What’s in a name? What's behind the names of UK agencies' meeting rooms

Read article : What’s in a name? What's behind the names of UK agencies' meeting rooms

Agency offices often display their culture and creativity throughout their offices, from murals on their walls to bathroom reading material to what they call their meeting rooms. Here are the stories behind some U.K. agencies’ meeting room names.

Agency: Essence
Names: Oolong, Darjeeling, Lady Grey, Lapsang Souchong
Essence’s global offices name their meeting rooms to reflect the local food and drink scene: The Seattle office’s rooms have names like Umbria and Zoka, after local coffee roasters; Singapore’s are called local drinks Tiger Beer and Singapore Sling; San Francisco’s are named for local craft beers such as Pliny the Elder and the Denogginizer. Since the U.K. is a nation of tea drinkers, Essence London went with a tea theme. “It’s a pretty good representation of how Essentials spend time together outside of office hours in each location,” said Michael Butler, Essence’s business development manager.

Agency: Manning Gottlieb OMD
Names: Chess, blue label, locomotive, Titanic, apple, ghost
Manning Gottlieb OMD’s workforce is divided into four “tribes,” named after inventors in media: Turing, Marconi, Lumière and Caxton, and each of the meeting-room names is a reference to the inventors. For instance, the first moving images projected by the Lumière brothers were of an approaching locomotive, while Alan Turing used chess to demonstrate what a computer could do.

Agency: We Are Social
Names: Winter Conference, Meme room, Lady and Man Chat, Running, Cycling
Skype, We Are Social’s first client, is the agency’s main internal channel of communication. As an homage, the meeting rooms are named after key Skype chats. There’s a Skype group for cycling fanatics, a Skype chat for running fans and a Skype chat for food recommendations. The agency also has a room called Meme, displaying framed pictures of Grumpy Cat and Baby Fist, and a Winter Conference room named for its annual ski trip, ahem, winter conference.

Agency: GroupM
Names: King George, Queen Victoria, Kensington Palace
The agency took a survey to decide what to call the meeting rooms when it moved into new office, and the most popular option was kings and queens. There are rooms named after kings on one floor, queens on another and palaces on a third.

Agency: FCB Inferno
Names: Boudica, Sheba, Latifah, Liberace, Priscilla, Oscar
FCB Inferno’s meeting rooms are named after queens, both literal (Victoria and Cleopatra) and figurative (Liberace and Priscilla). “It helps make for a positive meeting,” said founding partner Tim Doust.

Agency: Mediacom
Names: Rosa (Parks), Florence (Nightingale), Albert (Einstein), Pablo (Picasso), Leonardo (Da Vinci)
Mediacom has named its meeting rooms after accomplished and inspiring people from throughout history, such as Da Vinci. “His art and inventions all adhere to his quote, ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,’ where they were founded on simple principles but were still groundbreaking,” explained art director Sam Learmonth. “In the same way at Mediacom, we know that the best work is a combination of simple truths, cutting-edge technology and creative innovation.”

Agency: Dentsu Aegis
Names: Dame Stephanie Stevie Shirley, Sophie Wilson, Admiral Grace Hopper
The Dentsu Aegis meeting rooms are named after media pioneers such as Johannes Gutenberg, who invented the printing press, and Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. They also all used to be named after men, but they now include female pioneers in the media and tech space, like Hedy Lamarr, who invented a form of wireless communication, and Ada Lovelace, a pioneer in computer programming.

Agency: M&C Saatchi Mobile
Names: Archer, Oxford, Lexington
M&C Saatchi Mobile named its meeting rooms after street names in its Soho area of London to give the office a homey vibe. “Soho is the ultimate media and advertising area, and [it’s] a real draw for our employees,” said Libby Robinson, EMEA managing director, M&C Saatchi Mobile, adding that the names make the staff “feel like they are in the thick of the media industry.”

Agency: Rufus Leonard
Names: Zeppelin Bunker, The Armoury, The Rifle Range
The meeting-room names come from the agency’s main building, The Drill Hall, which is a former military installation. While The Shooting Gallery might be a mouthful for a room name, it’s a conversation starter for clients, said Charlotte Anderson, business development director. “The building is steeped in military history,” she said. “We wanted to honor its heritage.”

Agency: Livity
Names: Brighton, Brixton, Cape Town, Rio
Livity’s rooms are named after key locations: the agency launched in 2001 to tackle the biggest youth issues, like teenage pregnancy, gang crime and unemployment. Brixton, south London, where it launched, which was close to the worst-performing area on all positive youth outcomes at the time. The co-founders came up with the idea for the business in Brighton, and Cape Town was the company’s first office in Africa.

Main image courtesy of Mediacom

‘Fairytale’ Irish castle ranked in 25 best travel experiences in the world

Read article : ‘Fairytale’ Irish castle ranked in 25 best travel experiences in the world

A “fairytale” experience at Ashford Castle has been listed as one of the 25 best travel experiences in the world.

The listing was compiled by US travel advisor Chad Clark, who is aiming to certify travel “experiences” to create an annual list similar to what the Michelin Guide is for restaurants.

“You have the Forbes Travel Guide for hotel star ratings and Michelin for restaurants and Golf Magazine for the Top 100 courses, but there is nothing like that for experiences and that’s what everyone is looking for today,” he says. The ‘Certified 25’ is the “first of its kind in the travel industry”, he says, and the aim is to create an annual list of the best travel experiences around the world.

Experiences - and “experiential travel” - are the current buzzwords travel industry. For the ultimate travel bragging rights, it’s no longer enough to book a luxury hotel room in the five-star hotel with the best views of whatever piazza you happen to be in. Now it’s about “making memories through experiences”, according to travel advisors. Travellers want to actually do, see or learn something while on a trip, as opposed to lazing by the pool. It’s no surprise that the trend is particularly evident in the luxury travel market with wildlife safaris, Arctic cruises and active travel with learning experiences, such as photography courses, all on the increase.

Airbnb is also building on this momentum with its “experiences” section, where travellers can link up with locals in cities around the world. Other similar initiatives include Cool Cousin, which is soon to launch in Dublin. The Cool Cousin app provides a profile of locals who you can select according to your interests. You then receive their map of their city ,which is loaded with at least 25 of their favourite places, from restaurants to shops, as well as personalised advice.

Despite all the interest in the area, Clark believes it is hard to find the “best in class” experiences – there is no gathering of five-star experiences, which is where his “Certified 25” come in. The winners of the first annual listing were announced at the Virtuoso Travel Symposium in Las Vegas earlier this week. Virtuoso is a consortium of luxury and specialist travel advisors and agents and many of Clark’s listings are affiliates of the network, which has about 1,700 affiliates around the world.

Clark owns the Phoenix-based Chad Clark Travel Ventures. To create the Certified 25, he surveyed luxury travel industry suppliers and other travel experts, who submitted their best experiences from around the world. The winners were “chosen on their own merits of how cool the experience actually is”, he says. Reader beware however – money is no object when it comes to Clark’s definition of a “cool” experience.

A private showing of The Quiet Man in the 32-seat cinema at Ashford Castle is included in its fairytale experience – with Champagne and popcorn of course

Ireland’s sole listing is the “Ashford Castle Fairytale experience”. It includes private chauffeur transfers from the airport; two nights in a Stateroom; afternoon tea in the Connaught Room; falconry; a private showing of The Quiet Man in the 32-seat cinema at the hotel, with Champagne and popcorn of course; dinners in the Dungeon and George V restaurants; wine tasting; and meeting the estate’s Irish Wolfhounds. The price of your fairytale? From €4,350 in low season to €6,350 in high season.

General manager Niall Rochford says the castle is “privileged to represent Ireland and Irish tourism internationally as the only Irish property to be included in this inaugural list”. He describes Clark as someone “who has himself carved a career as a highly regarded and influential travel expert worldwide”.

“Our Fairytale Castle Experience offers guests the chance to experience the magic of Ashford Castle, offering the utmost in modern luxury and five-star hospitality in the unique setting of this historic castle.”

In Sydney, Clark’s list recommends you contact husband and wife team Jamie and Alex, aka Local Eyes Sydney, to give you the quintessential Sydney experience. This involves starting your day with early morning yoga or surfing on the beach before breakfast, National Park bush and beach walks. Jamie and Alex bring guests to their home for lunch and drinks before sailing to see Sydney Harbour’s icons up close from their classic cruiser, Iluka. The nine-hour “quintessential” experience will set you back €4,183 for two people, more than what most of us will spend on a 10-day trip Down Under. (Price comparison note: Flights from Dublin to Sydney average at €1,100 per person.)

For those with even deeper pockets (or a second home to sell) who also have an ethical travel conscience, safari company Singita offers a behind-the-scenes stay in their lodge and Sabora Tented Camp in Tanzania.

Grumeti Black Rhino Project, learning about their anti-poaching unit and local enterprise development" height="348" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3189875!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg" width="620" /> A six-night safari with Singita Safaris in Tanzania includes working with Grumeti Black Rhino Project, learning about their anti-poaching unit and local enterprise development

The experience includes learning about their wildlife re-introduction efforts, through the Grumeti Black Rhino Project; working with their anti-poaching unit first-hand; learning about their new canine law enforcement unit as well as their fund of local enterprise development. As for the cost…take a deep breath. The six-night experience costs €6,305 per person, which might not seem too wild for a luxury six-night safari experience. However, there is also a compulsory contribution of €42,500 ($50,000) per booking to support Singita’s conservation programmes. It is based on a minimum of two people and the maximum group size is six.

You might be glad to find out that the list also includes more affordable items to enhance your travel experience wherever it may be, such as the Kickstarter crowd-funded G-RO Smart Carry-on luggage.

features USB ports and a powerful battery, lightweight design, and a patented larger wheel making it easier to wheel on all terrain" height="348" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3189874!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg" width="620" /> G-RO Smart Carry-on luggage (from €380) features USB ports and a powerful battery, lightweight design, and a patented larger wheel making it easier to wheel on all terrain

The bag (from €380, g-ro.com) features smart technology such as USB ports and a powerful battery, slick lightweight design, as well as a patented larger wheel concept that means a bag that is easier to wheel on all terrain - from cobbled streets to airport walkways.

Photography company Flyographer (flytographer.com) also features. The company, founded in 2013, links travelers with professional photographers in more than 130 destinations so you can abandon your selfie stick and instead use a professional photographer to capture your holiday snaps…for a fee of €210-€550 depending on the number of locations and length of the session.

Other immersive experiences include a volcano adventure with Four Seasons Hualalai; Mongolia’s Golden Eagle Festival with Nomadic Expeditions; an overnight Yurt stay at Platte Canyon with Brush Creek Ranch Luxury Collection; and a banquet on a remote section of the Great Wall of China with conservationist William Londesay.

See the full list below, or for more details, chadclarksertified.com

Top 25 Travel Experiences in the World (for those with very deep pockets)

Cong, Ireland: Ashford Castle’s Fairytale Experience includes a “luxurious stay in a medieval Irish castle where guests are invited to take part in authentic Irish activities throughout the castle and its picturesque grounds”.

London, UK:Travel company Noteworthy - who create “unforgettable Exquisite British Experiences” - allow clients behind-the-scenes access to the “Changing of the Guards” and the opportunity to photograph the event.

London, UK: The Beaumont Hotel in London offers a ‘do-it-yourself’ ice cream sundae with 300 potential permutations in the resort’s Colony Grill Room. For Clark, this is (thankfully) only part of the luxury offering at the Beaumont, which adding personal touches to all client stays.

ice cream sundae with 300 potential permutations in the resort’s Colony Grill Room" height="348" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3189870!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg" width="620" /> The Beaumont Hotel in London offers a ‘do-it-yourself’ ice cream sundae with 300 potential permutations in the resort’s Colony Grill Room

Bhutan:Amankora Bhutan’s spiritual and cultural safari involves walks through ancient rhododendron forests watching black necked cranes, soaking in a hot stone bath; interacting with novice monks and dining in a rustic stone potato shed.

Wyoming, US: Platte Canyon Overnight Camp at Brush Creek Ranch is a luxurious camping experience that includes private outdoor activities, gourmet meals around an open fire, a large yurt and two traditional teepees with large decks located over the North Platte River.

New York, US:Chatwal Hotel guests can enjoy insider access to Broadway from the landmark building once home to the oldest theatrical club in the US. Guests have the opportunity to be part of the cast of a Broadway show.

Italy:Rosa Alpina Hotel bring guests on a journey through the Dolomite Mountains where guests hike in luxury from “hut to hut” while enjoying the gourmet food and wines.

Colorado, US:Limited “only by the imagination”, Colorado’s Dunton Hot Springs offers customizable experiences that are specifically tailored for each guest’s interests, including cattle driving, and horse riding.

Flytographer:Flytographer connects travelers with vetted local photographers for short, candid vacation shoots in over 200 cities around the world, providing both an authentic travel experience and unforgettable souvenirs.

Hawaii, US:The Four Seasons Hotel Hualalai offers a volcano with a private helicopter journey over the big island, a trip to a Rainforest Cottage Hideaway where you can hike, swim, explore the area around the volcano.

New York, US: The Greenwich Hotel offers a fully complimentary minibar in all rooms. This includes v “vintage favorite goodies” reminiscent of childhood combined with trendy new snacks with all-natural, vegan and gluten-free options. By the way, this is a mini-bar with a difference. Alcohol is excluded.

Utah, US: A stay at the Waldorf Astoria Park City offers beautiful snow-covered views of the largest ski and snowboard resort in the US. Don’t forget to take their signature vanilla mint chapstick on all adventures, according to Clark.

G-RO Luggage: G-RO luggage is specifically designed to accompany on-the-go travelers whether they are traveling around the block or around the globe.

China: With Imperial Tours, guests travel by helicopter over the Great Wall of China, landing at an isolated tower for a gourmet banquet with conservationist William Lindesay, who helped draft the law protecting wall.

France: Indulge in a progressive Parisian culinary journey at Le Bristol Paris, where they experience the French Art de Vivre, a decadent breakfast, a tailor made picnic and dinner at Michelin three-star restaurant, Epicure.

France:A meal at Les Prés d’Eugénie-Michel Guerard is described as capturing “the essence of French luxury, style, grace and elegance in a sumptuous setting”.

Ecuador: Metropolitan Touring offer a nighttime walk through the forest in search of nocturnal amphibians and insects, ending with a surprise (well, it was meant to be a surprise) picnic.

Minaret Station, New Zealand:Travel company Minaret Station bring clients on a helicopter tour of the Southern Alps in New Zealand before touching down in a deserted alpine meadow. Then it’s time to enjoy a gourmet spread of lobster pulled fresh from the sea, Minaret Station-sourced beef and lamb and award-winning New Zealand wines.

Mongolia: Watch Kazakh hunters at the Golden Eagle Festival in the remote Altai Mountains as these skilled hunters and their highly-trained eagles compete for the top prize. Nomadic Expeditions arrange this experience.

Amalfi Coast, Italy: Hotel Palazzo Avino’s “Sea of Love” dining experience aims to suspend guests between land and sea. Start with a boat trip to your private candlelit dinner overlooking the ocean.

Hotel Palazzo Avino’s “Sea of Love” dining experience aims to suspend guests between land and sea." height="348" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3189871!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg" width="620" /> On the Amalfi Coast in Italy, the Hotel Palazzo Avino’s “Sea of Love” dining experience aims to suspend guests between land and sea.

Peru:Experience the mystical beauty of Peru’s Lake Titicaca, the cradle of Andean civilization, through visits to a traditional community on the island of Taquile and hiking ancient trails surrounded by stunning snow-capped mountain landscapes.

Tanzania:Singita safari company offer behind-the-scenes insight into the work of the Anti-Poaching Unit in the Serengeti.

Singita Safaris offers a behind-the-scenes stay in their lodge and Sabora Tented Camp in Tanzania – once you make a $50,000 ‘donation’ to their wildlife preservation work" height="348" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3189876!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg" width="620" /> Singita Safaris offers a behind-the-scenes stay in their lodge and Sabora Tented Camp in Tanzania – once you make a $50,000 ‘donation’ to their wildlife preservation work

India:Guests of the Ultimate Traveling Camp at Thiskey enjoy a day “on top of the world” where they are immersed in the region’s unique rituals and have the opportunity to try their hand at archery, raft down the Indus River and enjoy a picnic lunch.

Australia: True North conducts adventure-cruises in Australia’s stunning Kimberley region, with daily off-ship activities, some via the ship’s onboard helicopter.

Australia:Tour Sydney with husband and wife team Jamie and Alex (aka Local Eyes Sydney) who invite guests to their home for lunch and onboard their classic cruiser, Iluka to sail up close to Sydney Harbor’s icons. The tour also includes a native bush walk and opportunities to surf, stroll or perform yoga at the world famous Manly Beach.

Designing Your Home Ownership to Retire Earlier

Read article : Designing Your Home Ownership to Retire Earlier

The following is a guest contribution from reader and blogging friend Chris Mamula, a pending early-retiree in his 40’s. Chris has been writing on personal finance topics for several years. His efforts first came to my attention with his insightful review of my second book. In this post, Chris explores how to craft home ownership to support an early retirement, requiring less retirement savings while improving the quality of your life….

For many years, my wife and I made two assumptions about owning our home to facilitate our early retirement:

1. We should live in a low cost of living area, pay our home off quickly, and own it outright. We could then essentially eliminate our housing expenses during retirement.
2. Our home would be a safe investment because it would increase in value while simultaneously providing our family shelter.

Over the past year, I began studying real estate investing as a way to diversify our current portfolio that consists primarily of paper assets. As I learned, I thought about ways to incorporate real estate investing principles to reframe how we would approach buying our next home.

First we challenged our original assumptions. Real numbers told a different story about the cost of home ownership. Then we made the conscious decision to approach our next home as an investment in the life we truly want. This allowed us to decrease retirement savings needs by six figures while simultaneously enabling the lifestyle we desire.

The True Cost of Home Ownership

One of the most important decisions we made when getting serious about planning our early retirement was tracking our expenses. We have been doing this for the past three years and the information we gleaned from this process has been eye opening.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that on average the three largest areas of spending for most households are housing, followed by transportation, and then food. We originally assumed that because our spending is drastically different than the average household, these statistics did not apply to us. Our actual numbers told a different story.

Last year our biggest expense again was food, followed by housing and then transportation. Our numbers show that we do spend far less than the average household on housing and cars, and our overall spending is also subsequently less than average. However, even with a paid off home and cars, our three biggest areas of spending are the same as most everyone else.

The other thing that we have realized by tracking and analyzing our spending is how intertwined our housing decision is with other spending and quality of life. You may have a lower initial purchase price on your home by living away from work or popular attractions. However, it is easy to then make up for that with increased time and money traveling to work and entertainment.

This was certainly our case. Our transportation costs were driven by my hour round trip daily work commute and the fact that we live at least an hour one-way from our favorite hobbies: skiing, hiking, and rock climbing. Getting to good skiing or climbing in bigger mountains has required a full day drive to New England or a cross-country flight west. We typically take 2-4 such trips each year.

Next we looked at our assumptions that our home was a safe investment.

Is Your Home An Investment?

We built our home in 2005 for approximately $250,000. Since then we have done several costly upgrades totalling over $20,000. This brings our cost to over $270,000 before accounting for routine maintenance, property taxes, mortgage interest, and other expenses associated with home ownership.

Twelve years later, comparable homes in our area are selling for $240,000-$260,000. Even without factoring in real estate commission and taxes on the sale of our house, we have virtually no chance of recouping our initial capital investment, let alone making money on the transaction.

At the same time, as compared to our diversified paper portfolio that can be sold off strategically to our benefit, our home represents a large undiversified percentage of our capital tied up in one place. Needing to sell it when we want to move adds stress when watching our local market stagnate while most of the nation’s real estate prices soar.

As we planned what we wanted our life to look like in early retirement, we realized that if we wanted our home to be a good investment, we would need to approach it as investors.

Looking At Home Ownership As An Investor

As I read about real estate investing, one principle that I found useful in my introduction was Robert Kiyosaki’s concept of assets vs. liabilities. Kiyosaki says that your home is a liability, not an asset. His definitions essentially boil down to cash-flow. He defines an asset as anything that creates a recurring cash inflow to you, while a liability is anything that creates a cash outflow.

This definition is certainly oversimplified and not comprehensive or accurate from an accounting perspective. However, it has been extremely useful to help me challenge my assumptions. This concept helped create a different framework going forward as we looked at our home as a potential investment that could change our retirement equation.

Considerations When Buying A New Home

As we began to look for a western mountain town to live in for our early retirement, we did not throw out all conventional wisdom.

On a macro level, we narrowed down our list of potential ski towns first by affordability of housing. We wanted to go somewhere that we could use the equity from our current home to purchase our new home with cash or a very small mortgage.

On a micro level, once we honed in on Ogden, UT we tried to get the best price possible on our home based on local market conditions.

However, we went a step further. Rather than making unnecessary assumptions, we paid close attention to knowing our own personal numbers regarding how our housing decision would affect our overall expenses and lifestyle.

Going back to Kiyosaki’s asset vs. liability principle, we looked at how we could limit the liability of our purchase and possibly create a cash flowing asset.

Limiting Liability

We recently purchased our new home for $240,000. It has nearly identical finished square footage and lot size to our current home in Pennsylvania. It is an older house, but has been extensively remodeled in the past ten years.

The major items (roof, windows, furnace, plumbing, electric, etc.) are the same age or newer than in our now 12-year-old “new construction.” We therefore are assured that we will not have to carry a mortgage once we sell our current home, and the carrying costs (utilities, maintenance, etc.) for the new house should be very comparable to our current home.

Property taxes in Utah are far lower than in Pennsylvania. This comparable house has annual property taxes of $1,600 compared to our current $3,300 property taxes. This means a direct $1,700 annual reduction in liability of home ownership.

Choosing to live in a mountain town will also drastically reduce our indirect expenses associated with our current residence while increasing access to our favorite activities. On a day to day basis, we will now have only a 20-30 minute drive to world-class skiing in the winter. In warmer months, local climbing, hiking and paddling days will now mean walking from our front door to the trailheads or a short 10 minute drive to water activities. This will give us increased access at decreased cost compared to our current hour plus one-way drive to resorts, trailheads, or lakes.

Our travel expenses will decrease greatly. We will also have six additional world class ski resorts in the canyons around Salt Lake City an hour south and Jackson Hole about three hours north. We can drive in our own car and total cost will be the price of a day lift ticket. Previously, we have spent $2,000-$3,000 for a long weekend to fly across country, rent a 4WD vehicle, and pay for hotel rooms before ever purchasing expensive day tickets.

Likewise in the warmer months we will be less than a day drive to many of the west’s great parks including 6 national parks in Utah and the Grand Canyon to the south, and Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks to the north. This will eliminate the expense of long trips to get to outdoor destinations.

Lowering our property taxes and reducing our transportation and travel expenses should save us in total at least $5,000/year based on our prior years’ expenses. Using the inverse of the 4% rule, we would need to save 25 times our annual spending to support that spending with a traditional stock/bond portfolio. Therefore, reducing this liability means needing at least $125,000 less retirement savings while improving quality of life.

Creating an Asset

Originally, when thinking about moving west we were focused on controlling or even decreasing the liability of home ownership by simply buying a smaller, cheaper home than our current residence.

As we thought about what is really valuable to us, we wanted to have the space to host family and friends. In particular, we wanted to have a place for my parents, who are retired and have a close relationship with our daughter, to stay comfortably for extended periods.

Real estate investor/educator Chad Carson writes about a powerful strategy for new real estate investors that he labels “house hacking”. As he describes the strategy: “A house hack basically means that you buy a small multi-unit real estate property, live in one unit, and rent out the others.”

While we had no desire to live in a duplex or triplex and be landlords to our neighbors, we applied the lessons of house hacking to our personal situation to allow the lifestyle we desire.

We recently became regular customers and big fans of Airbnb for the comfort and value they provide when traveling with our family. We considered being Airbnb hosts.

We thought that if we could find the right property, it could provide us with a smaller, lower-cost main living space that we desired, a comfortable place for family and friends to stay with us as desired, and a potential cash flowing asset when not in use.

As stated above, our newly purchased home has roughly the same square footage as our current home. However, the layout is far different. The new home provides a much smaller primary living space. We also have a separate two-bedroom, one-bath space with a kitchen and living room with a private entry.

Using the extra space as an Airbnb, it should net a minimum of $100/night rented. If we extremely conservatively assume we could rent 50 nights/year (approximately 50% of weekends, no weeknights), we would make $5,000/year. Doubling to 100 nights/year is a reasonable estimate and would yield $10,000/year.

Returning to the inverse of the 4% rule, earning an extra $5,000-$10,000/year would be the equivalent of not having to save $125,000-$250,000 dollars for retirement.

From the standpoint of an investment, this is the equivalent of a 2-4% cash-on-cash return on our primary residence. Unlike our prior assumptions, we are not relying on any appreciation to make money. Any appreciation in home value will only enhance returns.

If we decide we hate being Airbnb hosts and never make a penny from this plan, we have controlled our downside risk by limiting our liability. We also avoided using any leverage to further limit downside risks.

A Message Bigger Than A House

This post introduced some real estate investing ideas that may be new to you. It also demonstrated the application of the concept of using personal spending to calculate retirement saving needs. However, focusing only on specific technical points would miss two much more valuable lessons.

First, to enable the life we truly want we needed to master basic simple fundamentals of personal finance. Tracking our expenses is Personal Finance 101 that “everyone knows,” yet few people actually do.

Our faulty assumptions were the result of the fact that we did not track our expenses for the first decade of our careers. Knowing our personal numbers now allows us to see how much we spend, where our money goes, and what drives our spending. This in turn enables planning in creative ways.

Second, if we want to live a life different than the standard 40-hour work week until age 60 or 70 there are multiple ways to do it. Conventional wisdom is that early retirement requires taking large risks and requires complex technical planning. You must make and then save massive amounts of money or live a life of extreme frugality.

Planning our early retirement has taught my wife and me that simply taking the time to choose what is important to our family and thinking about creative ways to get it can change that entire equation.

As this example showed, we were able to conservatively decrease the retirement saving needs for our family by $125,000 just by decreasing the liabilities associated with owning our current home. By using our new home as an income producing asset, that number very conservatively becomes greater than a quarter million dollar difference in retirement saving needs.

At the same time, this decision will enable us to live the lifestyle we desire, adds no financial risk to our current situation, and requires no sophisticated financial products or techniques. If you design your home ownership as an investor, it can turn into an asset that will help you retire earlier!

* * *

Top RVs, campers and tents of 2014

Read article : Top RVs, campers and tents of 2014

Another year, another few dozen ways to escape urban life and set up camp in the wild ... 2014 has been an interesting year for campers. From the heavy-duty off-road machines of Overland Expo to ultralight bicycle campers, and from familiar campground designs to new concepts of sea and air camping, the year has seen a large variety of innovative designs from around the world. Here are our picks for the best tents, camper vans, trailers and mobile homes of 2014, in no particular order.

Tentsile Vista multi-story tree tent

Since we first featured Tentsile in 2012, the company has continued to impress us with its suspended tents. Other manufacturers offer hammock-based tents, but Tentsile makes large, spacious aerials that are more like canvas treehouses, none more so than the all-new Vista. The non-weather-sealed nature of the design isn't for everyone or all conditions, but the available multi-floor layout is certainly an interesting twist on the tree tent. The primary Vista tent protects three campers with a combination of detachable insect mesh and removable rain fly. The really cool part of the design is that you can add extra floors to make a suspended, multi-level "portable treehouse" for nine or more people. The basic tent without extra floors costs US$595.

SylvanSport GO-Easy ultralight camping trailer

A compact, 275-lb (125 kg) gear trailer, the SylvanSport GO-Easy is designed to give the smallest cars and motorcycles the ability to haul all kinds of sports gear and tools. To add overnighting capabilities, SylvanSport teamed with Roost tents to create a flip-top tent camper with underbody storage. When you don't need a tent, remove the foam mattress and canvas sides and Roost's innovative two-person clamshell becomes a gear box. To add some of the comforts of home, SylvanSport offers options like Goal Zero solar power systems and the Road Shower. Combine the $2,000 price of the GO-Easy with the $3,000 price of the Roost tent, and you have an ultralight, ultra-versatile camping trailer for around $5K.

Tonke Fieldsleeper International expedition vehicle

Prior to 2014, we knew Tonke as the Dutch company behind some the most stylish wooden trailers we've ever seen. This year, it added one of the most stylish aluminum trailers on the market not named Airstream. The Mercedes Sprinter-based Fieldsleeper International is built as an expedition vehicle, available in both 4x2 and 4x4 drive options. Its aluminum skin creates a more modern exterior style, but the interior still features the warmth of mahogany wood.

Tonke attempts to give Fieldsleeper International owners more off-grid autonomy by eliminating the liquid propane systems typical in RVs in favor of a roof-mounted solar array and auxiliary diesel tank. The 400- to 600-watt solar system powers onboard equipment like the refrigerator, stove, lighting and even air conditioning. The five-person camper includes a washroom with sink, shower and cassette toilet.

When we covered it earlier in the year, the International was offered with a 190-hp Mercedes Sprinter 519Cdi for $192,000, but now it's listed with a 160-hp Sprinter 516Cdi base for a bit cheaper – $154,576.

XVenture XV-2 penthouse trailer

Simple problem, simple solution. The military-grade Xventure XV-2 makes the most of its small trailer form by pushing the pop-up tent high above the cargo box below using an elevated rack system. The adjustable height opens up more storage space in the cargo box – enough for an ATV, even – and makes everything inside that cargo box easier to access. As a few astute readers pointed out, it looks like the configuration could prove quite chilly in the winter, when the thin floor of the XV-2 could use the added insulation value of a trailer directly below, but that shouldn't be as much a problem in the popular warmer months, or with a heavier sleeping pad. And if it is, you can always adjust it to one of the lower settings on the six-setting rack. The pricing information we received earlier in the year put the XV-2 with elevating rack system and roof tent at around $14,500 to start.

Wide Path bicycle camper

There are dozens upon dozens of camping trailers on the market, but the overwhelming majority of them are designed to be towed by vehicles with motor. The slim, 88-lb (40-kg) Wide Path Camper, on the other hand, is built to be towed by leg power alone. The bicycle camper offers enough sleeping space for two adults and one child and includes a basic but functional interior with a folding table, convertible bed/seats and 300 liters (79 gal) of storage capacity. Add a few select pieces of gear like a propane stove and portable toilet and suddenly you have a fully functioning mobile home on the back of your 12-speed.

The Wide Path Camper was still in the prototype stages as of last month, but its Dutch designer hopes to have it ready for sale next year, starting around $2,500.

Amok Draumr hammock tent

While not quite as common a sight at the campground as a dome tent or RV, the hammock shelter is a widely available camping option offered by brands like Hennessy Hammock and Grand Trunk. Typically, these hammocks are strung between trees end to end, but the Amok rotates the Draumr around 90 degrees, creating a side-to-side hanging structure. This construction creates a flat, sleeping pad-cushioned bed designed to deliver a more comfortable night of sleep. With a few tugs of the adjustment straps, it also turns into a suspended chair.

The ISPO BrandNew Award-nominated Draumr is available now for $379, which includes mosquito netting, straps and a rain fly, but not the required sleeping pad. All in, the Draumr weighs less than 4.5 lb (2 kg).

MVP Aero MVP seaplane camper

We're already suckers for amphibious vehicles, so throw in a convertible overnight package, and you get one of our favorite vehicles of the year. Billed as the "world's most versatile plane," the MVP, which we checked out at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014, is part seaplane, part fishing boat and part floating/flying camper. The tri-phibious plane can land on dry land, snow or water. On water, it can motor along and act as a boat, and slide the canopy back and it offers a flat deck for fishing and observation. The wings also fold up, adding to its maneuverability on water.

At night, the MVP's instrument panel lifts out of the way, creating a large, flat floor with the help of a four-panel origami deck that slides over top the seat wells. Tent fabric secures over the entire cockpit area, providing shelter for two occupants. A fitted inflatable mattress offers added comfort, and there's also a hammock that sets up between the engine pylon and the tail.

The MVP isn't exactly a practical camper for the masses, but one can certainly dream of using it on some pretty epic adventures. The aircraft is still in the prototype stages, but for those that simply can't wait, it's available for reservation at a price of $189,000. Delivery is not expected until 2018/19, however.

Audi-Heimplanet Q3 tent camper

Two innovative German brands teamed up for something a bit different at Volkswagen's 2014 Wörthersee festival. Heimplanet custom-fit its inflatable tent technology to the hatch of an Audi Q3 2.0 TDI. The design created an extended car-tent living space with vestibule and also allowed for a freestanding tent set-up. The inflatable tent and Q3 combo certainly wasn't the most rugged camper design of the year, but it was rated up to wind speeds of 43.5 mph (70 km/h).

The Audi-Heimplanet inflatable car camper was clearly designed as an eye-catching showpiece (a role it filled quite nicely), and we don't expect to see Audi dealerships advertising the Q3 "overnight package" anytime soon.

2014 EarthRoamer XV-LTS xpedition vehicle

A beastly, intimidating contradiction on wheels, the 2014 EarthRoamer XV-LTS combines one of the more rugged 4WD expedition vehicle platforms out there with a carefully-detailed, luxury-level interior and front porch. In designing the truck, Colorado-based EarthRoamer fortified a commercial-duty F-550 chassis for rough, off-road use, bolted a composite living module to the back and outfitted it for comfortable off-grid living. The design includes a cozy six-seat living room, sleeping space for four to six and a bathroom with a sink, full-height shower and cassette toilet. Occupants are furnished with utilities by way of a solar-driven electrical system, engine-powered dual alternators and a 90-gallon (340.7-L) fresh water tank. It appears to be an extremely cozy space to retire to after hard days of fighting through mud, boulders and dust with the 300-hp V8 turbo diesel and 37-in tires. The model we stepped inside at Overland Expo even included luxuries like a wine cabinet with engraved wine glasses, slide-out Keurig coffeemaker, and exterior tailgating package with retractable 46-in TV.

The 2014 XV-LTS sold out, but EarthRoamer is now advertising the 2015 model at prices between $312,000 and $560,000.

ADAK Trailer

It's not at all rare to find a gritty, all-terrain expedition vehicle furnished like a luxury apartment on wheels. In fact, there are two on this list, including the EarthRoamer we just looked at. When you're spending six or seven figures on a large, motorized toy, there's no reason you can't have it all.It is rarer to find that mix of any-terrain readiness and luxury in the far more modestly priced camping trailer segment. Most off-road trailer manufacturers we've covered seem to put all their R&D money into building a bombproof chassis and body ready to take on everything Mother Earth can throw at it, leaving live-in accommodations to a simple fold-out tent or small, spartan teardrop interior.Built by a group of outdoorsman tired of inferior campers quitting when the road got rough, but too seasoned for a skimpy, uncomfortable shelter, the ADAK Trailer offers an admirable combination of rugged exterior and spacious, comfy interior. The design uses a mix of aluminum and composite to hold up to rough, choppy roads and off-roads. Inside the trailer's 116-sq ft (10.8 sq m) cabin, campers find three beds, a bathroom with toilet and shower, a tankless hot water system designed to work in the middle of winter, and available wood flooring and cabinetry. When we originally covered the ADAK earlier in the year, pricing started at $49,000.

Volksleisure T5 camper van

After more than a decade of focusing on camper conversions for vans from manufacturers other than Volkswagen, Wellhouse Leisure presented its first production-ready VW camper van this year. The first offering from the brand's VW-centric subsidiary Volksleisure, the little people mover packs enough versatility for both everyday and holiday use. It's Wellhouse's electric rear bench that makes the Volksleisure camper a van that you can overnight in on the weekend and get the kids to school in come Monday morning. The bench slides the length of the cabin, allowing it to work as a live-in camper, regular people mover or big-item hauler. The camper van offers sleeping space for up to four people, along with a kitchen area, refrigerator, dining table, and 35-L (9.2 US gal) fresh and waste water tanks. Volksleisure's T5 camper is currently listed at a £47,850 ($75,000) base price.

Safari Condo Alto R1723 teardrop pop-top

Combining two timeless camping-trailer concepts into one seamless family tag-along, the Alto R1723 by Safari Condo is a pop-up teardrop camper designed to get the family outdoors. The 83-in-high (2.1-m), 1725-lb (782-kg) teardrop design gives the Alto R1723 drag-cutting aerodynamic performance on the road and garage clearance during storage. The electric aluminum roof pops up at camp to offer 82 inches (2.08 m) of interior headroom, more than enough for the average person to stand up and walk around, a convenience that smaller, lower teardrops lack. The trailer sleeps three or four and includes home-like comforts such as a flush toilet and shower. The large windows let you experience the grand scenery of the outdoors while remaining under the roof.

The Alto R1723 starts at around CAD$28,500 (US$24,500), and Safari also offers the smaller R1713 for CAD$1,000 less.

Knaus Travelino camper concept

Much like automakers do at every major auto show, German manufacturer Knaus Tabbert has been using the annual Düsseldorf Caravan Salon to showcase ideas for the future of the industry. It followed up last year's much talked about Caravisio concept with the 2014 Travelino trailer.

While we aren't really sold on the odd, broadsided shape of the black-and-white Travelino, the real highlight is the interior. The caravan offers very versatile use of its limited space through carefully designed and placed equipment. In place of a dedicated bathroom, a folding-panel wall and slide-out cassette toilet provide indoor privacy without permanently occupying floor space. The indoor and slide-out outdoor kitchens share a portable camping stove, eliminating the need for fixed cooktops.

The Travelino launched as just a concept, so there was no accompanying price information, but it's easy to see how some of its features could find their way into production camping trailers.

Marco Polo Activity light camper van

Manufacturers around the world have come up with very clever ways of packing all kinds of amenities and comforts into small, portable vehicles. But there's really only so much equipment you can fit into a camper while keeping it light, spacious and comfortable. And not every overnight trip requires a full bathroom, kitchen and living room. If you're sleeping in a ski resort parking lot or adjacent to a surf break so that you're in prime position to take advantage of first tracks/early morning waves, you don't necessarily need a fully equipped RV, just a roof and a comfortable place to sleep.In that spirit, Mercedes-Benz dropped some of the usual camping equipment to make a lighter, simpler camper van in the form of the Marco Polo Activity it revealed in Düsseldorf. The Activity has a three-seat bench that extends clean across the width of the van thanks to the absence of the kitchen unit. That bench folds down into a bed for up to three, and two more people can sleep below the pop-up roof. If you need to cook your own meals, you can slide the bench forward on its rails and store a stove, cookware and plenty of other gear in back, then eat on the included folding table in the cabin. What you give up in equipment and amenities, you gain in versatility and spaciousness. The Activity was released at a starting price of €38,960 (US$49,000).

Action Mobil Global XRS 720 6x6 camper

Our second rolling, all-terrain luxury apartment, the Action Mobil Global XRS 7200 introduced at the 2014 Düsseldorf Caravan Salon was this year's exercise in no-expense-spared expeditioning opulence, the type of vehicle one only considers if the very thought of "roughing it" is a much bigger deterrent than a seven-figure price tag. The 720-hp, 18-ton MAN-chassised 6x6 is eager to travel to any part of the world and stay there about as long as its occupants can handle. Once inside the spacious, climate-controlled cabin, they'll immediately forget about whatever harsh, desolate reality surrounds the exterior walls. The cabin is appointed in materials like stone and metal, includes a master bedroom, is hydrated by a 720-L (190-gal) fresh water tank, and keeps everyone entertained with a multimedia system that's more impressive than what many people have in their living rooms – 40-in HD TV, satellite internet, Apple TV, Bose audio, and a large-capacity hard drive for storing multimedia content. There's even a bidet and washer/dryer. Not a bad living situation for the middle of $#@#$in nowhere.

Pricing info out of the Düsseldorf show put the XRS 7200 at €850,000 (US$1.1 million) to start.

Look through our gallery for a closer look at the interiors and features of each of these campers and tents. And if you're wondering how this year's designs compare to last year's, take a trip back in time with our best of 2013 camper round-up.

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