Dear Survivor,
Are you getting out there? Going to Portugal or PEI? You know from Your Survival Guy’s experiences this summer that many of you are. Even though inflation numbers are coming down, prices for stuff you want to spend money on, like once-in-a-lifetime trips, are not. That’s why I want you to spend your money somewhat foolishly now, because the risks of not going on your trips are obvious: One, it will probably be more expensive when you do, and two, you’ll be older. Beating inertia is never easy.
Why not make a list of places you want to see and trips you know you want to take? Putting it down on paper is one step closer to putting it on a calendar, making reservations, and perhaps putting down a deposit. So what if you lose the deposit? It’s a sunk cost. It’s the price of taking action, and chances are it will keep you on track to get away.
In all of my conversations with you, one of the most difficult parts I hear about money is how hard it is to spend. Now, I, of course, am working with a special set of investors. Successful Americans who have worked for a lifetime and have saved more than they ever thought they would have. But I hear you when we discuss how we get stuck in our saving ways. We forget how to spend.
“Make Sure You Have Some Experience Before You…”
I love it when I call you, and you’re out there seeing the world. That’s why you worked for most of your life—and why many of you still do—so you can do what you want to do, when you want to do it. You paid for your freedom, and you’re enjoying the fruits of your labor.
You were having lunch when I called recently. When I asked how you were doing, you said, “I don’t think I could be any better.” You were taking a quick break during a two-week, three-thousand-mile BMW adventure motorcycle tour from Alaska to Oregon. “Make sure you have some experience before you book your trip,” you said. Noted.
I feel like I’m on the road with you. Keep making memories. I’m here when you need me. I don’t think you can put a price tag on making memories—just try to make more.
Go the Extra Miles
After you read about my friend’s trip from Alaska to Oregon, you emailed me because it reminded you of your own once-in-a-lifetime ride.
You wrote:
Best Memory is a two-day tour of 840 miles: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Delta Junction, and back. It was summer, so there was plenty of daylight to travel. We rented BMW bikes. The renter thought they forgot to zero out the mileage.
I’m always happy to see how you’re living Your Retirement Life. Maybe the most exciting thing you can do is go that extra mile (or many miles) and see those things you’ve never had the time to see before. When you get a glimpse over a new horizon, tell me all about it. Email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com, and we’ll talk about Your Retirement Life.
Warm regards,
“Your Survival Guy”
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P.S. You told me one of the reasons you wanted to take the BMW motorcycle adventure trip of a lifetime—from Alaska to Oregon—was to see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. Now that you have, with pictures to prove it, it turns out you’re also having the time of your life. Who knew?
Get out there and make memories. Because if you don’t, two things will probably happen: it will be more expensive next year, and you’ll be a year older.
NOAA – Northern lights prediction tool.
P.P.S. You need water to live. And you need it for other comforts like hygiene, lawn/garden care, washing your car, etc. But what happens when your government takes water away from you? That’s what happened recently in Puerto Rico, where the government instituted water rationing. Some residents could be out of water for two days at a time. Al Jazeera reports:
More than 180,000 Puerto Ricans will be without water for 48 hours at a time on a rotating basis starting Friday, as Puerto Rico scrambles to find a solution to the deepening crisis amid continuing extreme heat warnings.
“This situation is out of our hands,” Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez said late Tuesday as she blamed weather conditions. “Nothing prevents this from worsening.”
She said she did not know how long the rationing measures will remain in place. Meteorologists have warned dry conditions will likely persist until September.
July was the driest month on record for San Juan in more than 120 years and the second-hottest July for the capital. Almost 25 percent of Puerto Rico is experiencing a severe drought and another 36 percent is under a moderate drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.
Your Survival Guy wants you to protect your family from water shortages and rationing. Build a plan for emergency water storage. Start your information gathering by downloading my SPECIAL REPORT: Emergency Water Storage: How Much, Containers, Purification & More.
P.P.P.S. The news today is filled with potential problems for your power security. For starters, Canadian politicians are rattling their sabers over tariffs, calling for power cuts to Americans in retaliation against President Trump’s announced tariffs on Canadian goods.
If you live in an area of the United States close to Canada, that could be a problem. Canada exported a net 3.6TwH of electricity to the United States in June.
Regional grids like that of New England (ISONE), New York (NYISO), the Midwest, and West, use a lot of Canadian power. And the renewable standards in place in many of those areas are reliant on Canadian hydro power.
With any loss of Canadian power, blackouts could sweep across heavily populated northern regions of the United States, leaving those without some power in their “pantry” in the dark. Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to cut off power to the United States and warned that President Trump “better have a pack of batteries.” Good advice.
But it’s not only the north that’s in trouble today. In the Southwest, electricity generated by the Colorado River is at risk. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which feed the Glen Canyon Dam and the Hoover Dam, respectively, are running out of water. If the water gets too low, the electric turbines turned by the flow will cease, and power will run out. What then?
If you want to keep the lights on, consider developing your own microgrid. Generators, solar, wind, and batteries can all add resilience to your power picture. You don’t want your family left in the dark.
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