Why I Chose this Controversial ‘All-Weather Portfolio’ for My Life Savings

I had a brief foray into stock market investing back in 2010. I was fresh out of college and earning my first real paycheck. I started reading about investing in earnest, and I quickly latched onto a “Bogleheads” style strategy. Those folks are followers of John Bogle, the man who created Vanguard and popularized the low-cost index fund. Due to my young age, I settled on a very aggressive, 100% stock portfolio.

I had read that the stock market is a wild ride, but if you can hold on in the tough times, you’ll reap the highest possible returns.

I scoffed at the notion that I might bail when times got tough. I was resilient! I was a professional athlete! I ate risk for breakfast!

For a while, the market rose and rose, and I felt invincible. Then, in the summer of 2011, it tanked. People thought Greece would default on its debt. The U.S. had its credit rating downgraded for the first time ever. It was scary.

I immediately forgot all of my training. I was like someone who played a lot of the video game “Call of Duty,” and then naively thought I’d be prepared if a real war broke out and I was called into action.

Everything I’d read about the importance of riding out the tough times went out the window. That was all theoretical. I was losing large amounts of real money, every day.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to read the financial press, but I did. It felt like things were only going to get worse. My imagination ran wild. I envisioned Greece collapsing, the EU collapsing, world famines, great depressions, dust bowls. I needed to get out while I could, hoard cash, and buy nonperishable food.

I sold, pretty much exactly at the bottom of the dip. Fast forward to the present day, and I have missed out on spectacular stock market returns over the last six years because of my panicked decision.

Enter the Golden Butterfly

Recently, I started poking my head around the investing landscape again. I was looking for something much less volatile than 100% stocks. I quickly zeroed in on the site PortfolioCharts to help me with my research. The site makes it easy to test out any portfolio and see how it would have performed in terms of historical returns, volatility, start date sensitivity, and pretty much any other metric you can imagine.

My favorite part of the site is the “portfolios” section, which explains 17 classic, frequently used portfolios. You can select any one of them and learn about their components and their historical performance. I was drawn to a particular portfolio, one that was actually designed by the website’s founder, Tyler. He’s a mechanical engineer with a strong math background and an interest in finance. He nicknamed his masterpiece “The Golden Butterfly.”

The Golden Butterfly, or GB for short, consists of 20% small-cap value stocks, 20% large-cap stocks, 20% long-term Treasury bonds, 20% cash, and 20% gold. It’s constructed around the principle that there are four general economic conditions, and a certain asset class tends to do well in each of them:

• Prosperity = Stocks
• Recession = Cash
• Inflation = Gold
• Deflation = Long-term Treasurys

If you’re familiar with Harry Browne’s “Permanent Portfolio,” you’ll note the similarities. The difference is that the GB has a larger chunk invested in stocks, as prosperity has historically been the most common economic condition.

The historical performance of the GB is impressive. Tyler analyzed the GB’s performance versus a 100% total stock market portfolio over the last 43 years, and found that “the Golden Butterfly had a nearly identical long-term real compound annual growth rate, but with 60% less volatility, a single worst year of only -11%, and a longest drawdown of only two years.”

Those historical returns, plus a lack of volatility, were very appealing to me.

Defending the Weirdness: A Q&A With Tyler, Founder of PortfolioCharts

This is a controversial portfolio. Three of the four assets are not predicted to generate huge returns, which makes it look a little wonky. Tyler himself was generous enough to answer some of my questions, and to give more insight into the Golden Butterfly Portfolio as a whole:

Q: Why is it so important to look at the entirety of the GB portfolio, as opposed to each component in isolation?

A: “Some people think of investing like making their own trail mix. They taste every individual ingredient, judge it on its own merits, and only include their favorites in the bag. But asset allocation requires thinking like a baker with a sense of chemistry. Individual spoonfuls of sugar, flour, butter, eggs, and baking soda may taste terrible on their own, but combine them in the right proportions and you get awesome cookies shaped like butterflies.” 

Q: How do you handle the criticism that the GB only looks good because of overfitting and cherry picking data?

A: “I strongly believe it’s important to make evidence-based investing decisions using good data. To counter the temptation to over-fit and cherry pick that has given backtesting a bad name, I always evaluate portfolios based on not only the most favorable time frames but also the worst ones. The Golden Butterfly is appealing to a lot of people not because it outperformed over some specific time frame that may never repeat, but because it posted remarkably consistent returns in both good times and bad.”

Q: A lot of people hate gold. Can you give the shiny metal some love?

A: “Regardless of your personal biases one way or the other, the data clearly show that gold can be an extremely helpful ingredient in a well-balanced portfolio to carry the day when both stocks and bonds struggle. I don’t believe anyone should invest in something they hate, but you owe it to yourself to model how a bit of gold might improve the consistency of your own portfolio.”

Q: Many investors would say that the GB is too conservative for a person of my age (30). What do you make of that assumption?

A: “It’s all a matter of perspective. Is the Golden Butterfly too conservative because it only holds 40% stocks, or too aggressive because it holds 60% small-cap value, long-term treasuries, and gold? Personally, I think it appeals most to investors who understand labels are irrelevant because wise investing is not about maximizing tolerable risk but about meeting your important life goals with minimum uncertainty.”

Q: How do you mentally cope with missing out on the ‘stock party’ (a huge bull market)?

A: “Everyone loves a good party until they experience a few hangovers. After my own stock learning experiences, I chose to pivot to a consistent portfolio I knew I could depend on to accomplish my goals with minimum stress and effort. I still love a good party, but I embrace investing sobriety.”

Q: How long have you used the Permanent Portfolio, and do you now use the GB?

A: “I became a Permanent Portfolio investor around 2011, and it has served me very well both financially and emotionally. Depending on how you look at it, today I’m either 80% PP or 100% GB (with minor modifications based on my personal situation). But everybody is different, and there’s no one portfolio to rule them all. Know thyself, and invest accordingly!”

Summing Up

I have slowly transitioned my savings into the Golden Butterfly, and it has given me peace of mind. I’ll make sure to let everyone know how I react to the next bear market, but I can guarantee one thing: As long as I’m invested in this portfolio, I won’t panic, predict the end of the world, scream, and run for the hills.

Related Articles:

• Why Employer Stock Is One of the Riskiest Investments You Can Own
• Investing in International Stocks: Does Your Portfolio Need a Passport?
• All About Bonds: How They Work and When to Buy Them
• Why ‘Beating the Stock Market’ Is a Lie

 

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From Diaper Cakes to Business and Life Coaching – One Mom’s Journey

LaTersa Blakely is a mom of two little darlings. She's a woman of God who’s been in business since 2011, and she loves helping moms make money from home. Find out how this mom went from selling diaper cakes to coaching other moms in business and in life. When I met you in 2011, you […]

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Housing Co-ops Are a Great Way to Save Money (but There’s a Catch)

Game Commission names new land manager

Ryan Gildea of Long Pond, Monroe County, recently accepted the position of Pennsylvania Game Commission Land Management Group Supervisor for Monroe, Carbon, and Luzerne counties.Gildea is a 2012 graduate of the 29th class of wildlife conservation officers from the Game Commission’s Ross Leffler School of Conservation and previously served as the district wildlife conservation officer in southern Monroe County.He is responsible for the development, management, and [...]

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Program aims to put NEPA vets to work

Two years after 9/11, Christopher Reichard answered the call to arms.He was 19 and knew college was not for him. The Marine Corps offered opportunities to grow personally and professionally while serving his nation at war.“I knew that I wouldn’t do well in college at that time in my life and thought the military could help mature me a bit while I got to travel and see the world,” Reichard said.After serving most of his four years in Iraq, Reichard [...]

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How to Vet a New Marketing Channel in 3 Days or Less

I get this question a lot.

“What marketing channel should I focus on?”

There are many make or break decisions in business. This is one of them.

The thing is, I can’t give you a cut and dry answer.

The nature of your business matters. So does the audience that you wish to target.

What I will do instead is give you a method for figuring this out for yourself.

If you’re starting a new business, this decision is critical. Focusing on the wrong marketing channel can set you back months and maybe even years.

If you’re expanding into a new market, selecting the wrong channel can also have massive ramifications.

You’d be putting your existing operations at risk for a new channel that may not pan out.

Just take a look at all the challenges that marketers have to overcome.

You can imagine that each channel comes with a unique set of difficulties.

This speaks to the importance of vetting your marketing plan before you set it in motion.

There’s just too much at stake.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can evaluate your options and narrow down on the best choice quickly.

You don’t need more than three days to get this done.

But first, I have a bit of wisdom to share.

Resist the urge to diversify

You know that voice in your head that says you need to be everywhere at once?

That fear of missing out if you don’t at least try everything?

It’s a diversion. Resist it.

It is imperative that you focus on one marketing channel.

At least in the beginning.

It’s going to shortchange your success if you spread yourself thin.

Here’s why.

• You’ll have less impact. If you’re focusing on several channels, it means you’re not doing everything you can to excel in any one of them.
• It will cost you more. Testing and thriving with a multichannel approach costs way more than you may be willing to spend. If you want an organic and cost-effective approach, stick to one channel.
• You’ll never actually know where your strength lies. Jumping from channel to channel means you won’t truly know the impact of one particular strategy on your business.
• You’ll remain at the heels of your competitors. That’s not where you want to be, is it? You want to be ahead, and the way to do that is to establish dominance in your market.

Now, don’t misunderstand me.

I’m not saying that you should go all in on one channel and forget the rest.

But multichannel marketing is complex. Only 30% of marketers are confident that they can deliver on such a strategy.

That’s not a lot.

So what I’m advocating for is starting from a position of dominance.

Put your energy into one strategy until it succeeds. Then, piggyback on that success to achieve wins in other areas.

Does that make sense?

The steps in this article will be geared towards helping you place a bullseye on the ONE channel that will serve you best.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin.

Step #1: Know your options

The first thing you want to do is brainstorm all your possible options.

This isn’t something that you have to materialize out of thin air.

There are dozens of ways that you can connect with your target audience and spread your message.

Better yet, each channel has several subsets that you can zone in on.

Here’s a good representation:

Many of these overlap. Some have even morphed into each other.

It can get confusing, quickly.

For example, some people consider SEO to be one marketing channel.

But I can’t imagine a world where SEO and content marketing aren’t intertwined. You can’t do one without the other.

The same thing goes for social media and paid advertising.

They’re different channels. But there’s a convergence.

Let’s imagine you decide to focus on Facebook as your primary social media platform. It would be unwise to not experiment with Facebook Ads.

Considering that Facebook has developed one of the greatest Ad products out there, you’d be underutilizing the full power of the platform.

Marketers agree. Almost 57% plan to increase their social media ad spend.

I say all this to make a simple point.

While you may zone in on one channel, you’ll see lots of overlap that you shouldn’t ignore.

Go where your audience takes you.

Let’s look at some of your options.

Content marketing

This is about creating and promoting material that is relevant to your target audience.

Content marketing is central.

90% of businesses market using this channel.

It means that no matter what strategy you use, content will be a part of it.

You can narrow your content down to blogging, guest blogging, podcasts, webinars, email, etc.

Social media marketing

You can use social media as your platform to get noticed, build authority, and grow a community.

You can also use it to drive traffic to your main site.

Or you can do both. It’s effective either way.

Paid advertising

Much of marketing is organic and will take time to generate results.

Paid advertising is one way to accelerate that.

The downside is, you have to pay to play.

Facebook ads, other social media ads, print ads, PPC, and direct response fall into this category.

Public relations  

PR is about building relationships and capitalizing on the optics of your business.

It can be both online and offline. Press releases, conferences, events, interviews, and sponsorships are a few examples.

As you can see, you have no shortage of options when it comes to marketing.

I’ve given an overview of the main ones, but know that you are not limited to these alone.

Step #2: Choose the channels that are aligned with your business goals

You now have an idea of what’s available to you.

It’s time to make a list of all the channels that will serve your business.

Start with your business goals.

Some marketing channels are better suited to achieve a particular goal than others.

Goal setting is a flexible thing. You can make changes as your business evolves.

This means that the marketing channel you use right now may not be viable when your business progresses.

Consider what stage your business is in and what your goal is for the next 90 days.

According to Jay Abraham, there are only three ways to grow a business:

• Increase your number of customers
• Increase the amount that a customer spends on a purchase
• Increase the frequency that a customer buys from you

Your business goals should serve one of these three phases of business.

If you’re still at the first stage, your goals might be brand awareness, lead generation, and customer acquisition.

If you already have a list of buyers, your goal might be to increase sales.

What if you already have a reliable stream of sales?

There’s no such thing as too many sales, but your goal at this point might be to maximize profits and retain customers.

Here’s what most businesses are prioritizing:

These may or may not apply to you. Just focus on what your business needs at the moment.

This way, you don’t make goals that aren’t yet attainable.

By extension, it ensures that you don’t waste time and resources on a marketing channel that won’t serve your business well.

How do you select a channel that’s right for your business goals?

Before you even start testing, do some elimination.

I’ll give you a few examples, and you’ll have to use your judgment.

Let’s say that your goal is brand awareness.

PR, social media, content marketing, and even paid advertising can be used for this purpose.

The easy solution?

Eliminate the channels that would be less efficient.

For instance, paid advertising won’t be the most useful for brand awareness.

But for sales or lead generation? It can crush it! (If you know what you’re doing, that is).

Take a look at some of the business goals that apply to the content marketing channel. It will give you an idea of what to aim for.

It’s also important to take into consideration what feels the most organic for your business.

If you’re selling something like hoverboards or bicycles, would blog posts serve you the best?

Likely not.

These products are lifestyle-based. You’d be better off using a visual channel that will allow you to provide an experience to potential customers.

Immediately, social media comes to mind.

Then you begin to narrow it down to Instagram or Youtube.

This is a logical process that won’t take you more than an hour to figure out.

You don’t have to find that one channel yet. Just eliminate what won’t work and rank your remaining options.

Step #3: Narrow down the list by going where your audience is

You’ve got a few options.

It’s time to prioritize.

This one is easy. Find your potential customers.

A marketing channel can serve your goal, but there are many platforms you can focus on.

If your customers are not hanging out there, you’ll be wasting your time.

Note:

The point of this article is not to find you a slam dunk marketing channel right away.

That would take testing and experimentation.

The goal here is to help you validate your chosen channel. This way, you know it’s viable before you start testing it.

Here’s my best advice for finding out where the attention is.

• SEO is a great place to start.
• Competitive research is a must.
• You can’t go wrong with social media.

Let’s look at each of these.

SEO

Online is where most of the magic happens.

And a majority of online interactions begin with a search engine (mostly Google).

So the first step is to evaluate the SEO landscape by searching for keywords in your industry.

You’ll find out what your audience is searching for and how often.

This is not just essential for finding out what’s happening online. Let’s say that there aren’t that many monthly searches for your keywords.

You may want to focus on an offline channel.

Or you may decide that this is a gap that you can take advantage of.

You won’t know until you do some basic keyword research.

A simple tool like the Google Keyword Planner will work.

Type in your keyword and get search volume data.

Competitive research

If you want to know where your customers hang out, find your competitors.

First, identify who those competitors are.

A simple google search will do the trick. The biggest players are those who rank on the first page of search.

Once you’ve got a solid list, use a tool like SimilarWeb for your research.

Enter your competitor’s website and press enter.

You’ll find a range of data. Pay attention to “Traffic sources.”

For Quick Sprout, the highest traffic source is search.

Naturally, my primary marketing channel would be SEO and blogging.

Direct is a close second, but it’s a bit trickier to figure out.

It represents the people who type in your URL directly into their search bar. It doesn’t tell you where these people first came into contact with your business.

The next step is to check out the individual breakdown of each traffic source.

You can see where referrals are coming from.

Since SEO is my dominant traffic source, I’ll pay particular attention to my top organic keywords.

You can also see which social media platform is the most popular. Mine is Facebook.

Social media

I like to take social media research a bit further.

The tool to use is BuzzSumo.

Type in your competitor’s domain. You can also search for a keyword.

You’ll see all the top performing content on the site and which social platform generated the most shares.

Using SimilarWeb, we saw that Facebook was Quick Sprout’s top platform.

BuzzSumo tells the same story.

If you want to take this a bit further, you can go to these individual platforms and do some sleuthing.

Check out the groups with the most members, listen in on the conversations, and a get a feel for where your audience is focusing their attention.

When you go through this process, you may find that you have 2 or 3 reliable options.

Which do you select?

I have three criteria.

Cheap. Fast. Easy.

You want to pick a channel that won’t cost you too much, if anything, to get started.

You also want a channel that doesn’t have a steep learning curve. Otherwise, you may spend too much time and money trying to figure it out.

Lastly, pick the channel that will allow you to make the most headway, quickly.

You must pick one, so use these criteria as the final litmus test.

Conclusion

Selecting a new marketing channel is a tall order.

It’s important that you take some time to validate a potential channel before you focus on it.

Marketing requires time that can easily be wasted on ineffective strategies.

It also requires cash.

It means that you’d want to see a solid return on both your time and money investment.

The surest way to secure an attractive ROI is to vet potential marketing channels first.

You can then test and double down on what’s working.

Most people don’t go through this process of validation and testing.

So as long as you keep experimenting and tweaking your strategy based on your results, you’ll have a significant advantage over competitors.

What is your most effective marketing channel?

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Stroudsburg merchants focus on revitalizing Main Street

STROUDSBURG — The economic atmosphere of Main Street affects the borough, the county seat, which in turn affects the county.How to get more tourists, visitors and local residents to patronize Main Street businesses more frequently throughout the year is a question that has been around for as long as Main Street itself has. It's a question that becomes more relevant for merchants in times like these, with America still feeling the effects of the recession.A number of [...]

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Armageddon on a Shoestring: Prepare for Disasters Without Destroying Your Budget

Just before and right after every disaster, you see news coverage of crowded stores, depleted shelves, and interviews with people who don’t have enough (water, batteries, whatever).

Don’t be those people. September is National Preparedness Month, and its theme – “Disasters don’t plan ahead. You can.” – is also the theme of this post. Even if you’re on a tight budget, or living paycheck to paycheck, you should be prepared to live at least three days without basic services.

Should things go south, got any idea how you’d eat, drink, and stay warm until things got back to normal?

Two other things you might not consider until it’s too late:

• Where would you and your family would go to the bathroom if the power and/or water cut out?
• Do you have a manual can opener?

Sound funny? It’s deadly serious. If you don’t have a plan for the potty, your back yard is going to get real foul real fast. (Assuming, that is, that you even have a back yard.) And imagine the frustration of not being able to open up those cans of soup for your hungry household. (Assuming, that is, that you have a way to heat them up.)

The good news: You probably already have a lot of the stuff that Ready.gov suggests you need. The better news is that you can get the rest of it very cheaply, or even for free. And the time to do this is now, before the next power failure, ice storm, blizzard, hurricane, earthquake, or windstorm reshapes your life.

What’s for dinner?

The “food” section of Ready.gov suggests the best foods to have on hand: protein- and calorie-rich items with long shelf lives: soups, stews, canned beans, quick-cooking oatmeal, peanut butter, dehydrated foods (e.g., instant mashed potatoes), dried fruit, canned fish or meat, protein or granola bars, and crackers.

To that list I would add almond or other nut butters (not everyone likes peanut butter), some gelatin or instant pudding (a dessert can really brighten the day), Nutella (it’s just fun to eat), interesting foods from the supermarket’s health-food section (hummus, refried beans, even vegetarian taco filling), good-quality bouillon cubes, and hardtack — aka “pilot bread.”

(Never heard of pilot bread? This amusing video explains it all.)

You might already have a lot of the foods you need. Now you just have to keep it that way, i.e., never let your pantry get too bare. When something your household really loves goes on sale, get a few extra. Use a dark marker to write the sell-by date on the front (not the top!) of each food product and make sure they get rotated and replaced regularly.

• Pro tip: A site called CouponMom.com does a state-by-state match of coupons, many of them downloadable, to sales in supermarkets, drugstores, and even dollar stores; fairly often you’ll pay nothing at all for food, toiletries, and first-aid supplies.

Should you buy disposable plates and bowls? Residents of hurricane country probably should, since they’re likely to lose water and power regularly. As for others, that’s up to you. If you’re without running water, you certainly shouldn’t use up precious stored water to wash dishes.

• Pro tip: Watch clearance sales after major holidays and get up to 90% off paper plates, bowls, and cups. Don’t necessarily throw them out after eating; sometimes the higher-quality stuff can be used more than once.

Water, water everywhere?

Ready.gov suggests stashing one gallon per person per day for at least three days. Got pets? Don’t forget some extra agua for them.

Rather than spending money on bottled water, fill empty milk jugs or two-liter soft drink bottles until you have enough. Every few months, use the water in these containers for tasks like watering the garden or doing hand laundry, then refill them with fresh water for storage.

A word to those who filter their water: that sink-mounted or whole-house filtration system won’t do you much good if the power is out or the municipal water supply system is damaged. In that case, have a filtration pitcher and at least one extra cartridge in your emergency kit. (I regularly see these pitchers at thrift shops.)

Or take a simpler route: Sprinkle a little powdered drink mix (Wyler’s, for example) into each glass of water to disguise the yucky taste. These packets cost about a dime each at Walgreens and dollar stores.

Incidentally, most of us already have a decent amount of water stored – in the water heater. This video from WikiHow shows how to turn off the power and the water supply valve before tapping this standing supply in an emergency.

Canned juices are nice, but not essential. If you live in a hot climate, consider storing some powdered Gatorade drink mix. Or take the frugal route and mix your own, from ingredients like sugar, salt, and a drink mix like Kool-Aid (or the Aldi version, which is tons cheaper). Do an online search for “electrolyte drink powder recipe.”

Sometimes a hot drink is soothing – or even potentially life-saving – in a winter storm emergency. (Hypothermia victims are cold all the way to their innards.) Thus teabags, instant coffee, or cocoa mix are all great things to have on hand.

• Pro tip: Whenever you boil water, make enough extra to put into a thermos-type jug.

For hot water you’ll need a safe heat source – and again, you may already have one in the form of a wood stove, camp stove, barbecue grill, hibachi, or burn barrel. While modern gas stoves may not function normally in a power outage (click-click-click-click), you might be able to use the range the old-fashioned way: lighting the burners with a match.

Any pan you use for heating water or food is likely to get sooty over a fire. Consider looking for an extra pot or two at thrift stores and/or yard sales. (I’ve found three pans that way, including a cast-iron skillet, in the “free” boxes at yard sales; maybe you’ll be that lucky, too.)

Note: It is essential to cook outdoors with grills and open flames, not indoors, due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Generators pose the same risk. The Orlando Sentinel recently reported that five people died and more than a dozen were injured due to CO poisoning after Hurricane Irma.

Thus if you’re planning to create your own post-emergency power, get a CO detector and follow other best practices suggested by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

A roof over your head

Organizations like FEMA and the American Red Cross may show up after major disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes. But they can’t always help everyone, and some people prefer to shelter in place. Besides, some problems (windstorms, ice storms) don’t necessarily make your home unsafe – just inconvenient.

The questions, then, are how you’ll stay warm or cool. In cool or cold weather, dress everyone in layers: long underwear top and bottom, plus wool socks, extra shirts, fleece layers or sweaters, and knitted caps. The quilts or comforter from your bed might stand in for a sleeping bag.

• Pro tip: Plan to have everyone sleep in the same small room for shared heat.

If you don’t have enough warm items for everyone, time to hit the thrift stores and yard sales. For other tips, search online for “staying warm during power failure.”

Keeping cool post-hurricane or during power outages is a real challenge. Some fairly obvious tactics are staying hydrated, wearing light clothing, and avoiding direct sun. Pull the curtains or shades and close off warmer rooms (e.g., the ones with south- and west-facing windows) to keep things from heating up. Sleep in the basement, if you have one (and if you have enough flashlight batteries).

Lighting is an enormous issue with regard both to safety and morale. While plenty of people stock up on candles, the danger of fire is very real. If you must use them, put them in jars set well out of the reach of children, pets, and anyone who might bump into a table.

Flashlights are safer. My partner and I have five headlamps (he bought them in a blister pack at Costco) plus some hand-held torches. If you don’t want to store batteries, look for flashlights that recharge by being cranked or that can recharge via your vehicle’s cigarette lighter.

• Pro tip: When someone asks what you want for your birthday or Christmas, ask for one of these light sources.

Where’s the bathroom?

As the children’s book says, everybody poops. The question is where you’ll do that.

I grew up in a rural area and we filled buckets and the tub with water when bad weather was predicted, then used that water to flush the toilets when the power went out. That’s still a good idea.

• Pro tip: Before filling the tub, thoroughly duct-tape the stopper in place. Otherwise the water may slowly, inexorably seep out.

You may already have a giant bucket (or more than one) left over from a painting job or a bulk buy of laundry soap. If you don’t, get one: It will make a passable toilet. (Check Freecycle and the “free” section of Craigslist.)

Since not everyone is physically capable of squatting over a bucket, look online for toilet seat that snaps onto most five-gallon pails. If you’re flush, so to speak, then splurge on a prefab portable toilet.

• Pro tip: Line the bucket with at least one layer of garbage bag, and throw in some clumping cat litter.

You’ll want hand sanitizer for afterwards, and some baby wipes (which I call “shower in a pouch”) to keep the rest of you clean. And speaking of babies: If you’ve got one and you routinely run out of diapers, break yourself of that habit pronto. You don’t want to be down to a couple of didies when trouble starts.

The same is true of pet food and supplies, and prescription medication. Do not run out of these things.

A few more final tips:

• When severe weather is predicted, boil some or all of the eggs you have. Should the power go out, you’ll have an easy-to-eat protein. Should the power not go out, just about everybody loves deviled eggs.
• Buy supplies with gift cards you get by cashing in points from rewards credit cards, or rewards programs like MyPoints and Swagbucks, to get gift cards to places like Walmart, Target, and Amazon.
• Keep candy or some other treat on hand; it’s a great morale-booster when times are tough. (Pro tip: Shop the post-holiday clearance sales for chocolates and fun-size candy bars.)
• Check out the dollar store. Paper products, hand sanitizer, and some interesting foods can be found there.
• Keep small bills on hand. It’s possible that stores won’t be able to process credit or debit cards right away. (For helpful tips, see ‘Why You Need a Cash Cache.’)
• Make sure you have matches – even if you aren’t using candles you might need to light a camp stove or hibachi. You can probably get free matches from bars and restaurants (although it’s not as easy as it once was).
• Stocking up all at once? Ask the supermarket manager for a discount on buying cases of canned goods, especially the store brand.

Remember how challenging it can be to build and maintain a cash emergency fund? Think of emergency preparedness the same way: It can take some doing, but it’s as essential as financial preparedness.

Get started right now, by taking pen and paper throughout your home to look at what you already have. Then make a list of what you still need, and make creative, frugal plans to get those items. Don’t wait until after an emergency happens to start looking for your flashlight. Or your can opener.

Related Articles:

• The Homeowners Guide to Flood Insurance
• Make Your Home More Disaster-Resistant
• Hurricane Harvey: How to Donate Safely and Avoid Charity Scams
• How to Prepare for a Potential Economic Recession

Veteran personal finance writer Donna Freedman is the author of “Your Playbook for Tough Times: Living Large on Small Change, for the Short Term or the Long Haul” and “Your Playbook for Tough Times, Vol. 2: Needs AND Wants Edition.”

The post Armageddon on a Shoestring: Prepare for Disasters Without Destroying Your Budget appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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From Math to History, These 8 YouTube Channels Are for Learners of All Ages

You’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating: School is a lot different than it used to be.

I’m not talking about walking to school uphill, both ways, through six feet of snow without shoes; I’m talking about which subjects are taught, and more importantly, how they’re taught.

I used to hear jokes about the “new math” and thought those people were crazy. Then my own children hit the higher elementary school years, and I felt their pain. And my son’s algebra? It’s been a couple of decades since I had to use letters as numbers, so I wasn’t much help to him.

Luckily, there’s YouTube. YouTube has a lot of educational channels that cover a wide variety of topics. When my kids and I are scratching our heads about homework, I can search these educational YouTube channels for the answers we need.

It’s Okay to Be Smart

The name of this educational YouTube channel perfectly fits the casually curious nature of its videos. It’s Okay to Be Smart has live-action videos that are combined with slick animations to create a TV-worthy channel.

Host Joe Hanson, who has a Ph.D. in biology, explores a wide variety of topics. Some of this topics are common, like why beavers are so smart, but his infectious enthusiasm gives them a unique spin. Other topics are out of left field, like Why Salt & Pepper? which looks at the history of these common table spices and why they’re paired together.

Most of the videos are around five minutes long, and they are terribly entertaining.

CGP Grey

CGP Grey hosts an educational YouTube channels that’s slightly different from the others. He covers a lot of different subjects, like geography, history and politics, but he doesn’t just stick to the facts. Frequently, Grey offers up one of the world’s problems, along with his opinion on how to fix that problem.

For instance, in his video The Trouble with the Electoral College, he makes it pretty clear that he thinks the popular vote should be the only vote that counts in the United States.

Several of his videos, which last between five and 10 minutes, are presented in a tongue-in-cheek way that gives them a fresh angle. One example is How to Become the British Monarch.

TED-Ed

No doubt, you’ve heard of TED Talks, those videos where someone shares their mind-blowing ideas while wearing a high-tech headset. Well, the TED organization also has an educational YouTube channel called TED-Ed.

Just like TED Talks, TED-Ed uses a combination of technology, entertainment and design to tackle important subjects in an impactful way. TED-Ed videos talk about culturally significant subjects, like how drugs affect the brain. But some videos are more trivial, like how the bendy straw was invented.

TED-Ed videos, which use TV cartoon-like animation, run anywhere from two to five minutes. Most of their videos are targeted at young people.

OpenLearn

OpenLearn is the video branch of Open University, which offers free courses in all kinds of subjects. You can study the arts or forensic science or project management or… well, just about anything!

OpenLearn taps academic experts and guest contributors for their videos. They use a combination of interviews and animation to explore each topic.

Most videos are only a few minutes long. Some of them look at global issues, like death around the world; others look at more specific parts of the world, like the history of the European Union (EU).

If you decide to take free courses from Open University, you’ll earn digital badges for each course or skill you complete.

Mental Floss

Mental Floss videos are addictive! Talk about an internet rabbit hole.

The Mental Floss YouTube channel is an extension of their website. Their educational videos list fact after fact about any given subject, as demonstrated by the numbers in the video thumbnails.

For instance, if you watch 39 Facts About the Middle Ages, you’ll walk away knowing 39 fascinating tidbits about a time in history when beaver tails were a delicacy.

Mental Floss videos run the gamut and include more academic topics, like why there are silent letters in the English language, to more trivial matters, like 31 weird discontinued products.

These videos are addictive due to Mental Floss’s formula of fast-paced speaking and obscure facts, plus a backdrop full of pop culture collectibles. It’s all topped off with host John Green’s high energy, making you want to watch one episode right after another.

Numberphile

Have you ever wanted to know what a mile of Pi looks like? If you answered yes, then Numberphile is the channel for you.

In some videos, Numberphile’s creator Brady Haran teaches simple math. Most of his videos, however, look at numbers on a large scale in a way that makes math more, well, interesting. He combines filmed footage with animation and expert guest hosts.

All of Numberphile’s videos have something to do with math, but they cover big ideas as well as more relatable ones. For instance, you can learn about a math concept called the Kolakoski Sequence, but you can also see the scientific way to cut a cake.

If you really want to get your nerd on, watch their playlist of calculator unboxings.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is one of the most well-known educational YouTube channels. Years ago, Sal Khan made videos to help tutor his cousin. Now, Khan Academy has hundreds of videos that were created by a team of more than 150 people.

The Khan Academy YouTube channel has well-organized playlists so you can easily watch a series of videos on one subject. The playlist for trigonometry has 39 videos alone. However, each video is about five minutes long, so you can take breaks and digest what you’re learning.

While Khan Academy teaches science, math, language arts, social studies and other subjects that most school students need, there are videos for other skills, like how to write an argumentative essay for the SAT.

This channel is serious about learning. Unlike Mental Floss, you won’t find any trivial videos here. But you will find videos that dig deep into whatever academic subject you need help with.

School of Life

The School of Life is a unique educational YouTube channel because it doesn’t focus on academics at all. Instead, School of Life wants to teach people how to navigate their lives the best way they can. And their videos teach skills that you can use in every aspect of your life.

This global organization applies psychology, philosophy and culture to everyday life. Some of their videos focus on personal skills, like how to be a good listener. Other videos, however, tackle tough life lessons, like whether to stay in or leave a relationship.

Because the School of Life’s contributors love studying all aspects of what it means to be human, you’ll also find the occasional video on history or social studies, like why Socrates hated democracy.

School of Life won’t replace good parenting or therapists, but it comes close!

YouTube has an educational channel to fit everyone’s needs. Whether you need help with your math homework, or you’re becoming your best self, you’ll find lots of videos that have what you need.

Nancy Basile has almost 20 years experience as a freelance writer for the web. She focuses on finding ways to squeeze more entertainment into your day for less. Catch her on Twitter @realmediamedusa.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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The Negative Domino Effect (or How to Handle Murphy’s Law)

Earlier this week, I had a really difficult spell of writer’s block. I spent far too long writing a paragraph or two, being dissatisfied with it, deleting it, and trying again. Even when I was happy with something, I’d find myself in that same loop again and again.

I simply wasn’t very productive at work, and given that my posting schedule basically requires that I finish a post pretty much every day, having a day where I don’t really complete any work isn’t a good result.

I have a flexible schedule, though. I can just write in the evening, right?

Well, it turns out that the evening was already full of scheduled activities that, if I backed out of them, I’d be letting other people down. So, I took care of those things, but I was a little stressed out about the work issues. I always do. I wonder if my ability to write fairly good content quickly is fading away and my stress starts to tick upward.

I didn’t sleep particularly well.

The next morning, the internet went out (it was fixed quickly). Then the air conditioning failed (this wasn’t – see below).

Ordinarily, again, those things wouldn’t be a problem, but after a day of no real writing and a night of poor sleep and deadlines facing me down, I was pretty stressed out and frustrated.

Later that day, my daughter decided to go to the park behind her piano teacher’s house to play instead of walking straight home, meaning that in the middle of supper prep I had to go figure out where she went.

I was stressed from all of the other things. I didn’t handle it well. I burnt supper to a crisp. I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t stressed out from all of the other things.

So, we tossed supper in the trash (a waste of money) and grabbed Subway sandwiches on the way to another appointment (again, more money thrown at the problem in a pinch).

The next day, the air conditioning repairman was supposed to show up, but instead of doing so, he called and said he was sick and gave me a list of about five things I could do myself to try to fix it. I was already dealing with being far behind schedule with work, so I tried doing some of those things as quickly as I could (when I was already stressed) and nothing worked. So, after even more time wasted, I ended up instead going with an expensive but reliable air conditioning repair company, who had someone at my house quickly but charged me almost twice as much as the other company would have cost. Again, more money, down the tubes.

All of these things spiraled out from one single negative event – an unproductive day at work in the face of a deadline. That single event added stress to my life, which led to poor handling of later events, which eventually led to a number of costly decisions.

The moral of the story? Sometimes, negative events have a domino effect. One negative event can change your day onto a more negative path, which can have progressively larger impacts, particularly when you face more personal challenges. Your stress level escalates, you’re less equipped to handle those challenges as they come, and things spiral downward.

Unfortunately, that negative domino effect often becomes expensive. You end up trying to put an end to the biggest challenges and regain control over the situation and that usually means tossing money at the problem in order to have someone step in and solve a problem for you. Maybe you pick up food instead of preparing a much less expensive at home. Maybe you call a repairperson or take your car to a shop… and maybe it’s a shop you’re not familiar with. Maybe you buy an airline ticket at the last second, or you rent a car at the last second.

This “negative domino effect” happens to all of us at some time or another. When it happens, it’s difficult. It feels like everything’s going wrong at once. Plans evaporate. Money evaporates. Time evaporates. You’re stressed out.

What can you do?

My solutions for these problems boil down to two categories – things to do in the moment, and things to do afterwards before another negative domino effect happens.

During the “Negative Domino Effect”

If you find yourself in a period where negative events seem to be compounding on each other, there are a few things you can do to cut down on the negative impact without just throwing money at the problem. Here are four tactics that I always use.

Ask your social network for help. Whenever I find myself struggling with a series of unfortunate events, I turn to my social network. I’ll ask our friends across the street if they can watch our children for a few hours. I’ll ask other friends if they can take care of a pet for a day or two. I’ll ask friends for recommendations, or whether they can stop and pick something up for me.

The friends that matter – the ones you can really rely on – are the ones that will mostly step up when you’re in a pinch. They’ll help. They’ll watch your kids. They’ll watch your pets. They’ll loan you a car.

Just ask. The worst that can happen is that you invest thirty seconds in a request just to hear them say “no,” which just puts you back where you started. On the other hand, if you hear a “yes,” then you’ve suddenly taken a concern off your plate, which makes you more ready to handle the other challenges in a mini-crisis.

Don’t be afraid to drop less important commitments during challenging circumstances. It really is okay if you can’t get your child to soccer practice once. It really is okay if you miss the first thirty minutes of a community meeting. It really is okay if you have to skip out on a dinner party.

Look at the commitments you’re facing, choose the one or two that are least important, and simply step back from them. It’s okay – it’s not going to be the end of things if you don’t get your child over to the school in time to fill balloons for the penny carnival. It’s going to be all right if you don’t have time to fix a perfect gourmet dinner one night.

Take those things completely off your plate and you’ll find that it’s suddenly much easier to handle the remaining items.

Eat healthy foods when possible; if you’re picking up food, pick the healthiest options possible. One of the biggest components of a negative domino effect situation is stress. As the events collapse onto each other, you begin to really feel the effects of stress on your body and mind. Those effects open you to things like poor decisions, poor emotional response, and potential illness.

Obviously, in a stressful situation, you can’t just wish the stress away, but you can make your body better at handling that stress by feeding it good material to work with. Eat healthy foods during a crisis situation so that you’ll maintain as much energy as possible and a clear head.

Sometimes, good food isn’t convenient, though. If you’re forced to get food fast, stop by your local store’s produce section for healthy finger foods rather than heading to a fast food drive-thru, for example. Drink water rather than soda.

Do your best to get adequate sleep. This goes right along with the advice to eat healthy food – the goal here is to ensure that you’re physically and mentally prepared to handle bursts of stress without making poor decisions and without illness or physical breakdown.

It is very, very tempting to “borrow” against sleep time during a stressful period, staying up late to take care of tasks so that you don’t feel so behind. The drawback is that in the next few days, you’ll be so much less productive when tired that you’ll lose any advantage you gained.

Go to bed. Seriously. If you are up late reading this while trying to figure out how to handle a negative domino effect in your life, go to bed. Get the best night of rest that you can. Tomorrow, you’ll be far more refreshed and far more able to handle what life throws at you if you go to bed now as opposed to staying up later.

Afterwards – and Before the Next One

Those strategies are useful ones for dealing with a confluence of negative events, of course, but the most valuable steps you can take for dealing with such crises is to prepare for them in advance so that you’re not flooded with problems and stress all at once.

Crisis moments will hit you sometimes. That’s a given. Prepare for them now, when life is calm. Here’s how.

Build up an emergency fund. This is the number one most important thing you can do. You need to have cash stowed away in your savings account for times when everything falls apart. A credit card isn’t good enough – what exactly do you do if your card is stolen or your identity is stolen? Cash is king, and it’s time to prepare.

My preferred way of establishing an emergency fund is to simply instruct my bank to transfer a small amount of money each time there’s a significant deposit into my checking account. So, for example, each time there’s a deposit of $250 or more, put $25 into your savings account. Many banks can do this type of thing (or something similar).

That way, you never have to see that money in your checking account. It’s quietly and efficiently ferried away into savings and you don’t even have to think about it until a crisis – or, worse, a big pile of crises – happens.

Prep some “quick meals” in advance. We have a family of five, so simply “grabbing a quick meal on the run” turns out to be a pretty expensive proposition, one that we prefer to avoid most of the time. However, there are times, particularly when bad events pile up, where we simply need a quick meal, and it’s at those times that just throwing money at the problem becomes very tempting if you don’t have a quick meal already on hand.

That’s why we almost always have several meals in the freezer that require nothing more than heating up and serving. We have freezer bags full of soup that can be quickly thawed and heated in a microwave or on the stovetop, casseroles that simply need baked in the oven, and burritos that just need microwaved. We prepare these in advance on lazy weekends and slowly consume them during the normal course of life, but we really rely on them when things don’t go according to plan.

(Of course, you have to remember that such meals are there. I’ll fully admit that sometimes I’ll forget about freezer meals in the middle of a crisis, but I always feel a sense of relief when I remember them.)

Use your social network to find reliable repairpeople that you can trust in a pinch. My family has a list of repairpeople that we trust – a good local mechanic, a good local heating and cooling business, a good plumber, a good electrician.

We didn’t find these people by calling around in a panic during an emergency. We found them during calmer times, by asking for recommendations from friends after such emergencies. What people do they use in a pinch? Have those people provided good service at a reasonable price?

Just ask around your social network. Post the question on social media to your friends – “Local friends, who do you use for electrical work and are you happy with them?” “Local friends, who do you use for car repairs and maintenance and are you happy with them?” You can add something like “Feel free to message me directly if you don’t want to comment publicly,” as some friends may not want to criticize a service in a public way but may want to directly warn you against using it.

When your friends need help, go out of your way to help them. Friends remember which of their friends steps up when they ask for help. They remember which ones show up to help move furniture. They remember which ones will take their kids in an emergency. They remember which ones bring over food after an emergency. Just like you remember those things.

I know which of my friends will always have their doors open for our children in an emergency. I know which of my friends have come through for us in a pinch before. I know which of my friends showed up to help us move. Honestly, I’m much more likely to help them when push comes to shove.

However, if any of my friends ask me for help, I do my best to help them. If any of my friends seem to even be in need of help, I offer help to them.

I don’t expect help in return – this isn’t a quid pro quo thing. What I do expect, though, is that I’ve built a solid friendship with a lot of people and, thus, when I’m in a difficult situation, many of them will come through and help me. Not all, by any means, but many. If I call many of my friends and ask for their help, most of them will help. That makes a huge difference in a crisis situation.

So, when things are good for me and challenging for a friend, I just reverse that equation. I try to help, just as I would hope a friend would if (and when) I find myself in a challenging situation.

Rethink your commitments and step back from the least important ones. Part of what makes a crisis situation really difficult is that many people, especially families with children, book themselves to the brim with commitments. Then, if anything goes wrong, the house of cards starts to quickly collapse.

If you find yourself in a situation where even a minor unexpected event can send a lot of other things crashing down, you’re in a situation that isn’t sustainable over the long term. You’re going to find yourself regularly skipping commitments and regularly failing to meet expectations with other commitments. In short, you end up looking unreliable while also feeling overburdened and overstressed.

You’re far better off with a smaller set of commitments that you can excel at, ones that are flexible when something goes wrong. If you’re in fewer commitments, a challenge in one area of life doesn’t immediately start disrupting other commitments. It’s much like spacing the dominos further and further and further apart before knocking them over – eventually, they’re spread far enough apart that knocking one over doesn’t cause a cascade.

Simply go through the commitments in your life and identify a few that don’t really produce any value for you. That doesn’t mean that those commitments are bad or valueless, just a recognition that you can’t commit back with your full heart as often as you’d like. If you commit to something and then find you can’t always give it what it deserves, it’s a good time to consider scaling back.

This can be a tough conversation, don’t get me wrong, but it’s one that will put you in a better place, especially when things get challenging.

Final Thoughts

Life gets difficult for all of us at some time or another. An unexpected event happens, and then the consequences from that event cause another unexpected problem, and then something else unexpected happens, and before you know it, your stress level is through the roof and you’re considering just tossing money at the problem to gain at least some semblance of control.

Stop. Breathe. Use some of the techniques earlier in this article to regain some sense of control in the moment, then, when things are better, use the other techniques to ensure that the domino effect doesn’t knock you down the next time it comes around.

Good luck!

The post The Negative Domino Effect (or How to Handle Murphy’s Law) appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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This Couple Drives for Lyft and Makes Up to $1,500/Week While Raising Kids

In their drive to earn extra money, Sam and Susen Meteer divide the night and day between them.

At any hour on the clock, one or the other is probably driving.

It’s how the Meteers make ends meet. This married couple has five children, four living at home in Sacramento, California.

Sam is an elementary school teacher by day who gets behind the wheel on nights and weekends.

Susen is a full-time mom to their kids — ages 9, 11, 13 and 15 — with the couple’s oldest child now married and out of the house. On weekday mornings, Susen drops her kids at school and keeps on driving.

“If one of us is driving, the other one is usually home with the kids,” Susen says of their life. “It’s a little more sane that way.”

(Lyft, by the way, is expanding in a big way this year.)

Tag-Teaming Life and a Side Gig

That’s how they tag-team it — they both drive with Lyft.

The ride-sharing company’s flexible hours allow them to raise their children while also earning enough to support them. The couple drives whenever they can, within reason.

“I normally drive at night. I drive on weekends and maybe a weeknight or two during the school year,” says Sam, who teaches sixth grade. “On holidays and summers and special events, I hit it hard. I drive a lot.”

He earns anywhere from $300 to $1,000 a week through Lyft, depending on how much he drives. That top range — $1,000 a week — is rare for him and he only hits that during times like the Christmas holidays, when school’s out and he’s not teaching. Otherwise, he’s usually driving 20 to 30 hours a week.

“The money ebbs and flows,” he says. “Sometimes you’re busy, and sometimes there’s not a lot of action. It’s the law of averages. There are nights when I’ve exceeded my take-home pay from teaching.”

As for Susen, once she drops her kids at school and starts driving for Lyft, she sets herself a simple goal: Earn $100 that day.

“If I start at 8 or 9 a.m., I might make that by 10. Or it might be 2 p.m.,” she said. “I go wherever it takes me throughout the day.”

If she works consistently, she can bring in $500 a week that way.

“It keeps milk on the table,” Sam says. Together, they can pull in $800 to $1,500 a week, although that top end is rare.

How much do Lyft drivers typically make? Earnings are largely based on how much they work and how they manage their time. Drivers who post screencaps of their earnings online often show they’re earning $18 to $40 per hour, with many earning around $25 per hour.

For example, this guy who lost his job now earns about $750 driving 45 to 50 hours a week with Lyft in Philadelphia.

Driving for Lyft Means No More Waiting Tables

Sam, 47, had always waited tables to supplement his teaching salary. He did that for 15 years and got awfully tired of it. He was ready for a change.

But it was Susen, 43, who first discovered Lyft. She downloaded and used the app while out with friends one weekend. Then she started experimenting with driving for Lyft when the kids were at school.

Her advice for rookie Lyft drivers: “It was a little scary for me at first. They need to do what’s comfortable for them.”

Before long, Sam got jealous of his wife’s sweet Lyft gig. He quit his restaurant job and joined her.

That was two years ago.

Lyft is Coming to Your Town

Lyft is expanding like crazy this year to compete with its rival, Uber.

It’s looking for drivers in 100 more cities. Expansion areas include the Southwest, the Southeast, the Carolinas, the Rockies, the Midwest, New England and Central California.

If you’re curious to see what you’d make, Lyft has an earnings calculator. Type in how many hours you’d want to work and your city.

Here’s what you should know before driving for Lyft or Uber.

‘It’s An Adventure for Us’

Today the Meteers switch off Lyft shifts in their 2012 Honda Odyssey van and their 2011 Dodge Ram Laramie truck, bright pink with a Lyft emblem painted on the side.

Splitting up the day and night between them, they drive for different crowds.

During the daylight hours, Susen gets the buttoned-up business crowd mixed with a few college students. She keeps the van spotless. The whole thing is low-stress.

“Pretty much everyone is pretty cool,” she says.

Sam gets the night crowd. The party crowd. The bar crowd.

“People who have been out having a good time,” he says cheerfully.

These passengers can be pretty boisterous. Sam keeps water bottles and has cleaned up a couple of messes, but hasn’t had to deal with any uncomfortable incidents.

“I try to be as friendly as possible,” he said.

Friends always ask the couple, What was your wildest ride? What was your worst ride?

But in two years, the Meteers have yet to have an unpleasant experience driving with Lyft.

“It’s an adventure for us,” Susen says. “It’s fun.”

“I pick up people that I would normally wouldn’t talk to during the day,” Sam says, “and we end up having amazing conversations.”

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He could use a lift, thanks for asking.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Globe Trot Via Laptop With These 9 YouTube Travel Channels

Taking a vacation, especially one that’s easy on your wallet, is the perfect way to boost your energy and reboot your system. YouTube travel channels have plenty of ideas for your next trip, plus insider tips and tricks to make sure you get the most out of your vacation.

Personally, my jam is watching lady teardroppers, like Mandy Lea and the Happy Camper Wives, as they tow their cute little teardrop-shaped campers all over the country. If you’re not into camping, there are still plenty of travel channels that take you all over the world.

Check out these amazing YouTube travel channels for a taste of adventure!

Samuel and Audrey

Samuel and Audrey are a young couple who decided to roam the world before putting down roots. Their adventure began in Seoul, Korea, where they taught English. From there, they traveled to Poland, India and Oxford, among other places.

These two are super cute together. Their videos mainly focus on local foods and tips for saving money, but occasionally they visit a trendy spot, like a unicorn cafe in Thailand.

Brooke Saward

Brooke Saward is an Australian woman on a solo adventure around the world. Her videos are fun and full of energy, just like her.

Her playlists are nicely organized by region, such as Europe and Africa. Another playlist is full of travel tips, like how to take solo travel photos.

Saward shows you around whatever city she’s visiting, but she also takes you through more specific tours, like the Harry Potter tour in London.

Tourist to Townie

Tourist to Townie is a little different than other YouTube travel channels. It’s hosted by Gareth Leonard, who left everything behind to follow his dream to travel the world. He doesn’t just want to visit places; he wants to live the life of the locals, which means he digs deep into the culture of any given location. For instance, in Tokyo, he visited the weirdest cafes and searched for an apartment.

Leonard also has practical advice. Because he’s a young, single man, he’s got great tips for other single dudes.

FunforLouis

If you’re looking for wild adventures, FunforLouis is the perfect YouTube travel channel for you. Louis Cole, who has almost 2 million subscribers, records himself doing some of the most insane things you’ve ever seen, like paragliding and living in a hot tub bus.

What sets Louis Cole apart from other adventurous vloggers is that he’s willing to show you not only the epic highs of his trips, but also the terrible lows. For instance, while he was touring London, all his belongings were stolen!

Cole also travels to places that many people would avoid, like North Korea and Kenya, because he wants to explore the entire world, not just the safe places.

Andrea Dabene

Andrea Dabene travels to absolutely beautiful places. She’s a professional photographer, so it’s no surprise that her videos are practically works of art.

Dabene’s videos aren’t so much about finding out what the locals eat or shining a light on remote places; Rather, they are meant to inspire you to travel by showing you the most gorgeous footage she can.

Dabene uses traditional video methods, but she also has drone footage that gives you a whole new perspective on popular destinations. Her trip to Iceland looks amazing! And don’t miss her shots from a hotel room in Switzerland that’s 7,000 feet in the air.

Peter Bragiel

Peter Bragiel isn’t just vlogging his way across the world — he genuinely wants to connect with people in real-life and through YouTube. In fact, if you send him a postcard from where you live, he’ll send you a sticker!

Bragiel sets out on difficult journeys to challenge himself. He canoes down the Mississippi River, gets from Los Angeles to the Panama Canal using only public transportation and takes a wild ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Wanderlusts

Most travel YouTubers are young and single, and their vacations can seem impossible to a family with small children. That’s where the Wanderlusts channel comes in.

John and Cara Macdonald decided to take a two-year honeymoon and travel the world. Along the way, they had two daughters, so they just hoisted them into backpacks and kept going.

Their travels take them abroad, like to Morocco and Kenya, but also to places in the United States, like Yellowstone National Park and Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio.

Alex Chacon

Alex Chacon combines two of his loves for his YouTube travel channel: his motorcycle and his drone.

Chacon produces fascinating videos with his high-flying drone. His sizzle reel alone shows him taking drone selfies (“dronies”, as he calls them) in more than 50 countries.

Chacon’s quirky sense of humor is on full display, whether he’s biking through Nashville or declaring Iceland the most beautiful country in the world.

Although he mostly visits common tourist countries, he also treks to more dangerous places as an education, like the border of Syria and Israel.

Sonia’s Travels

Like other YouTube travel channels, Sonia’s Travels has dozens of lovely videos of fun and exciting destinations. She’s visited lots of sexy cities, like Paris, Milan and London.

However, creator Sonia Gil offers so much more than pretty videos. She has a veritable library of useful travel tips, like how much to tip in Europe and how to keep your clothes from getting wrinkled when you travel.

Be sure to check out her nicely sorted playlists to find more travel hacks, along with product reviews and videos from all of her destinations.

After watching these YouTube travel channels, you’ll be hard-pressed to stay home when you could be out discovering the world.

Nancy Basile has almost 20 years experience as a freelance writer for the web. She focuses on finding ways to squeeze more entertainment into your day for less. Catch her on Twitter @realmediamedusa.

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