Aren’t vacations great? Giving yourself a week off from work and school is therapeutic for the body and soul. But when you get back from your dream vacation and your next credit card bill comes around and you’re shocked to find that you went over your budget by $250.0! Maybe next time you should consider not drinking so much at the extremely expensive bars. After recovering from the panic of seeing your bill you decide to take my advice. Save for trips now, and have a better vacation later on.

When you plan a vacation start a separate online savings account.
*Example*: You are planning to go on a one week cruise to the Caribbean in March, 2007 and all your expenses will be ~$1000.0. If you start saving in August 2006 you will need to put in $125.0 a month into your savings account. Let’s just make the amount $130.0 to make the numbers easy. In March after eight months of saving you will have $1040.0 and ~$18.0 in interest.

If you save for your trip early and you go over your budget by $250.0 then it wouldn’t be such a financial burden. Instead of paying $1250.0 ($1000.0(budget) + $250.0(too much partying)) you will only need to pay the extra $250.0 because you already paid off your trip. You can apply this principle to anything whether it’s a trip, a new TV, car, or a down payment for a house. Save on a monthly basis and get bigger and better things in the future.

If you have a trip coming up and what to start saving now, email me at JRBeaudry@efipo.com and I will send you a link from INGDirect.com (current APY is 4.40% 10-06-06). If you open your savings account with more than $250.0 you will receive an extra $25.0 just for opening the account! So start saving now and receive the extra money!