Quantcast
Channel: Business Insider
Viewing all 115285 articles
Browse latest View live

Wall Street's big investors are piling into tourism

0
0

millennialstravel

Rainmakers are betting on tourists to bring in some serious profits.

The Carlyle Group, the private-equity giant with $178 billion in assets, recently invested in Inca Rail, which provides a scenic ride to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Apollo Global Management announced its $2.2 billion purchase of Diamond Resorts, a timeshare operator based in Las Vegas, and KKR is set to open a new hotel in Waikiki Beach with partners CoastWood Capital Group and Chartres Lodging Group this winter.

So far this year, the value of global private-equity deals in the dining and lodging sectors reached $4.6 billion, according to Dealogic data, surpassing the $4.4 billion invested in all of 2015.

"Global travel continues to be an attractive investment area," Sandra Horbach, cohead of Carlyle Group's US buyout team, told Business Insider. "Consumers are increasingly shifting their spending from things to experiences. Travel will also benefit from rising discretionary incomes in many emerging markets."

The tourism industry saw steady growth over the past five years, helped by the explosion of a global middle class and a decline in unemployment rates around the world. Inbound and outbound trips are especially high in emerging economies like Asia and South America, where tourism spending has outpaced that of developed economies, according to research firm IBISWorld.

It also helps that millennials are craving adventure and are more willing to spend on experiences over material objects.

Emerging markets

For Carlyle, the bet on travel and leisure in Latin America has paid off.

The firm bought a majority stake in late 2009 in CVC Brasil Operadora e Agencia de Viagens, Brazil's biggest travel-tour operator by revenue. CVC said that it expects Brazil's tourism market to benefit from hosting events like the 2016 Olympic Games.

The company had booked sales of $43.8 million in the second quarter this year, compared to $40.9 million a year earlier. Its shares have jumped about 40% since it went public in 2013.

"It's an asset-light model, which we like, and an opportunity for us to benefit from favorable secular trends in Latin America," Horbach said. "Despite a slowdown in emerging markets, CVC has performed very well as people still want to travel and explore new places."

"Asset light" refers to businesses that aren't capital intensive or have high overhead to deliver their services. This approach is generally perceived as nimbler and able to scale more quickly.

Online push

KKR, which manages $131 billion in assets, is also bullish on the digital-travel boom. Stephen Shanley, principal at the firm's technology, media, and telecommunications team, sees the opportunity in travel tours and activities booking platforms, which he said is very under-penetrated compared to hotels and flights.

"Online booking rates for hotels and flights are above 40% across most Western European and North American countries," he told Business Insider.

That has prompted Shanley's team to look into Berlin-based GetYourGuide, which aims to be a one-stop shop for vacationers to find and book activities online. KKR led a $50 million investment into the startup last November to help it scale, joining backers such as Kees Koolen, former CEO of Booking.com, and Fritz Demopoulos, founder of Qunar.com.

GetYourGuide covers more than 27,800 activities in over 2,500 destinations around the world, according to the company's statement.

"We see strong demand [for Get Your Guide] in Europe, the company's core market, and we are seeing outsized demand in its newer markets, which include Asia, North America, and South America — it's a highly diversified user base," Shanley said.

Carlyle's investment in luxury-tour operator Bonotel Exclusive Travel is another example of buyout shops' broader push into online-travel platforms.

"Some of our investments are about finding places where we can leverage Carlyle's strengths to these tourism and travel-related businesses," Adam Glucksman, managing director in Carlyle's equity-opportunity fund, told Business Insider.

That includes helping companies gain access to other regions where Carlyle has a local presence, or providing contacts in hotels or other travel-related industries to help the investment drive growth, he added.

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs is getting back into the corporate-buyout game

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 4 major issues for any American who wants to visit Cuba


Here’s what those symbols on your clothing tags actually mean

Here’s a simple no-weights workout that could lead to real results

How to grill the perfect steak

All the things that happen on Japan's 'Cat Island,' where cats outnumber humans 8 to 1

0
0

23798535144_2be7c78b10_k

Just off the coast of Japan there is an island called Aoshima, which is also known as "Cat Island." The tiny fishing village is home to more than 140 cats, which roam around napping, playing, and snagging snacks from residents and tourists. They outnumber humans 8 to 1.

The cats were originally brought to the island to kill mice that hung around fishing boats. But as the human population dwindled from over 1,000 to 16, the cats stayed on and multiplied, as they continued to be fed by the remaining locals. 

The island has become a bit of a tourist destination, though the residents don't seem to mind, as long as it remains peaceful. And people donate cat food from all over Japan.

"If people coming to the island find the cats healing, then I think it's a good thing," 65-year-old fisherman Hidenori Kamimoto told Reuters last year"I just hope that it's done in a way that doesn't become a burden on the people who live here."

This is what life on Cat Island is like: 

SEE ALSO: The 45 original shows and movies Netflix will release by the end of 2016

Aoshima is a 30-minute ferry ride from the coast, and only has a handful of residents now.



There are, however, over 140 cats, which outnumber humans by more than 8 to 1, according to AFP.



Tourists have also begun to come to the island to gawk at the cats.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Professional chefs reveal the 6 best fast-food menu items

0
0

shake shackThe best chefs in the world can't eat fine dining all the time.

Bloomberg's Richard Vines interviewed chefs from the world's most celebrated restaurants about what they eat when they're craving fast food.

Some chefs had classy tastes, even when it came to chains. Joan Roca from El Celler de Can Roca, in Girona, Spain — which was awarded the best restaurant in the world in 2015 — namedropped Beefsteak, a vegetarian-focused chain started by the chef José Andrés. Daniel Boulud said he loves Le Pain Quotidien , which is more bakery than fast food.

However, other chefs are true fast-food lovers at heart. Here are six fast-food menu items that chefs actually love.

To see the full Bloomberg story, click here.

1. Five Guys' burger and milkshakes

Five Guys Burgers 14

Heston Blumenthal, the chef at Fat Duck in Bray, England says that Five Guys is high on his list, thanks to the burgers and milkshakes. "The guys behind the counters actually have some interest in food," he told Bloomberg.

2. Popeyes' fried chicken

Popeyes

"I treat myself to Popeyes a couple of times a year and I am wickedly happy downing a few pieces (wings and thighs best) of their crispy, spicy chicken — with a side of dirty rice and biscuits," Danny Meyer told Bloomberg. Meyer, who founded Shake Shack in addition to fine dining classic Gramercy Tavern, is clearly an expert on what makes quality fast food.

3. Chipotle's salad

Chipotle

Meyer's other favorite: Chipotle. His go-to order isn't a burrito, but instead salad with grilled chicken, pinto beans, shredded cheese, extra cilantro, and spicy dressing.

4. Shake Shack's burger

Shake Shack

Unsurprisingly, Danny Meyer's Shake Shack was a top pick, mentioned by Helene Darroze, who inspired a character in Disney's Ratatouille, and Massimo Bottura, chef of the current No. 1 restaurant in the world, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. The reason: the keen attention to detail that allows for the high quality of the meat, bread, and sauce.

5. KFC's fried chicken sandwich

#Zinger Stacker Stacker Stacker? We 💖 it

A photo posted by KFC Australia (@kfcaustralia) on Jul 11, 2016 at 12:00am PDT on

The top chef-approved KFC item is nowhere to be found on the American menu. "I only go for the Zinger Tower Burger," Karam Sethi of Gymkhana in London told Bloomberg. "It's got a fried, battered breast, hash brown, a spicy tomato salsa, mayonnaise and crispy iceberg in a sesame bun."

6. In-N-Out's burger

in n out

It may only be available on the West Coast, but In-N-Out Burger is a cult classic. Wolfgang Puck, of Spago in Beverly Hills, and Nuno Mendes, of Chiltern Firehouse in London, said the burger chain was one of their favorites.

"I like it because you can have a hamburger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun," said Puck. "I feel like I am eating a salad."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tried Shake Shack's new breakfast menu — here's our verdict

A former Clinton Foundation exec raised $14.1 million to create a smart thermometer he hopes will help stop diseases from spreading at the Olympics

0
0

Kinsa's Smart Stick Thermometer does much more than just read your temperature.

The FDA-approved thermometer pairs with a free companion app that allows users to quickly log their symptoms, get accurate temperature readings, and receive medical guidance. 

Once the thermometer reads that you have a fever, it can give you basic medical advice like whether you should see the doctor right away, if there are any medications you should avoid taking, and how high of a dose is recommended for certain medications.

You can also manually enter symptoms and photos, which acts as a handy log of the illness and its progression when you do go to the doctor's office. 

According to Inder Sing, Kinsa's founder and CEO, this feature has been particularly beneficial for parents with multiple kids, as it can be tough to recall the progression of a sickness over time.Kinsa

Singh started the company back in 2012 after working for five years as the executive vice president and director of drug access for the Clinton Foundation's Health Access Initiative.

He visited several third-world countries and saw the spreading of illness firsthand. He decided he wanted to create a connected tool that could help people better manage their health. 

The company went with a thermometer, since it's often the first tool a person turns to when they're sick, especially for parents with small children.

But Kinsa's Smart Stick Thermometer also functions as a communication tool, where users can tap into a social network that allows them to get advice from one another. 

The company wanted to help people understand where and at what rate sicknesses are spreading near them, which is why they created a feature that allows them to anonymously aggregate health information in a particular area.

Currently, Kinsa aggregates health information from 120 schools across the US, and will be adding 500 schools to that list this year. 

They're also looking to expand the data at a larger scale, starting with either zip codes or entire cities (depending on the number of people within a zip code), and eventually expanding it nationwide.

kinsa austinUsers can also engage in discussions through the "groups" feature. That way, they can get advice from others who may have been in similar situations before.

Singh told us that parents have said that the aggregated health information has helped save their children's lives, especially with children who have compromised immune systems. 

kinsa groups"We were seeing an emergence of connected products and wanted to figure out how to provide people with what they need for their health, but to also understand popular health insights to inform the healthcare system," Singh said. 

Kinsa has begun donating its thermometers to Team USA's Olympic athletes, as well as to their family and friends.

Those on location in Rio will also have the ability to join the Kinsa Olympic Village Group to see what symptoms and illnesses are being reported in the area. 

The information will be handy for those traveling near the area, since illnesses like zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya have been reported in parts of Brazil.

The company has raised a total of $14.1 million in venture funding, with investors that include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, FirstMark Capital, and Founder Collective, among a number of other angel investors. 

Kinsa's Smart Stick Thermometer starts at $19.99 and is currently available online and in major stores like Target, CVS, and Apple. 

SEE ALSO: This startup wants to help you speed through airport security lines

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Scientists just collected a mysterious 'purple orb' at the bottom of the ocean, but no one could anticipate what happened next

30 cities every foodie should visit in their lifetime


Forget Q-tips — here’s how you should be cleaning your ears

15 relationship facts everybody should know before getting married

0
0

romeo juliet

You can drive yourself crazy deciding whether to marry your partner.

Can you two really survive a lifetime together?

I mean, you adore them — but they constantly leave hair in the shower. They tell the worst jokes — but they're always there to comfort you after a hard day.

Perhaps it would help to turn to the scientific research, which has pinpointed specific factors that can make or break a romantic relationship.

Below, we've rounded up 15 nontrivial things you might want to keep in mind before hiring a wedding planner.

This is an update of an article originally posted by Drake Baer.

SEE ALSO: 10 myths about dating too many people believe

If you wait until you're 23 to commit, you're less likely to get divorced.

A 2014 University of North Carolina at Greensboro study found that American women who cohabitate or get married at age 18 have a 60% divorce rate, but women who wait until 23 to make either of those commitments have a divorce rate around 30%.

"The longer couples waited to make that first serious commitment [cohabitation or marriage], the better their chances for marital success," The Atlantic reported.



The 'in love' phase lasts about a year.

The honeymoon phase doesn't go on forever.

According to a 2005 study by the University of Pavia in Italy, it lasts about a year. After that, levels of a chemical called "nerve growth factor," which is associated with intense romantic feelings, start to fall.

Helen Fisher, a psychologist and relationship expert, told Business Insider that it's unclear when exactly the "in love" feeling starts to fade, but it does so "for good evolutionary reasons," she said, because "it's very metabolically expensive to spend an awful lot of time just focusing on just one person in that high-anxiety state."



Two people can be compatible — or incompatible — on multiple levels.

Back in the 1950s and '60s, Canadian psychologist Eric Berne introduced a three-tiered model for understanding a person's identity. He found that each of us have three "ego states" operating at once:

• The parent: What you've been taught

• The child: What you have felt

• The adult: What you have learned

When you're in a relationship, you relate on each of those levels:

• The parent: Do you have similar values and beliefs about the world?

• The child: Do you have fun together? Can you be spontaneous? Do you think your partner's hot? Do you like to travel together?

• The adult: Does each person think the other is bright? Are you good at solving problems together?

While having symmetry across all three is ideal, people often get together to "balance each other." For instance, one may be nurturing and the other playful.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How the boat shoe became the default summer footwear for thousands of young Americans

You've been breathing — yes, breathing — all wrong

0
0

Man Stressed Sitting on Sidewalk

It's literally the most boring thing you do every day. And thank goodness — if breathing weren't completely rote, we'd all be dead.

But if you're like me, your inhales and exhales seem to be inexplicably linked with your state of mind. When I'm stressed, I steal antsy, shallow sips of air and puff them out quickly. When I'm relaxed, on the other hand, I breathe in gently and deeply, before letting go of the air slowly.

Studies suggest that I'm not the only one who's noticed a link between their emotional state and their breathing.

While rapid breathing can often be a symptom of stress or anxiety, research shows that taking control of our breathing can also influence how we feel. Consciously taking deep, slow breaths, for example, may calm us down by convincing our minds that we're already in a state of relaxation, Dr. Martin Paulus, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego professor, writes in a 2013 manuscript in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

Unfortunately, many of us are used to breathing in a way that tends to be bad for us.

"For many of us, deep breathing seems unnatural. There are several reasons for this. For one, body image has a negative impact on respiration in our culture. A flat stomach is considered attractive, so women (and men) tend to hold in their stomach muscles. This interferes with deep breathing and gradually makes shallow 'chest breathing' seem normal," write the folks at the Harvard Medical School in a recent blog post. These quick inhalations and exhalations can actually make us feel more tense.

deep breathBut there are plenty of ways to change this pattern — and plenty of research that supports doing so too.

A 2012 randomized controlled study of 46 male and female musicians who were briefly trained in deep breathing and biofeedback suggested that a single 30-minute session of slow breathing (with or without the biofeedback component) helped reduce symptoms of anxiety before a performance, particularly in musicians who said they tended to get very anxious.

The benefits may extend to people with more severe anxiety as well. The authors of a small 2014 study of male veterans with PTSD found that those who did three hours each day of a breathing-based meditation program for a week experienced a decrease in PTSD symptoms and anxiety.

If you've never tried deep breathing before, Harvard has some tips for giving it a shot. First, find a quiet, comfortable place to sit or lie down. Then, inhale slowly through your nose, letting your chest and lower stomach expand. Finally, exhale slowly through your mouth or nose. It also can be helpful to count while you're breathing as a way of helping to even out your inhales and exhales.

SEE ALSO: There's a surprisingly simple way meditation appears to change the brain

READ NEXT: I've been on antidepressants for a decade — here's what everyone gets wrong about them

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This sober rave starts at 6:30 a.m. — and it comes with dancing, yoga and coffee

Why you should never throw away these bags again

The 4 cultural shifts that led to the rise of the helicopter parent

0
0

beach

Many of us remember a time when, in comparison, parents were rather uninvolved in childhood.

When a parent (usually a mom) would throw the door open on weekday afternoons and tell us, "Go out and play and be home for dinner." Our parents had no idea where we were or exactly what we were doing. There were no cell phones for keeping in touch or GPS devices for tracking.

Off we went into the wilderness of our block, our neighborhood, our town, our vacant lots, our parks, our woods, our malls. Or sometimes, we just snuck a book and sat on the back steps.

Childhood doesn't look that way today and many young parents don’t relate to childhood ever having been that way.

When, why, and how did parenting and childhood change? Even a cursory hunt yields a bounty of shifts. A number of important ones take place in the mid-1980s.

In 1983, one shift arose from the increased awareness of child abductions. The tragic 1981 abduction and murder of a young child named Adam Walsh became the made-for-television movie Adam, which was seen by a near record-setting 38 million people.

The faces of missing children began staring out at us over breakfast from the back of milk cartons soon after. Walsh's father, John Walsh, went on to lobby Congress to create the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984, and to found the television show America's Most Wanted, which aired on Fox beginning in 1988. Our incessant fear of strangers was born.

Another shift — the idea that our children aren't doing enough schoolwork — arrived with the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, which argued that American kids weren't competing well against their peers globally.

Since then, federal policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have fomented an achievement culture that emphasizes rote memorization and teaching to the test against the backdrop of increased competition from students in Singapore, China, and South Korea, where such teaching practices are the norm.

American kids and parents soon began struggling under the weight of more homework and began doing whatever it takes to survive school, as was illuminated in the 2003 book "Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students" written by Stanford School of Education lecturer Dr. Denise Pope, and the 2010 film Race to Nowhere.

dad kidsA third shift came with the onset of the self-esteem movement—a philosophy that gained popularity in the United States in the 1980s that said we could help kids succeed in life if we valued their personhood rather than their outcomes.

In her 2013 best-selling book "The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way," Amanda Ripley cites the self-esteem movement as a uniquely American phenomenon.

And a fourth shift was the creation of the playdate, circa 1984. The play-date emerged as a practical scheduling tool at a time when mothers were entering the workforce in record numbers. The combination of more parents working and the increased reliance on day care meant fewer kids were going home after school, and it was harder to find either a location or a time for play.

Once parents started scheduling play, they then began observing play, which led to involving themselves in play. Once a critical mass of parents began being involved in kids' play, leaving kids home alone became taboo, as did allowing kids to play unsupervised.

Day care for younger kids turned into organized after-school activities for older kids. Meanwhile, concerns at the turn of that decade over injury and lawsuits prompted a complete overhaul of public playgrounds nationwide. The very nature of play — which is a foundational element in the life of a developing child — began to change.

Observing such shifts among other things, in 1990, child development researchers Foster Cline and Jim Fay coined the term "helicopter parent" to refer to a parent who hovers over a child in a way that runs counter to the parent’s responsibility to raise a child to independence.

Focused on giving advice to parents of young children, Cline and Fay had their finger on the pulse of important changes that took place in American parenting in the prior decade, and which are commonplace today, twenty-five years later. That means the oldest members of the helicoptered generation turned thirty circa 2010. They are also those known as "Generation Y" or "Millennials."

In the late 1990s, the first of the Millennial generation began going off to college, and my colleagues and I at Stanford began to notice a new phenomenon — parents on the college campus, virtually and literally.

Each subsequent year would bring an increase in the number of parents who did things like seek opportunities, make decisions, and problem solve for their sons and daughters — things that college-aged students used to be able to do for themselves.

This was not only happening at Stanford, mind you; it was happening at four-year colleges and universities all over the country, as conversations with colleagues nationwide confirmed.

Meanwhile my husband and I were raising our two little kids, and without fully realizing it we were doing a good deal of helicoptering in our own home.

Excerpted from "How To Raise An Adult" by Julie Lythcott-Haims, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Copyright © 2015 by Julie Lythcott- Haims. All rights reserved.

SEE ALSO: Children who practice this hobby are more likely to be successful as adults

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why we should ban non-vaccinated kids from schools

The 12 craziest things that send people to the hospital

0
0

Football_Thumbnails_3x4

If you play football, September is the most likely time you'll end up in the emergency room with an injury from the sport.

In February, the odds of you landing in the ER with a sprained ankle from a game of pick-up isn't as likely. 

Looking at data from the 2014 US Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System— and the mesmerizing visual compiled by FlowingData — we decided to map out the wackiest things that sent an abnormal number of people to the emergency room every month. We also compared those spikes to the number of ER visits that related to each activity over the rest of the year.

SEE ALSO: There's a huge spike in emergency room visits related to fireworks every July

DON'T MISS: The biggest scientific discoveries in all 50 states

January: Snowboarding landed more people in the hospital in January, with virtually no accidents during the summer months in the US.



February: More hospital visits related to snow removal occurred in February, higher than any other winter month.



March: Exercise equipment was linked to hospital visits throughout the year, but the biggest spike was in March, followed by September.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A psychologist reveals a trick to stop being lazy

On one day a year there's a 'magical jump' of activity on dating apps

0
0

tinder costume

Now that dating digitally has become so common, companies are constantly collecting information about our human mating behavior.

It turns out it's seasonal.

For example, there's a big spike of activity on the first Sunday of every year — after people have gotten over their New Year's hangover and have had some time to collect themselves.

"It's like a magical jump that continues through Valentine's Day, and then there's a spike after Valentine's Day, because the day didn't go as planned," Amarnath Thombre, the chief strategy officer of Match Group, told Business Insider.

Match owns 45 dating platforms, including massive apps and websites like Tinder and OK Cupid and smaller niche services like Black People Meet and Plenty of Fish, which it purchased for $575 million in July of last year. In the first quarter of 2016, the company brought in $285 million in revenue, up 21% from the same period a year before.

Dating's Busiest Season (yes, they call it that) is from December 26 to January 14. During that time, there's a 60% spike in new singles registering on Match platforms. Fifteen million new photos are uploaded, one million dates take place, and 50 million messages are sent.

This contrasts sharply with the time right before Thanksgiving into Christmas, when Match experiences a pretty dramatic drop-off in activity. There's a short spike on December 26 and then another lull until the new year.

There's also a small drop-off at the end of the school year. Because kids are at home more, single parents tend to put dating on the back burner.

Swipestakes

Thombre's charge is to constantly reimagine the future of online dating. He has been at Match since 2008 and has seen how its business has evolved from something for lonely singles in their late 30s to a bunch of niche platforms for every kind of person you can imagine to what is now essentially a fun game for young people.

People's behavior has also changed during that time. From 2013 to 2015, for example, Match saw its users shift to mobile platforms at an accelerated rate, and the company had to rush to move all of its platforms along with them.

But more important is that the line between real life and app life is blurring almost beyond recognition.

"Before you enter a bar you may have already made an introduction," he said.

Match is now working on a way to attack the holdouts — the people who still count on in-person chemistry rather than a photo and a profile to decide whether to date someone.

"Increasingly, users are attending Match events like cooking classes and rock climbing, settings that foster that type of interaction," Thombre said.

The company is also working on incorporating video — anything that gives you more about people before you actually have to meet them.

In the future, the internet will vet anyone you see before you even buy the person a drink.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: MALCOLM GLADWELL: ‘Anyone who gives a single dollar to Princeton has completely lost their mind'

Porsche's most controversial car is spectacular to drive

0
0

Porsche Panamera GTS 2016

The Porsche Panamera is one of the most polarizing cars on the road today.

While many people don't like the sedan's fastback rear end, others swear by the car's prowess on the road.

When the Panamera entered production in 2009, it became the first sedan in Porsche's illustrious history to reach showrooms. 

In June, Porsche unveiled the second generation Panamera in Berlin to universal acclaim.

The automotive world immediately became enthralled by the car. Mostly because Porsche had fixed the only thing that kept people from falling in love with the first generation Panamera — the tail. 

Although I've driven several Porsche models, I never had a chance to spend any time behind the wheel of a Panamera. With the second generation Panamera still months away from reaching our shores, Porsche was gracious enough to lend me one of their final first-generation cars for a few days. 

SEE ALSO: Here's what happened when I finally got to drive the car of my childhood dreams

Here it is! A 2016 Porsche Panamera GTS!

A few weeks ago, I made the trip down to Atlanta — home of Porsche Cars North America's new $100 million corporate headquarters. (As a side note, the facility also served as The Avengers' home base in "Captain America: Civil War".)

There, I met up with a shiny new 2016 Porsche Panamera GTS clad in stylish silver metallic paint.

 



That escalated quickly.

Even though the base Panamera starts at a fairly reasonable $78,000, our medium grade GTS test car carries a base price of $113,400. With options such as special metallic paint ($3,100), upgraded Bose surround sound system ($1,590), black high gloss sport wheels ($3,375), and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control ($5,000), our test car came in at $140,525. Then again, no one ever said Porsche magic comes cheap. 



But first, a bit of history.

Although the Panamera was the first Porsche sedan to make it into production when it arrived in showrooms for the 2010 model year, the company had actually been mulling over the idea for some time. More than two decades ago, Porsche built the 989 prototype to be a sports car for the whole family. The 989 was powered by a 4.2-liter, 350-horsepower V8 engine, and Porsche claimed it could hit a top speed of 173 mph.  



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How to make the right choice when you need to borrow money

0
0

gen x Couple looking at bills

You know one thing for sure: Some extra cash could really come in handy right now. But the best way to access it? That you're not quite so sure about. A personal line of credit and a personal loan might sound like similar options, but one could be better suited to your needs. Make sure to tap the right one to maximize the financial benefits.

The Basic Difference

A personal loan is what you think of when you hear the word "loan": A lump sum you receive after being approved, that you then pay back in fixed monthly payments. The rate is fixed and there are no origination or prepayment fees. Pretty simple, right?

A personal line of credit is more flexible. Similar to a credit card, you have a certain amount of credit you can draw on as often as you like and in whatever increments you need, up to a particular limit. Your monthly payments will depend on how much credit you're using at that time. Personal lines of credit typically come with low annual fees.

How to know a personal loan is right for you

When might the security of a personal loan be the right fit for you? Loans are best for one-time expenses for which you know how much you will need up front. The fixed repayment plan means you handle your financial need and plan your future budget around the payments.

Consider a personal loan if:

  • You have a one-time home improvement need, such as a new roof or major repair.
  • You want to consolidate debt from several high-interest credit cards or loans.
  • You're planning a major vacation for which you've estimated your budget in advance.
  • It's finally time for that speed boat you've been eyeing for years. 

How to know a personal line of credit is right for you

The flexibility of a line of credit makes it a good long-term credit solution. You may not always need it, but having it available can make a number of situations easier.

A personal line of credit is a great option if:

  • You're self-employed and your cash flow may be irregular from month-to-month.
  • You're planning a wedding or other big event and will have to pay several vendors over a number of months, and the costs may change from the early stages of planning to the end.
  • You've purchased a fixer-upper home and know you'll need access to home improvement funds on an ongoing basis.
  • You just had triplets. You have no idea what these new additions to your life are going to need, but when they need them, you'll have to buy in triplicate.

No matter what your personal credit needs are, picking the right option will make your financing better fit your life. 

During the Great Rate Event, eligible Wells Fargo customers can get special interest rate discounts off new Personal Loans and Lines of Credit.

This post is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Join the conversation about this story »

This family-owned Italian restaurant in NYC has been a celebrity hideaway for more than 70 years

0
0

patsyWhile New York City sees a constant shift in its restaurant scene, one family-owned restaurant is still going strong after 70 years.

Since Patsy’s Italian Restaurant opened on 56th Street in between 7th and 8th Avenue in 1944, it has only had three chefs: Pasquale Scognamillo (or Patsy, as he became known), his son Joe, and his grandson, Sal. 

Four generations of Scognamillos have worked at the restaurant, including Sal's brother, Frank, and Frank's son, Paul. 

Today, the restaurant is famous for being Frank Sinatra's favorite, but it has drawn in a slew of celebrity diners, from George Clooney and Al Pacino to James Gandolfini and Tony Bennett. 

"The Scognamillo family dynasty is not unlike the Sinatras'...theirs is in food and ours is in music," Nancy Sinatra wrote in Patsy's first cookbook, “Patsy's Cookbook: Classic Italian Recipes from a New York City Landmark Restaurant.”

We visited the historic eatery to learn about its fascinating history and see why it has become a hit with some of entertainment's most noted names. 

*Note: Patsy's Italian Restaurant on 56th Street and 8th Avenue is the only location associated with the Scognamillo family.  

SEE ALSO: Here's the difference between ice cream, gelato, soft serve, frozen custard, sherbet, sorbet, and frozen yogurt

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

Thanks to its location and Pasquale Scognamillo's love of music, Patsy's quickly became a popular spot for Broadway performers. It took Pasquale — who was given the nickname Patsy from immigration officials on Ellis Island during his arrival to New York in 1928 — 14 years to raise enough money to open his own restaurant in the city.



It also became a favorite for countless celebrities, whose photos adorn the restaurant's walls. "Everyone who came to Patsy’s for dinner was treated like family," Ben Stiller wrote in the restaurant’s second cookbook, "Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook." "Titans of industry, entertainers, people on a first-time trip to New York all came through, and all, it seemed, felt the same way — special."



For celebrities like Stiller, whose parents would pop into Patsy's after performing on the "Ed Sullivan Show," and George Clooney, whose mother used to dine at there restaurant while she was pregnant, Patsy's has been a restaurant they've visited, dined at, and had memories in for years.

Source: "Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook" and “Patsy's Cookbook: Classic Italian Recipes from a New York City Landmark Restaurant”



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Viewing all 115285 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images