Travelling is one of most the looked-forward-to kind of activities for many, especially the millennials, if not every other month, at least once or twice a year. Well, there are many benefits of travelling : broaden our horizons, for a peace of mind, get away from hectic daily routines, get more knowledge, family bonding and create memorable experiences!
Do we need to be rich to be able to travel ?
Some people think that only rich people get to travel. There are myths saying that “travel is an expensive hobby”, “travelling is only for the rich people”, “Its too expensive to travel for low income earner”. What do you think?
In Financial Planning, traveling is one of the Financial Goals often being set into our plan. Just like many other goals in life, to get married, to buy house, to have children, to send children for overseas education, to retire with pride and so on and so on… travelling is also one of the activities many would plan ahead.
With the COVID-19 pandemic around, we are not able to travel for now. Nevertheless, we will be able to travel one day and we can imagine the amount of people queuing up and rushing to get out of the country by then. But, when the time comes when we can and are allowed to travel, are you ready financially to travel?
Now – is the best time to save and plan for the travelling fund! Not to disappoint yourself and what more not to disappoint your children seeing their friends and families get to go travelling, why not start your travelling fund goal now?
Here are some quick tips for you to plan out your TRAVEL FUND GOAL:
1. Set your Travel GOAL
Every plan starts with a goal and planning. Setting a realistic goal and plan towards achieving it, is important. With a goal and a plan in hand, it helps you to track and monitor your saving progress. Be realistic! you need to identify how much you have in your savings now, versus the gap of amount required to celebrate at the destination you wish to visit.
For example, you need to need to know how much money you plan to spend on your travels while taking your financial situation into consideration. It doesn’t need to be an exact amount, just an estimate will do.
In identifying the budget needed, you can always search online to get an estimation of expenses needed. A quick list of expenses you need to consider :
- Transportation – by land / by air
- Accommodation – hotel / air bnb / home stay
- Food –
- Clothing for the destination
- Entertainment
- Local Utilities – Wi-Fi / Sim Card
- Money for shopping/souvenirs
- Emergency money
Importantly, do take note of the exchange rate if you are travelling to a country which requires a different currency.
2. A specific travel savings account
There are many things we are saving up for. For example, for house renovation, for emergency, for children’s education and many others. Each of these savings purpose may have different priority and time horizon when will it be needed. Therefore, it is recommended to have a dedicated / specific account set for each of these purposes.
A dedicated account set for travelling will help you stay very clear and not mix up with other saving plans. This is also to avoid confusion and the possibility of “accidently” spend for other matters. It also helps you to monitor better on the progress and gaps required from time to time.
3. Be displine with the saving habit and cut unnecessary spending
Setting up an account is easy but one of the most challenging part is the consistent habit in saving up. Great job if you’ve made it this far! Now that you’ve automated your savings, you need to keep track of your progress regularly to make sure you’re on track.
Honestly, your financial situation might change from time to time and it is absolutely normal. During months which you need additional spending or emergency, you will need to be flexible and adapt to the changes. If the progress is going as planned, great. If not, you need to do something about it.
Among some tips to adapt : look for alternatives to cut unnecessary spending, for example cut down on coffee breaks, or a smaller servings of coffee break menu, skip some months of subscription on TV channels and magazines, learn to cook and have more home-cooked Food Panda / Grab Food, ensure timely payment on credit card and membership cards to avoid penalty and unnecessary extra payments etc.
4. Increase your Income
Another way to fill up your travel fund is to work and make more money.
It is understood that chances to get pay raise or a higher paying job at this moment may be tough. However, there are also many opportunities out there which offer online services and thus needing man power. If you are good at blogging, online chatting customer service, love chatting and talking to people, you are explore such job opportunities.
5. Always look out for travel saving tips and promotions
You can also subscribe to free travel newsletter and look out for promotions and offer which gives good discounts, especially if you are travelling with family, discounts will give you lots of savings. There are also many top travel bloggers who constantly share out travel saving tips which gives you ideas on saving money during travelling.
In Summary, you dont need to be rich to travel, however, you need to plan a travel budget and create a fund which allows you to be able to travel anytime you wish. With persistent and good saving habits, you can travel the world !
To create a travel fund, click here.