Did you know that you can rent Johnny Depp’s Yacht Vajoliroja? Indeed, you can… Burgess Yachts rents the Depp yacht for €98,000 (approximately $130,000) per week in the high season and €84,000 (approximately $110,000) in the low season. Depp named the yacht “Vajoliroja” — a combination of the first letters of the names of his family: Longtime girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, (“Va”), himself (“Jo”), his 10-year-old daughter Lily Rose (“LiRo”) and 8-year-old son, Jack (“Ja”.) Depp often takes the Vajoliroja on trips to his private island in the Bahamas, Little Hall’s Pond Cay. Last summer, the actor set sail with Vanity Fair editor Douglas Brinkley, along with three of Depp’s best friends, for a trip to the island.

Length 47.6m (156.0ft)
Beam 7.0m (23.0ft)
Draft 2.4m (7.9ft)
Built 2001 (refitted 2008), Turquoise Yacht Construction, Istanbul, Turkey
Engines 2 x 480hp Caterpillar
Cruising Speed 12 knots
Guests 10/11 (1 master, 2 double, 2 twin)
Crew 8
Watersports 5.5m Ranieri Soverato tender with 115hp engine, 4.9m Nautica tender with 60hp engine, 2 x kayaks (double & single), 2 x windsurfers (beginners & advanced), waterskis, wakeboard & tows, snorkelling gear
Communications & entertainment Satcom & cellular communications facilities, VSAT, Wi-Fi internet access
Comprehensive audio-visual systems, satellite television, iPod docking stations, Playstation 3, Wii
Special Features Zero speed stabilisers
Summer cruising Mediterranean
Summer rates (high/low) €98,000 / €84,000
Winter cruising Bahamas & Caribbean
Winter rates (high/low) €98,000 / €84,000

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In October 2009, New York Times reporters Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber compared a hypothetical married couple with an equivalent-earning unmarried gay couple, to see just how much difference those extra privileges made.

Here's what they found:

In our worst case, the couple's lifetime cost of being gay was $467,562. But the number fell to $41,196 in the best case for a couple with significantly better health insurance, plus lower taxes and other costs.

This is unfair. The solution? Bernard and Lieber argue that "the federal government [should legalize] same-sex marriage."

But in fact, legalizing gay marriage only solves the problem for a few.

Many more single people (gay and straight)—more than half of the population—continue to suffer from institutionalized singlism, the discrimination of individuals based on marital status.

U.S. Federal Code Title 5 Part III says: The President may prescribe rules which shall prohibit... discrimination because of marital status. Yet more than 1,000 laws provide overt legal or financial benefits to married couples. Marital privileging marginalizes the 50 percent of Americans who are single.

The U.S. government is the main perpetrator, but private companies follow its lead. Thus marital privilege pervades nearly every facet of our lives. Insurance policies—ranging from health, to life, to home, to car—cost more, on average, for unmarried people compared to those who are married.

It is not a federal crime for landlords to discriminate against potential renters based on their marital status. And so on.

One reason these policies exist is to encourage people to get married, because being married was—and still is—considered a social good. Some have suggested that marriage makes people healthier and happier, but critics such as Dr. Bella DePaulo have pointed out that most studies show that, in the long term, there is little to no difference between married and single people in terms of health, happiness, or personal responsibility.

Additionally, these studies are often poorly designed, consider data sets that are not representative of the general population, or fail to consider alternative hypotheses—for example, people who are already happy might be more likely to become married, or happiness might come from having close interpersonal relationships, which may or may not include a spouse.

Whatever the truth might be about marriage's effects, we the authors would like to redraw the lines of discussion and argue that policy-makers need to reject policies that take into consideration an individual's marital status, because such policies are discriminatory.

As two straight women with no desire to get married, we are not against marriage per se. We're not callous and repressed man-haters. We're not bitter about ex-boyfriends who cheated or tried to teach us the correct way to pour laundry detergent (ok, well maybe a little bitter about that last one).

We're not even necessarily uncomfortable with the institution's arguable gender expectations and socio-political history. We just don't much care whether we're married, or not. But governments and corporations do.

We decided to determine a person's lifetime cost of being single by paralleling Bernard and Lieber's general approach. So, blissfully unaware of the morass of math awaiting us, we created four characters living in Virginia: two single women and two married women of equivalent means.

The single women made $40,000 and $80,000, as did their married counterparts. The two salaries represent relatively middle and high-income levels in Virginia, where 2011 per capita income was $44,700 statewide. So far, so good. Then we broke out the calculator.

Our married women's husbands worked too, earning $51,000 and $103,000 respectively. (The husbands' salaries to reflect the fact that a woman earns 78 cents for every dollar a man earns, although this is the median rate for all women and in fact black and Hispanic women are paid even less.)

We assumed the married women filed jointly with their husbands (generally more advantageous than filing separately). We imagined that our characters worked in Virginia from ages 26 to 66 and then lived for another 20 years after retirement. We chose to examine one year in their lives and extrapolate the lifetime impact from their finances for that particular year.

We quickly realized that our experiment could not be comprehensive. Had we looked more closely at a longer time period, we might have seen some fluctuations. Because we didn't have the resources to run 900 income tax returns over 50 years, as Bernard and Lieber did, we left out many complicating factors of the single-versus-married filing-status dynamic.

We did not factor in the differences between a married woman with a working husband and a married woman with a stay-at-home husband. Nor did we consider the high probability that our characters would change or lose jobs several times, and/or receive pay increases throughout their lifetimes. And we didn't consider the expenses of children (though for the record single women bear more of a financial burden of raising children, compared to married women).

We did not address the high likelihood that our married women would get a divorce or outlive their husbands. A comparison of single versus married men would also likely return different results.

So, what did we examine? The primary areas where government and corporate policies have institutionalized discrimination against single people: income taxes, Social Security, and IRAs. We also looked at discrimination that is not officially institutionalized: housing and health spending. Singles have little choice but to expend more in these areas out of practical necessity.

Here's the breakdown:

Income Taxes

Normally, married couples can save thousands of dollars just by filing jointly instead of separately. Those thousands are largely the direct result of federal and state laws that privilege married people.

First, we wondered how much our characters would spend in one year in income taxes. We figured this out with the help of a tax professional, who focused on the taxes the women paid during their working careers.

In 2010, our single woman earning $40,000 paid $6,181. Her married peer paid more than a thousand dollars less: $5,162. The contrast became more dramatic as our subjects' incomes increased: our single woman earning $80,000 paid $16,125, whereas her married counterpart paid almost four thousand dollars less per year. (The numbers for 2011 were similar: our marrieds paid $963 and $3,875 less.)

Here are the numbers extrapolated from income hypothetically earned over 40 years, based on the 2011 rates:

Our single woman earning $40,000 per year paid $245,000 in income taxes. Our married woman earning $40,000 paid $206,000 in income taxes—a difference of $39,000.

Our single woman earning $80,000 per year paid $645,000 in income taxes. Our married woman earning $80,000 paid $490,000 in income taxes—a difference of $155,000.

At this point in our calculations, we each wanted to run out and get a husband, STAT. And the buttons on our calculator weren't even warm yet.

Social Security

Perhaps the most pervasive myth about unmarried people is that no one will care for them as they age. This fear is both ridiculous, and not. We ourselves feel it sometimes, even though we know that having a spouse and/or kids is no guarantee you'll die in satin sheets with the ocean breeze blowing through your window as muscular half-clothed but fully oiled young men fan your greying cheeks with palm fronds and place peanut butter cups between your lips (we will not say which of us has this particular fantasy).

But being married does in many ways make planning and saving for the future easier—simply because society provides more such options for married couples. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Social Security.

Social Security started in the 1930s and evolved partly as a way to support child-rearing women who couldn't work (which at the time was about 85 percent of women). They received benefits through their husbands. Today, women can of course hold jobs and put money into Social Security. Upon retirement, married women can claim their own Social Security or their husbands'.

But they are subsidized in large part by single people. The original rationale for this policy was the belief that single men would marry eventually and then recoup the benefits of Social Security at that time. But the repercussions of this reasoning impact singles to this day.

If a single person dies without children, her money will—must—go into the system to be provided to whomever needs it most, which is good because that was the original intent of Social Security. However, if a married person dies, the money can be routed back to her family. This is good for the married person, but fails to account for the important people in singles' lives.

Social Security privileges marrieds in many ways. For example, our hypothetical married woman could receive up to 50 percent of her husband's benefits while her husband is alive. Spouses can also receive 100 percent of their dead spouse's benefits, if the deceased's benefits are higher than the recipient's would have been.

But wait, there's more! For married couples, the federal government throws in this handy dual-claim option: When our married woman reaches retirement age, she can claim Social Security as a spouse and then later as a worker. For example, she could sign up for spousal benefits at age 66 and then wait four years before claiming her own benefits, because by delaying she accrues credits which increase her benefits by a certain percentage (depending on her date of birth).

With these benefits in mind, and stiff drinks in our hands, we calculated and recalculated—in today's dollars—how much more Social Security our married woman received than our single woman. We used the Social Security Administration's online calculator to estimate benefits for our two women, assuming they were both born in 1974 and that they retired at age 66 or 70 and lived until 86.

We assumed their spouses were the same age and also retired at ages 66 or 70. Below are just some of the many permutations that resulted in relatively large sums of money for marrieds, at the expense of unmarrieds:

If both women earning $40,000 retire at age 66, they will collect $333,600 if we assume our characters live for twenty years after retirement. If our characters both retire at 70, they would each collect $357,504 over the next 16 years.

If they retire four years later, both our women earning $40,000 can collect an additional $23,904. But suppose during those additional years, our married woman takes her option to collect on her (now retired) husband's Social Security (in addition to her own income).

Because her husband has earned $51,000 per year for the last 40 years, his wife would receive $39,768 for those four years, which is half of his Social Security (and doesn't diminish the amount he receives). That's $39,768 that our single woman did not have the option of receiving from a loved one.

If our women earning $80,000 retire at 66, they will receive $496,080 over the next twenty years. If they can hold out on retiring for another four years, they will get $528,960 over the next 16 years.

But again, our married woman earning $80,000 can defer retirement between ages 66 and 70 and earn an extra $55,896 in addition to her own income, simply by also collecting her husband's Social Security.

That's a lot of money the government (and single contributors to Social Security) gives to people for saying "I do." But perhaps nothing illustrates the power of marital privilege more than this: unmarried people can ride on another person's Social Security benefits if they were previously married to that person for at least ten years and are 62 and not entitled to Social Security based on their own work history.

If marriage benefits can be flexed based on the nature of the marital relationship, logic dictates that they might also be adapted to include relationships outside the marital sphere. Both of us can think of someone whom we might want to help support via our Social Security earnings.

IRAs

Single people can designate anyone as an IRA beneficiary or an inheritor of property—or be the beneficiary him/herself. Sounds like great news, right? Not once you compare unmarried people with their married counterparts. Married couples enjoy privileges related to IRAs and property taxes that are unavailable to singles.

First, a married couple can put two people on an IRA while a single person can't; this puts the single in a disadvantaged position. For example, a married person (such as our married women) can put away $5,000 for her spouse (the husband) for every year when the husband is not working.

In contrast, a single person can't put away that money in support of someone else, nor can someone else put away money for the single person if the single person is unemployed and not contributing to her own IRA.

Second, spouses can withdraw money from an IRA early, for medical or education expenses, without the usual 10-percent penalty (if those expenses are greater than the IRA-holder's adjusted gross income by 7.5 percent).

While it's never ideal to withdraw money from an IRA early, single people overburdened by unplanned medical expenses will lose 10 percent of the withdrawal amount even if the expenses are high. In other words, single people are penalized when they make the same choices as their married counterparts.

Just as married people can inherit a spouse's IRA, single people can also inherit IRAs, even from someone who's not a relative. Once again, however, married people enjoy significant privileges when they inherit the IRA: If the spouse died before 70 1/2 years of age, and if the surviving spouse is under 59 1/2, he/she can defer the required minimum distribution (RMD) until the spouse would have reached 70 1/2—meaning he/she won't be taxed for RMDs during those years (if the IRA is a traditional one). Additionally, surviving spouses can withdraw cash from the IRA early for any reason without accruing the usual 10-percent penalty—no questions asked.

In contrast, if a single person inherits an IRA, s/he must take the RMD—and be taxed for it—within a year of inheritance. Moreover, if she wishes to withdraw money early, she'll incur the usual 10-percent penalty for doing so. If the IRA owner was older than 70 1/2, the IRA account must be withdrawn within five years. In either situation, the beneficiary must pay regular income taxes on her inheritance. Compare this to the benefits received from a surviving spouse, and the imbalance is clear.

Health Spending

In 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) compared spending habits among single men, single women, and married people. Although many of the categories represent "extraneous" expenses (such as shoes, clothing, entertainment, and dining), the categories of housing and health spending stood out to us as significant, in that these expenses are practical and necessary for all adults.

According to the BLS, couples spent 6.9 percent of their annual income on health on average; single men spent only 3.9 percent (the data doesn't explain why this number is so low); and single women spent 7.9 percent.

It's not clear how the BLS broke down these numbers into component parts (ie., did they include insurance premiums?). But we used these numbers to calculate the 60-year lifetime spending on health for each of our women, with the following results:

Our single woman with an income of $40,000 spent $189,600 on health over 60 years; whereas our married woman with the same income spent $165,600—a difference of $24,000.

Our married woman with an income of $80,000 spent $331,200 on health over 60 years, and our unmarried woman with the same income spent $379,200—a difference of $48,000.

Our single women would fall even more behind if they became disabled. Here's why. Disability payments barely provide a livable wage. (We know this because one of us has a chronic illness, and while in the woe-is-me throes of a particularly bad flare-up she researched how much she would make if she went on disability. When she saw the numbers, she sucked it up and went back to work.)

Such a system greatly favors married disabled people, because by adding their paltry disability payments to their spouse's wages they can more likely come up with a livable income (although of course spousal support is by no means guaranteed—one's husband may prefer to spend his money on food, shelter, or hobbies). Moreover, our unmarried women's retirement accounts will suffer.

Without a job and on a tight disability budget, she would likely struggle to save in an IRA, and as we described above, no one could save for her. However, the husband of a non-working, disabled married woman might manage to afford the yearly $5,000 contributions to the IRA.

Here's the main takeaway for health spending: Singles pay thousands of dollars, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, more in health spending. This is largely because of discriminatory policies by companies and the U.S. government.

Housing

In comparison to health spending, the discrepancies that exist for singles' housing are significant. This happens in part because of the inherent logistical costs of living alone (our single woman would pay more to rent a mountaintop mansion in Hawaii than our married woman would pay, as part of a dual-income married couple), but other factors come into play too, including the biased policies mentioned above.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, couples spent 23.9 percent of their annual income on housing; single men spent 30.3 percent; and single women spent 39.8 percent. We can't say why the disparities exist between unmarried men and women, though we speculate that it may have something to do with the wage gap - but that's another article.

We used these numbers to calculate the 60-year lifetime spending on housing for each of our women:

Our single woman making $40,000 spent $955,200 on housing over 60 years, whereas our married woman making $40,000 spent only $573,600. The married woman saves $381,600 in comparison to her unmarried equivalent.

As one might expect, the difference is even more striking when we analyze the women with higher incomes:

Our single woman making $80,000 spent $1,910,400 on housing over 60 years, whereas our married woman making $80,000 spent only $1,147,200- that's a difference of $763,200.

We did consider that the discrepancy was in part due to the simple logistical fact that two people can split a rent or mortgage. However, other less obvious factors also come into play. As described by social scientist and singles advocate Bella DePaulo, author of Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After, realtors and landlords regularly discriminate against single home-seekers, thus narrowing the pool of housing options for singles.

Worse, governments and housing development companies, influenced by the economics of a single-family-worship culture, do not consistently provide housing options for alternative family structures or collective lifestyles that might benefit singles.

Just one example might be a house or condo complex with several private bed/bath areas but a shared kitchen and shared living/dining room (and, while we're brainstorming here, a shared beachside Jacuzzi and infinity pool.)

So, what were the final totals?

With calloused and bleeding fingertips we reached for the calculator one last time.

Because some of the categories described above were either too variable or overlapped with each other, we calculated the single woman's "best" and "worst" lifetime-cost scenarios using only the following financial categories: Income tax, Social Security, Housing, and Health Spending. We added up the amounts paid (or not received) for each single woman under each category.

For Social Security, where the results were more multifaceted, we chose to use the numbers for when our married women delayed their retirement and received half of their living husbands' Social Security for four years (this was largely because we were unwilling to inflict spousal death on even our made-up characters).

In each category, the singles paid or lost more than the marrieds. The single woman earning $40,000 paid less than her counterpart earning $80,000, simply because she had less money to start with.

When we calculated how much money our characters gained or lost altogether, our single women did indeed fare worse—much worse—than the married women. Their lifetime cost of being single?

Our lower-earning woman paid $484,368 for being single. Our higher-earning woman paid $1,022,096: more than a million dollars just for being single.

We anticipate that critics will point out that the numbers could be manipulated in any number of ways. At every stage in the process we, too, thought "these sums are just too crazy; surely we must have miscalculated or reasoned wrong." We have, however, made only the most conservative of estimates and still reached the conclusion that, no matter which way you read the numbers, the final assessment remains the same: Singles get screwed.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best US cities to become a millionaire >

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I’m writing to you from the safest place in the world– a humble cabin in central Chile, nestled among 1,100 acres of some of the most productive farmland on the planet.

From here, I grow my own organic food and raise my own livestock. I pump my own water, and have nearly a dozen wells, a canal, natural stream, and two reservoirs. I’m even producing my own biodiesel and soon installing renewable energy generators.

I’ve got high-speed Internet, plus backup communication platforms; weapons, plus storage for medical supplies, food, ammunition, and gold; hundreds of acres of timber; raw materials to make everything from soap to charcoal to herbal liniments.

As a bonus, the commercial crops generate a healthy profit. The workers are so experienced and resourceful, it’s like having a dozen Macgyvers on your team. And it’s just gorgeous… with fantastic weather.

In short, this place is about as resilient and self-sustaining as it gets. It’s not an accident, either, I’ve been advancing this concept (and writing about it in this letter) for years… and have built a community for others to join me.

Now, one might read all of this and think that I’m preparing for the end of the world. But that’s not it. The world isn’t coming to an end. It’s changing. And this is nothing new.

Every few hundred years, wealth and power shifts. This has happened so many times before, it’s hard to even keep track. Mesopotamia. Persia. Macedonia. Greece. Roman Empire. Byzantium. Mongolian Empire. Ming Dynasty. Ottoman Empire. Habsburg Empire. French-Bourbon Monarchy. British Empire. Third Reich. United States of America.

This change is as old as human civilization itself. And it’s happening again. Decades of unsustainable debt have caught up to the West, and wealth and power are once again shifting.

In the case of the US, the government doesn’t even collect enough tax revenue to cover the costs of mandatory entitlement programs and interest on the debt.

More specifically, the US government is already in the hole by nearly $250 billion before they actually start paying for government– the military, Homeland Security, national parks, etc. Yet the major topic of debate is how to take people’s guns away. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the legend of Nero fiddling.

Everything about this screams ‘unsustainable’. The writing isn’t on the wall, it’s carved in neon lights. You’d have to be intentionally ignoring the warning signs to miss it.

Amazingly, though, this is what most people do. Our entire civilization has a vested interest in ignoring reality and pretending that everything is just fine.

Of the superpowers throughout history who came before, many were in the exact same position: deeply in debt, rapidly debasing the currency, destroying freedom, and ignoring reality. People have always wanted to pretend that everything is just fine.

Here’s the thing, though. When you’re dealing with governments who have unlimited resources to lie, steal, kill, enslave, defraud, and debase the currency, the wheels can stay on the bus for a long time… far past the point of no return.

But when the final unraveling begins, it happens very, very quickly. And history shows that the consequences are tumultuous.

In the mid 19th century, the Ottoman Empire’s debt was so massive, the central government was spending 17% of tax revenue just to pay interest. In just eleven years, this soared to over 50% of tax revenue.

Needless to say, default, collapse, and social turmoil came soon after. After kicking the can down the road for so long, the rate of decline was astounding.

By comparison, the US government spent 19.7% of tax revenue on debt interest in 2011. And yet, interest rates in the US are practically zero! Imagine how quickly this will spiral out of control when interest rates start rising, even by a little bit.

We don’t know exactly when the final unraveling will begin. And it’s really not worth trying to guess.

Rather, the most prudent strategy is to invest your time, capital, and energy into ideas that make sense in any scenario. The farm is a great example.

If the US government defaults on its debt next month and throws the global financial system into a tailspin, I won’t even notice down here. Yet if this ridiculous charade continues to play out for years, I won’t be any worse off for having a profitable agricultural operation and access to my own organic food.

This is an important concept. If you’re willing to see the writing on the wall, there are a number of steps you can take that make sense in either scenario.

Holding you gold overseas is something I have been writing about for years. If your bankrupt western government slides into insolvency and begins seizing assets or imposing capital controls, you’ll be the smartest guy the room for having physical gold and silver in Singapore.

Yet if nothing happens for now, you won’t be worse off for holding precious metals abroad.

The idea applies across the board: holding savings in a foreign bank account. Setting up a business or trust in a stable offshore jurisdiction. Owning property abroad in a safe place. Using an overseas email provider. Seeking high quality, cost effective international healthcare. Investing in strong foreign economies. Etc.

This concept– investing and diversifying internationally in ways that make sense in any scenario– is our core ethos at Sovereign Man, from this daily letter, to our premium publication Sovereign Man: Confidential, to our sold-out upcoming Offshore Tactics Workshop (featuring the most seasoned experts in the industry).

If you agree with this premise and sound strategy, you’re not alone… and I’d like to invite you to become a member and join a phenomenal group of others who see the world in a similar way that you do. Like this strategy, you won’t be worse off for it.

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Manhattan’s once-fabled co-op addresses no longer command the biggest sales prices in the city, and have been upended by newer destination condominium addresses, real estate author Michael Gross writes in the Daily Beast.

Co-ops, which often require the buyer to go through a rigorous board approval process, are losing ground to condo buildings that offer an unmatched range of amenities, such as concierges, in-house restaurants, room service and swimming pools.

Beginning in 2003, with the Mexican financier David Martinez’s $54.7 million purchase of a penthouse at the Time Warner Center, condos have held the record for highest sale prices. And condos command a higher price per square foot than comparatively-sized co-ops.

In the past, 740 Park Avenue, where the city’s financial elite rubbed shoulders with the crème-de-la-crème of international buyers, was the richest building in New York. But it was overtaken by 15 Central Park West, the Robert A.M. Stern-designed luxury condominium developed by the Zeckendorfs—the most profitable building in the city’s history.

Gross, who penned a book on the owners of 740 Park, is in the process of writing a follow up that focuses on 15 Central Park West.

Last week, a four-bedroom unit at the building closed at $32.5 million, representing a whopping 92 percent markup over its last sales price.  [DailyBeast]

SEE ALSO: The Most Expensive Homes Sold In NYC In 2012

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A growing number of China's millionaires are choosing Britain for their holidays, according to a new survey.

Attracting Chinese tourists has been a key priority for the Government. In December, David Cameron overruled Theresa May to make it easier for Chinese visitors to get visas.

Now the annual Hurun survey of wealthy Chinese has seen Britain leapfrog Italy, Australia, Dubai and the Maldives as a tourist destination.

This year, the UK is in fifth spot behind France at number one and the United States in second.

France has always been a popular draw for Chinese tourists not just because of the romance of Paris, but also because they can apply for a Europe-wide visa that allows them entry into any of the 25 countries covered under the Schengen agreement.

"There has been a surge in popularity of Britain as a luxury travel destination. It is a significant leap," said Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder of Hurun. "The key driver I guess was the Olympics," he added.

Hurun surveyed 551 Chinese millionaires, 69 of whom had fortunes of more than 100 million yuan (£10 million). Their average age was 39 and they made an average of 3.4 trips abroad annually.

Mr Hoogewerf said most of the visitors planned to visit London and remain "around one hour's drive of Heathrow". Some of them left considerable chunks of their fortune behind.

"I met someone last night who has bought a unit in One Hyde Park," he said.

Prices in the central London residential complex begin at £20 million.

While the UK's fortunes rose, Japan and Australia fared worse.

"Japan has had a terrible year – not helped by the Diaoyu Islands and the tsunami," he said. Japan and China have been clashing over the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands, an uninhabited chain that lie between the two countries.

British luxury brands were also on the up, Mr Hoogewerf said, noting that Burberry has risen into the top ten for the first time.

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By Gerri Detweiler

Will you be sticking with your credit card longer than your spouse? For some Americans, the answer will be "yes." Overall, we are are pretty faithful to our plastic. According to Experian, the average time a credit card account remains open is approximately 129 months -- or 10.75 years.

Contrast that with the fact that the U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2009, first marriages that ended in divorce lasted a median of 8 years for men and women overall. The median time from marriage to separation was shorter -- about 7 years.

It appears that Americans are also more loyal to their cards than their counterparts across the pond. Research by MoneySupermarket found that credit card users in the U.K. have remained loyal to their card provider for six years on average.

[Free Resource: Check your credit score and report card for free before applying for a credit card]

Is loyalty to a card issuer good or bad? On the plus side, holding on to your cards for a long time may help your credit rating. FICO High Achievers-- those with FICO scores of 785 or above -- opened their oldest credit card account 25 years ago on average; and the average credit account is 11 years old. Plus, if you've been a good customer for many years you may be able to negotiate a lower interest rate or get a fee waived more easily than a new customer.

On the other hand, issuers are trying to woo new new customers with flashy promotions, such as the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express that currently allows new cardholders to earn 10,000 points after their first purchase, and 15,000 points after spending $10,000 within six months. Just try matching the British Airways credit card 100,000 miles sign-up bonus with your current card. Fat chance it even comes close.

[Credit Cards: Research and compare credit cards at Credit.com]

But that doesn't mean you should be fickle.

Perhaps the best strategy is to plan on a long-term relationship with your cards, and choose accordingly. But check in periodically to make sure they still offer you the best deal. If not, let them know you think you can do better -- and why. They may be able to able to come up with a reason for you to stay.

If not, and you do break up with your credit card company, you don't have to end the relationship completely. You can still keep the account open in case you decide you want to come back later. Just think of it as keeping your options open.

This article originally appeared on Credit.com. Gerri Detweiler is Director of Consumer Education for Credit.com.

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A few years ago, credit scores were taboo. The idea that a credit score could be used for more than just determining qualification for a loan was at best unfair and at worst discriminatory. Employers in some circumstances can use credit scores or credit reports to determine whether to offer jobs to applicants. If you sign a credit authorization form, which some employers might imply or outright say is necessary to be considered, the company can use your credit against you.

Auto insurance companies can use credit scores to set your rate because they’ve found that there is a correlation between higher scores and safe driving. If you intend on renting an apartment, the landlord can choose to perform a background check, and credit history could be included. If there are red flags on your report, such as a history of being unable to pay rent, you could be denied the lease.

It’s clear that good credit is becoming more important in life. Credit scores and the quality of your credit histories determines not only the price of major borrowing needs, but whether you can live where you want, whether you can get the job you want, and the cost of required insurance. It’s no longer a mystery that companies evaluate the quality of an individual using their credit, and as a result, any one person might benefit from adding the credit score to their own list of filters for dealing with other people.

It’s getting harder to live a life without a credit score. It’s a noble goal to exist in modern society without taking on any debt and to try to stay off the credit grid. The need for credit permeates life now more than ever. It’s still possible to buy a house with cash, rent an apartment without a credit history, get a job with an employer who doesn’t perform a background check that includes a credit inquiry, or buy insurance without a credit score. But if you haven’t built up a credit history, it’s just another obstacle standing in your way, and can end up costing you more money.

People with poor credit histories, low scores, or no scores might be starting to find it more difficult to find long-lasting love. According to the New York Times, more people are adding credit scores to their social filters, as mentioned above. Credit quality has, in some cases, become the subject of first dates. It’s no surprise that a couple benefits in the long run when both members of the pair have solid approaches towards their finances. Money problems often come to light late in relationships, sometimes when couples are already married and beginning to combine their finances for the first time.

Asking about a credit score on the first date and using the credit score as a proxy for the quality of an attitude towards money and responsibility is one way to prevent reaching the point where the relationship has progressed too far. On one hand, discovering late that your partner does not share your responsible approach to money creates a challenge, that if overcome, could strengthen the relationship.

Then again, disagreements like these often represent a larger issue or disagreement about responsibility that might not easily be overcome. Using the credit score as part of early criteria would help prevent wasted time and effort on a relationship that might never work out. What’s my credit score.

With a responsible approach to handling personal finances, one should be able to expect that a partner has the same. There is room for different philosophies. Someone who identifies himself as a “saver” could have a positive, healthy, long-term relationship with someone who identifies herself as a “spender.” In some situations, one person’s strengths may complement another person weaknesses. If the underlying goals and philosophies are too disparate, it might cause tension and eventually dissolution.

The credit score is just one clue. A good credit score says someone has not made any grave financial missteps, while a bad credit score, by itself, is a little more ambiguous. It could mean someone has a record of bad financial habits. It could mean they’ve missed paying rent. It could mean they have more credit card debt than they can handle. But it could also mean they trusted a family member when co-signing a loan. There’s even the possibility that a family member used and destroyed their credit without their knowledge, and they were unable to work with the credit reporting agencies to change the report.

Your FICO score, or any one of the various numbers published and sold by credit reporting agencies, doesn’t contain any detail. That’s why background checks often contain more than just a credit score. Along those same lines, if you plan on discussing your financial situation with a potential future spouse, you might want to go deeper than the superficial number. It doesn’t make sense to waste time with someone with whom you won’t be compatible, but a credit score alone isn’t going to provide enough information to judge your financial compatibility.

While it might be more common to ask about your date’s financial situation at your first dinner, and I certainly understand why some would not want to waste any time beyond a first date in the search for a match in love, I tend to think it’s best to leave the discussion about finances until a later date, unless the situation calls for it specifically. Personally, I wouldn’t take a first date to a real estate investing sales pitch, but if there’s any time it’s appropriate to ask someone you just met about their credit score, that might be it.

Your credit score is shorthand, and people may judge you incorrectly based on your score, whether it’s low or it’s high. There’s often a story to tell, and while it might be an entertaining story for a first date, you might want to find other areas in which you’re incompatible before releasing a love interest from your life due to his score of 650 compared to your 790.

If you’re the one who feels the need to improve your credit score to make yourself more appealing to the pool of available partners with increasing demands, here are some tips for increasing and improving your credit score. You can check your credit score here.

SEE ALSO: 13 money lies you should stop telling yourself by age 30 >

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Todd Selby of The Selby visits Paris and invades the home and studio of Christian Louboutin, the iconic shoe designer. Selby asks Louboutin about “his best words of advice to aspiring designer?,” to which he replies:

Follow your instinct. Believe, and only to this, to your imagination. Don’t think technique! Read more…

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When Tiffany Sommer began organizing a group trip to India this past October, she knew that the focus had to be on food.

“Food in India is such an enormous part of daily life,” says the Utah-based corporate-event planner. “Families spend hours a day preparing dishes and eating together…the colors and the smells of cooking are just everywhere.”

Jump ahead to see these exotic food tours >

Consequently, she made sure that the bespoke itinerary organized for her by Micato Safaris included such memorable food experiences as cooking demonstrations, trips to local spice markets and meals that showcased chefs’ distinct regional specialties.

“It was a full sensory experience,” Sommer says of the culinary forays. “I know we all came away with a deeper appreciation of where we’d been.”

Many travelers already understand that cuisine provides a particularly vivid peek into the inner workings of a culture. More and more, however, tour operators are offering trips that specifically cater to their guests’ desire to taste—and cook—their way through a destination. These newer excursions go far beyond familiar gastronomic pilgrimages to Tuscany.

Hungry globetrotters are keen to visit goat-cheese producers in Iceland, with the likes of food writer and chef Jody Eddy; sample street food in Vietnam on a trip with Artisans of Leisure; or press their own olive oil in Egypt during a journey with Backpacker Concierge.

“Even people who eat adventurously at home find that their experience is completely different” when traveling to a cuisine’s native country, says Marion Miller, Micato’s director of operations. “Ordering a dish in an Indian restaurant is one thing…but going into an actual kitchen in India, seeing all the steps that go into creating that dish, smelling the aromas and then sitting down to enjoy it with, say, a view over the Taj Mahal—that elevates eating to a new level.”

See the exotic food tours >

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Artisans of Leisure, Vietnam

Following the S-shape curve of the country from north to south, Artisans of Leisure’s private, custom Vietnam for Foodies tours take in both cultural and gustatory attractions along the way.

Trips start in Hanoi, where guests explore the city’s famed markets, colonial architecture, historical sites and French-influenced restaurants. Next they hop on a traditional junk for a sail across Halong Bay, whose waters teem with prawns, oysters, squid and snapper that are staples of the local cuisine.

Visits to the former imperial city of Hue, a vegetarian Buddhist monastery and the herb farms around Hoi An follow (participants pick lemongrass, basil and cilantro and use them to make fresh spring rolls).

The final stop, in Saigon, includes both chef-led cooking classes and a street-food tour—and boundless opportunities for trying snacks like banh mi, pho (spicy noodle soup), goi du du (green papaya salad) and banh xeo (rice pancakes with pork and shrimp).

11-day trips (by appointment), from $6,810; 800-214-8144; artisansofleisure.com.

Austin-Lehman Adventures, Athens and the Cyclades

Travelers who envision Greece as a never-ending series of secluded beaches, ancient ruins and whitewashed fishing villages won’t be disappointed here.

The weeklong itinerary manages to fold in all the can’t-miss sights: the Parthenon in Athens, the sparkling shores of Santorini, the cerulean lagoons of Antiparos, the ever-photogenic sugar-cube buildings of Mykonos. But it also provides an in-depth appreciation for the food and flavors of the region.

Guests make visits to groves and farms where they can sample local produce like honey, olive oil, feta and graviera (a sheep’s-milk cheese).

They also take cooking classes—sometimes in the island homes of local chefs—and learn to prepare local dishes like revythada (slow-cooked chickpea stew), domatokeftedes (tomato fritters) and tsipoura (fresh-caught sea bream).

8-day trips (May–October 2013 departures), from $5,298; 800-575-1540; austinlehman.com.

Backpacker Concierge, Egypt

Daydreams of an Egyptian holiday usually include lots of stock imagery: the soaring pyramids and Great Sphinx at Giza; the riotous, colorful crowds of the market stalls at Cairo’s Khan al Khalili.

But until recently most travelers haven’t wondered much about the flavors of this desert country—a situation Backpacker Concierge aims to change with its new bespoke culinary excursions there.

While guests on the tours can see all the quintessential Egyptian sights, they also partake in some truly unusual gastronomic experiences, including touring the country’s little-known northern wineries; learning to make Egyptian specialties like mahshy (stuffed zucchini and cabbage leaves) and duqqa (roasted ground hazelnuts and spices) in a local chef’s home kitchen; and, in the remote village of Siwa, pressing olive oil and making date honey by hand.

7-day trips (by appointment), from $1,700; 248-507-4666; backpackerconcierge.com.

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When it comes to tactics by which we humans seek to manipulate and dominate one another, “name and shame” is about the oldest one in the book.

They used it at my public elementary school in the 1960s. Boys were expected to wear ties to school back then (our mothers got us the clip-on or snap-on varieties). If anyone showed up improperly accessorized, teachers would cut a necktie-shaped piece of construction paper, write “I Forgot My Tie” on it in magic marker, and tape it to the offender’s shirt. Maybe they thought this would encourage first- and second-graders to read.

Looking back, I realize that these decorations usually adorned children from underprivileged homes. Their mothers – if present – surely had many other concerns beyond little boys’ neckties. Consider what those routine humiliations did for the boys’ self-esteem and their already shaky academic prospects. It’s easy to see, now, the casual cruelty of those teachers. Yet I don’t believe most of those teachers were as consciously mean as their actions implied. I think they just didn’t think things through.

By the time we reached the fifth and sixth grades, the teachers had more elaborate ways to show our place in the pecking order. Excellent performance was rewarded with gold stars; lesser results were acknowledged with round stickers varying from green (pretty good) to black (last in line to get a Dixie Cup on ice cream days). The chart was posted for all to see.

In adult life, I have seen clubs and homeowners’ associations publicly list members who are behind on their dues. In the public sphere, prosecutors issue press releases naming johns who patronize prostitutes, suburbanites who buy drugs on city streets, and professionals who cheat on their taxes. They perp-walk Lindsey Lohan almost every time she steps outside. Journalists lap it up because their audience relishes a chance to “tsk, tsk” at the misbehavior of others.

After enough naming and shaming, most people start to assume that if you get named, you have reason to be ashamed – even if the evidence doesn’t agree. Remember, for example, how in 2009 some executives of AIG were named as having received bonuses that were due them under their contracts even though the company required a huge government bailout. Protesters targeted employees’ homes, and the company advised some executives living in affluent Fairfield County, Conn., to travel in pairs and avoid wearing items with the AIG logo. One executive, fed up with the harassment, quit in an open letter published in The New York Times. (AIG has now repaid the bailout money, and the government made a $22 billion profit on the transaction.)

Recently the Journal News, a Gannett-owned news outlet published in New York City’s northern suburbs, issued an interactive map providing the names and addresses of more than 30,000 individuals who have handgun permits in Westchester and Rockland counties. Unlike most name and shame efforts, this one provoked a huge and fully justified backlash against the news organization.

Rockland County’s public safety committee voted last week to condemn the newspaper’s action. Rockland’s sheriff reported that inmates at the county jail were taunting corrections officers with the warning, “I know where you live.” Other police agencies and union officials agreed that the publication jeopardized peace officers who legally keep weapons at home. Private citizens complained that the list made them vulnerable to abusive ex-spouses and other potential stalkers.

The publication appeared nine days after 20 children and 6 teachers were gunned down in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., just outside the Journal News circulation area. Newtown resident Nancy Lanza was found dead at her home the same day. Her son, Adam Lanza, allegedly used his mother’s guns to commit the murders.

The story accompanying the Journal News map was headlined, “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood.” It opened with a vignette about a mentally disturbed 77-year-old man who “amassed a cache of weapons – including two unregistered handguns and a large amount of ammunition – without any neighbors knowing.” The story did not explain why this was related to a list of citizens who followed the law, submitted to background checks when required and legally obtained permission to own a handgun.

Nor did reporter Dwight Worley explain what any citizen might do with the information that a neighbor holds a handgun permit, though he did quote a member of a YMCA group that counsels youths against gun violence who said he “might not choose to live there” as a consequence. The bottom half of Worley’s story noted the objections by police and other officials to releasing the names and addresses of permit holders, while recounting the newspaper’s quest to get the information under New York’s Freedom of Information Law.

In the storm of complaints that followed the Journal News reporting, the newspaper’s publisher, Janet Hasson, issued a statement saying that her colleagues knew the database would be controversial, “but we felt sharing the information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shooting.” She never said why it was important to share the information. After issuing the statement, Hasson and her staff retreated into silence on the topic.

Nobody has questioned the newspaper’s right, under current law, to obtain and publish the information. What Journal News readers (and many others) questioned was whether the organization had a reason to publish the data, beyond an emotional reaction to the Connecticut shootings. And the simple answer is that the journalists had no better reason to do what they did than my teachers, many years ago, had for putting those humiliating paper neckties on the chests of little children.

They picked a target that they wanted to shame, and that was reason enough.

And just like those teachers, the Journal News journalists only shamed themselves in the end. They wielded their power heedless of the hurt they might cause, because they were convinced they were right and, moreover, because nobody was in a position to stop them. They were not necessarily ill-intentioned. But they didn’t think things through.

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There is a saying in Asia that the Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians harvest the rice, the Thais sell the rice, and the Laotians listen to the rice grow. Laos exudes mellow.

While the rest of Southeast Asia seems to be changing and modernizing at break-neck speed, Laos ambles along, taking plenty of breaks along the way. It seems as if everyone who visits delightfully laid-back Laos falls in love with the place.

When you fly into Vientiane from industrious Vietnam or busy Thailand, it's easy to mistake the day of your arrival for a national holiday. Chances are you have not arrived on a special day. This is Vientiane, the most relaxed capital city in Asia. Although Vientiane has perked up a bit in the past few years, businesses still shut down around mid-day, when the city closes her eyes for a few hours. Weekends are quiet, and many places close their doors. And weekends in Laos can extend well into the next week. No one is ever in a hurry, and almost anyone will take the time to chat with you.

Laos is one of the least industrialized countries in the world. Towns are few and far between. There are few paved roads and even fewer bridges. A detour of 100 miles, in lieu of one well-placed bridge, is common here.

Even the largest city in the country, the capital of Vientiane, feels like little more than a large town. With a population of about 740,000, including the surrounding suburbs, you'll find no skyscrapers, no global stock exchange (a Laotian stock-exchange did open for the first time in 2011, with a grand total of two stock listings), no malls, no hustle, no bustle, and no need to keep a tuxedo or formal gown in your closet.

In Laos, U.S. dollars, Thai baht, Chinese yuan, and Vietnamese dong spend equally well, with Laotian kip being the least popular or useful of the common currencies. Until recently, the largest Laotian bill in circulation was worth about $1. As people didn't want to carry duffel bags full of cash, it seemed easier to use higher value currencies from other countries, rather than going to the effort and expense of designing and printing up large denomination bills. There’s more time, that way, to listen to the rice grow.

This is not to say that Laotians are lazy. They're not. They are a practical people with a different set of priorities than their more industrialized neighbors. Kindness is more important than competition, fun is more important than finance, and harmony is more important than willfulness. Life moves with the rhythm of the day and the seasons rather than the rigid strictures of the business cycle.

Given the agrarian nature of the country, Vientiane is a town of surprising worldly grace. Due in part to the large presence of NGOs in the city, as well as being one of the only urban areas in the entire country, Vientiane has a lot to offer. There are outstandingly beautiful Buddhist temples, lively markets, frequent festivals and celebrations, and a fine assortment of local and international cuisines. In the city a scattering of older French-colonial buildings still stand, a reminder of a time not so long ago when Laos was a French colony.

For someone looking for a truly rewarding and unique retirement, Vientiane and its surroundings have a lot to offer. Nestled in the nearby mountains, beautiful waterfalls, venerable temples, exotic wildlife, and remote hill-tribe villages await anyone who comes to Laos with the luxury of time to explore the less-traveled reaches of this area.

No question, Laos would qualify as an emerging, even a pre-emerging retirement option. One undeniably appealing thing about life here is how very affordable it can be. The average two-bedroom house in Vientiane, either Western- or Laos-style, rents for $400 to $500 monthly. Arrange a more modest rental for $400 per month, and your total monthly budget could be as little as $1,000.

Most foreigners in Vientiane choose to live near the embassies, which are in a pleasant part of the city and convenient to facilities, restaurants, and other services. This international area around the embassies is a little more expensive than homes in the countryside or in the older part of the city.

Certainly, living in Laos isn't for everybody. However, if you are dreaming of a comfortable, laid back, and low-cost lifestyle in a place with friendly people, excellent food, and fine housing at very reasonable prices, this could be an ideal choice. If you're intrigued by what this unique country has to offer, my advice is to go now. See Laos today, before the boom that is engulfing the rest of the region crosses the border.

Kathleen Peddicord is the founder of the Live and Invest Overseas publishing group. With more than 25 years experience covering this beat, Kathleen reports daily on current opportunities for living, retiring, and investing overseas in her free e-letter. Her book, How To Retire Overseas—Everything You Need To Know To Live Well Abroad For Less, was recently released by Penguin Books.

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The highs and the lows of Milan Mens Fashion Week autumn/winter 2012.

Milan menswear fashion week finished last night, following 50 shows and scores of presentations. More comprehensive coverage is available at fashion.telegraph.co.uk, but here we bring you the best (and worst) of it.

- TERRIBLE TREND Tight-cut, ankle-topping trousers cropped to show off as much as possible of the wearers’ boots. This winter equivalent of the 'mankle’ was seen at almost every show — with the brave exception of Belstaff — yet will never be more than the most passing of fads in real life.

- BEST IN SHOWS The style press loved Dolce & Gabbana because it was full of eye-snaggingly interesting clothes. But Prada scoops the prize for combining the conceptual — an incredible set designed by architect Rem Koolhaas — with the conventional — beautifully considered overcoats, shirts and jumpers.

- JAW-DROPPER OF THE WEEK Facing competition from Moncler, Versace produced the week’s strongest coup de théâtre. In collection that brimmed with barminess, Donatella Versace’s lacy underwear for men worn under fur coats was a Zoolander moment par excellence.

- NEXT YEAR’S COAT is a great coat. The massively collared, military-styled, three-quarter-length coat was the predominant style on Milan’s catwalks. Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry, Canali, Emporio Armani and Zegna all marched with this style, but Gucci’s light blue version (inset) was the most eye-catching of the lot.

- STRONGEST DEBUT The roar of revving motorbikes heralded Belstaff’s first full men’s catwalk collection on Monday. Designer Martin Cooper played around with the brand’s motorsport heritage with biker-inspired down vests and asphalt-matte treated suits, but on the right side of parody. The leather gauntlet gloves, biker boots and waxed field jackets were the highlights of what was this season’s most masculine collection.

- MOST-MISSED Angela Missoni says her family is still daring to hope that Vittorio, her brother and co-owner of the 60-year-old knitwear company, will be found following his disappearance in a light aircraft over Venezuelan waters. She stayed backstage after Sunday’s collection, but she would have heard the extended applause as the fashion fraternity expressed their sympathy.

- MAN-BAG madness At Fendi — which featured some particularly fine felty overcoats — there was a striking furry bumbag. Moncler made a bold bid for the sporran. Gucci had crocodile portfolios with gold-chained handcuffs (for the security-minded), while Z Zegna went for hard-cased prism-shaped backpacks.

- ARMANI’S WINTER MIX Giorgio Armani followed his excellent Emporio collection with a strong mainline collection yesterday, the last major show of the week. Formal monkstrap trainers with crocodile detailing, soft suede casual coats and patterned cashmere/mohair knits stood out alongside an emphasis on vampishly vermillion velvet trousers.

SEE ALSO: This Outrageous Knitwear Collection Stole The Show At London Fashion Week

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Nat Rothschild charged Bumi more than £4m for the use of his private jet “N4T” during an 18-month period that took in flights everywhere from the world’s biggest cities to far-flung Mauritania.

Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph show that the financier invoiced the bombed-out coal miner for £4.36m between July 2010 and December 2011 for flights on his Gulfstream jet.

The invoices, in euros, include €286,137 (£237,400) for travel between Paris, Doha, Singapore, Vienna and Luton in November 2010 for meetings relating to the creation of Bumi – the group he formed via a fateful $3bn (£1.87bn) deal with Indonesia’s Bakrie family.

Mr Rothschild also put in a €360,569 invoice for a six-day site visit and analyst meeting that took in stops in Jakarta and Beijing in December 2010, where the six passengers included Bumi’s former finance director Andy Beckham.

He also invoiced €255,417 for a trip to Nouakchott, Mauritania, in March 2011 that also involved stops in Vienna, Hong Kong and Tel Aviv and €114,832 for a journey described as “Bakrie meeting in Dubai @ airport” in May 2011, which started from Bordeaux.

There is no suggestion that the flights were not authorised by the Bumi board, whose senior independent director Sir Julian Horn-Smith also used Mr Rothschild’s jet. Sir Julian was the sole passenger when he travelled between London and Berlin for a board meeting in June 2011. The invoice for that was €62,146.

Mr Rothschild’s private jet has become the latest bone of contention between the financier and the board in the bitter row over control of Bumi. It was brought to a head last week by the decision of Mr Rothschild, who controls 18.2pc of the votes, to call for an EGM in an attempt to oust 12 of 14 directors.

Sources close to Mr Rothschild insist that the flight expenses were not only approved by the board but should be offset against his decision to waive £10m of adviser fees for bringing the Bumi transaction to the company. “That saved the company £7m,” said one.

Lord Renwick, the non-executive director who chairs Bumi’s audit committee, said the board approved Mr Rothschild’s use of the jet at the outset when he employed it to raise funds for his Vallar cash shell – the financial vehicle he used to acquire Bumi.

“He took the lead in helping to raise $1bn at Vallar and, to be fair to Nat, he devoted enormous energy to that,” Lord Renwick said. “It was argued by the audit committee that, as Nat had to race around the world, he could use the private jet for that purpose. However, later it became a lifestyle choice. He was using it when it was not operationally necessary.”

Mr Rothschild claimed €316,701 for a three-day trip in September 2011 to meet Nirwan and Indra Bakrie that involved flights from London to Baku, Jakarta, Tokyo and Newark. The only other passenger was Tom Daniel, one of the Vallar advisers. Mr Rothschild also put in a €79,792 invoice for return flights from Paris for a meeting at London’s 4 Grosvenor Place in October 2011.

The financier, who quit the board in October to fight for minority shareholders, flew to Mauritania to try to establish what had happened to funds that had disappeared from one of Bumi’s associate companies.

Nick von Schirnding, Bumi’s new chief executive, said he had ended any use of private jets at Bumi. “Driving down costs is my number one priority,” he said. “First class travel and private jets have no role in the organisation I am running.”

To set an example “from the top”, he said, he had “started an urgent review of head office costs and we will be getting out of our head office in Knightsbridge, which is totally inappropriate”.

Mr Rothschild declined to comment

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(Above: Bar manager Alessandro Palazzi created two signature James Bond martinis at the Dukes bar in London, where Sir Ian Fleming is said to have coined the phrase, “shaken, not stirred.”)

As Sir Ian Fleming’s former watering hole, Dukes bar in London is a pilgrimage site for James Bond fans. After all, legend has it that it’s here where Fleming coined the catchphrase “shaken, not stirred” for his 007 British Secret Service agent, a slogan that would define Bond beyond simply his taste in cocktails.

Just ask Dukes bartender Alessandro Palazzi, who is as passionate about his trade as his fondness for the spy thriller series, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film to hit the silver screen. In honor of the spy hero, Palazzi created two martini recipes in Fleming’s honor since arriving at the bar five years ago: the Fleming 89 and Fleming’s Classic Vesper.

According to Palazzi, the fact that Bond drinks his martinis “shaken, not stirred,” serves as a larger statement on the international man of mystery.

When Fleming wrote his first book in the 1950s, everything in society was strictly prescribed, including drinks and cocktail hour, Palazzi explains. Martinis were only ever served as an apéritif before dinner, drinks were never mixed with two white spirits and, moreover, cocktails were always stirred.

But not for Bond. James Bond. In the first installment of the series, Casino Royale, 007 doles out specific instructions to the barman on how to prepare his drink, a cocktail that would later become known as the Vesper, after Bond girl Vesper Lynd. The recipe: three measures of Gordon’s, one measure of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet, with a slice of lemon — shaken.

Rules and conventions are thrown out, as Bond marches to his own drum and drinks what he likes, Palazzi says. “He likes to show off.”

‘Fleming and Bond-inspired martinis’

At Dukes, Palazzi has recreated the Vesper by using No. 3 London Dry Gin, Lillet Blanc, Angostura bitters, and Potocki vodka, a Polish vodka, in honor of the real-life inspiration for Vesper Lynd, Polish-born Christine Granville who was a wartime spy and reportedly Fleming’s lover.

It’s the most requested Bond-themed martini at the bar, where Palazzi serves about 50 a night at £16.95 (€21) a pop. It’s a steep pricetag, but Palazzi points out that drinkers get a cocktail and a show with their order, as drinks are executed with the pomp and circumstance expected of a former Fleming hangout: guests watch, seated at their tables as Palazzi wheels out a trolley laden with bottles of spirits which have just been pulled from the deep freeze.

The Fleming 89, meanwhile, was created in partnership with London-based perfumery Floris whose No. 89 Eau de Toilette was Bond’s signature scent. Inspired by tonka beans used in the cologne, Palazzi infuses 750 ml of Russian vodka with a handful of the vanilla-scented beans to create his special elixir. In a frosted martini glass, he adds a sugared rose, the infused vodka, English vermouth, Lillet, a few drops of chocolate bitter, tops it off with Russian vodka and as a final touch, gives it a spritz of rose liqueur, to create a chocolaty, dessert-like cocktail for £18.95 (€24).

With the Bond franchise celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first movie release, here are a few tips from Palazzi on how to clink to the milestone with the kind of martini Bond himself would approve of.

* Keep spirits in the freeze to make sure they’re ice cold.

* If you like you’re drinks slightly diluted, do it like Bond and shake the martini mix. Otherwise, stir.

* If you want to make it with ice, make sure to drain the water first.

* Work fast.

* Use an organic lemon as you want the oils from the peel, not the wax, to penetrate the drink.

* Martinis were meant to be sipped, not gulped.

Visit Dukes Bar at: http://www.dukeshotel.com/

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Yelp Inc., the business review site, will add health scores to information it provides about restaurants, part of a push to be more useful to consumers and local governments while promoting public well-being.

Through a partnership with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Yelp created a system that lets cities upload inspection data to its website, and plans to tag health grades to reviews in the Bay Area city and New York in coming weeks, the company said in a statement.

Lee will present the proposal today at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, working to embolden other cities to release health details on the site.

The added data would give consumers more information about the restaurants they frequent while stepping up pressure on establishments that receive low marks.

In Los Angeles County, a requirement that restaurants display health grades at their entrances led to a 13 percent decline in hospitalizations for food-borne illnesses, Yelp said, citing a 2005 study in the Journal of Environmental Health.

“The open-data standard will have a good impact on society,” Yelp Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Stoppelman said on a conference call yesterday. “In the weeks ahead we hope to have all of San Francisco’s restaurants online. We’ll then begin migrating New York data online as well.”

Yelp, which displays consumer reviews of local businesses from pizza shops to plumbers on its website, expects Philadelphia to follow in adding restaurants’ health scores soon. Yelp, based in San Francisco, fell 1.2 percent to $20.36 at yesterday’s close in New York.

More Visibility

The change may mean more visibility of inspection data in San Francisco, where restaurants are required to post or make such reports available, yet don’t have to publicly display their scores. Accompanying restaurants’ health ratings on Yelp will be a link to a full report that logs all inspections, including a list of violations.

Releasing government data to the public in a more understandable fashion has been a mission of Lee. In October, he proposed that the city hire a chief data officer, charged with adding data sets -- local transportation information, for example -- to 200 that are already public. San Francisco has used the DataSF website as a conduit for releasing more information to the public.

“By making often hard-to-find government information more widely available to innovative companies like Yelp, we can make government more transparent and improve public-health outcomes for our residents through the power of technology,” Lee said in the statement.

--Editors: Jillian Ward, Tom Giles

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Kucera in San Francisco at dkucera6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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The situation is that baby boomers are moving off the stage as the leaders in luxury consumption, as Gen X and Gen Y are moving into their luxury consumption years. While we are able to measure what Gen X and Gen Y are doing now, they are often unpredictable and there will be surprises in the future. – Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, New York. Via Luxury Daily.

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New resorts and dramatic developments continue to spring up in the Maldives. Here Adrian Neville looks at six of the most ambitious and unusual projects taking place across the islands.

Atoll golf
The average golf course is larger than most resort islands but a few smaller versions have nevertheless been built. Meeru has a pitch and putt, a green and a driving range and Kuredu has a full-size driving range and a lovely six-hole, par-three course. Shangri-La has built a nine-hole, mostly par-three course averaging 123.4 yards, beautifully set around its coastline. The Dutch Docklands’ 18-hole floating course – a world first – will be extraordinary. But the first course in the country was made by the RAF in 1962, on its airport island base of Gan in Addu Atoll.

The Five Lagoons Project
The concept of one island, one resort has been at the core of tourism in the Maldives since Kurumba welcomed the country’s first visitors. That is about to change, in a dramatic way. Dutch Docklands is developing five entire, empty lagoons. Two will have water villas; one will be made up of private islands; another will have a starshaped hotel with conference centre, oceanographic institute and shopping centre, while the last one will be a floating golf course. These futuristic visions are actually taking shape, with the first of 185 water villas now up for sale.

Expansion north and south
The story of development in the Maldives is one of expansion from the centre. Seaplanes extended the range of boat transfers but it is only with the coming of new regional airports that visitors can stay at the outer atolls in the far north and south. The airports were built by investors incentivised by being given a nearby island on which to build a resort. The finest is Huvadhu Atoll in the south, where you will find the new Park Hyatt Hadahaa, a perfect, small, round island with a superb beach and an outstanding reef. It was also the first to be built to the highest eco-friendly standards.

A Louis Vuitton resort
In 40 years, the accolade of “best in the country” has passed from one resort to another, as good ones are upgraded to become great and new ones are built. There is likely to be a new leader in 2013 and a discernible change in standards. Cheval Blanc – the ultra-luxury hospitality brand developed by the LVMH group, of which Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Ruinart are part – will open a new Maison on the island of Randheli in the north. There will be 46 villas on a lagoon, and four islands in addition, one of which will accommodate the spa. The award-winning chef Yannick Alléno will be in charge of the kitchen.

Underwater clubbing
The day before the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the first tourists in the Maldives (October 28, 1972), the brand new Niyama resort launched Subsix, the world’s first underwater nightclub. In line with the hip and happening ethos of its owner, Per Aquum – whose other Maldives property is the fashionable Huvafen Fushi – Subsix boomed to the sounds of the global star Tinie Tempah, who played at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics.

Ever-increasing choice
The roll-call of high-end resorts in the Maldives increases every year. In the past 14 months, no fewer than eight have opened: Ayada Maldives, Jumeirah Dhevanafushi, Jumeirah Vittaveli, Dusit Thani, Niyama, Viceroy Maldives, The Residence and Centara Ras Fush.

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As a wave crashes on to the bow of a US Coast Guard boat, three models strike a pose, gazing serenely across the choppy waters in barely there dresses.

It's an arresting image, as is that of the National Guard delivering food parcels to a nearby hospital while supermodel Joan Smalls leans on an infantryman's shoulder and shows off a Proenza Schouler leather crocheted jacket and skirt.

This is American Vogue's Storm Troupers shoot, inspired by – and featuring – members of the emergency forces. And it has not gone down too well, with many commentators calling it tasteless.

The editions of Vogue around the world have form for devising their photo shoots with, shall we say, "current affairs" in mind. There was the 2007 Italian Vogue shoot inspired by the Iraq war, featuring models grappling with soldiers in a scene that Guardian writer Emine Saner described as looking like "prostitutes brought to an army camp as entertainment". Italian Vogue was also responsible for a 24-page spread in 2010 that saw models doused in "oil", in the spirit of the Deepwater Horizon spill. That's not to mention the photoshoot in Vogue Paris featuring children in makeup, or women being throttled by men in Vogue Hommes. So you see, with the Storm Troupers shoot they're just at it again, aren't they?

Or maybe not.

Of all the global disasters to choose from, the fashion industry has been particularly drawn to Hurricane Sandy. First, it's a relatively apolitical disaster. Celebrities risk nothing by coming out in support of the cause. The Re/Create New York project, for example, offers "a charitable platform for creators to give back", which roughly translates as "the rich and the famous offloading their old trainers to be auctioned to the highest bidder". Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan are among the designers who have donated, as has Kate Moss, who signed a book about herself with the words "Fuck you, Sandy" (current bid $2,358 (£1,475) if you're interested). With its sleek, sober website featuring the handsome headshots of our planet's A-Listers, Re/Create didn't just come up with a way for celebrities to get involved in the cause without actually doing anything, they made it the place to be seen.

Another reason the fashion world has been so drawn to Sandy is the American fashion industry's actual proximity to the hurricane's path, resulting in a number of initial drives to donate clothes or sales profit to the Sandy charitable funds. Fashion Girls for Humanity raised more than $120,000, while the LVMH Group donated $1m to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.

Which brings us back to Vogue. Unlike previous controversial shoots, there is more meaning behind Annie Leibovitz's images than first meets the eye. They are not scenes of catastrophe with a model hitching her skirt in the general direction of devastation. That was left to Brazilian model Nana Gouvêa , who looked out of the window, saw some crushed cars, thought: "Hello Mr Opportunity!", and staged an impromptu fashion shoot mid-disaster for the aptly titled online magazine EGO. As she found out in the subsequent furore, getting your pose on next to some wreckage will only make people wince.

But while photographing Karlie Kloss on the Bellvue neonatal ward might seem incongruous, the picture does at least include the medical staff who work there. All the pictures include members of the emergency services, and their stories about how Sandy unfolded for them.

The reaction to Vogue's shoot suggests that people think the fashion world has no business getting involved in a situation as series as Sandy. But this isn't a drive-by interest on the part of Vogue; while working with the CDFA, the magazine helped to raise $1.7m (£1.06m) for the relief effort. If it wants to photograph the Air NYPD and put those men in uts magazine, it has earned the right.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

SEE ALSO: Photographer Annie Leibovitz Lists West Village Compound For $33 Million

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One day, while standing on a street corner in Vienna in the late summer, designer Natalie Chanin realized suddenly that August should really mean sunshine and fresh tomatoes.

The Alabama native was a successful, Paris-based stylist working on a film set in Austria at the time, living out of a suitcase and wondering if she had packed enough winter clothes.

That realization led to an overhaul and reconfiguration of her life, culminating several years later when she returned to her hometown of Florence, Alabama, to launch her sustainable-clothing label, Project Alabama.

Now in its second evolution as Alabama Chanin, the award-winning line is still based in a warehouse just north of Florence. What about the South pulled her back and continues to do so for others? We flew down to find out.

See the top 10 reasons to love the Old South >

The South of the northern imagination—that memorialized by William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Harper Lee and Robert Penn Warren—is afflicted by its past and lost in the present. Ironic, then, that much of this decade’s Southern renaissance is built on the foundations of old traditions: quilting, work clothes, garden kitchens, comfort food. We once mistook this elegant clarity for oversimplification. But in today’s hyper-communicative, superfast, deeply insecure culture, tradition has been reanimated into a new worldly form.

Florence, with a population of 39,000, sits on the Tennessee River in Alabama’s northwestern corner, a two-hour drive from any of the nearest three airports. It calls itself “Alabama’s Renaissance City” and has more clothing labels than restaurants. (Visit one of Alabama Chanin’s monthly retreats and take a tour of the studio.) To fill that void, we flew into Nashville first—an old metropolis of the New South—for the food alone. The longtime music capital has always been home to the creative and the cosmopolitan, but the new two-feet-on-the-ground sophistication of the cooking has attracted the attention of a much wider audience, and the city is having a moment.

Areas outside the city center, like 12th Avenue South and East Nashville, are being reengineered from the inside out. An old gas station has been converted into a store for tailored denim by the label Imogene + Willie; an 18th-century factory building houses City House, one of the best restaurants in town; and an old trailer is the mobile vintage-clothing store High Class Hillbilly.

We crave the locally made finds that have the simplicity of an heirloom tomato. And right now, it’s all about returning to roots—something the South most definitely provides. Here are ten of our favorite things.

More articles from Departures:

• Touring The Southern Blues Trail
• Great BBQ Restaurants Of The South
• Following The Natchez Trail
• Top Golf Courses In Mississippi
• America's Most Charming Inns

Designer Quiltmaking: Alabama Chanin

The Alabama Chanin warehouse is in a historic area of Florence, Alabama—a group of buildings that, back in the ’70s, was the T-shirt-making capital of the United States. Outside it is beige. Inside it is transformed, every surface coming alive with some small act of creativity: a small city of thimbles, a chair reupholstered in scrap fabric, antique quilts embroidered with the oral histories of quiltmakers and stitchers in the region (one clip reads, “It was said that the smell of bread baking in the kitchen brought magical powers to the quilt being sewn.").

The soft cotton jersey used for the clothing lines—the cotton is grown in Texas, spun in North Carolina, knit in South Carolina and dyed outside of Nashville—sits on one set of shelves, and complete pieces hang across a wall, embroidered, beaded and appliquéd as examples to help visitors as they choose designs. Once an order is placed, Chanin and her staff cut the fabric and assemble the materials.

A local seamstress completes the piece and sells it back to Chanin. On our visit, the endlessly generous Chanin gave us lessons in sewing and appliqué, describing the physics of each stitch. It’s as peaceful an experience as you can imagine. Workshops are available to all; materials, knowledge and delicious food is provided.

462 Lane Dr.

256-760-1090

alabamachanin.com

Unparalleled Peaches: Marché Artisan Foods

The peaches are more potent below the Mason-Dixon Line. Our first extraordinary fruit experience was at City House (1222 Fourth Ave. N.; 615-736-5838; cityhousenashville.com), considered Nashville’s second-finest dining establishment (more on the first later). Located in Germantown, in an 18th-century brick house that was expanded into a factory, the eatery features a pizza oven, a pared-down bar and several tabletops.

The fish and pizzas are delicious, but the peaches—peppered and served with smoky, house-cured spec—steal the show. For dessert, try the peach shortcake served on a buttery biscuit with buttermilk sherbet. The fruit reappeared at breakfast, this time at the relaxed restaurant/café Marché Artisan Foods (1000 Main St.; 615-262-1111; marcheartisanfoods.com), served simply with honey and ricotta on just-baked bread. The flavor lingers even as you make your way through a superb sweet-potato-and-goat-cheese crêpe with pesto.

Stone-Ground Artisan Chocolate: Olive and Sinclair

Perhaps one of the most delicious local delicacies in Nashville is the deeply flavorful stone-ground Southern artisan chocolate by Olive and Sinclair, which is nothing but a new big hit. Founded three years ago by classically trained chef Scott Witherow, Olive and Sinclair slow roasts its cacao beans and then grinds them with pure brown sugar more for taste than for sweetness.

The flavors are dark and strong, like those of good coffee. The Mexican-style bar with cinnamon is particularly delicious, though the sea-salt version is a close second. Consider stopping by the factory for a tour.

1404 McGavock Pike, Suite C

615-262-3007

oliveandsinclair.com

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We’ve previously noted the changing dynamics of China’s culture of gift-giving, hastened by Beijing’s recent crackdown on excessive spending by government officials, but this week, a new Hurun Report survey finds that two luxury segments in particular — luxury watches and Chinese spirits — have been the hardest hit.

According to the Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2013, which surveyed 551 Chinese millionaires with net worth of over 10 million yuan, leading baijiu brand Moutai has fallen out of the top 10 brands preferred for professional gift-giving by millionaires in China, dropping from fifth to 13th place.

Among the reasons for this decline was greater public debate about spending on high-end baijiu by government officials — still Moutai’s largest single buyer base — as well as a high-profile product safety scare. Demand for Moutai was also hit this past year by a government crackdown on lavish banquets and alcohol ban at military events. Wine, however, remains a popular gift, according to the Hurun Report, with former auction darling Chateau Lafite making the top 10 this year.

As Hurun Report founder Rupert Hoogewerf told China Daily, Moutai’s drop in this year’s list is far from unexpected:

“[Moutai's] drop in popularity came on the back of the public debate on whether government officials,the largest customer base for Moutai, should be allowed to consume what is effectively a luxury brand with its main product retailing at 1,800 yuan ($289) a bottle, and also a health scare involving the use of plasticizers.”

As Jing Daily has previously written, luxury watches also took a hit in 2012 as eagle-eyed Weibo users exposed high-profile bureaucrats sporting timepieces worth tens of thousands of dollars despite modest official salaries. While demand for high-end brands remains strong, particularly among businesspeople, Longines was the only watchmaker to make Hurun’s gift-giving list this year, replacing Rolex at 15th place. We expect luxury timepieces to remain a controversial issue in 2013, as RFI (Chinese) reported this week that some government officials have stopped wearing watches altogether for fear of greater scrutiny.

Though behavior is changing, gift-giving is unlikely to completely go the way of the dodo in China. Conversely, it continues to thrive, yet in many cases luxury timepieces and high-priced bottles of baijiu are simply being replaced by less visible items. Indeed, a look at the Hurun Report’s study shows that accessories are far and away the most popular gifting category across all major luxury brands among Chinese millionaires. Smaller items like pens, keychains, wallets and bags that are easily concealed should remain popular gifts even in times of greater scrutiny, and as such brands like Montblanc (ranked seventh on this year’s list) could see a boost on the next installment.

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