Plan for your holidays

A few friends met a few days back and one of them had just returned from an international holiday along with his family. As usual after mentioning how he enjoyed and where all they went, one of us asked him how big a hole was it on his pocket, he mentioned Rs. 3 Lakhs for 4 persons. Hearing this rest just said, we don’t think we could afford it or they would have to take a loan. That is when our friend told them he did not borrow nor was he a high earning individual, which all of us were aware of. So the next question was how, our friend just told them that he had been setting aside Rs. 8,000/- per month for the last 3 years and this amount grew to Rs. 3 Lakhs along with interest. This was a simple solution, which all of us can follow and still be debt free and both you and your family will be happy.

A break every year is a necessity, but a vacation is a luxury. Saving for a necessity is important, so do not borrow for a luxury. Setting aside money for a dream holiday should be done only after you have set aside money for your necessities. Also do not use your credit card for and during such trips, the foreign currency conversion costs are the most expensive ever. Always stick to the budget you have set aside. Your budget should include so unforeseen expenses as well. All said and done the travel bhoot cannot be stopped, what with so many advertisements and societal pressure. So if you must, then start by keeping aside some money every month and start researching from day one. As you have started researching, you would know most of what you require and costs early, so you could start planning early as well.

 

Doing your visa early would help you with getting good deals on your hotel and air bookings. You could also work on your foreign exchange requirements. Banks are not the best providers of exchange rates, so you could check out and get good deals on foreign exchange rates as well. Early bookings would easily help save around 10 to 20% of your costs. Last but not the least, where you keep your monthly savings, earning the best returns without losing on the capital, connect with your financial advisor before investing. Many travel firms comes with good schemes of saving for your holidays in association with banks, only hiccup is that your dates have to be fixed a year in advance. So do not fret, plan from your holidays in advance.