Your Budget Friendly Vacation Guide!
You work hard, you deserve to also play hard; you deserve an awesome vacation. How can you ensure that playing hard does not force you into financial stress; which will eventually cause you to working harder and playing even less? Whether your vacation involves fun at home, a romantic getaway, an all-inclusive “staycation” or jetting off for an exotic destination overseas, here are some tips to help you ‘PLAY’ on a budget.
1. Pre-determine Limits: Vacations tend to make us feel carefree, and our budgets often get tossed away. So before you start spending while on vacation, it is good to ask yourself these questions:
• How will the amount I spend impact my other financial goals?
• What percentage of my salary can I afford to spend on vacationing? Calculate this figure and, if needs be, put it in a separate account for your vacation, so you will not be tempted to go overboard.
• What creative things can I do to have the most fabulous time without spending a fortune?
2. List Your Must Haves vs. Desires: If you can afford to experience it all during this vacation; go for it! If not, this time around focus on the “must haves”. All is not lost however, take the time to have a JMMB Goal Planning session so that you can begin to prepare for your next vacation. This will help you to determine how much you need to save and for how long, in order to accommodate all of your heart’s desires on your next vacation.
3. Advance Planning is Best: When we wait for the last minute, we often do not have the time to explore all the available options, or may have missed some of them. So start early planning early for your next vacation. According to Denise Thomas, a local travel consultant, the way to get the best deals are to:
• book airline tickets at least 6 months in advance;
• visit local hotels during the off-peak seasons of September to early October;
There are also great websites like https://brawtaliving.com/ and https://www.gustazos.com/ which offer sweet discounts in the region of 40% discounts on hotels and excursions locally, and occasionally you will see some overseas deals too. Luckily, they do have last minute deals available also.
In preparing for your next vacation, start now. Reduce your variable expenses in other areas in order to accommodate some of your vacation desires. For example reducing your light, water, cell phone and food bills by J$1,000 each monthly, will give you an additional J$4,000 per month or J$48,000 per year!
4. Yes to payment options: Many hotels quote in US$. However if you use your credit card to pay in US$, the exchange rate used by your financial institution may be above the market rate. This will make your trip more expensive. Instead you may:
• ask the hotel to charge your credit card in J$;
• use JMMB Moneyline, online banking, to transfer your J$ payment in the hotel’s J$ account, if available
• take advantage of payment options for tours and other excursions that may allow you to make part payment upfront, without any additional charge, so that you can ensure your credit card payments are manageable
Do you want some help so you can be financially prepare for your vacation? Do you need travel insurance to protect you from any unfortunate instances while on your vacation overseas? If “yes”, please call (876) 998-5662 (JMMB) or schedule an appointment by visiting https://jm.jmmb.com/schedule-appointment.
Written by: Michelle Sinclair-Doyley, manager, client financial education, JMMB Group