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Tips to plan your finances for a second honeymoon
“We shall come back after 5 years for our second honeymoon”, I said turning to my wife who stood staring with stars in her eyes at the enchantingly beautiful meadows that stretched out below us. We were literally in a paradise also known as Switzerland.
She gave me an incredulous look. I could read her eyes. There were doubt, belief, and disbelief blending into the expression in her eyes, there were a hundred unspoken questions. I understood perfectly, she was wondering how I would be able to manage another trip to Switzerland as she knew that the trip costs a bomb. I just smiled confidently at her as I was confident about my financial skills and management.
We did go to Switzerland on our second honeymoon again and probably will go there for our third as well. No, I have not won a lottery or busted a bank, all I have done is some prudent planning of my finances and some wise investments.
Here are some simple tips shorn of all financial jargon and stated in simple terms that will help in the realization of dreams.
Plan your finances – Tip Number One
Take stock of your income and outflow and determine what amount of money you can set aside for investment every month or quarterly. The budget for all recurring expenses as well as contingency expenses before you earmark funds for investment.
Plan your finances – Tip Number Two
Decide on how much of risk you can afford to take with your money, as this will determine the investment option that you would be choosing. Another important aspect to keep in mind is the investment term and the reason for the investment, e.g., are you investing so that you can use the returns for a dream holiday or is it for some other planned expense coming your way. In short, decide on your investment goals and how much you can and want to invest.
Plan your finances – Tip Number Three
Once you are clear about your own investment profile and risk taking capacity, it is time to look at available investment avenues. Not putting all your eggs in one basket is definitely one of the dicta one should follow. It is always prudent to spread the risk by investing portions of your money in low-risk as well as medium and high-risk investment options.
SIP Demystified
One of the most popular and convenient investment options for salaried people is SIP. SIP which simply means Systematic Investment Plan helps plan your finances and enables one to invest in mutual funds and get good returns. The fact that one can invest small amounts every month based on ones’ capacity makes this kind of investment attractive. SIP is also quite convenient and simple and removes all the complexities of investing. The systematic approach also ensures cushioning against market fluctuations. For those with who are ready to take a medium to high risks, definitely investing in Mutual Funds through a SIP option is a very attractive proposition. The fact that your investment is in the hands of expert professionals is a comforting thought and you can relax and see your dreams blossoming into reality.
What the Markets look like
According to the Economic Times, 2017 is a good year to invest in stocks for the long term. Historically the Indian markets have given good returns when the long-term historical returns have been low, as is the case currently. Hence the climate is right to invest taking advantage of the low return period. Experts are of the view that systematic investment over a time range of next 3 years should see a return of 15% to 18% as compared to the current 10-year rolling return of 6.64%.
But as a retail investor, it is difficult to research and keep abreast of the constantly changing dynamics of the market and its complexities. Hence it is wise to trust your investments with reputed advisory firms. Edelweiss is one such company which has launched a fully automated quality research based robo advisory “Guided Portfolios” which understands you and plan your finances, your risk ability and creates the best portfolio resulting to better returns than the benchmark.
Summing up, the logic is very simple, a honeymoon, first, second or third would definitely be an expensive affair, especially if you want to getaway to exotic destinations like Switzerland, Hawaii, Seychelles, Maldives, South-East Asia etc.. So what do you do? Plan your finances. Plan before you dream. Invest your money and watch it grow and transform your dreams into actual experiences that will stay with you for a long, long time.
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Glad to learn your financial genius-ness allowed you to go back for second honeymoon. These are awesome tips that I can use as I save up for my masters program
We are currently saving and planning for a big family vacation. These are great tips for saving for anything.
We have been doing a bunch of traveling and it is all because of savings and learning how to invest out money to work for us.
These are wonderful tips! I am not a big risk taker when it comes to my money. The market makes me nervous.
We went on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation this summer because of how we budgeted. We went without any debt and it was probably the best. These are wonderful tips and I think if people will be able to have fun and still save.
The ebb and flow of the markets makes me leery of investing. These are great tips!
I’d love to take a family vacation but it’s simply not in the cards for us right now. Planning and having a goal to work towards is helpful for some people.
Planning before dreaming is awesome advice…one we don’t always follow lol! We usually go on a vacation once a year regardless of finances. Not very smart! Though where we go usually depends on how much we can spend so I guess baby steps 🙂
We have a travel fund that we put money into each month for anniversary trips and family vacations. It’s definitely better to save ahead of time so you know your budget.
Planning your finances is really important when you want to travel. You don’t want to go into debt to travel.
These are great tips! Although we aren’t into the idea of a second honeymoon right now, we are wanting to go a big vacation next year!
I would love to save up to take a second honeymoon. I will have to try these tips and see how much I can save.
My husband and I love going on trips especially during the summer and we make sure to keep our finances in check to be able to do that. I think these are awesome tips especially for people who don’t travel often.
We made it a point to teach our children to save for something they want. (Note: “Want” because we provide for their “Needs.”). Setting a good example of how to save was the trick. When we set a goal, like a family vacation in a place we all would love to visit, we make a collective effort as a family to save for it. We keep a journal of how much we have already saved. It makes it easier for the kids to feel they are accomplishing something to meet the goal.
We are saving for our 10-year anniversary to go back to Europe to either do a cruise or something similar and just visit different places. For our 5 year we are trying to go to England, and a few other places. We’ve been saving for a while and I’m excited.
I love the idea of actually saving for what we want rather than maxing out credit cards like what has become the norm these days. IT is more rewarding to pay for it without having any debt.
I definitely like to plan my finances out. I’ve got a pretty good budget rolling that allows us our vacations.
A second honeymoon sounds phenomenal. It would be wonderful to be able to go and reconnect with your significant other. This is a great post about planning your finances for that it can be really hard to find the money to go on vacations or trips like this but it is very important.
This is very timely, because my hubby and I have been talking about planning for our first honeymoon…the one we never had when we got married 11 years ago! We went to my middle daughter’s wedding (daughter from my previous marriage) in Punta Cana in 2013 and it was a big hit on the finances then. We would love to go back there some time on our OWN and enjoy the amenities again without any particular schedule or obligations. So yeah, need to save money and plan wisely!
These are really great tips for saving money for any trip. It’s amazing when you really look at your finances to see that there really is quite a bit to play with in your personal budget. Especially if you think outside the box. I need to look a little closer at investing though, those are some great tips!