Money Matters

Planning a vacation is always exciting, until you realize you have to come up with the money to pay for everything. Avoid the most stressful part of vacation planning by making extra cash before your trip, and being smart with your money while you travel. Here are nine ways to save for your trip and spend less when you get there. Ways to Make and Save Money for Your Trip Whether you’re looking to save extra spending money or need to buy an expensive flight, there are tons of ways to earn money on the side for your upcoming trip.…

For most of us, travel is a joy-boosting experience. It takes us out of the daily grind and makes us fully present in the moment. We become awed by the extraordinary beauty and diversity of our world. But saving up for travel is… a little less romantic. Saving doesn’t have to be hard – if we deeply understand who we are and what we value. So why do you value travel? Seriously…think about it (Hint: If your answer is, “Because it’s fun!”, try to dig deeper). Knowing WHY you’re making the conscious decision to spend your time and money on…

Budgeting and saving money go hand in hand. Once you complete a plan for budgeting, you will be able to start saving! Whether you’re a part-time or full-time traveler, saving money and budgeting is important so you don’t find yourself running out of money while on the road. From saving strategies to booking hacks, check out these tips and tricks for financial success: Budgeting Spend, save and splurge within your means by adopting the ‘50/20/30’ rule. A basic budgeting tool that is made to simplify your finances is the 50/20/30 rule. Spend only up to 50 percent of your after-tax…

If there is one main excuse used for a failure to pay off debts, it would be a “lack of income”. Unfortunately, many people live right at their means, spending their entire check without leaving anything for savings or debt repayment. That’s not the worst part; statistics show that many people live beyond their means - spending up all of their check and using credit to dig themselves even deeper into a debt grave. Becoming debt free is a goal shared by a large portion of the adult population, but unfortunately, the majority will never pay off their debts. It…

We’re all familiar with the basic budgeting advice that you’re given before you head abroad. “Stick to a daily budget” and “Don’t spend more than you need to” are two of the big ones. But when you’re actually travelling for an extended period of time and running low on funds, is there a way to make some extra cash on the side? Here are a couple of ways that you can earn an income while travelling. There are plenty of other ways to make money while you travel as well, check out a few suggestions below: Freelance There are a…

Roses, roses everywhere but you have no spare money to sniff them? To store up money for optional, fun needs lots of planners say “Pay yourself first, and then pay your bills”. Take money out of your paycheck for discretionary wants at the outset and then take on the bills. To my thinking that causes problems. When you pay yourself first, you can overpay yourself!  If you do overpay yourself, then you will be unable to fully pay off bills. If that continues, then your bills become a heavier and heavier burden, even daunting. Eventually those bills will seem insurmountable,…

What’s one to do when after paying all the bills there’s nothing left for the fun things in life? You want to travel. You want to attend a major sports event. Fill in the blank: You want to ______.   Lacking spare funds or facing debt needs and worries amidst a wish list of need-to-do and like-to-do things is not fun at all! Getting out of that ditch and affording to enjoy some “smell the roses” activities takes a game plan. I have one and its playbook works. In a series of articles, I’ll be sharing the plays in it. Saving…

Whether it's losing a job, facing unexpected medical bills, or a family member who needs help, handling a financial crisis can be downright scary. While you may experience a very rough ride for a while, there are some things you can do to make sure you'll recover quickly: Take Stock Take the time to put on paper where you are. List your debts and the payments due. Write down your monthly expenses (looking through credit card statements and your chequebook register will help). Also create a list of assets that may be helpful in an emergency; savings accounts, retirement (superannuation) savings,…

We’ve all heard the basic budgeting tips for travelling. In fact, the first piece of advice that you’ll typically hear when travelling is to “draw up a budget” or to “make a savings plan”. But realistically, while these are great tips, they’re probably not the kind of insider knowledge that you’re hoping for when reading an article like this. So here are some of the lesser-known ways to budget for, and on, your trip overseas. Cut back on your pre-trip expenses Often we focus on budgeting while on our trip but not beforehand. So although you may have a daily…