ourselves to understand that you really can’t do this,” she said.

East West Records, which proclaims itself the oldest independent vinyl record store in Florida, will be closing at the end of the month, shutting the store at 4895 S Orange Ave.

It is holding a sale this weekend, and it will donate its sign, a giant white square with the red-and-white East West Records logo, to the Orange County Regional History Center. read more

James Royal, Ph.D. | (TNS) Bankrate.com

A volatility exchange-traded fund (ETF) lets traders bet on an increase in the stock market’s volatility. It can be a highly profitable wager if the market suddenly becomes more volatile — for example, if it crashes — but the fund’s price constantly erodes due to how the fund is structured.

Here are some of the best volatility ETFs and ETNs, with data as of August 2, 2024.

What is a volatility ETF?

A volatility ETF gives traders the ability to wager on the stock market’s volatility. Unlike a typical ETF, which owns stock or options of actual companies, a volatility ETF uses complex financial instruments called derivatives (such as futures) to create a fund that rises in value when the market gets rocky. If the market does become more volatile, the fund may soar, often quickly.

Volatility is often measured by the CBOE Volatility Index, commonly known as the VIX. It’s called “the fear gauge” since the index spikes when investors get nervous. The index historically moves inversely to the direction of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. So a volatility ETF may be useful as a short-term hedge against a portfolio or as a one-way bet on the market’s direction. read more

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

Staying at a beach house with friends can be a lot of fun. Deciding which house to rent via a poorly organized group chat? Not so much.

Using vacation rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo for group trips makes sense. In most cases, they’re more affordable than hotels for large groups, according to a 2022 NerdWallet analysis, and they foster group activities like cooking and playing games. So it’s hardly surprising that more than 80% of bookings on Airbnb are for groups, according to data shared by the platform.

Yet these benefits come with trade-offs. There’s the whole shared bathroom issue and the “which-couple-gets-the-much-nicer-bedroom” dilemma. But before check-in, there’s the question of which rental to choose that matches the group’s preferences.

In May, Airbnb added features aimed at making group travel easier to plan, including shared wish lists and group messaging with hosts. These features smooth out some of the logistics of planning a group trip, yet no feature in an app will make herding cats (i.e., your friends and family) easy. read more

Taylor Freitas | (TNS) Bankrate

Your monthly mortgage payment will probably be the largest line item in your household budget. Impacting the size of those payments is the sort of mortgage you choose — particularly a 15-year vs. a 30-year mortgage. A shorter schedule requires larger payments but allows you to pay off the loan faster, while a 30-year schedule lowers your monthly payments but costs more in interest in the long term.

Here’s how to decide whether a 15-year or a 30-year mortgage is right for you.

15-year vs. 30-year mortgages: What is the difference?

Both 15-year and 30-year mortgages are fixed-rate loans. The difference lies mainly in their terms — how long you have to pay them off.

The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is the go-to for most Americans buying a home because it allows the borrower to spread loan payments out over three decades. Doing so helps keep the monthly payment more affordable. But it does mean paying more in total interest for the loan.

With a 15-year mortgage, borrowers pay off their loan in a decade and a half. As a result, each monthly loan payment will be larger. But the overall cost of the loan will be less, since you’re paying interest for a shorter amount of time. read more