Retirement Travel Budget Our Shocking Month Of Expenses And Youtube Income
We discuss our retirement travel budget for the month.
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We also give a breakdown of what our income and expenses were.
We have been in Japan for the entire month of April but we have moved to 3 different cities. We went over budget by a bit but we also made a lot on KZhead so we did splurge a bit.
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Your transparency is very thoughtful of you. You truly deserve the success you’re seeing.
Thank you
I wonder how many people recently discovered your Grounded Life Finances channel (like me) and have gone back to watch older videos from your older channels this month? Entirely possible, as your views for GLF have been rising lately.
That’s what I did. Finances hooked me and now I can watch all their vids.
Me to. I found them about a couple of months ago and still binge watch a bunch of videos at a time.😊
Awesome, thank you everyone, we appreciate it!
I'm the same. I've been going back watching old videos!
Me too!
I cracked up about some not showing their face on videos. I've shared your videos with bunches of people and always lead with how pretty Ally is. A true beauty. And, I'm an old grandma, so I know these things! 😅 Glad you're there for me to live vicariously through!
Thank you so much!
Hi Rob and Ally, I am reviewing the course for the 2nd time. I have 4-5 ideas for channels. When you talk about the scattershot method, are you referring to multiple topics within one channel or can I also try multiple channels with narrow topics? I know the goal is to observe what the most popular topics are within channels, but some of my topics are completely unrelated and don’t fit together.
I have been retired for 6 years. I have a 130K annuity, plus a 401k depleted to $150,000 of money that I’m considering allocating in a 60/40 stocks and bond ratio. i'm hoping this is a valid thought process?
Not a great April so farr, but if you step back and actually look you will see the S&P 500 was up for the first Quarter. In the last 30 days, my IRA saw a gain of $40k. You might consider financial advisory if you're experiencing significant drop.
The market's instability makes DIY risky. You don't need to find the next NVDA to succeed in investing. Opt for top-notch ETFs, dividend aristocrats, and a trusted advisor. I've turned $100k into $20k in annual dividends, a major milestone.
I have not written this sort of comment before but from the your comment, I knew that you have good understanding of investing, How can one reach this advisor of yours?
Kristin Amber Landis is the licensed advisor I use. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with to set up an appointment.
I looked up her name online and found her page. I emailed and made an appointment to talk with her. Thanks for the tip
Very happy for both of you. You are an inspiration for those who want to quit 9-5 jobs.
Thanks!
Great video as usual. Love that you share your monthly KZhead income…it’s very motivating.
Thanks so much!
E confidence level may be related to the small families, lack of community, and lack of healthcare. Fear that we have to have everything bc we will be alone.
The only reason I watch these other channels is bc I was interested in Amtrak travel...but yt notify me of these other ones. I do find your cruise channel fun
Thanks
"There was a girl there who 'tapes' info about her own city" hello fellow Gen Xer, I see you guys! lol
Appreciate your transparency!
Thanks
You're very inspiring. I'm going to take your KZhead course. Congratulations on all your success and living your life on your own terms! ❤
Awesome! Thank you!
@@GroundedLifeFinances You're welcome! And thank YOU!
Another great video and thank you for referencing other KZhead channels as examples of how to be successful with KZhead.🎉
You are so welcome!
Ironic learned about this channel on 30 and a wake up to hear you all shout him out is nice
So you are definitely talking to me when you talk about starting a YT channel. 🥴 I've wanted to do it for years re retirement -- I've got to order your course. My question is: what tool(s) do you use to track your budget (spend, income, points)? One of you HAS to be a mathematician!!!😆 Also do you ever stay at hotels where you don't have a points membership? Last, how long, in advance, do you plan your trips to different countries and cities, cruises? Again, another great post. TY, ty!! So good.
We actually use Excel to track it all. Kind of old school but it works for us. We do stay at independent hotels, but only if there are no good rates where we have status. We are usually planned out 6-8 months ahead to get the best rates.
@@GroundedLifeFinances Oh wow!! Must be a smokin' spreadsheet!! I love Excel. Thanks for the tip on the best rates. That's huge!
I just love you guys! How generous are you to share all this information! If I could just think of something "unique" to put on KZhead!
It doesn't really need to be unique, just something you are familiar with!
Another great month for you two. I just turned to my husband and said "why are we still working??" Congratulations to you two! Congrats Ally for the first month of becoming monetized on your own! I'm looking forward to your Tokyo videos! 🙂
Nice motivational video happy to see your income in 20 k range these months😂
Absolutely love your videos.
Happy for your success!
Walk With Me Tim is another wonderful, kind hearted travel focused KZheadr - Love Ally & Rob - I had never thought of traveling to Asia, but now - thanks to them - Thailand will be in our future. These two amazing people lead with their hearts - and are touching so many lives.
Thank you!
Really appreciate your honesty and full disclosure on how you operate your channels to be successful. I also live vicariously through your various travels. Keep up the great work.
Love your videos cause you guys are so real with it. Love you guys! Wishing you continued success.
Love the shoutout to 30andawakeup. Kevin turned me on to your channel. Thank you for breaking down the way to travel economically.
Awesome! Thank you!
I thought years ago that it was too late to get in on KZhead and actually make money. Hearing that you just did this a year ago makes me think I could still try.
There is still time for sure
Congrats on your huge boost in YT revenue, $20k/m is insane! You make it very tempting to start a YT channel :D Curious, what do you both do for health insurance since you largely live abroad? My husband and I are looking to FIRE and travel internationally like you two, we were looking into Cigna International plans. The other option was doing Obamacare/ACA plans but subsidies quickly go away if you earn over 400% of the poverty line. Other plans like SafetyWing and World Nomads and such don't cover seriously long-term illnesses. Thanks!
Hey, I lived in Japan (Tokyo) for 12 years from 1991 to 2003. Great place, right!! Have stayed at the Intercontinental Yokohama as well! I still have American friends that still live there, for more than 30 years and know undiscovered gems about the city. HIT me up if you want an introduction! I'm also from the ATL area, but on the southside. Golfcart City, if you know what I mean.
We love your transparency. It's so appreciated. We are trying to finish up some older vlogs then will focus more on trains and cruises. Thank you Rob and Allie. Our stocks are climbing slowly too thanks to your advice
We search for topics depending on what we are planning to do, so yeah, we watched older cruise videos last month. I do enjoy seeing what's been newly uploaded for all my subs, but unless it's current events I watch a lot of older stuff. KZhead shows me content from channels I subscribe to (and have a larger history of watching) first on my results.
Very true
Your youtube income is really impressive! Congratulations on your wild success IN RETIREMENT 🎉
Thanks for sharing. Wishing you safe and happy travels, and good eatin'.
Thanks!
Flipflop traveler is fantastic! My favorite flight and hotel reviewer!
We've started watching that channel recently, very helpful.
Another great month of informative videos! Thanks, I appreciate your time!
Thank you!
Love all your videos ❤ thank you so much for all the tips
You are so welcome!
I thought about starting a channel, especially when I see how well people like you are doing! But I don't want to be on camera, and more importantly, I don't enjoy video editing which I think is a large part of the process. That said, there's a huge opportunity for someone to focus on women over 60, traveling alone and/or living abroad. I watch a lot of videos with couples, men of all ages or younger women doing this, but there really isn't much for single older women like me.
It's true, lots of opportunities like that out there.
I appreciate the info you share and your transparency. I always learn something new from your content.
Glad to hear it!
I just ran across your channels a couple of days ago. You both do a GREAT job discussing all of the various aspects of travel. We have been doing many of these things for well over a decade and I am kind of new to actually subscribing to KZhead channels. For years, people all over the world have been telling me that I need to do a KZhead channel about travel. I have been in the points game since the 1980's. Is there a way to send a PM inside of KZhead? I have so many legitimate questions and might even have some ideas for you for future content. Thanks again for doing these channels, they are REALLY great!
Wow amazing success.....I wonder how you compare to others.....way to go
Really enjoy your channels! Thank you for what I’m learning ❤️❤️. Hope you really enjoy Tokyo!!
Thank you so much!!
Love your channel. Continued success in your endeavors.
Thank you
Congratulations on your YT channels success. 👍 🏆🎛🎥🎞✂️🎬📺 Great examples of how much a channel can produce in 1-2 years if you invest in yourself and start building/ learning the skills to do it well. 👨💻👩🎓👨🎓📹⌨️🖱 I love how you've taken an expense/ liability such as traveling and now look at how can you make it into an income producing asset. 😮😊💰🤯💡⚡️🧠 Side note: I'm normally emoji happy in my comments ☺️, but even this comment has gone to crazy 🤪 😜 emoji town. 😅😅
Haha, thanks so much 😀
I just love be you two!!!! Informative, professional, truthful.... etc. I have been following you for about 4years. Just a short note about myself, I was really healthy 5 and 1/2 years ago... out of no where I became extremely ill. I am now disabled, but still Love life( let’s just say, the two of your videos have helped tremendously) ( for you two make me happy and help me to keep the faith) I am very proud of the two of you. Stay-happy, and Love one another and keep the Faith. 😘
Thanks! All the best to you
I really appreciate your honesty especially about your finances.
Thanks
I’m so glad for this niche you have filled because it is providing such educational content for us! I had no idea about the value of hotel cards and how they can help you get long stays in hotels for just points. The idea of buying your points also blew my mind! Genius. I’m not in a place to travel overseas for months just yet but I’m going to start working towards getting these cards you recommend and working on those points! Thank you and congratulations!
Thanks so much!
Great video on the breakdown of expenses and justifications for spending more at times. You make me want to start a youtube channel.
Thanks so much! It is fun too!
Thanks for the great videos can you please share on a good spending app to use any suggestions would help. A video would be great. Thks
Thank you both for your honest video. It has inspired us to consider retirement and possibly start a KZhead channel of our own. We are curious about how you manage your taxes with KZhead. Do you all receive a 1099 form? We think this could be a good topic for your next video.
I’ve been thinking about starting a KZhead channel for a couple years now! I’ll look into your course
Awesome, wishing you the best!
Just come on over to Okinawa next time. How did you feel about being in Japan during the major holidays? You went to slightly less touristy places so that was great! We left & went to Seoul & Shanghai which was pretty fun, but it turns out the Chinese Labor Day coincides with Japan Golden week lol. So just more people in a different location. It was great for our regular budget though since food is even cheaper in China.
We were in Tokyo for the last few days of Golden Week so we had to use up some of our free night certificates, the points and cash prices were crazy!
Hi Allie! I love your channels! I'm curious what cell phone service you use? We have T mobile in the states but want to start traveling, what do you recommend? TIA
I have been watching your videos over the last couple weeks. I just keep coming up with more and more questions. Not sure if this is the best place for them, but I'll ask my first 2 here: 1) How do you stay so organized? between visas and extensions, to hotels in the future and the actual travel, etc. I would love to see a video on what you do to stay organized. I would assume you use various apps, or tools. 2) We are a few years away from retirement, most likely somewhere between 4 and 7. Since most every point plan doesn't expire as long as you keep some activity, would you start accumulating years in advance?
Great questions! I hope they respond.
I have a question: when do you all do the currency exchange? And do you all always have you debit card to access checking and savings to have currency on hand? Do you recommend only carrying like $100 in local currency? I am not sure how send a direct message as these ?s may have safety concerns which is why I am asking. You all are so inspirational and I tell people/share your videos multiple times a week. Thank you so very much for what you all share and your transparency and encouragement means so much to me. Thank you!
After Tokyo you’ll need to stay in a hostel with the backpackers for a month to make up for blowing past your budget.
My husband and I are planning to retire next year and travel. I see a lot of your videos and others about credit cards. Does you credit score take a hit with all the cards you have?
Thanks. We plan to begin slow travel retirement at the end of next year. We are living in Atlanta and are preparing to sell our home. Do you still have Tax residence in the US? Do you own or rent? We are just wondering when planning, if you all come back to the US each year, and what state do you use for your tax residence? We are trying to determine if we should downsize, by a new home and then slow travel. We are also considering setting up somewhere else, such as, Spain, to use as home base. Thanks.
Really would love to see a video about the Japanese wagyu butcher
It was a great experience. We didn't film in the store though.
Thank you for all the information you share. After listening to your videos, I decided to apply for Amex Platinum, IHG Premier and World of Hyatt credit cards. Between my wife and I, should we each get our own cards, one of us get these three cards or spread it between two of us? Thank you in advance.
Great choices! We have all of those and they are very good. It won't really matter who has them or if you spread those out. Those cards pair really well together.
I’m just wondering what kind of drinks were that green color?
If I was thinking of doing youtube videos about hotel reviews, how can I find out what viewers want to see eg about luxury hotels or budget hotels, etc?
I found it interesting that there's an issue with metal cards in Japan. Do you know if it applies to purchases only? Or do the ATM's in 7-11 or other ATM's have this issue with metal cards as well.
It only seems to be at merchants where you have to insert the card, but we haven't tried putting one in an ATM.
I recall seeing a bunch of those “no metal credit card” signs in stores when I was in Japan last year for two months.
Watching your videos is very inspiring and we hope our channel can bring us success as well 😊 Our channel is about retiring early and building a lake home in Alabama which is a huge move for us since we currently live in Arizona
Awesome, wishing you the best
Thank you for this video. I couldn't understand the name of the channel of the guy who has been solo traveling on cruise ships for a long time. Would you please reply with the name of that channel? Thank you so much.
Yes, 30 and a wake up!
@@GroundedLifeFinances thank you so much!!!
Can you please address if you can order a new credit card with an address from a mail forwarding service? We are traveling and I’d like to get the IHG and Hyatt cards, but don’t feel we can apply with a mail forwarding service address.
Congrats I like your content, I just started a you tube channel (ARB ON THE GO)
When you decide to record in public places(and trains/ships) do you need permission to film? Are there legalities one needs to know?
I would like to learn how to join you tube. How do I sign up?
EDITING is where I fail. I've tried 3x to start a KZhead channel and I just don't understand the complex editing software. I get frustrated and give up every time. What software do you use?
We use Adobe Premiere Pro. Allie has a module in the course where she shows her editing routine step by step in that software. Don't let editing hold you back. At first your edits can and should be very minor. Some of our videos we barely edit at all. Most people if vlogging really don't need to edit at first, they could just upload video shot from their phone.
Can you make money off doing short? Can you explain this, what, how many, times lines.
(Typo in YT course link.)
Hi! Are the revenue numbers before or after You Tube takes its 45% cut?
After
@@GroundedLifeFinances Thanks!
Would your course help me with my food blog KZhead channel? It is 2 years old but only about 20 videos. I want to try to get it to be monetized.
It would be helpful we think. We've added some lessons even for those that are already monetized as well. The first section is in depth on what subject matter to pick to be successful, so that would be the least helpful part for you as you've already decided, but it might clarify a few things you'll experience.
Do you get to deduct all your travel expenses against your KZhead income, so you essentially pay no IRS taxes? 👍🏽