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If my flight lands at West Palm Beach at 9:30am, will traffic to WDW be better on a weekend vs Mon or it doesn't really matter?

11:46am by vickiwaffles

Personally I think a weekend morning would be more chill, especially if you could do it on Sunday. Feels like you'd be going against weekend beach traffic by going the other way to WDW. And Sunday morning roads are always emptier.

12:09pm by Jennyhirsch

I'm a NYer so I never find Orlando traffic to be very onerous. That said, they do have a rush hour headed towards downtown from the outskirts M-F. So I'd think Saturday would be lighter.

12:10pm by evamarie320

Have you considered the Brightline Train?

15 min ago by JenniferB1975

NDR: Recs on fave podcasts on midlife financial planning? I wanna know how much longer I need to work to have enough to pay for college and fund disney trips for the rest of my life. Then as my DH days, we wanna go "work optional". :D

8:14pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

collapse thread

I need that too lol

8:20pm on 5/28/26 by nightowl04

Oh my gosh, one of my other obsessions the last 10-15 years. :D Definitely suggest the ChooseFI podcast, although they take a little too long to get to the point sometimes, tons of good info over the years. For the financial mathy philosophy topics check:

8:37pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Your Money Your Wealth, Stay Wealthy Retirement Show, Long Term Investor Podcast. The first one (YMYW) podcast might be an acquired taste, but I find the many scenario building and discussion very helpful in learning a lot of details.

8:39pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

For more general, but still with some tax/mathiness: The Retirement Answer Man, Retirement Starts Today, Meb Faber Show, Big Picture Retirement. I'm sure you'll find at least a couple of all of these helpful. :)

8:41pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Also, to play around with your own scenarios, try out Boldin Retirement Planner. There's a free version, but the trial has full access to everything including Roth Conversion Planner etc. Not a perfect tool, but really good overall.

8:44pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Oh, check out this old Mr Money Moustache blog post for a simple on take on early retirement and the numbers: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

8:45pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

Yes to ChooseFI

8:46pm on 5/28/26 by LaurenInWonderland

TwinSpires, LOL! Belmont is next week! TBH I have a money lady at Ameriprise who helps me because this is a no-fun zone for me, for reals. I'd invest it all in pennywhistles and moonpies if given the choice! I get help from nerds who have more expertise

9:09pm on 5/28/26 by joeyjojojuniorshabadoo

@joejojo Pennywhistles and moonpies LOL.

9:20pm on 5/28/26 by JJT (staff)

I KNEW you guys would have good suggestions. THANK YOU. :)

9:52pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

Oooohhhh thanks for the suggestion on the planning software!!! Ive been wanting to build a model to play with scenarios and was thinking to try to build one on claude. (Just for fun) But if a good one already exists ill try it for sure.

9:54pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

Sfl.

9:56pm on 5/28/26 by 56arlene

Since we are on the topic ive also been eyebrows deep into college admissions podcasts as well. Yup. The kid who was taking HS entrance exams from Pop now has eyes on highly selective programs. So mom needs to figue out how to get her in and pay for it!

9:58pm on 5/28/26 by Totsypooh

Nice list of suggestions!

10:12pm on 5/28/26 by QueenOfHearts

The Money Guy Erin Talks Money (Podcast & YouTube)

10:30pm on 5/28/26 by kcaseybooks

SFL

12:13am on 5/29/26 by CitrusSwirlGirl

Sfl

1:41am on 5/29/26 by Jewra

Saving

3:09am on 5/29/26 by ram777

SFL

6:13am on 5/29/26 by Ange425

Sfl

6:48am on 5/29/26 by CVC

Big fan of James Canole at Root financial

7:34am on 5/29/26 by molly99

Sfl

8:01am on 5/29/26 by vickiwaffles

Sfl

9:43am on 5/29/26 by el_1102

Saving. Thanks!

11:48am on 5/29/26 by twinmom2002

I find it ironic that if it werent for the money Ive spent on disney id probably be able to retire earlier :p lol. It's probably set me back a few years. Hahaha. YOLO! :p

11:54am on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

Thanks for info. Now if I can cure DVC addonitis......

12:24pm on 5/29/26 by cdlla

@cdlla let me know if that works... lol!!

12:51pm on 5/29/26 by youcanfly

Just so you know - i think ill classify DVC as a liquid asset. Hahahah!

1:12pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

I actually checked to see if timeshares would count as an asset when applying for financial aid and it said that while most timeshares are ascribed a very low value some like DVC and marriot have a resale value and needs to be declared (the jigs up!)

1:14pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

There goes my plan to hide my millions in DVC contracts!

1:14pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

HerMoney by Jean Chatsky. Not retirement focused but she's been around forever and has a new book soon the Forever Paycheck.

1:41pm on 5/29/26 by mary32830

More philosophy than specific advice, but the book "Die with Zero" is an interesting read.

1:50pm on 5/29/26 by KangaLilo4

Love the book recs! And im already playing around with the planning application. Its fabulous thanks @JTT!

2:24pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

@JJT!

2:24pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

Great! I have my own crazy spreadsheet, but for years I'd be offered new Boldin trials so would take advantage of those to compare my own numbers to what their tools said. Now that I'm about 1.5 years out I've just transitioned to Boldin.

2:52pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

For simple investing books, might want to check out The Simple Path to Wealth and these Bogleheads books: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, and Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning. Long before I discovered any of those I moved to an all...

2:56pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

..index investing maybe 25 years ago. Really makes things simple to do AND it really paid off with low fees vs my Merrill Lynch guy's mutual fund picks that were not keeping up with market and bleeding me dry with fees and commissions.

2:58pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Oh, I also thought Morgan Housel's book The Psychology of Money was interesting. I agree Die with Zero should definitely be on the list too, but I think a lot of people online take the title phrase too literally. :D

3:03pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Sfl

3:14pm on 5/29/26 by njhyndman

Maybe I need to look at this post....

3:14pm on 5/29/26 by Gusgus5

Totally worth it to meet with a financial planner if you can. I know DH meets with one offered through our 401k management maybe every couple years. They can get specific with your goals and targets.

3:21pm on 5/29/26 by maurine08

Sfl

3:47pm on 5/29/26 by loveslions

We also just started meeting with a financial planner. Ours works with people at DH work so they understands specifics about his benefits package. It's been super helpful.

3:48pm on 5/29/26 by jenc45

Yes ill try the 14 day free trial for now and go from there. And im also taking advantage of some of the financial planning benefits at work too

3:55pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

Just want to throw it out there that not all financial planning benefits from employers will be on your side as much as you like. Was the case with mine. If they start to try selling you investing in a crazy number of funds or throwing money at...

4:04pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

..annuities etc without a comprehensive financial plan, my advice: take your notes & do some more homework. There are networks of fee-only financial planners that do not sell product which takes self-dealing possibilities out of the equation for you.

4:06pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Thanks for all the tips! Super helpful. With two MBAs in the house im hoping we can figure this out reasonably well. :p its still intimidating!

5:15pm on 5/29/26 by Totsypooh

As you know @JJT, the fax machine is just a waffle iron with a phone attached! (Srsly haven't watched the Simpsons in almost 20 years but still quoting 90s era every day, LOL)

6:24pm on 5/29/26 by joeyjojojuniorshabadoo

Sfl

6:36pm on 5/29/26 by mcmillertime

I'll echo those who have suggested a fee based financial planner. You want someone who is a fiduciary. Not someone who is getting a commission if they sell you x.

7:27pm on 5/29/26 by evamarie320

@joeyjojo :D

7:42pm on 5/29/26 by JJT (staff)

Sfl

7:49pm on 5/29/26 by supergirl1998

Sfl

8:23am on 5/30/26 by Suggles

@kanga if you see this that book is very much important im a cancer surgeon I see people save and save only to not enjoy their time here. I'm not against retirement! But enjoy before too. Not that liners don't !

8:59am on 5/30/26 by snelvis

My problem i think is i have fomo with the kids and enjoy too much. :p (lost both parents early - very aware tomorrow is not promised. :) )

9:18am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

Thanks so much for all the thoughtful answers - writing it all down before this thread gets bumped down.

9:19am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

I'm of the School of Spending on Experiences, which has gotten me to an advanced age without any bankruptcies YET

9:20am on 5/30/26 by Ali Ababwa

Amen to that. Cant take it with you!

9:54am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

Yep. My dad died at 49 and was always saying "when I retire I'll...". So we have worked hard to balance saving for retirement with enjoying life. Our travel budget is the biggest line item in our budget. But we drive our cars til they have over 100k and

10:26am on 5/30/26 by evamarie320

still live in our "starter house." It's all about choices. Best advice I got about saving: remember you can get loans for college. You can't for retirement.

10:27am on 5/30/26 by evamarie320

@eva 100%. We've been mostly a 1-income family since kids were born, so focused on retirement savings vs college. Decades of that worked in our favor because now we've gone into coast mode to shift to cash flowing as much of college as possible..

10:35am on 5/30/26 by JJT (staff)

..& should be able to knock out a large amount of college loans over time anyway & still be on solid ground. That being said: college costs are 1000% insane. I worked 2 (or 3) jobs in 80s & paid for school outright. That wouldn't make a dent these days.

10:38am on 5/30/26 by JJT (staff)

Thats what im struggling with. I grew up in a culture were parents paid 100pct of college costs. Even often funded first houses. Feels counterintuitive to make the kids take out loans. I also know how hard it was to pay off grad school loans while

10:57am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

Establishing a career, starting a family etc. so playing around with so many tradeoffs and frankly, very different perspectives on all this between me and DH

10:58am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

College costs in the US are absolutely insane IF you want to give the kid a chance at the "best" (define how you wish) school they can get into. There still are relatively low cost options for (relatively!) high achieving kids if you are open to them

11:01am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

If I were ready to let her "just" go to whatever school might be willing to give her a full ride i could probably quit my job monday and be ok. Pls dont take offense at any of this - i know its a priviledged choice just like going to Disney.

11:03am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

@eva - same here. My dad at 44, my mom at 64. Making the most of today while hoping i outlive my longest DVC contract :)

11:05am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

@JJT - what to you mean by "cash flowing as much of college as possible"?

11:07am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

We stopped saving into the retirement account a few years ago and shifted that money into college costs as they came up because we had already passed our retirement savings goals. :) We did save some money in 529s before, but not a lot.

11:20am on 5/30/26 by JJT (staff)

Putting on our own oxygen masks first, as it were. BTW, I am sadly in the same Dad club: mine passed when he was 48 (I was 11). Been trying to also focus more on family experiences for years now, but still can be hard to spend.

11:23am on 5/30/26 by JJT (staff)

Ah gotcha! Makes sense thank you.

11:23am on 5/30/26 by Totsypooh

Keep contributing a bit to those 529s, though, even after kids' college. You can change beneficiary to grandkids when they are born. Immense value in letting them compound while you wait for grandkids to actually be born, lol.

1:38pm on 5/30/26 by Jennyhirsch

$35k of the 529 can also be switched to Roths too so the kids can get started with a good retirement base to compound for a long time. In state college at least in Texas isn't too bad. About $13k a year. We are a dave Ramsey family.

4:03pm on 5/30/26 by popupcamper

Sfl

4:57pm on 5/30/26 by Tracyclary

Saving!

7:08pm on 5/30/26 by Blogirl77

I needed this info about 15 years ago!

8:01pm on 5/30/26 by MarioMom

Pay attention to receiving dividends from investments so you can draw without touching principal. Convert to ROTH while you're working and already paying high tax rate. Be aware of your RMD dates. Things we learned...

9:07pm on 5/30/26 by Magicalday2011

Good info!

9:23pm on 5/30/26 by Pixie_Dusted

Sfl

10:31pm on 5/30/26 by vmorrison63

SFL

10:51pm on 5/30/26 by gopackgo

@popup, same! Life is so much easier debt free!

1:48am by Rhondak0000

Agreed @rhonda & @popup. Thought my DH was obsessive about saving when I was more Dave Ramsey. but I have to say it was a terrific balance. Pd off 2 in college at same time, no parent loans, international trips and 2027 will again be 8 weeks in FL/WDW!

6:17am by Magicalday2011

@snelvis that's so sad. It's hard to find the right balance. The book suggests giving money to your kids when they are young adults and most need it/can fully enjoy experiences rather than via a will. I'm counting college tuition in that bucket.

6:39am by KangaLilo4

Career higher ed guy stopping by here to add some thoughts. I spent 25+ working in financial aid and 6 serving as chief enrollment officer. In that context, I offer the following: Yes - DVC will count as an asset on the FAFSA...

6:47am by shockbl

...Generally any real estate beyond the main home will be reported. All assets of the parents are reported but only about 6% of the value will be counted in the aid calculation.

6:49am by shockbl

Second - there has never been a better time to send your kid to college! Schools are hungry for enrollment and are heavily discounting the sticker price. This is due to falling demographics of high school grads coupled with ....

6:51am by shockbl

...an unbelievable perception by the public that college may no longer be worth it. (By any data measure it still is). Ivies and large schools are not as hungry but every other college is. Negotiate on the scholarship package your kid receives.

6:53am by shockbl

Third - beware of the Ivies strategy to grow applications. I think they will email almost any kid with a high test score encouraging them to apply. (Junior and Senior parents you will hear this from other parents - "Yale invited my kid to apply!"

6:56am by shockbl

...the problem is that they did that to 300,000 other kids as well. A higher number of applicants means they can drop their acceptance rate. It's a game of prestige.

6:57am by shockbl

Last, for day to day financial planning that will boost your retirement savings, I cannot say enough about You Need A Budget software. (YNAB.com). A simple, effective way to create a monthly budget and track spending. Great phone apps, too!

6:59am by shockbl

As for our retirement planning, we told our planner that we want elevate our experiences with our family while we can. So, after giving, saving, our third highest category is travel. Our philosophy is that you can't take it you, and generally, ....

7:01am by shockbl

Intergenerational wealth often isnt all that successful, as most money is burned by the first generation it passes to. Great topic on the thread here!

7:02am by shockbl

Yep intergenerationsl wealth unless one is the top .01% is gone quick.

7:36am by snelvis

I love this topic! DH never never wants to talk money or financial strategy. LOL. I have also followed Dave Ramsey for many years; however, I have recently found Ramit Sethi and I love his weekly podcast video on YouTube.

11:32am by DEmouseFan

Ramit Sethi also has a free investment calculator that I use to run projections on increasing or decreasing monthly contributions. We are cash flowing tuition for our youngest at an in-state school and it feels very expensive compared to older girls.

11:33am by DEmouseFan

I'll add in a vote on Jean Chatzky and Dave Ramsey Altho I read them I don't listen to them. I listen to fun stuff lol. I find the Ramsey budgeting app really easy to use. My son uses the ynab budget. Hopefully that teaches him something because he is not

12:18pm by evamarie320

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a saver despite growing up in a household that put savings first. Sigh.

12:18pm by evamarie320

Wow, love the additional insight! Thank you! I may have to bug @JJT offline about this Boldin application though! Super detailed but so much financial stuff and fluff i dont know much about yet. Also i didnt realize Medicare would cost this much?!?

37 min ago by Totsypooh

But the key question - how much time is enough at Disney to project out how much to budget in the model for the coming decades...

33 min ago by Totsypooh

I have a Minnie Van question. We are staying Club level at GDT in early August. Does anyone know the current rate for an Airport pick up? It was about $200 in '23, but this is Disney and I know its gonna be more.

2:46pm on 5/30/26 by TheWalkingDad

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Airport service is different. You can use Minnie Van airport service for GDT if you are staying Club Level. It is available for anyone staying in Deluxe/Villa/Club level rooms.

7:25pm on 5/30/26 by njhyndman

Thanks @Melcort10! It does go to GDT if you are Club Level. I did this as a surprise to the DW in '23 when we stayed CL at GDT.

12:13pm by TheWalkingDad

Ah ok club level makes sense. Safe travels.

44 min ago by melcort10

189 days, a new decade! Good morning Liner friends!

5:52am by TacMed

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202 until our next trip. Looking forward to 4 nights at Riviera and all of the Christmas festivities!

12:33pm by JoeyPotter98

Have a magical time @PT!

12:33pm by TacMed

12:33pm by JackOfAll

Which weather app do you guys use in the parks? And also, best rain gear? Do you prefer umbrella? Rain coat? Ponchos?

8:39am by GoHeels

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Yep, for most trips I carry 1 or 2 dispo ponchos from the Walmart pack of 10. They do the job for most Florida transient cloudbursts. If I expect all-day rain I have a couple more substantial fabric ponchos.

11:12am by Ali Ababwa

When I'm getting obsessive about weather on an upcoming trip I check AccuWeather Daily/45-day forecast. Completely unreliable outside of 10 days, but it gives me an idea of how to pack.

11:16am by Ali Ababwa

@vikequeen what ponchos are they?

12:25pm by GoHeels

Where can I find the actual crowd levels compared to the projections? I use to be able to find it but can't this time

11:48am by ejendres

I always just google "touring plans historical crowd calendar" because getting there is clunky. But you can click on crowd calendar in the app. Scroll down to calendar. Click the arrow going backwards on the left. Choose your date.

12:07pm by evamarie320

If I have an ADR for Poly on 7/5, will I be able to park and see the FW from there? Do you think the lines for CoP will be crazy on 7/6, which is the last day?

10:35pm on 5/30/26 by vickiwaffles

CoP last day is July 5. It's closed starting 7/6.

12:30am by mkmuzzy

Yes, you will, @vicki. DS will be there, too! Although knowing him and friends, they will get sidetracked by TS after dinner and never go outside to see fireworks.

7:59am by Jennyhirsch

This totally changes my plans knowing it will be closed already on the 6th. Good thing I posted.

12:02pm by vickiwaffles

Anyone else having issues doing online check in on the MDE app? I've tried signing out and back in and even deleted and reinstalled the app. It says there's a technical difficulty???

11:54am by awvy

What kind of shoe/water sock do you wear at the waterparks?

11:40am by JenniferB1975

Oh great liners! Can you still make magic wands at the crystal arts? Thank you!

12:17pm on 5/30/26 by mcarnell19

Anyone?

5:42pm on 5/30/26 by mcarnell19

I just did a quick search and it looks like it. https://plandisney.disney.go.com/question/wands-made-crystal-arts-mk-cost-need-reservation-cant-629065/

6:05pm on 5/30/26 by cobia

Yes, we were in there yesterday. Wanda, crowns, pens

7:50pm on 5/30/26 by disneydoodlebug

Awesome!!! Thanks!

11:18am by mcarnell19

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