TEMPLE, Texas — A recent Nerdwallet survey showed that families spend an average of $2,256 on their family vacation. That money doesn't just magically appear. It takes saving and or planning for. Or earning extra or surprise income.
So if you're a compulsive spender zipping off for a trip could really backfire. Living in L.A. and seeing friends catch the last plane for Vegas, usually didn't work out for them.
Like most things financial, Rolandus Johnson told us at KCEN to plan ahead!
"Of course, the bigger the vacation the longer that you want to plan for it," said Johnson. "So you're going to Dallas or Austin for overnight or a couple of days might only plan for you know an hour or two or for a day. But if you're going to Colorado or New York, or you're going to be out for an extended amount of time, of course you want to start that planning process pretty early."
Trust me, it will relieve stress and make the actual trip, that much more enjoyable!," said Johnson. "Yeah I mean any amount of time where you can plan or siphon that money off, whether it's a paycheck or big bonus or whatever. It's only going to help moving forward."
The ultimate goal of course is to be able to retire and make sure that you have plenty of what we call, "play money" to fund the trips that you want to take.
When you do retire, it's good to retire "well", which means you probably did some good planning.
You have the option to take money from here and use it for vacation. Or, you could have multiple streams of income.
If you're like my dad or my father in law, or someone who gets bored in retirement, having a second source of income or small business can help fund those future memories as well.
According to "Triple-a" 100 million Americans will take a vacation this year! 109 million people traveled 50 miles or more for the holidays in December.