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Financial Planning The Ultimate Family Bucket List Vacation

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Take a look at enterprising entrepreneurs Garrett and Jessica Gee, whose website, Instagram, YouTube channel and other social media platforms allow followers to “go along” as the couple and their three young children travel the world.  Known as the Bucket List Family, the Gees have been sharing their adventures in more than 60 countries since 2015!

Obviously, not everyone can--or even wants to--travel as much as the Gees. Still, more and more families are making vacations one of their top financial goals, experts note. We at Sun Group Wealth Partners are finding our clients fit right into that trend, so I’d like to share some of the tips and tricks travelers --and my family--have used to get the most from their travel dollars.

Yes, we’ve found it’s possible to save on travel without having to do extensive research, pulling the kids out of school for off-season travel or staying in less-than-ideal accommodations.  Try these:

Start with a plan. Set a vacation budget several months before you want to travel.  It’s not uncommon for a family to spend $10,000 for a trip, so make saving for your trip in advance a priority. We like to set up a vacation account fund for our clients and have them add to it regularly well before they leave home.

Have your financial institution, label an account “vacation fund” and set-up automatic contributions from your paycheck or checking account into this fund.

Pay for your vacation before you even get on that plane. I advise clients to try to “be able to” pay for the trip at least 30 days in advance. It’s not as hard as you might think and a budget worksheet can help. If you’re booking a cruise or vacation package, you’re required to do this anyway. However, if you have the full amount saved months prior to the trip, you’ll be able to save a bit more for incidentals, excursions, or even that splurge restaurant at your travel destination.

Map out your trip--financially.  For setting a realistic budget, you’ll need to get much of your costs estimated quickly. This is easy to do with rental cars, hotels, or anything that you can book with a flexible cancellation policy. Keep a detailed checklist or spreadsheet of what you’ve booked, when the deadline is to cancel, and the total cost you’ll be incurring when the booking becomes final.

Start with the biggest expenses. Price the three “biggies”--transportation, lodging, and major activities--to see what you can reasonably afford. Are you going to drive, fly, take a slow boat to China? When calculating costs, don’t forget to add ground transportation, tips, gasoline and insurance to the price of plane tickets or car rental.  

Make it easy on everyone. Flying with a family means considering convenience as well as price. Direct flights are almost always a better option than ones with one or more stops. Get everybody in your family a frequent flyer number and start earning loyalty miles for future flights. Airlines such as Jetblue and Hawaiian Airlines even allow for family pooling of points. Consider selecting a larger airline that you can stick with to save future hassles and, sometimes, money. You might consider getting a co-branded credit card for your favorite airline.  When my family travels with our American Airlines credit card, we get priority boarding and free checked bags. The amount that we save on just one checked bag for one trip covers the card’s annual fee. Want another example? Using Southwest Airline’s card for everyday purchases can net you a year or more of free companion tickets. Add in the airline's generous standard of two free checked bag per traveler and easy trip changes, and you’ve got a strong airline for family travel.

Hyatt

Where to stay? Be sure to include often-overlooked costs, such as resort fees, tips, and on-site food. Consider staying loyal to a large hotel chain, when feasible, in order to reap its loyalty rewards. Hotel chains such as Hilton, Marriot, IHG, and Hyatt all offer such programs. Consider lodging that earns you points, is central to the airport and area you’d like to visit, and has cooking facilities or offers complimentary breakfasts to save on food costs.  

The Hyatt chain is popular with young families because its points program is reasonable -- and it provides full hot breakfast to members. And becoming a member is free.  Many of the rooms can accommodate four or more, as the World of Hyatt point-friendly hotels like the Hyatt Place Orlando Buena Vista near Disney World that my family and I stayed in have free sofa beds, breakfast, and parking.  And any hotel with a swimming pool, playground or other free child-friendly amenities gives everyone a chance to have a more fun, relaxing time. Recently my family and I stayed at The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, which the kids loved and continue to ask to go back to! The hotel stood out for its incredible resort-style grounds, complete with beach lagoon with waterfalls, water slide tower, rock climbing for kids, splash zone, and rope bridge! Both properties can be booked with points earned from your normal spending.

What do you want to do?  Factor such costs as tickets to attractions, guides, food outside your lodgings and other miscellaneous costs. Try to figure out what attractions you’ll visit and see whether they sell discounted tickets online or offer entrance priority to avoid wasting time in lines at the box office.  Take a look at your credit cards’ rewards programs to see if your normal, regular spending can help you subsidize your vacation fund. Our Chase Ultimate Rewards points recently got us tickets for Orlando’s Crayola Experience and the Kennedy Space Center. We earned many of those points throughout the year by using our Chase card on groceries and gas. Also, look at warehouse stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club to plan out discounted gift cards for chain restaurants.

Create a budget buffer. Tack on an extra 20 percent to your total vacation budget.  Things happen -- canceled flights, bad weather, a hotel disappointment, a trip to the emergency room. It’s better to have money to solve unexpected problems than to fall into financial woes by lack of planning. Anything you don’t spend can always be funneled into your future travel fund, or better yet, put toward your other financial goals.

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