Saving is a Challenge

When you can spend money that isn't yours, there's little pain… at first.

The Pyramid of Luxuries

The Bespoke - $1,000 Grocery Gift Card

The Ultra High End - 12 Kasa Mini Smart Plugs

The Superpremium - Ladurée

The Premium Core - EDJY

The Accessible Core - Saving is a Challenge

The Affordable Luxury - To MSG or Not to MSG?

The Everyday Luxury - Food Drive

The Bespoke

Click on the banner to enter The Bespoke Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $1,000 Grocery Gift Card [ARV $1,000]

• Odds: For every 130 Ducky Tran premium member by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) Grocery gift card

• Contest Period: October 30, 2024 at 10 AM CST to December 3, 2024 at 10 PM CST

The Ultra High End

Previous Contest Winner

The winner of Issue 50 Ultra High End Contest is HA from LINCOLN, NEBRASKA! Here’s her submission for “something spiky”:

Congratulations to HA, you have won $100 “Pay Your Phone Bill” Gift Card, let's take a look at some of the other spiky submissions:

As a millennial, I was surprised to not see spiky hair from anyone. I guess a cactus is generally the first thought for most people, especially from Texas.

This Week’s Contest

Click on the banner to enter The Ultra High End Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: 12 Kasa Mini Smart Plugs [ARV $90]

• Odds: For every 60 Ducky Tran premium members that submit a valid entry, I will give out one (1) set of 12 plugs

• Contest Period: November 6, 2024 at 10 AM CST to November 12, 2024 at 10 PM CST

It's getting to that time of year, when lights are hung and Black Friday deals bring home a whole slew of electronics. As you may know from a previous issue, I love these smart plugs. I use them to manually control lamps throughout my house, automate Christmas lights, and sync the many carousels my wife collects.

I have at least 12 in my house and I use them throughout the year. They're not just reliable but very easy to use with the Kasa App. If you're a nerd like me, this will definitely provide the tech to geek out on.

The Superpremium

This week’s Superpremium topic is Ladurée. This is a French-based retailer that makes high-end pastries and candies. Ladurée is popularly known in the US because of the film Marie Antoinette and other TV shows; however, they are also world-famous for their pastries, especially their macarons.

My wife and I were able to visit one in Paris to grab some treats, and it was very fancy. For Americans that aren't used to the French decor and styling, it may seem intimidating. But once you enter, aromas of the sweet pastries captivate you and the warmth from the lighting and styling make you feel welcome. The service, beautiful boxes and bows, and colorful treats make you feel like you've had an experience and not just a grocery run.

The retailer’s decor and styling really say high-end and boutique. Their signature light green color and French-design make it feel like you're in a place that would sell fine jewelry. I think it looks very nice and more retailers in the US should return to this French styling. The current bland and boxy styling of most US retailer feels disconnected with the customer experience outside from trying to sell a product to them.

Other than their amazing attention to detail in their retail space, the reason you go to them is for their macarons. My favorite being the pistachio. Ladurée is a fancy pastry shop with a higher price tag, but like the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.”

The Premium Core

This week’s focus is financial wealth and I want to focus on the fact that most times, paying more for quality generally brings more value than finding the cheapest buy in the longer run. Especially if it is a tool.

Today, I want to introduce a tool I recently learned about and it is definitely something you should look into. EDJY, is a modern nail clipper that fixes many of the failures of traditional clippers. It isn't even the most expensive clippers out there, but for the results it provides— IT'S A DEAL! But let's sweeten the deal up a bit.

Deal #1: This week you can get a new EDJY Nail Clipper for just $10, normally $16.50 each. Go to shop.duckytran.com and get yours since there will only be 5 available!

The Accessible Core

Saving is a Challenge

Since the advent of the credit card, layaway, and quick personal loans, the American public have lived way beyond their means. All these financial issues and their solutions can't be tackled in a single article so let's just go over one piece of the puzzle. I will first discuss how there are hidden money bags to be saved in our daily lives that you may be missing out on.

As a disclaimer, small actions like saving a dollar here or there won't make you rich, but can be the difference in comfortable and uncomfortable lifestyle.

1. Many people know that credit cards may provide incentives like points, cash back, or rewards; however, many times the fear of credit card debt keeps them away from it. The reality is if you're going to spend money, regardless if you have a credit card or not, you'll spend it. Also, credit cards have a function to limit the amount you can spend on them, which is a better function than debit cards which can spend every cent you have. There are also protections on credit cards that aren't afforded by debit cards or cash: trip protection, electronics purchase protection, car rental protection, fraud protection, and more. Also, it is a way to improve your credit score which is pretty valuable in a would revolving around credit. Even on the low end, a single person may spend at least $20,000 that can be put on a credit card over a year, at 1% cashback, that's still a free $200. That's likely many times more than your current bank account interest.

2. Based on the cost of gas and distance to the nearest grocery store, most households will spend $20-$60 each month to drive to and from the grocery store. However, most major retailers have monthly subscription services at $10-$20/month for free same-day or next day delivery. So not only would you save more money on gas, you would save money on car maintenance in time spent to and from the store. That's $100-$300 saved just on gas each year. But the time saved is more valuable.

3. I don't drink coffee but most retailers have their own coffee brand that you can brew at home. The difference even in the high-end brands is $1 for home serving versus $9 retailer serving. On the low-end, it's $0.25 for home-brews black coffee versus $6 retailer black coffee. That should be enough to convince you, but the time most people’s drive to the coffee shop and wait in line for their drive-thru coffee is many times longer than brewing at home and cleaning up. From the drive to the cost, that's nearly $10 saved each time. So, an avid coffee drinker could save between $1,000-$3,000 each year just home brewing coffee.

I hope some of these can help you think about where to save. There are many other ways so find your own money bags hidden in your life. Don't forget, even 1% saved, can be thousands of dollars saved towards your retirement.

The Affordable Luxury

Issue 50 Community Poll Results

Here’s results from last week’s poll:

1. Nearly everyone voted between $1M-$2M would be needed for YOU to retire at age 65. The average livable wage in US is about $35,000 so if you live another 30 years, you need at least $1M before inflation. That’s minimal living expenses.

2. Your driving mileage is spread evenly between those that drive less than 5,000 miles each year all the way to those that drive over 15,000 miles each year. In Texas, the average mileage driven is actually a little over 15,000 each year.

3. TRIVIA: Q - In 2022, what is the median retirement savings of those between ages 65-74? A - $200,000. Only a single person got this correct. Compared to poll question #1, this is quite disturbing. Most people don’t even come near the minimal to support themselves another 30 years; therefore, most people don’t or can’t retire at 65.

This Week’s Community Poll

Here are this week’s poll questions:

The Everyday Luxury

I have decided to do a food drive for a food pantry to go along with the scheduled BBQ Social, I'll have my details as the logistics get worked out.

I'm working on incentives to donate, things to donate, and other organizations to work with to make it a bigger event.

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Visit shop.duckytran.com with the weekly password: kasa