Taken for Granted: Shelter

We don’t think about it, but it can easily happen to us at anytime

The Pyramid of Luxuries

The Bespoke - $4,000 Vacation + $1,000 VISA eGift Card

The Ultra High End - FitSnack 6-Month Subscription

The Superpremium - Bacchanal Buffet

The Premium Core - CookUnity

The Accessible Core - Taken for Granted: Shelter

The Affordable Luxury - Virtual Social Time

The Everyday Luxury - 2023 Deals Update

The Bespoke

The winner for December 2023 will be announced in a later issue due to on-going communication.

Based on popular demand, I will be hosting January 2024 Bespoke Photo Contest with another $5,000 vacation bundle as the prize. This was voted by you in Issue 3, which received 100% of the votes going to a vacation as a prize.

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

• Prize: $4,000 Vacation Voucher + $1,000 in VISA eGift Cards [ARV $5,012]

• Odds: For every 660 Ducky Tran premium member by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) vacation bundle Prize

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

See Issue 1 for more content about The Bespoke Prize.

The Ultra High End

Previous Contest Winners

The winner for Issue 4 is Kevin from Arlington, Texas, he won the Lockly Vision Smart Doorbell Lock, but he elected to take the optional cash prize of $200. This was his submission for Issue 4, “a picture of something you’re thankful for”:

The winner for Issue 5 is Huyen from Arlington, Texas, she won the $200 Shopping eGift Card. This was her submission for Issue 5, “a picture of something that is priceless to you”:

Yes, husband and wife won on consecutive weeks! That’s the perk of having multiple people in your family in Ducky Tran. They gave me permission to share the pictures at the same time so I can show everyone this week.

This is a big announcement week! The winner for Issue 6 is Cong from Dallas, Texas, he won $100 Netflix Gift Card. This was his submission for Issue 6, “a picture of a present wrapped by or for you”:

This Week’s Contest

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

• Prize: FitSnack 6-Month Subscription Box [ARV $168]

• Odds: For every 110 Ducky Tran premium members by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) FitSnack 6-Month Subscription

• Contest Period: January 3, 2024 at 10 AM CST to January 9, 2024 at 10 PM CST

This week’s focus is physical wealth. A big component of physical well-being is our diet; however, with the variety of unhealthy snacks in every store and the common snacking routines of the American public, eating healthy is not easy. FitSnack is a healthy snack and exercise subscription box that will help you find new healthy snacks and comes every month to make sure you’re not tempted to eat those Cheetos Puffs!

I decided to make it a 6-month subscription because eating healthy is a habit and I want to help you maintain it. If you already snack on healthy foods, then this is a good opportunity to be introduce to some other brands you may not have tried before.

The Superpremium

This week’s Superpremium topic is the Bacchanal Buffet in Las Vegas. This is my favorite buffet because I don’t go to buffets for quality, it’s all about quantity!

No, I’m not saying I go to stuff myself into my drawstring joggers, I mean variety. The Bacchanal Buffet has over 250 items! Though it’s true I don’t expect amazing quality at buffets, the Bacchanal is exceptional for buffet food. So, it has quality and quantity! What more can I ask for? Cheap price tag?

Well -- that’s not going to happen. Just look at the picture, they serve crab legs and 250+ other items, there’s no way they can do it for $9.99. Right now, the price per adult ranges from $64-$80 depending on brunch or dinner. This is quite a bit but if you are in Vegas, it’s a definite must-try-at-least-once! Who knows, you might be lucky and win enough at the Blackjack table to eat at the buffet multiple times.

FIRST-TIMER TIPS:

1. Make a reservation especially for weekend brunch or dinners.

2. If you do walk-in, make sure to show up 2-3 hours before you want to eat, check-in and come back at your expected dining time.

3. Don’t try everything, there’s too many items and you’ll miss out on being able to enjoy the ones you want. Pick the ones you want first, then experiment if you have the drawstring for it.

4. Don’t try to make your money’s worth, you won’t. The variety is there for a reason, if you want to eat for less or get more for less, this isn’t the restaurant for that.

5. You’re probably going dine here with multiple friends/family. If you want to try new dishes, only get one dish for the entire table so you only have to take 1-2 bites rather than eat an entire entree.

6. Take it easy on liquids, just get water and sip as you go. Anything else will just get you full after 3-5 items.

7. When they serve crab legs, you can get them cold at the seafood section, but you can also get them hot in the kitchen with all the large pots on burners. They don’t make it obvious so just ask.

I can’t wait to visit the Bacchanal Buffet soon, I’ll upload a video about it so you all can see the massive 25,000 sqft restaurant, which you can lose your way back to your table as I have a few times.

The Premium Core

This week’s Premium Core topic is CookUnity. Like previously mentioned, eating healthy is an important part of our physical well-being. It is quite hard to have a balance meal all the time, especially if you want variety. Meal subscriptions have been on the rise due to variety and convenience.

CookUnity stands out from the many meal subscriptions to me because it ranks high in every category you would want for a meal subscription.

1. Quality: The food is created by professional chefs and fresh with 4-7 day expiration dates.

2. Convenient: A meal subscription that has a microwave option for every meal, which means it’s essentially ready-to-eat at a moment’s notice rather than having to prep any food yourself.

3. Pricing: Though it may be a bit pricer than some other subscriptions, the time you save from not prepping food, high quality and variety of meals, and if you consider it replacing meals you normally go out to eat, the price is extremely fair. Plus, shipping is included unlike many other subscriptions, so it’s essentially the same price with better quality and convenience.

To help any of you that are busy with work or have a crazy week coming up, I put together an amazing deal that allows you to try CookUnity with a 65% discount. With the $100 you can get about 10 meals, so each meal for you will be less than $4.

Deal #1: I am offering $100 CookUnity eGift Card for only $35 at shop.duckytran.com. There will only 10 available.

Don’t forget the password is at the end of the issue.

The Accessible Core

Taken for Granted: Shelter

One of the concepts of physical wealth is protection, in this case, in the form of shelter. Most of us, especially if we’re just sitting at work or lounging on the couch reading Issue 7 of Ducky Tran, don’t really think about homelessness. That’s because “out of sight, out of mind.” However, we do see it, I know I do, nearly every single time I drive pass a major intersection.

Have you ever thought:

1. That’s someone’s child on the streets.

2. That’s someone’s father/mother on the streets.

3. That could have been a neighbor.

4. That could be me.

Many of us don’t think about these things because we have not been in the situation that would lead us to homelessness. Essentially all homeless individuals have mental illness to a certain extent, but many studies now are revealing that many of them develop most of the mental disorders because of homelessness and not the other way around.

Actually, in about 1/3 of the homeless population, months leading up to their homelessness had a job but their income was slowly decreasing due to life circumstances that put them in a position where they are unable to pay for their rent/mortgage. In nearly 3/4 of the cases, depression is what led the individuals into a condition of homelessness and then other mental disorders arise over long periods of homelessness.

In 2022, about 600,000 people in the US are homeless. But think about the “homeless people” that aren’t even counted due to family or goodwill. In the last 50 years, the percentage of multigenerational households went from 7 to 18 percent. Multigenerational households have at least 2 or more adult generations over age 25. Compounded with the current housing prices, the homelessness rates may be extremely higher. At any moment, the large percentage of adults housed in other adult’s homes or home taxes/mortgages outgrowing an individual’s ability to pay can put more people on the streets.

A study showed that the average American has a 1 in 200 of becoming homeless over a period of a year, while an American living in poverty has a 1 in 25 of becoming homeless. According to the US Census, about 11.5% of the population is living in poverty. That’s nearly 38 million people in poverty, but that also means nearly 1.5 million Americans a year face near or actual homelessness each year they are in poverty.

That all being said, what can we do? How can we make sure our family, friends or we, ourselves, don’t end up homeless?

1. We make sure everyone we care about have someone to talk to. It might be you, the confidant that a friend can talk to about anything. Studies have shown more than 60% of the homeless population never seek help prior to homelessness.

2. Embrace multigenerational households, it is a support structure that is has built strong family and neighborhood ties in many other countries.

3. Look for signs of depression in others and lift them out of it, as its the universal sign in all homelessness case.

4. Look for signs of depression in yourself and speak up so others can come to your aid. Make sure to build those bonds while you are normal and sane, so when you need help someone is there for you.

Don’t take shelter for granted, you and your family have worked hard to have such shelter. Don’t let your unwillingness to socialize be the cause of your homelessness. Don’t forget it can happen to anyone, even celebrities.

The Affordable Luxury

Issue 6 Community Poll Results

1. On your days off, when do you wake up? Most of you wake up between 9AM-11AM. No one slept in past 11AM. Impressive.

2. How do you like to read? Most of you prefer physical books. Only one person prefers audiobooks.

3. For the Virtual Murder Mystery, there were only 3 people that put yes or maybe. I will still try to plan it out and see how the event goes.

This Week’s Community Poll

The Everyday Luxury

(The referral program is only viewable on the email version of the newsletter.)

2023 Deals Update

There was a referral deal in 2023 to see if anyone can refer at least 12 people. No one was able to complete the deal, but don’t worry, I will think of other referral deals so that I can give out something similar in the future.

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