Finally, we have reached the final installment of the travel finance series. In part one, we talked about making money to fund your travels, in part two, we talked about how to stretch your money in order to fund your travels. In this part, we are talking about money mind shifts and principles to adopt when it comes to financing your travel.

Without further ado, let’s get straight into it.

ADOPTING THE NEED V WANT PRINCIPLE

At some point, a money decision will have to be made. Should I buy these pair of shoes or do I want to channel those funds into maintaining a healthy diet for the next two weeks? For every time you spend money, there is an opportunity cost. A million and one wants are competing for your hard-earned money’s attention. Therefore, you have to apply the need v want principle. You can do that by asking yourself the following questions:

• Is this purchase critical to my survival at this very moment? (An ice-cream tastes good but do you have to have it? If no, it is a want and you can put it in the back burner.)
• In two weeks, will I remember this purchase for good or bad? (Sure, those designer shoes look nice but if it hurts your pocket in a way that in two weeks you have to suffer for it, then it probably isn’t worth it.)
• If I knew in the future that I will eventually have this, do I wait or buy now? (Some things can wait.)

Money adds up. It is important to always shoot for the things that you need first and are critical and then deal with some major wants right after.

In all these things, balance is key. You shouldn’t be too frugal that you no longer know how to enjoy life.

SAVE FIRST, THEN SPEND WHAT’S LEFT

Most people do this the other way around. They spend first and then save what’s left. No surprises how there is nothing left to save at the end of that decision. You want to save money then spend what is left. When you adopt this principle, you will find that you are able to cut down on certain things that are not as important.

REMEMBER THAT THINGS CARRY DUST

I remember when I was so giddy to buy a new phone a few months back. I spent a good amount buying it and could not wait to get a hold of it. You know what, two months later and I am no longer intrigued by it. I mean, it’s functional, a great phone and works very well but like every material thing I have bought, and as human beings, we move onto something else every time. Things carry dust, but experiences like travel are forever. So if you are trying to make a decision between a $100 road trip and two $50 pairs of Aldo sandals, sometimes pick the former. It’ll be worth it.

PRACTICE MINIMALISM

I read this interesting article about a woman who bought nothing for a year and saved $23,000. Now, that might be a little too extreme but we can learn something from this: you do not need everything you have at this very minute and you certainly do not have to buy even more stuff. Practicing minimalism is an aspect I still struggle with but I am getting better every day.

You can practise minimalism by:

• Getting rid of things you no longer need.
• Refraining from further purchase of things you either already have or do not need.

MAKE TRAVEL AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR MONEY PLANS

You know what integral means? Necessary to make a whole complete. When something is an integral part of your plans, you set other things aside. When you make provisions for things like your rent, food and other life essentials, make provisions for travel too. Many advent travelers will tell you that they make travel a priority, and their financial planning reflects that.

By adopting these five money mind-shifts and principles, and in combination with the two other travel finance series, it won’t be long before you are on your dream vacation.

I hope you have enjoyed my travel finance series. I’ll be putting the series into one document to make a short ebook/pdf that you can download. If you found it useful, let me know in the comments or by emailing me on [email protected]

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Love,