dsmWealth May 16, 2019

Top summer camps still challenge, inspire and reward youths like these at Teton Valley Ranch Camp near Jackson, Wyoming.

Summer Camp: An Investment in the Future

BY STEVE DINNEN

Here’s a great — maybe mandatory — alternative to your children lounging around the house all summer, playing video games: camp.

Get out and breathe some really fresh air. Hike some really big mountains — the Grand Tetons. And catch some really big fish, once you’ve mastered the intricacies of fly fishing as taught to 11-to-16-year-olds at Teton Valley Ranch Camp in Wyoming.

Teton Valley (current tuition is $6,900) and thousands of other camps await your child this summer. There are weekend affairs to summerlong programs. Kids as young as 7 and as old as 18 are welcome at camps tailored to girls, boys or coed campers. There are camps that focus on music, academics, religion, science or special needs. (Iowans take note: www.summercamps.com shows there even are farm camps.) They can sail off the coast of California, or hike those Wyoming mountains. While at camp, Teton Valley marketing director Whitney Oppenhuizen says kids also participate in a rodeo, climb rocks and spend time rappelling. Older kids spend overnights in the mountains, pitching tents and tasting campfire cooking.

New England is studded with forests, lakes and camps. Tripp Lake Camp ($13,400) has been hosting girls since 1911 at its compound in Poland, Maine. Near enough to Canada to include a side trip to Montreal, Maine’s Camp Androscoggin ($13,300) is a boys-only affair that focuses on the outdoors and athletics. In New Hampshire, at Camp Walt Whitman ($12,900), youngsters can bring their tennis game into top shape on any of 11 courts, overseen by a coach who has won multiple national collegiate championships.

Jed Dorfman, who along with his wife, Carolyn, runs 71-year-old Walt Whitman, said the camp strives to help kids "be what kind of person you ought to be," as it encourages volunteering and giving of one’s self. The 230 staffers help the 425 campers develop from a kid to a young adult, stepping up to a number of endeavors.

"We have some kids who are phenomenal athletes," said Dorfman. "We have other kids who love to be in the ceramics tent."

Some of these camps have shorter, lower-priced versions available to younger or first-year campers. All welcome visits. For some Central Iowa camping options, check out this list as assembled by Des Moines Parent: desmoinesparent.com/des-moines-summer-camps-2019/. Whether it’s a local camp for a week or a longer camp for all of July, your child will get more out of camp than from a video game.

Former Camper Concludes: 'Father Made the Right Choice'

BY STEVE DINNEN

As a 12-year-old boy I set my sights on Lake Champlain for summer camp. My father thought a little soldiering sounded good, and so I found myself in Indiana, bivouacking alongside Lake Maxinkuckee at Culver Military Academy.

Camp seemed primitive to this city boy. We had canvas walk-in tents with planked floors, handling four campers each. Our nearby drinking fountain was well water, with a definite taste of iron.

Over three summers I acquired many skills, some of which were lifelong. I fired a rifle, shot an arrow mostly true and straight, sailed small boats, uprighted those boats once capsized, paddled a canoe. I dabbled with boxing.

I learned about flora and fauna. I learned not to mess with snapping turtles. This being a military school, I learned how to march, stand at parade rest, and make a bed with tight, hospital-cornered sheets. I sometimes bugled taps.

I competed for promotion. (I outranked both of my brothers, who also attended Culver.) I met my first Jew. My first Canadian. My first Venezuelan — Culver was popular with South Americans.

I knew loneliness. It was tough being away from friends and family for so long, while so young. But that, too, became a life experience, part of growing up. And decades later I think my father made the right choice.

Female 1% Driving Luxury Travel to New Places

BY KATY BARNATO, CNBC

Rising numbers of female millionaires and billionaires around the world may help drive a rise in luxury health and wellness holidays and women-only hotel services.

The number of female ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) — those with net assets of $30 million or more, excluding their primary residences — is increasing faster than male UHNWI, encouraging travel agencies, hotels and tour operators to focus on their interests. These include holidays that focus on "wellness" and can be combined with business or voluntary work, according to data provider WealthInsight.

"Interview and secondary research show that spas, yoga, meditation, health and wellness are appealing to female UHNWI," Roselyn Lekdee, economist at WealthInsight, told CNBC on Wednesday.

In a report on Tuesday, Lekdee said the number of wealthy females rose by 5.3% between 2010 and 2014 in locations with large UHNWI populations. The number of male UHNWIs rose by 4.4 percent, although there were still far more male than female multimillionaires.

"As wealthy females have greater control over their careers and finances, they are becoming more selective about holidays, demanding personal and more sophisticated services," Lekdee said. Read more >>

‘If You’re Not a Billionaire’ in 10 Years, ‘It’s Your Own Fault,’ Says 20-Year-Old Bitcoin Tycoon

BY MARK DeCAMBRE, MarketWatch

Bitcoin has mounted an uncanny resurgence from the depths of a virtual winter for the cryptocurrency market, with bullish, long-term investors extolling the virtues of digital assets as the opportunity of a lifetime and touting the benefits of sticking it out through the volatile price swings.

One such bitcoin proponent, Erik Finman, harbors an unusually upbeat prediction for the enterprising few willing to take a chance on bitcoin and blockchain. Finman told MarketWatch in a Tuesday interview that bitcoin, and its ilk, could be a veritable lottery ticket for those with the intestinal fortitude to hold on to or invest directly in the asset for at least the next decade. Read more >>

BY ROB ISBITTS, Forbes

The past 10 years have been both a glorious ride and a great excuse for investor complacency. After all, just invest your money in the broad market indexes, go about your business, and retire early, right? Well, not so fast.

Investing is above all else cyclical. And while cycles can be muted by suppressing interest rates, media hoopla, good vibes and animal spirits, eventually, the collective investment population decides that high is too high. And I am talking about the broad stock market, not the emerging cannabis industry.

At some point, investor complacency gets so hard-coded into the mainstream, people like me — risk-managers and financial realists — get drowned out by the hype of IPOs, high-tech stock price records, and the like. But at some point investors come to be reminded that investing in "the market," as opposed to prioritizing the management of risk, has a downside. Read more >>