Ballantyne Resort is invitingguests to experience life in thefast lane with its new Speed andLuxury Package.

Speed comes in a 2006 Maser-ati Quattroporte, in which guestswill be chauffeured aroundthroughout their stay. (The baseprice on those wheels is $105,000and the average sticker priceruns between $120,000 and$130,000, said Bob Wyont, asalesman at Foreign Cars Italia inCharlotte.)

Luxury means accommoda-tions in the Presidential Suiteand a four-course dinner cookedin your suite by one of the re-sort’s chefs. Other luxuries: around of golf and one-hour spatreatment per guest. The finish-ing touch is breakfast in bed thefollowing morning.

“This is a great example ofways we are trying to differen-tiate ourselves as the only resort

in Charlotte,” said Christina Ar-geris, a Starwood PreferredGuest account manager for Bal-lantyne Resort.

But quick, grab your creditcard, because Speed and Luxurydon’t come cheap. The price forone night is $3,000.

Ballantyne Resort is partner-ing with Foreign Cars Italia to of-fer the Speed and Luxury Pack-age.

For more information, call(704) 248-4000 or go towww.luxurycollection.com/Bal-lantyne. If you hurry, you can bethe first to try out the package,which the hotel began promot-ing only this year. So far therehave been no bookings, Argerissaid.— AMY BALDWIN

Contact MoneyWise with your ideas forupmarket features: (704) 358-5166;obsbiz@charlotteobserver.com

Resort package designed tomeet need for speed, luxury

COURTESY OF JAMES J. BISSELL

THAT’S RICH A L O O K AT H O W T H EO T H E R H A L F S P L U R G E S

Spa opens at airportOptions for shopping and

relaxing at Charlotte/Douglas

keep going upscale.

GOING AWAY, 2D

Flu planning goes to workLaw firms, HR advisers tell

Charlotte employers to make

plans in case of a mass outbreak.

GETTING AHEAD, 3D

Million-dollar ideaThink there’s no room online for

little guys to make a buck?

Columnist John McBride

introduces Alex Tew. TECHLIFE, 6D

New Charlotte.com featuresToday, read Gillian May-Lian Wee’s column on

young professionals discovering Charlotte.

Monday, read Amy Baldwin’s blog on personal

finance for 20- and 30-somethings.

whipped out the plastic. But generating cash tocover price hikes is getting tougher. Interest ratesare rising. Real estate values seem unlikely tokeep soaring. Stock returns have been so-so.

Is this the year rising prices and stagnantwages reach critical mass and throttle our spend-ing?

“If you don’t get wage increases, then peopleare definitely going to feel the squeeze,” saidMike Wald, a Bureau of Labor Statistics econo-mist. “That’s the last safety valve to help peoplewith higher prices.”

Ledford, who works in data processing for Co-mag Marketing, a division of Hearst Publishing,tried tapping that safety valve. In April, he askedfor a raise, a first for him.

The answer was no.Ledford knows what he has to do next: Go over

the household budget and look for places, pos-

By Amy Baldwin

and Stella M. Hopkins

abaldwin@charlotteobserver.com

shopkins@charlotteobserver.com

Does it feel like your paycheck is gettingsqueezed? You bet it is.

We’re all shelling out more for bills large andsmall, from stamps and cableTV taxes to heat, health insur-ance and home mortgages . Andgas prices are so depressing.

“It just seems like everythingis getting more expensive,” la-mented Chris Ledford, 28, ofCharlotte. With student loans,$13,000 in credit card debt andhis first child due in March, hisfinancial pressures are mounting.

To pay growing bills for the past few years,we’ve tapped savings and rising home values and

STAFF PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LUKE TRAUTWEIN – ltrautwein@charlotteobserver.com

Rising debt, bills, interest rates make 2006 ...

The year of the

SQUEEZE

Consumers, take heart – financial remedies can lessen pressure

Ledford

SEE TURNLINE|4D

By Binyamin Appelbaum

bappelbaum@charlotteobserver.com

Planning to buy a home?Here’s a new twist on loca-

tion, location, location.In neighborhoods with large

numbers of foreclosures, it can

be hard to resell your home fora profit, according to an Ob-server analysis.

Average sales prices havebarely budged since 1999 inMecklenburg County neigh-borhoods with high foreclosurerates, the Observer found. Theaverage increase in the priceper square foot was 0.07 per-cent, compared to 10 percentfor all neighborhoods.

Since 2003, four in five fore-closures occurred in neighbor-hoods with average prices be-

low $150,000. Many of these arenew subdivisions of “starterhomes,” priced for first-timebuyers. Local real estate ex-perts caution these homes canbe risky investments.

“We have two real estatemarkets in Charlotte,” saidlongtime real estate agentBobby Spivey. While prices inhigher-income neighborhoodsare rising, he said, prices inlower-income neighborhoodsare flat or dropping.

PRICES ARE FLAT OR FALLING

High-foreclosure areas area barrier to reselling homes

–––––––

Problem is common inneighborhoods pricedfor first-time buyers

–––––––

SEE TURNLINE|5D

DIEDRA LAIRD – dlaird@charlotteobserver.com

The Stewarts Crossingneighborhood in eastCharlotte is one of the worstfor foreclosures.

Jack Brennan, chairman and CEOof The Vanguard Group – the nation’sNo. 2 mutual fund company behindFidelity Investments – visited Char-lotte last week. He offered up an in-

terview. I couldn’t turn

down Brennan.The man is pas-

sionate about every-day investors’ abilityto put together anice retirement.Knowing Brennan,51, had kids – two

20-somethings in college and a16-year-old – I wanted to get his ad-vice for younger investors. Check out

VANGUARD’S BRENNAN

CEO shares his tips on money

LAYNE BAILEY – FILE PHOTO

Jack Brennan, chief of the The Vanguard Group, metwith 1,800 Charlotte call-center employees last week.

OUT OF THE RED

AmyBaldwin

SEE BRENNAN|5D

Editor’s NoteBeginning today, Money-

Wise will appear in the Sun-day paper, featuring more lo-cal coverage of consumer andpersonal finance issues. Mu-tual fund and stock listingsrun Tuesday through Saturday.

On Mondays, Businessnews will be on 2A, includingDoug Smith’s new Questionof the Week column, onemerging local trends; Jeff El-der’s Inside This Week, onbusiness happenings aroundtown, and business news fromaround the nation and theworld. — PATRICK SCOTT, BUSINESS

EDITOR; PSCOTT@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM;

(704) 358-5176.

MoneyWiseGETTING AHEAD| GOING AWAY DOLLARS| TECHLIFE| FAST LANE

www.charlotte.com +

S U N D A Y , J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 0 6

• • • SECTION D

Sizing up theSqueezeHere’s how much somecommon, monthlyhousehold bills haverisen from a year ago.

Natural gas: $73

Gasoline: $33

Mortgage: $175

Family health insurance:$7.47

N.C. cable TV tax: 92cents

Wine: $3.40Where applicable, figures arebased on averages for Charlotte.Natural gas: for same usage aslast January. Mortgage:three-year adjustable-ratemortgage adjusting this monthto 7.11 percent on $176,000house. Insurance: employeecontribution foremployer-provided coverage.Wine: one bottle a week.

— SOURCES: BUREAU OF

LABOR STATISTICS, PIEDMONT

NATURAL GAS, CAROLINAS AAA,

GOODMORTGAGE.COM,

CAROLINAHOME.COM,

OBSERVER RESEARCH

Found MoneyWays to stick extra cash in your wallet.

• Cash in matured savings bonds. The value of savings bonds that havematured but remain unredeemed exceeds $13.5 billion, according to theTreasury Department. To find out more about your bonds, including whetherthey are still earning interest, go to www.savingsbonds.gov.

• Shop around for services. Has your bank added new fees? Check outcompetitors’ deals and see if your bank will match – or change banks. Haveyou checked your car insurance premiums against the competition? Maybeyou can get a better rate somewhere else. And when is the last time youcomparison-shopped for groceries?

• Ask yourself: Am I getting my money’s worth? If you’re the only one in yourfamily who goes to the gym, maybe you can scale back from family toindividual membership. Do you need a cell phone and a land line? Is there aless-expensive option for your cable TV or satellite service?

Baldwin Wee