How You Can Afford Vacations Without Blowing Your Entire Paycheck with Danny Kofke - 123

[00:00:00] Vacations can be huge budget busters if you're not properly prepared. Let's figure out how to plan and prepare with Danny Kofke in today's episode Welcome to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming, where we all do better with money by talking about it. Let's get talking In today's episode, we're joined by Danny Kofke, a financial educator and expert who's been a teacher really all of his life. So he's excited to teach us today about how we can plan for our vacations to avoid blowing our entire budget. It's a great conversation. Let's explore why we overspend on vacations

[00:00:30] how we can get away without busting our entire budget. We're going to talk about things like sinking funds, splitting up your cost. There's a lot of great insights in today's episode. Danny's going to share some great tips on how you can feel liberated by your budget rather than feeling restricted by it. There's some great insights in today's episode. Learn from Danny's journey where he shares a little bit about how he grew up frugal, money clicked for him, how him and his wife talk about money and their engagement. There's some great insight as to how Danny grew up with his money that's going to help you not only with your vacations but beyond that with your entire wallet.

[00:00:59] The money talking points for today's episode are how can I avoid overspending on vacation. Second is budgeting restrictive or liberating. And third, how can planning play a role in your life beyond just money? With the money talking points in mind, let's get right into today's episode.

[00:01:14] Hello and welcome to today's interview on money talk with Skyler Fleming. I'm joined today by Danny Koffke and we're talking about affording vacations without blowing your entire budget and how you can afford to spend a little bit. Danny, would you go ahead and introduce yourself for everyone?

[00:01:38] Sure, yes. So I'm a former school teacher so vacation for big we had a lot of time off in the summer, but now I work for mentor of financial educators. So we're a financial wellness company.

[00:01:49] So you know, one of one of the things we do work on is help people have saving set aside for something like going on vacation. So it doesn't follow you home in the form of credit card debt, right?

[00:02:01] You're paying on at Christmas time for your July summer vacation. So excited to join in today and hopefully give some tips so your listeners can avoid that debt and have a vacation that they really truly enjoy.

[00:02:14] Awesome. And yeah, that's often the thing you hear that people are putting Christmas on credit cards and paying for it in the summer, but if you're putting your summer on credit cards, you're paying for it during Christmas and then it's just this everlasting cycle that's no good for anyone. So awesome. Let's go ahead and just jump right into some questions about vacations. Why do people tend to overspend what are your thoughts on overspending on vacations?

[00:02:36] Well, first off, when you get into that motivation, it's very tempting to overspend right. We're kind of usually away from home that we kind of throw caution to the wind. We're not thinking about really 100% what we are doing and we know when on vacation. I mean, there's plenty of things to do whether it's a $5 snow cone or a Disney World, the $20 mouse, seeers, whatever it may be. So it just becomes very easy to spend that money because we get caught up in the moment.

[00:03:03] And then secondly, a lot of times we ever spend is because we don't plan ahead just like with most areas of personal finance. We should have a budget set aside of okay, this is how much we can spend on vacation. We don't just get to, you know vacation time be like, all right, whatever we're just going to spend whatever and then worry about it when we get home.

[00:03:21] And unfortunately that's what a lot of people do. And then that's when they carry home that credit card with them that they're paying, you know, by next year's vacation, they're still paying our last year's vacation.

[00:03:30] Yeah, I can imagine that like you said, I'm thinking about it right now of like previous vacations. I've been on and it's so easy to say, oh well, we're here. The money is fine. Like we're doing go back home and then suddenly spent four or five, six hundred dollars or more over what you thought. And you're like, how did that even happen? So yeah, in where easy to convince ourselves that, you know, we work so hard. I deserve.

[00:03:53] So like I'm on vacation. I'm going to treat myself and then it just we get behind an I agree, I think a lot of us we do work really hard and I'm okay. We should reward ourselves, but we have to do it responsibly so that we don't fall behind in our financial plan when we carry that debt home with us.

[00:04:11] Yeah. And better yet, don't use don't pay for your vacation on debt, like figure out your money and then set it aside and keep it, keep it the money you actually have.

[00:04:20] So how do people, what you mentioned planning? How do people even plan to go on a vacation without spending all their money? Is there like that just sounds that sounds boring. It sounds like too much work. I just want to go have fun. How do you actually plan?

[00:04:31] Right. Well, I guess it may be a little boring, right? But you know, boring usually wins the race. But the thing is it's kind of like with other things and I kind of refer to them as known upcoming non monthly expenses.

[00:04:43] So things that aren't necessarily a monthly expense, but you know at some point in a year, they will be expense.

[00:04:49] Another thing is like auto insurance premiums or life insurance premiums things like that. We know they're upcoming, but they're usually not a monthly bill.

[00:04:56] So what we do with summer vacation is you plan ahead and let's you know I'll just make it as a former elementary school teacher. I like to keep the math easy.

[00:05:04] So let's just say by this time next year. So next February you want to go on vacation and you want to spend $1,200. So keep it easy. Well, that's 12 months away. So do $1,200 divided by $1,100 a month.

[00:05:16] So every single month is part of your budget set aside $100. You do that for one year when next February comes around, you're going to have $1,200 in cash to spend on your vacation. Then you know, hey, I won't go over.

[00:05:30] And then secondly, and this is for me, it holds true. I've gone on vacation before where it has followed me home in the form of credit card debt.

[00:05:37] And I've gone on vacation before where it's paid for in advance. And I'm going to tell you the ones that are paid for in advance are much more enjoyable to me because I can spend that money guilt free. I know I've already saved up for it. It's already earmarked towards an occasion.

[00:05:52] So I don't have any guilt feelings of like, oh, I shouldn't be spending this because I got this bill. You know, I'm going to have to face when I come home. No, it's already taken care of.

[00:06:00] So that is one way it's just like I said, with most areas of our budget. We just have to play in a head and then kind of save up for it. Have an earmark of okay, this is how much we think we're going to spend and then set aside that amount every single month.

[00:06:13] So so you can have that. And a lot of people here's another one right now. A lot of people are getting tax refunds back and you can't sell the word refund without fun, right?

[00:06:21] So you've part of it for that summer vacation or that winter vacation, whatever it may be. So maybe take if you do get a refund, take part of that and set it aside right now.

[00:06:31] Yeah, that refund is a great way to if you have something you want to do, go ahead and just set it aside for it. And I know you'll always hear there's always like the

[00:06:39] the I guess the finance crazy that are like you shouldn't be getting a refund. That's an interest for you all in the government. Right. I did. But

[00:06:45] right. Yeah, at the same time like that's that's some real money for people. Like that's a real chance to do some fun stuff and

[00:06:52] there's a chance for it because you're letting the government borrow your money at no interest. I get it. But for a lot of people, it is part of their forced savings plans.

[00:07:00] And so they're not doing a good job of saving. So if you are the one that does get a return, use it to your advantage.

[00:07:06] Yeah, exactly. Don't just don't just let us sit there. And if you have debt to pay off, throw it towards that. Right. Right.

[00:07:11] What what you're describing is turn my wife and I like to call sinking funds. I think that's what the Dave Ramsey crowd calls it. You can call it buckets, whatever you want to call it. And

[00:07:20] you mentioned it helps in other areas. Like you said premiums insurance premiums. Do you think just that same mentality of dividing your

[00:07:28] like your goal by the amount of months you have is a good thing to practice across the board.

[00:07:32] Absolutely. It's worked for me. That's something that I do. And now my oldest is in college. So we kind of have a college fund set of sites every month. I put money into that to help pay for it.

[00:07:41] So just any of those things that maybe aren't a monthly thing.

[00:07:45] Holiday spending, you know, Christmas comes every December 25. No matter what calendar you look at, yet many people don't prepare for that.

[00:07:52] They go into debt to pay for the holidays. So anything that is one of those things that just it can tend to creep up on us because we don't make it part of our budget part of our plan.

[00:08:02] So just analyze it. I would talk to anyone, just sit down and take a look at your spending and then look at those things that maybe they'll come out every month.

[00:08:10] Maybe it is six months, maybe 12 months, whatever it may be, but then make them a monthly expense. And that way you're not bust in your budget and going into debt.

[00:08:18] Yeah, you're getting ahead of that monthly credit card payment in the form of like a monthly savings payment to yourself. It makes it a whole lot easier.

[00:08:26] Yes, you mentioned, you mentioned that this fund or the savings you're spreading out over many months for vacation allows you to spend guilt free.

[00:08:34] When when people think of budgeting and like what you described, they think of it as super restrictive or kind of hard and difficult. But you mentioned it makes it so you can spend guilt free. How is that possible for people to spend freely?

[00:08:45] Yeah, a lot of people look at the budget as the B word. Right. And that's what I think it is. But I'm, but for me, it's very similar to a diet where a lot of people think a diet

[00:08:54] restricts you. But really, if you utilize a diet the correct way, it actually frees you up. There are some diets that you can have a free eat date, read whatever you want and not feel guilty about it because you're on track the rest of the week.

[00:09:07] And that's kind of the way I look at a budget and then the tour that's the way we view it is that look, you have to have money set aside because you hit on earlier.

[00:09:15] If you go into debt, I mean credit card debt interest. It can be from 18 to 24%.

[00:09:20] So like you are going to be paying someone that in a, you know, in addition to what you already owe them. So a budget, yes, it may feel at first it is restrictive because you don't get to spend money however you see fit.

[00:09:32] But in the long term, it actually saves money. And then when you look at things that you are spending money on many of us have these subscriptions. We have no idea between audible and hula with Pandora premium all these different things.

[00:09:44] And a lot of us don't use all those subscriptions. So if you're careful with your budget, you analyze it. You can take those things out that really don't mean that much to you that don't bring you much joy.

[00:09:55] And instead of wasting money on that, you can spend it on something that's more dribble like maybe a vacation.

[00:10:02] You get to have fun if you cut back on some of those things that you're spending money on that you don't realize. And I think that's the problem with a lot of people is they just don't realize where their money is going.

[00:10:12] And that to me, I know the budget. It can't have a negative connotation. So maybe you used a word spending plan, whatever it is that makes you feel better.

[00:10:20] But most of us, we don't have an indefinite amount of money coming in. So we have to know exactly where our money is being spent. And that way we can utilize every single dollar and make sure it's being spent the way that we wanted to be.

[00:10:36] Yeah, I like that what you just said right there at the end, spend it the way you want it to be spent not the way that the marketing on commercials wants you to spend it.

[00:10:43] Right. All of the monthly subscriptions they're going to they're going to go for every last dollar you have. So if you're not in control, it's going to run away from you.

[00:10:49] Of course, of course. Yeah, I mean, I used to be a kindergarten teacher and I tribute money a lot like a five year old.

[00:10:56] You know, you imagine if I walked in my classroom 24 or five year olds and I did not give them any direction within five minutes, my class would be destroyed.

[00:11:03] Money dollar bills tend to act a lot like that if we don't tell our money how to behave, it tends to act like a five year old and does whatever it wants.

[00:11:11] Yeah, yeah, it seems like your credit card grew legs and went to the store. So that's it.

[00:11:16] You got to have some control on it. That's it.

[00:11:18] Yeah, how do people you we've talked a little bit about the importance of figuring out your money ahead of time before you go on vacation?

[00:11:26] But how do people actually think about their trips affordably?

[00:11:29] So maybe you get out there and you're like, wow, I didn't realize this would be so expensive.

[00:11:32] How do you kind of pre plan for the trip itself?

[00:11:34] I mean, there you go. You have to do the research.

[00:11:36] And that's the problem where you have to look at where you're going.

[00:11:40] First off, when you know your budget, okay?

[00:11:42] So we go back to that. We set up this is how much I have to spend on vacation.

[00:11:46] Then that makes it easier.

[00:11:47] Then when you look at places like, okay, if I have say $2,000 saved, but this place that I want to go to is going to cost me $5,000.

[00:11:54] Well, guess what? We're not going to go there.

[00:11:57] I'm sorry. That's what retirement's for, right?

[00:11:59] We can have our dreamless down the road.

[00:12:01] We don't have to do it all today.

[00:12:02] So I think it comes back to that plan and have that in place to know, okay?

[00:12:07] Can I truly afford this?

[00:12:09] And then once you do narrow down to an area where you want to go, that's when you can do some research.

[00:12:13] How much does the average meal cost?

[00:12:14] Research some of the restaurants, the lodging, whenever it may be.

[00:12:17] That way you have an idea.

[00:12:18] I mean right now we used to need travel agents to do that.

[00:12:21] Now you can be your own travel agents.

[00:12:23] There's so many different websites and research that you can do on your own.

[00:12:26] You just have to take the time to do so.

[00:12:29] Yeah, and it's as simple as just create a note on your phone.

[00:12:31] I'm sure every phone out there has some sort of basic notes app.

[00:12:34] As you're going through pages, share the link back to that app and just keep track of it.

[00:12:38] And it's going to be way easier for you when you get there because you're like,

[00:12:41] oh, I already looked into this.

[00:12:42] Let's figure out which option is affordable for us.

[00:12:45] And it doesn't have to be all at once.

[00:12:47] Like you said, you were 12 months ahead on your hypothetical vacation.

[00:12:50] If you start 12 months ahead on planning for other things,

[00:12:52] you're going to find so many different blogs, videos, tutorials about going places.

[00:12:57] People love to write that sort of stuff.

[00:12:58] So it's out there.

[00:13:00] You just got to plan it.

[00:13:00] Yeah, and then in planning you may find okay, going this time of year is less expensive

[00:13:04] than going at this time of year.

[00:13:05] So if you had some flexibility as well,

[00:13:08] then maybe you can even save more money by going on a, you know, during a certain month,

[00:13:11] at least.

[00:13:12] Yeah.

[00:13:13] Maybe you're really willing to take the heat so you're going to like the desert

[00:13:17] during summer because there's no one there.

[00:13:18] But you might be crazy, but that's a way to save money.

[00:13:23] Absolutely.

[00:13:24] So we're talking a lot about planning here.

[00:13:26] And how does planning and getting ahead of your finances as well,

[00:13:30] both generally and with vacations help contribute to saving money?

[00:13:33] Like let's just maybe wrap up a good conversation about planning.

[00:13:37] How does it help you save money?

[00:13:39] Well, planning is the key to anything.

[00:13:41] Um, you know, to, to, especially when it comes to saving money and the beauty of,

[00:13:45] and we'll kind of go back to the B word, the budget when you do it in advance.

[00:13:48] So you make a plan then you have flexibility.

[00:13:51] So when I do my monthly budget and we recommend here a mentor,

[00:13:55] you played it the month before.

[00:13:57] So like right now I'm planning to march this budget and that way there is flexibility.

[00:14:02] So I can see, hey, if the numbers don't work, guess what?

[00:14:06] I can make the adjustments now.

[00:14:08] Let's just say we're devoting $500 next month for entertainment.

[00:14:12] Well, you know what?

[00:14:13] If we're $300 short, we can cut that back to $200 a month and then we're going

[00:14:18] to make our budget meet, you know, or what are what we have coming in.

[00:14:21] So planning is the key because it gives us time to make those adjustments.

[00:14:26] If you wait until the day up to do it, well then you really don't have the time on your side

[00:14:32] to make any adjustments.

[00:14:33] So planning is key in most areas of life, but, but then we just see the direction

[00:14:38] that we're going and a motivational speaker is the singular said,

[00:14:41] if you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time.

[00:14:43] And that shows true when we're doing our plan.

[00:14:45] So we have to have that goal in mind,

[00:14:47] but if we have the time to plan for it, interprepare for it,

[00:14:51] then a lot of times it can become successful instead of, you know, in this case

[00:14:55] with money just yet another year that we have a bunch of credit card debt

[00:14:58] because we didn't make the proper plans.

[00:15:01] Yeah, planning and getting ahead of it.

[00:15:02] I like that.

[00:15:03] Often a term, I think this term is heard in like sales and marketing and like metrics

[00:15:07] and stuff that like lead versus lag measures.

[00:15:10] If you're only looking at your spending after the fact, you're looking at

[00:15:12] the, you're looking at what's lagging and what's falling out because of it.

[00:15:16] But if you're getting ahead of it with your monthly budget,

[00:15:19] you're in front of it and you're leading the charge towards like spending,

[00:15:22] like you said, it's way easier to say, oh, we need to cut back on these

[00:15:26] subscriptions this month because we're going to be traveling.

[00:15:29] So we don't need them.

[00:15:29] So there's a couple extra like 20, 50 bucks for you to spend

[00:15:33] because you can cancel it for one month.

[00:15:34] So that's only possible if you're looking ahead of time.

[00:15:37] Right.

[00:15:37] And it doesn't sound like much.

[00:15:39] But if you found $20 like on the ground, if you walked outside, wouldn't

[00:15:41] you be happy?

[00:15:42] Yeah.

[00:15:42] So it's the same thing.

[00:15:43] It's like you're finding $20.

[00:15:45] So yes, but but planning ahead is the key to that.

[00:15:48] So you can see exactly okay, this is how we're spending our money and

[00:15:51] what can we eliminate?

[00:15:53] It's to make it go further.

[00:15:55] Fantastic.

[00:15:56] That was awesome.

[00:15:57] That was great.

[00:15:57] I like that.

[00:15:58] Planning ahead gives you flexibility.

[00:16:00] That's a great thing for anyone to take away as that flexibility.

[00:16:03] Well, and you think about though a lot of times for us, we usually pay ourselves

[00:16:07] last.

[00:16:08] So when we get our paycheck, it goes towards everyone else.

[00:16:11] It goes to rent more.

[00:16:13] So we're paying other people first before we pay ourselves.

[00:16:16] And that's the problem because we're not planning ahead and then we end up

[00:16:19] running out of money by the time we pay everyone else and we have nothing to

[00:16:22] set aside for vacations, for emergency fund, for retirement, whatever it may be.

[00:16:27] But here again, when you play it ahead, create that budget, then you're giving

[00:16:30] yourself your allowing yourself that you're going to be able to have money to do

[00:16:34] what you want to do with and not dictated by what others want.

[00:16:39] Awesome.

[00:16:40] Fantastic.

[00:16:41] I love that conversation about vacations and everything right there.

[00:16:44] I want to talk a little bit about you and your finances and how you teach

[00:16:47] people on how you learn about money.

[00:16:49] How do you, how do you like to educate people about money?

[00:16:52] What are some maybe key things you hit on or stuff you like to pay attention to?

[00:16:56] Sure.

[00:16:56] So so I mentioned I was a school teacher and then over the course of my teaching

[00:16:59] career, my wife and I, my wife's teacher as well just kind of figured out how

[00:17:02] to do well with money.

[00:17:04] We lived on my teacher salary $42,000 a year raised two kids while she stayed

[00:17:08] home for eight years.

[00:17:09] We have no debt except our mortgage on track.

[00:17:11] So I mean, just we learn how to how to do well.

[00:17:14] So I just I wrote a couple books but then a couple of years ago, I joined

[00:17:18] Mentoro Financial Education Company because I want to show others that they

[00:17:22] can do it and right now we can read all the news headlines.

[00:17:25] It's doom and gloom.

[00:17:26] We know that if it believes at least right?

[00:17:28] And a lot of people fall into that and they get unsure.

[00:17:31] But you know, for me, I just want to show and that's, you know, the beauty here

[00:17:34] at Mentoro is that you can do it.

[00:17:36] And the best way I think to educate people and what we put a big

[00:17:40] emphasis on is meet people where they are.

[00:17:43] So we have a whole program where whether you're looking to get out of debt,

[00:17:46] whether you're looking to get your estate in order or whatever it may be,

[00:17:49] we can meet you where you are because a lot of people, you know, they have

[00:17:52] different needs obviously for someone just starting off, they may need to know,

[00:17:56] Hey, how do I start investing in my 401k?

[00:17:58] Whereas once you have a family, you need to learn about more about life

[00:18:01] insurance that's got to be something happened.

[00:18:03] So to me, the best way is you just have to meet people where they are.

[00:18:07] So if I'm talking to a 22 year old,

[00:18:09] they're probably not going to be that concern right now about retirement.

[00:18:12] I mean, that's 47 years down the road.

[00:18:14] We show them what it can do.

[00:18:15] You invest $100 a month, count out interest and do over that.

[00:18:18] But we also have to take care of those immediate needs as well,

[00:18:21] such as building up that emergency fund or building up that vacation fund.

[00:18:24] So you're not going into debt.

[00:18:26] So probably the best way, you know, what we try to do is just meet,

[00:18:29] you know, put personal back in personal finance and meet people where they are.

[00:18:34] Yeah, I think so many times people get ahead of themselves.

[00:18:36] They see someone doing something that they're not doing.

[00:18:39] And they think they need to get right there immediately.

[00:18:41] How do you help people navigate the overwhelm that can come with finances

[00:18:46] where they're saying, oh, all my friends are going on these nice vacations

[00:18:49] or affording all this nice stuff.

[00:18:50] But how do you get someone to realize where they are and be okay with that?

[00:18:54] And that's where you have to take a look at your overall financial picture.

[00:18:57] You have to look at how much you have coming in.

[00:18:58] And that's the thing when I would tell people to, you know,

[00:19:01] your friends may be posting the greatest TikTok videos and the best family vacation.

[00:19:05] But once again, it may be following them home in credit card debt

[00:19:08] and maybe maybe paid on that vacation for nine months.

[00:19:11] It's kind of like that Lexus commercial at Christmas where the wife comes out.

[00:19:14] She's so happy with the bow, but they don't fast forward to June

[00:19:17] when they're making $800 a month car payments on that car.

[00:19:20] Like it looks fun.

[00:19:21] So you just have to be real.

[00:19:23] And that's I think, you know, for a lot of people right now, social media is a difficult.

[00:19:28] It's definitely the FOMO culture where we think, okay, we're missing something yet.

[00:19:33] It's kind of like no one, not no, but most people don't pose bad stuff on social media.

[00:19:38] It's like the sports center top 10.

[00:19:39] It's highlights.

[00:19:40] It's the greatest things that are happening.

[00:19:42] It's not gosh, you know, I just had to pay off $500 a debt.

[00:19:46] No one usually talks about that.

[00:19:48] It's about the exciting stuff.

[00:19:49] So I think we just have to bring people back down and let them realize that.

[00:19:53] Yeah, these people maybe doing all these things.

[00:19:55] And heck, some of them may make a lot more than you and can afford it.

[00:19:58] But that's where we have to once again make it personal.

[00:20:01] What's it to you?

[00:20:02] And you're in a job and you're making $50,000 a year.

[00:20:05] Well, I don't care if your friend bought a $400,000 house.

[00:20:08] You probably shouldn't because this is what the future ramifications are going to be.

[00:20:13] So once again, I mean, it's, you know, back it was used to be keeping up with the

[00:20:16] Joneses now.

[00:20:17] It's just, you know, the FOMO keep it up with your friends.

[00:20:19] But we just have to do what's right for you and your family.

[00:20:23] And I think that's the most important thing.

[00:20:24] It's just it's easy to get caught up in things, but when you kind of take a breath and

[00:20:29] you just show numbers, numbers don't lie.

[00:20:31] That's what's great about it.

[00:20:32] You just kind of put it out there and then let them, you know, empower people to make

[00:20:36] the right choice on their own.

[00:20:38] Awesome.

[00:20:39] I like what you said about social media.

[00:20:40] Nobody's posting their electricity bill that was larger than expected and saying,

[00:20:45] what do I do with that?

[00:20:46] I need a more new tire.

[00:20:47] Is that right?

[00:20:48] Did you ever hear?

[00:20:49] No, it's never on there.

[00:20:50] So yeah, it's always that their nice car got them to this nice viewpoint that was too

[00:20:56] expensive or something like that.

[00:20:57] Yes.

[00:20:58] 100%.

[00:21:00] Awesome.

[00:21:01] I want to maybe dive a little bit more into what you said about you and your wife learn

[00:21:04] to do well with money.

[00:21:05] How did how did you guys learn about money?

[00:21:07] You know, for me, I was very blessed to have a family that so I grew up, my brother

[00:21:11] and I grew up in a small two bedroom one back-to-room house until I was in seventh grade.

[00:21:15] So I would look around and I would see my mom chose to stay home with us.

[00:21:18] So didn't live off much.

[00:21:20] But I would look around at my friends and they had a lot more things than we did.

[00:21:25] But at a young age, I realized they weren't happier.

[00:21:28] So I think it just kind of resonated with me.

[00:21:30] And then when I met my wife Tracy, we kind of, and this is big too,

[00:21:33] when we were engaged, we talked about our future.

[00:21:36] We actually talked about finance because it's so important.

[00:21:39] And then we made the decision at that point if we could to have her be able to stay at home.

[00:21:43] So here's where the planning starts.

[00:21:45] So we didn't have our first child until four years after we were married.

[00:21:49] But during that four years, we were planning ahead to where Tracy was going to stay home

[00:21:54] and obviously living on a teacher salary.

[00:21:56] We couldn't have car payments.

[00:21:57] We couldn't have a lot of data.

[00:21:58] We couldn't have a huge mortgage.

[00:21:59] So every, every spending, every buying decision,

[00:22:03] we kind of looked ahead to the future of okay, what is this going to mean for us down the road?

[00:22:07] And I think that's where a lot of people once again, they go wrong.

[00:22:11] It's a lack of planning.

[00:22:12] We get in the here and now, and we just spend money.

[00:22:15] However we think fit and we do not think about what the future is going to mean

[00:22:20] because of what we're doing right now.

[00:22:21] A lot of us just have, you know, in the here and now, I mean,

[00:22:24] you think about not as many people do anymore, but you think

[00:22:27] if anyone that smoked a cigarette ever in their life could look 50 years ahead

[00:22:31] and see what that could do to them, there's a hole in their throat or that no one would ever touch a cigarette.

[00:22:37] Right?

[00:22:37] Because you will see that.

[00:22:38] But a lot of people did because they don't look ahead.

[00:22:41] And a lot of people do the same thing when it comes to money.

[00:22:44] They don't look ahead to see, okay, these decisions are going to lead here one day.

[00:22:48] And I think that's the biggest key where we have to play it.

[00:22:51] I mean, I'm all for, I don't want to save, you know, all my money for 40 years down the road, right?

[00:22:56] We have to do have to enjoy the here and now, but kind of going back to today's conversation

[00:23:00] of saving for vacation.

[00:23:02] That's a relatively short term goal.

[00:23:04] So we can enjoy something in the short term, but we just have to plan for it.

[00:23:09] Awesome.

[00:23:10] I love that.

[00:23:10] Enjoy something in the short term, but you have to plan for it.

[00:23:13] That's a great quote to leave this episode on.

[00:23:16] Danny, thanks for joining.

[00:23:17] How do people find you?

[00:23:18] Tell us a little bit more about what you do and if they have questions, where can they reach you?

[00:23:22] Sure.

[00:23:22] So once again, I work for a financial wellness company, Mintoro.

[00:23:25] So if you just go to mymentoro.com, you can learn all about us.

[00:23:28] We have bite-sized learning courses.

[00:23:30] We have what we call money mentors that are specialized in their area that can help you achieve your financial goals.

[00:23:36] All sorts of great wallet apps.

[00:23:38] So just a slew of things, so just mymentoro.com and then you can find more information about me there as well.

[00:23:44] And yeah, just love to help people in any way that we can.

[00:23:49] Well, this has been a very helpful and great conversation to Annie.

[00:23:52] Thank you for joining.

[00:23:53] Yeah, I appreciate, appreciate your insight towards vacations and planning.

[00:23:56] Thank you so much.

[00:23:57] Cool.

[00:23:57] Thanks for having me on.

[00:23:58] Sky, this is fun.

[00:24:05] So again, thank you so much to Danny for coming on today's episode.

[00:24:13] But how is this going to impact you?

[00:24:14] What can you take away from today's interview?

[00:24:16] I want to go over it a little bit here to really discuss some of the ways you can find impact from today's episode.

[00:24:21] The first way is really some practical budgeting techniques.

[00:24:24] Make sure you're actually budgeting for your vacation.

[00:24:26] Make sure you're planning for it.

[00:24:27] Don't just think the money's just going to show up because it's probably not going to just show up magically.

[00:24:32] You got to prepare one of the great ways that Danny suggested

[00:24:35] is to figure out your cost when you want to go on vacation and divide that up in the preceding months.

[00:24:40] That's how sinking funds work.

[00:24:42] There's many, many episodes about sinking funds that I've done in the past.

[00:24:45] I talked about them a lot.

[00:24:46] So hopefully you know how they work.

[00:24:47] Like Danny said, you have a $1,200 vacation coming up in 12 months.

[00:24:51] That's $100 per month.

[00:24:53] So if you start planning for it a year in advance, you're going to easily have enough money because

[00:24:56] you're going to be budgeting that each month into your sinking fund or your bucket or whatever you want to call

[00:25:01] your vacation fund, and then you're going to have the money when it comes time to actually spend it.

[00:25:05] It makes it really easy to apply so make sure you're looking ahead more than just one to two months.

[00:25:10] And it's going to be really easy to plan and say for your next vacation.

[00:25:13] Another impact that I think you can take away is challenge of you on budgeting.

[00:25:16] Do you think budgeting is super restrictive and you really don't like it?

[00:25:20] Look at it from a liberating perspective.

[00:25:22] I like to say budgeting actually gives me the freedom to spend the money how I want.

[00:25:26] Budgeting really should be seen as something that allows you to spend your money

[00:25:29] when you're properly budgeting and your money is doing what you want to with your plan.

[00:25:32] It's very easy to spend it.

[00:25:33] It's easy to say here's my money.

[00:25:35] Here's the money that I have for vacation.

[00:25:37] Now let's go on vacation and let's spend that money, which is super fun and super exciting when you just

[00:25:41] have a little bit of a plan in place like Danny mentioned,

[00:25:44] budgeting can be like diets.

[00:25:46] It can be something that helps you break free of bad habits and helps you get on that right path.

[00:25:50] So consider budgeting is something that's really good for you and maybe shift that mindset that you have

[00:25:54] around budgeting when you're planning.

[00:25:55] You're really putting the control back in your court and making it a whole lot easier for you to

[00:25:59] figure out what you want to do with your money.

[00:26:02] Another way you get on top of that planning is by paying yourself first,

[00:26:05] like we've said multiple times break down that expense that you know is coming over multiple

[00:26:09] months and it makes it very easy to save for it.

[00:26:11] Pay yourself first,

[00:26:12] which is a great throwback to one of my recent videos about the unavoidable financial sacrifices where I talk

[00:26:17] about taking monthly subscriptions and turning them into monthly savings.

[00:26:21] So be sure to go and check out that video because it's a good one about unavoidable financial

[00:26:24] sacrifices.

[00:26:25] Couple other quick things that were important takeaways for me is being realistic in your

[00:26:29] vacation planning, make sure you understand the cost as they're coming so that you're not

[00:26:33] blindsided by those costs.

[00:26:34] Also in that same vein of understanding and being realistic,

[00:26:37] make sure you're realistic with your financial situation.

[00:26:39] Maybe you're not in a place to afford that giant vacation that you really want to take,

[00:26:43] but that's a great thing to dream towards which dreamless can be super powerful.

[00:26:47] Is there somewhere you've always wanted to go write it down,

[00:26:50] remind yourself of it every now and then and start saving towards that?

[00:26:53] Once you understand the cost and you're being realistic with where you're at,

[00:26:56] you're really going to be able to start moving in the right direction towards those goals that you really want to hit.

[00:27:01] One more thing I want to highlight that was important for me before we talk about the money talking points is

[00:27:06] that Danny and his wife started talking about money very early and they started planning for it.

[00:27:10] I know for my wife and I planning how we're going to handle our money is a huge reason that we're able

[00:27:14] to be successful with our finances.

[00:27:16] So make sure you're planning and talking about money with the spouse because I can't say it enough

[00:27:20] that talking about money is so important.

[00:27:22] But let's talk about the money talking points next.

[00:27:33] The first money talking point is how do I avoid over spending on vacation?

[00:27:37] And I think really the main thing is setting a realistic expectation of what you're going to spend

[00:27:42] because if you're being realistic that you're going to spend a lot of money,

[00:27:44] you're on vacation and you're going to buy nice things, things are going to be more expensive because you're a tourist.

[00:27:49] So be realistic and expect that.

[00:27:50] Don't go to Disney World with $200 and think you're going to be okay and then be upset that you overspend

[00:27:56] because it's probably going to cost you more than that.

[00:27:58] It's probably more than that just even get into the park.

[00:28:00] So make sure you're realistic do some research ahead of time because that's really going to help you avoid

[00:28:05] over spending on vacation.

[00:28:06] The second money talking point is is budget.

[00:28:08] The second money talking point is about budgeting.

[00:28:11] Is it restrictive or liberating?

[00:28:12] I think it's liberating.

[00:28:13] I love budgeting.

[00:28:15] I love being able to say here's the money we have now go spend it.

[00:28:17] It's so nice when my wife and I we have our separate funds or thinking funds,

[00:28:21] whatever you want to call it categories within our budget where we say here's some money that's for

[00:28:26] Skylarer. Here's some money that's for Rebecca now go spend it and I'll spend that money without

[00:28:30] even talking to Rebecca sometimes and she'll spend that money without even asking me because that's the way

[00:28:34] it should be.

[00:28:35] It's liberating and ultimately the biggest source of freedom for us because we talk about and plan our money

[00:28:40] so we know we're able to spend it comfortably.

[00:28:42] The third money talking point is how can planning play a role in my life beyond just money?

[00:28:47] Well, there are several different areas that planning could help you whether it's diet and exercise, vacation planning,

[00:28:53] maybe family planning is something you might need to consider.

[00:28:56] There's all sorts of different types of planning where if you start planning with your money,

[00:29:00] it's going to bleed over into those other areas and help you out in multiple ways because you're doing better with your

[00:29:05] money then you're going to start doing better at planning other things and it's going to just carry over so that's why we need

[00:29:10] to be talking about money more so we can do better with money and then begin doing better in all the other

[00:29:15] areas of our life.

[00:29:16] But let's wrap up today's episode next.

[00:29:27] Thank you so much to Danny for coming on today's episode we've explored some great practical approaches to budgeting planning and achieving financial freedom.

[00:29:35] Budgets are so important and sinking funds allow you to break down those expenses over multiple months and save for the long term.

[00:29:42] Consider sinking funds as monthly savings versus monthly payments.

[00:29:45] Are you making a monthly credit card payment or are you making a monthly deposit or savings into your savings account

[00:29:51] towards that future expense that you really want to buy?

[00:29:54] Planning is so important for vacations and your entire life and don't forget that budgeting can be empowering

[00:29:59] and the ultimate reason that you're allowed to spend money,

[00:30:02] guilt free because you have a good budget in place to make sure you're budgeting planning and setting up some

[00:30:07] sinking funds or that future vacation that you know you want to go on.

[00:30:10] Thank you for listening to today's episode of Money Talk with Scatter Fleming.

[00:30:13] Want to come on the podcast?

[00:30:14] Well, you can please reach out to me via email or on social media however I want to talk to more regular everyday people about how they

[00:30:21] grew up with money, how they learned about money, what they think about money.

[00:30:24] It's going to be some great insightful conversation because money touches every area of our lives.

[00:30:29] So if we're talking about it more we're going to learn so much about each other and how to do better with money.

[00:30:34] As always, a five star review would help tremendously.

[00:30:36] It helps other people find the podcast so if you can please go on whatever podcast player you're listening on.

[00:30:41] You got how to rate my podcast and give it five stars.

[00:30:43] I would greatly appreciate it.

[00:30:45] Thank you so much for listening to Money Talk with Scatter Fleming.

[00:30:48] I'm your host, Scatter Fleming.

[00:30:49] Have a great week.

[00:30:50] Thank you for listening to Money Talk with Scatter Fleming.

[00:30:53] This show is provided for informational and entertainment purposes and may not be specific to your unique situation.

[00:30:59] Please be sure to do additional research before making any financial decisions.