HHI 250k—what’s your travel budget?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have taken our kids to 70 countries on similar income. All about priorities.

Please tell us more. How much do you spend annually? Do you group a bunch of countries together for trips? What kinds of accommodations do you stay in? Do you eat out the whole time or make food?

PP here. We spend $50K plus on travel annually, but have kept down daily expenses as much as possible. Sometimes we do groups of countries, but sometimes focus on one or two countries for longer periods. It depends on the countries and regions.

So you spend 20% or more of your annual income on travel, and have well-funded retirement and college savings accounts? Something isn’t adding up. Do you have no mortgage?

You are right, no mortgage.

Probably worth mentioning on posts like this.

[Anonymous]

Income is between $250-$275K. 2 adults + 2 elementary school aged kids. Depending on the year, we generally spend between $5,000-$15,000 on travel. Most years, we drive to see family over winter break, take a 3 or 4 day trip within driving distance over spring break, a 1 to 2 week trip during the summer and maybe another local-ish weekend trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have taken our kids to 70 countries on similar income. All about priorities.

This.

We haven’t renovated our kitchen or bathrooms, but my kids have passports and love to travel. We take at least two big trips each year along with smaller trips more regularly.

[Anonymous]

We make closer to 300k, but here is our general budget for 2024:

Spring Break - 8k
Girls’ Trip (for me) - 2k
Boys’ Trip (for DH) - 2k
Kid Free Weekend Trip - 3k
Family Summer Vacation - 5k
Fall Break - 2k (short trip)
Holiday Air Travel (to see family) - 3k

So 25k ballpark. We have 3 kids so airfare can be $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make closer to 300k, but here is our general budget for 2024:

Spring Break - 8k
Girls’ Trip (for me) - 2k
Boys’ Trip (for DH) - 2k
Kid Free Weekend Trip - 3k
Family Summer Vacation - 5k
Fall Break - 2k (short trip)
Holiday Air Travel (to see family) - 3k

So 25k ballpark. We have 3 kids so airfare can be $$$.

I’ll add that we have a reasonable low rate mortgage, buy used cars with cash, have some family help contributing to 529s, and generally don’t have a bougie lifestyle. But we like to take trips when we can.

[Anonymous]

With that income, it’s definitely a matter of priorities. We make under $200K with 2 kids in the DC area. We have healthy levels of savings & investments. We paid off student loans as quickly as we could (many years ago, now), drive old cars, don’t eat out much, use public schools, etc.

We travel a lot, but many trips are road trips, long weekends, visiting relatives & doing activities in that area, or camping trips. Our kids have been to a few countries, but those trips are more rare for us.

Honestly, though, for the price of a week right on the beach, you could easily travel abroad, if you’re willing to do it in a budget-conscious way. Our bigger problem is time, as the kids get older & have more activities & commitments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are now at about 300k. We don't do expensive cars, we have reasonable housing costs, public schools etc. But we travel a lot. We don't really budget, just do it. It is what we value.

There's a huge difference between 250k and 300k. That's an extra 50k in travel money.

We have one 16 year old. 250HHI. Probably spend 5K a year on travel (cheap flights, modest hotels and Airbnbs.) Kid has been to Europe six times, the Caribbean four times, Hawaii once, and too many national parks to count.

300k with 3 kids is probably comparable to 250k with 1 kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours is very low. HHI $230k. Maybe $4k, all in? Two beach vacations with family and a few driving trips to see family and friends, that’s it. My kids have only ever flown twice (round trip) in their whole lives.

But our kids are very little - 4, 2.5, and one on the way. We pay out the nose for childcare and we stretched to afford our house. So while we are quite well off, we’ve prioritized other things. Our priorities are likely to change as the kids age.

The thing about HHIs in these kind of numbers is that you’re basically wealthy - whatever is most important to you, you can afford it. Awesome vacations, great house, fabulous nanny, great clothes, expensive hobbies, lots of kids, lots of expensive extracurriculars. But you have to choose. You can only go big on a couple of things (depending on your definition of big). So we’ve got our great nanny and a pricey mortgage, but we don’t travel and we buy clothes at thrift stores. I’m sure there are plenty of people at this HHI in a two bedroom apartment with one kid who spend $50k a year on travel.

This is a great point. A travel budget without context is meaningless.

With more kids you have more other expenses *and* travel costs more (like needing a second hotel room, more in airfare, bigger dining budget, etc.)

But if you bought your house a long time ago and are out of the expensive childcare years, then you have more disposable money. We have 3 and definitely take nicer trips now that when we were dropping 4K/month on childcare. Sure some expenses like extracurriculars have gone up, but not to the tune of 48k/year and our salaries have gone up as well.

Once you no longer need a nanny and (hopefully) salaries grow into your mortgage, your travel budget may get bigger (if that is what you choose to reallocate it to!)

[Anonymous]

10k for the total trip for 4 people? That seems incredibly cheap. We usually budget 10k per adult.

[Anonymous]

HHI income 350k, travel budget about 20k annually. We have two kids who are still in elementary. We do one “big trip” a year internationally and then typically do a week somewhere that is more drivable and affordable. We often are invited to stay at a friend’s beach house for example. We also do a long weekend somewhere on occasion. I’d love to travel more, but it’s what we can afford and also our kids are very active and most of our weekends are filled these days.

Anonymous wrote:Our HhI is 250k. We have two teens, one going off to college soon. We have decent savings but are also paying back our student loans. Don’t have family money.

We tend to balk at travel prices. More likely to go to the beach than abroad. Have only left the country once since we have had kids. How do we save for college, retirement, house repairs, AND travel?

What’s your travel budget if you’re in our range?

[Anonymous]

$225k, two kids in daycare so our budget is the gas to get to the grandparents’ vacation house. Last year we spent about $1000 doing a few days in Maine. Might do a similar budget this summer but making stops on the way to the grandparents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10k for the total trip for 4 people? That seems incredibly cheap. We usually budget 10k per adult.

I think you are on the wrong thread. This one is for people with HHI in the 250k range.

[Anonymous]

Things have changed a lot. Our $400 RT to Cancun at winter break is now $1200 RT per person. So while we didn't really budget for travel, now we're thinking more about it. I'm putting more time into shopping for flights, and am testing the waters of buying expensive refundable tickets because it seems like some routes get cheaper close to departure - but you can't not have flights when you're planning a trip. We're passing on a long weekend to visit family in California because it's $550 RT for four nights, and that's just too much for our family for such a short trip.

So I'd say that instead of keeping a budget, we're now making tougher choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HhI is 250k. We have two teens, one going off to college soon. We have decent savings but are also paying back our student loans. Don’t have family money.

We tend to balk at travel prices. More likely to go to the beach than abroad. Have only left the country once since we have had kids. How do we save for college, retirement, house repairs, AND travel?

What’s your travel budget if you’re in our range?

It depends on your priorities, if kids in private schools or luxurious life style then not much but with a simple lifestyle and public schools, you can have a decent budget for travel, go local one year, staycation another and then one overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have taken our kids to 70 countries on similar income. All about priorities.

70 is a lot. Tell us more.

What do you want to know? We have taken them to most of Europe, most of Americas, lots of Middle East and North Africa, East Asia, plus Australia and NZ. So many great places in this world, we go whenever we can.

My daughter wants to go to Egypt. How did you like visiting this country.