Better Financial Health in 15 Minutes (or less!)

Vacation Without the Credit Card Hangover

• Stacey Hyde

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Planning a vacation shouldn’t end with a credit card hangover. We break down a clear, no‑drama way to choose the trip, price it honestly, and fund it with simple, short‑term savings so the only thing you bring home is good memories. From setting up a dedicated money market account to translating a total cost into monthly and per‑paycheck goals, we show how to turn “someday” travel into a funded plan you can enjoy without stress.

We also unpack the tricky world of points and rewards. Yes, airline and hotel programs can cut costs, especially if you already fly one carrier or your employer lets you keep business‑travel points. But points aren’t a free pass. If a card nudges you to overspend or you carry a balance at high interest, the math breaks fast. You’ll hear practical rules for when points make sense, when cash is king, and how to avoid the trap of chasing perks that cost more than they save.

Prices today are shaped by algorithms as much as calendars, so we share tactics to search smarter. Use Google Flights alerts, try private browsing on airline sites, compare across devices, and price the whole stay including taxes, cleaning fees, meals, and activities. We also draw firm lines for when to delay travel: high‑interest debt, no emergency fund, or job uncertainty. Most of all, we make space for joy. A fully funded trip can prevent burnout and remind you why you work so hard in the first place—because guilt‑free fun is part of a healthy financial life.

If this guide helps you plan a better trip, share it with a friend, subscribe for more money‑smart episodes, and leave a review to help others find the show. Where will your next funded adventure take you?

Envision Financial Planning. 5100 Poplar Avenue, Suite 2428, Memphis, TN 38137. (901) 422-7526. This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the United States. Advisory Services offered through Envision Financial Planning, a Registered Investment Adviser.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi, I'm Stacey Haid, and I'm back for another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 Minutes or Less. And if you've been around the podcast for a while, you know that we often ask for podcast ideas. And I actually had one of our clients at a meeting last week say, I'd really like for you to talk about this. And today we're going to talk about her suggestion: how to plan and pay for a vacation without blowing up your budget. Because vacations don't normally wreck finances, but unplanned vacations often do. And why does a vacation sometimes feel painful? Because there's no monthly or periodic savings, and everything hits the credit card all at once. Everything all together all at once. So we're going to try to give you your vacation fund playbook. So pick the truck first, because that's going to drive how much it's going to cost. And then what we're going to do is once you know the cost, then you also need to sit down with your budget and say, okay, how much of our budget can we apply toward our vacation fund? You often hear financial planners like ourselves talk about saving for retirement, having an emergency fund. Guess what? It's a whole lot more fun to save for a vacation because that's more immediate. And I think it's important to do that. So one way that can be very motivating is if you have a separate savings account for your vacation. It can be a money market fund at your bank or it can be a money market fund at a Fidelity or a Vanguard or someplace like that. You just want it to be because generally speaking, vacations that's relatively short-term savings. So, you know, a year or if it's some big trip, maybe two years of savings, but you're going to need that money soon. So you don't want to put it in the stock market. You want to keep it really safe. And so just a simple example if the trip is going to cost$6,000, if you've kind of priced it out, and the airline tickets are going to be this, and the Airbnb is going to be this. And then the activities, don't forget to put a food budget in there. And if you're like me, I usually want one or two new outfits, maybe a new pair of shoes to go. So make sure all that's in there. And so that's$6,000. If we're going to save for it over a year, that's$500 a month. If you get paid twice a month, that's$250 per paycheck. The other thing that comes up a lot is should I use points or should I get a points credit card? You got to be careful because yes, points can be helpful if you, for example, fly Delta, you may want to get their American Express. But the problem is if that causes you to spend more, it's probably not saving you anything. Like if you're putting money on the credit card and it's got 25% interest, it'd be a whole lot cheaper for you not to use the credit card, pay it off, and then pay cash for your ticket. So points can be good. Um Capital One has a lot, you know, they have a portal that you can go through to do different things. Um, but don't get caught up on the points. Now, if you travel for work, most employers will let you keep any points you accumulate, whether those be airline points or um hotel points. So if you're staying at say a holiday in a lot, you want to register for IHG rewards. Same thing if you're staying at Hampton Inn, you want to register for the Hilton rewards, because those can really help offset some of your costs because you can get some free nights there. So the key thing is be careful of the credit cards that it's not causing you to spend more. And then for tracking your flight purchases, you um AI has made um things like hotels, particular airlines, way savvier. So if you're constantly checking a rate, they're going to their algorithm is going to tell them that, well, you really are going to go. So oftentimes that is going to push up the cost of that ticket. What you may want to do instead is put that into Google Flights and let Google do the searching for you. Or if you're going to the airline's website, use a private browser so that they can't track you from there, or even check it from your phone and your work computer or something like that to keep them from knowing exactly what you want to do and potentially raising the cost. Little scary tip tidbit there, but it is important to look at it that way. So, and then there are a couple of times where a vacation is a bad idea. If you've got a lot of high interest debt, if you have credit card balances you have not paid off, you really need to focus on paying those off first. If you don't have an emergency fund, you need to build that emergency fund first. If you've got a lot of uncertainty around your job, you really need to concentrate on paying down debt, setting up that emergency fund. Because nothing is more um enjoyable than going on a trip that is fully paid for, that you've saved for and spending it and not having the hangover when you get back of, oh my God, how am I going to pay for this? Because let's be real, if you can't afford the savings plan for the vacation, you can't afford the vacation. So I think it's important to kind of put that into perspective. So vacations are financial goals. Joy does belong in a financial plan. It's not all about just, you know, the grind, it's about joy. I never will forget. I was sitting in a financial meeting with a woman at her workplace, and she was always, she'd always come in to see me. She was super prepared, very goal-oriented. And she's like, okay, what do I need now? And she had set up her emergency fund, she was maxing her 401k, she bought her house, um, she'd gotten it furnished, she she was doing great. And she comes in and she's like, okay, what next? And I told her, I said, take a vacation. And she looked at me like, what kind of she actually said this, what kind of financial advice is that? I said, the type that gets you to where you don't burn out at 40. And she sat there, she leaned back, she took a deep sigh, and she's like, What if my friend can't afford it? I'm like, well, tell your friend to start saving up for the airline ticket. You would have the room anyway, you just pay for the room so that she could come along or he could come along with you. And so I think that's something to remember that enjoying our money is part of our financial plan and it's part of life. And guilt-free spending is earned through planning, not luck. So plan your vacation, stay for your vacation, and then let's enjoy that vacation. Thanks so much for tuning in. And this has been another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 minutes or less. Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcast. It really does help us reach more folks. Thank you.