How do people afford the countless vacations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it was a priority for you, you'd make it work. You definitely have the money for it on that income.

We make $150k, have a kid and a $2500 mortgage, and still take 1 nice vacation (~$6-8k) and a couple small ones (usually to California to see family) each year. We are not in debt and save for retirement/college. We aren't rolling in money, so vacations are definitely a trade off. I have a 1970's vacation because I wanted to go to Europe instead of get granite countertops. We mow our own lawn because I wanted to go to my cousin's wedding last year. Just a matter of priorities.

Erg, 1970's KITCHEN.

np. i am sure the food tastes just as good.

[Anonymous]

OP, I also wonder about it too. Some kids in my DC's class seems to go on vacations all the time. I think with one child, both parents travel for work so they may get free mile for flying. This makes sense. But the rest must have some means to be able to pay for them. Who knows if they can really afford it. We are mortgage free but could not afford to vacation during every holiday break. We have to save for other things like college and retirement.

[Anonymous]

Some people just have a lot of money and time.

For us, we take one "big" vacation a year, which usually runs about 8k, but this year is an exception due to family weddings and stuff, so we are going a little overboard.

[Anonymous]

I have plenty of friends (grown adults in their 30's) with parents who pay for their many vacations. "Let's all go to Disney!" courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.

Having free vacations sounds wonderful in theory, but sharing all my time off with my parents? ...*shudder*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are probably not saving for the future the way you are. When it comes time to send the kids to college, they'll be looking for financial aid or upset that they can't afford the schools their kids worked so hard to get in to. And then there's retirement. You can't take out loans for retirement, so if you haven't saved enough, it could be a rocky road.

OP, don't worry about other people. You are the smart one because you are being responsible in preparing for your future. The bonus is that you will be able to sleep at night because you will not have the financial worries that others who have spent freely will have.

Not true. Some people are still saving, maxing retirement and such. Don't think we're all just in debt funding vacations. We do two international and two domestic a year plus maybe weekend trips to relatives. We cut back on clothes, food , eating out and unnecessary items.

I don't know. I have talked to quite a few people in the last few years who appear to be making a lot of money, but are shocked at how much college costs when the time comes. The cost of tuition is only going to go up in the future. A lot of people lost a lot of their investments in 2008 and have yet to completely recover. What if that happens again just before kids are starting college? A lot of people think they are saving for the future, but the truth is they really are not saving enough and instead they are spending in the present.

Well I can only speak for me, but our kids will attend pubic universities. We would never pay for private. DH isn't positive he wants to completely pay for the kid's tuition either. He had no trouble paying off his own loans and he had skin in the game. We have hundreds of thousands in savings, so I don't see paying for college as an issue either. We make half of what OP does too. We are frugal, but believe vacations are essential. I see DCUM paying for a lot of things that DH and I don't, so I'm sure there's lots of wiggle room to cut back. OP makes 400k, surely she can find 10k to take a vacation?

[Anonymous]

Welll, our HHI and our mortgage is about 1/4th of yours. We still go on at least one big trip a year. Then we do smaller weekend trips during the year. Our retirements and college accounts are funded.

We're doing WDW soon. We have BOGO tickets from Delta, so our flights were only about $400 total. Got a $250 car, a DVC timeshare that we bought decades ago, and our tickets are from last year. So we'll have a grand time for a bit over 2 grand.

We are also going camping on the Great Lakes this year, and may make it up to Canada for a few days this summer.

You can have great vacations if you just plan and don't need to have everything deluxe.

[Anonymous]

We paid off our mortgage years ago. That's how we can afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have plenty of friends (grown adults in their 30's) with parents who pay for their many vacations. "Let's all go to Disney!" courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.

Having free vacations sounds wonderful in theory, but sharing all my time off with my parents? ...*shudder*

LOL. Well I got the short end of that stick. We pay our own way AND vacation with my parents. We enjoy it immensely though! Love spending time with my parents on vacation. What I hate is wasting my annual leave visiting my inlaws in their own house and not doing anything.

[Anonymous]

Some of these people aren't saving as much as you, they are building far less in equity also. Also, they like to travel and that's where they like to spend their money. I am like you, we have a 4500/month mortgage (15 years), we take 1 vacation a year, nice one, I just don't like to travel a lot. It's not so much about affordability, it's more about priorities.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We do max out retirement (59k for me 20k or so for dh), we use public schools, and put away 15k or more for college between the two kids. Even with that, we worry about falling short when it is time to send them off. Last year, the flop vacation was really expensive. It involved car rentals and several hotels. That scared us enough to really trying to do the Grand Canyon this year on a tight budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I look at my friends on Facebook and some of them seem to be constantly on vacation. Every year they might take three trips away. My cousin sends pictures of her family in California, the Caribbean, Florida, always with a beautiful scene in the background.
We might do that every other year or so.
Our HHI is over 400k, but between saving for college and paying the mortgage of about 4k a month, we feel that we just aren't secure enough to take fancy trips. Sadly, the last trip, the most expensive we've done, was a weather flop! Also, I have flight anxiety, so there is some reluctance on my part. But logistically and financially, we don't feel set enough to do that.
We out earn these people that I am comparing myself to, maybe they are good at getting deals?

I think this probably plays a bigger role than you are acknowledging. You don't prioritize traveling so you don't do it. And you assume that the trips folks are taking must be expensive because you don't personally travel enough to be aware of all the cheaper ways to travel, using miles & points, etc. There are also lots of places with AMAZING scenery, and of course folks post the pictures from the beautiful places.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in private and the vacations are definitely on the "wow!" side for many families. I discovered some of the secrets - their parents or other family pay for some trips, the have family members living in other places and just pay air fare to visit them, conference or work trip with the family tagging along,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We do max out retirement (59k for me 20k or so for dh), we use public schools, and put away 15k or more for college between the two kids. Even with that, we worry about falling short when it is time to send them off. Last year, the flop vacation was really expensive. It involved car rentals and several hotels. That scared us enough to really trying to do the Grand Canyon this year on a tight budget.

Still don't understand where the rest of your money is going that you can't vacation often or decently well. I take time to price our trips for max value. It's also a huge priority for me. I hope you find some way to spend relaxed family time together. Yes having college paid for will help, but to have thoSe memories and that time spent together is invaluable.

[Anonymous]

We have a HHI on the low side for this area and we travel quite a bit. First - its something we prioritize over other things (we have a pretty low mortgage and a nothing special car). Also we travel somewhat frugally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We do max out retirement (59k for me 20k or so for dh), we use public schools, and put away 15k or more for college between the two kids. Even with that, we worry about falling short when it is time to send them off. Last year, the flop vacation was really expensive. It involved car rentals and several hotels. That scared us enough to really trying to do the Grand Canyon this year on a tight budget.

Saving $79k for retirement each year? ...I'd say that's where some of your vacation fund is going. I don't think others save that much.