A Summer Your Kids Will Never Forget

If you need a break from the daily grind, why not take an outdoor vacation? It could be a great way to prepare your family for a disaster.

When I was growing up in Mattapoisett, MA, my family went camping and boating all the time. Maple Park family campground was only a short drive away. To my sister and me, it felt like we were in the Wild West. Around sunset on Friday and Saturday night, we would go on a hayride, come under attack by Indians, and get rescued by the Lone Ranger. During the day, we’d swim, go on the swan boats, and get candy at the general store.

As a father, I now realize how much work it takes to provide for a family of four—warm dinners at a campsite; enough fresh water for the weekend; some fruit, coffee, and cold beverages to make sleeping outside fun, even in the rain. Actually, camping in the rain is not much fun regardless. I think that’s one of the reasons my parents bought a sailboat.

But even sailing takes forethought. You have to do a lot of prep for a weekend on the Vineyard. You get ice for the icebox, fill it up with food, and get fuel and water. Then you’re ready to start your vacation.

Once you’re at your destination, whether it be the campground or the mooring, what you don’t want to be doing is sitting down making an “I wish I had” list. That’s when the vacation meter on your trip tilts from fun over to work. It’s like when you lose electricity at home. It’s fun having dinner by candlelight for a night or two. But then you wake up in the morning and there’s no way to make coffee.

So why not have a bin full of essential gear ready to go, just as you might have for camping and boating? It will put you ahead of the pack and make you a hero to your spouse—and even to your neighbors, if you share.

The gear doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. For example, all you need to make coffee is a French press and boiling water—fire up your Coleman or Weber grill to heat it up. I’m not talking about keeping your family fed and sheltered for months; I’m talking about making two to four days more comfortable for all of you.

I’ll have more on disaster prep for you in the future, so stay tuned. But start thinking now about taking your family camping or boating this summer. Planning is all it takes to turn work into fun, or an inconvenient power outage into a weekend with the family without the electronics. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.