By M.P. Dunleavey

Don’t hang your hopes on dull old shares that just make everyone crabby anyway. Fabulous and fun investments can be yours! Think alpacas, islands and whiskey. Sick of the stock market? Any sane person would be, and I am, too. Rather than tie up all my vast holdings in that endless mood swing they call the Dow, I’m thinking it might be time to consider some alternatives. Read more »

By Randy Ray
Ottawa Citizen

An island retreat is within reach, according to one Web site. To me, the perfect summer getaway is a few days at the family cottage near Peterborough. Being at the end of a pretty intimidating cottage road keeps things serene, as does having large tracts of Crown land on either side. Read more »

By Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun, 2001

Prices for private islands are on the rise as buyers with deep pockets snap up secluded getaways—which they may never visit.

Growing up, Marian Churchill loved to listen to her parents tell her stories about “the family’s islands.” The idea that a poor family in Nanaimo owned its very own islands—two, no less—added a touch of magic to the life of a young girl in the 1950s. “I wondered why we weren’t King and Queen, because we owned an island,” Churchill remembers. Read more »

By Ed Caesar, The Independent, UK - April 16, 2005

Green Island in Dorset is for sale for £2.5m. And it’s not the only fantasy haven up for grabs. Ed Caesar looks at the world’s most desirable off-shore properties. Read more »

By Shannon Behnken - Tampa Tribune - Jun 5, 2005

A place to dock your boat, throw up a hammock and be disturbed by no one. A piece of paradise. An island.

The old real estate adage about “Location, location, location” rings true, especially when it comes to land surrounded by bodies of water, some of the most desirable property in Florida. Read more »

By Samira Sheth - What’s New, Dubai - April 2005

The wealthier you become, the more the need for the ultimate in all luxuries - time and space. The feeling that you can push it all away - all the traffic and the pollution and the people and just escape to a space that is all yours, where no one can enter without your permission and where you are the master of all you survey Read more »

By Vivian Marino - New York Times - October 3, 2005

Flipping through a travel magazine one day, Thomas P. Brisson noticed an advertisement for a private island and, acting on impulse, called the listing broker right away.

Surprisingly soon, he was the owner of Heron Island, all 13 acres of it, about half a mile off the coast of Winter Harbor, Me., with popple stone beaches and striking views of Acadia National Park. Mr. Brisson, 57, who is from Potomac, Md., and recently retired from his job at the student-loan provider Sallie Mae, said owning an island seemed much more exciting than having a plain old condo near the beach. Read more »

By Lisa Keys - Weekend Magazine - July/August, 2006

No matter how bucolic the location, most second home owners complain about the noisy neighbours, Saturday-night traffic and the telemarketers who are still within reach. So how can you really get away from it all? Consider an island of your own. Read more »

Buying a private island is high on every lottery player’s wish-list, along with going on a world cruise and picking up a mansion plus a sports car or two. With an island of your own, you’re master of all you survey, in splendid isolation. But it’s not just a Desert Island Discs-inspired daydream. In a fast-shrinking world, privacy has become a very valuable commodity, and wealthy companies and individuals will part with millions for the seclusion that an island provides. Read more »