Hello.
My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it. She's on the Money.
She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money podcast for people who want financial freedom. My name is beck Syed and with me, as always, is a Victoria Devine.
I'm excited for this one.
I'm excited.
Oh, I'm explorided. I think this is.
Probably topical for a lot of people. This episode. Let's go and it's gonna be very useful, so v. In twenty twenty three, approximately seven point twenty seven million Australians traveled from Australia overseas slay. That's like all Australia no, it's not.
But that's a lot of people, a lot of people.
But as you dream of going on holiday and plan your next adventure, it's essential to prepare yourself financially for the journey. That's why today we are talking about how to prepare for just that financially. Let's get ready because we want to travel.
I'm excited, and we've had so many money diarists recently talking about travel. I feel like I've like sparked a new interest in travel, which is really poorly timed because apparently traveling with a newborn is not that easy. But I'm probably gonna do it anyway. So this is like me having done some research for me that I'm sharing with you guys. The first thing I want to say, though,
and I'm not saying saying you're gonna hate me. It's just a confronting thing that not everyone agrees with, but I think it is the most responsible thing I can share with you. If you cannot afford travel insurance and you do not have an emergency fund when going overseas, you cannot afford to travel back. If you do not have the insurance that you need to cover yourself in the event of an emergency. I hope it's the biggest waste for money in the e world. But if you
don't have that, you can't go. And if you don't have an emergency fund to get out of any situation that you're in. We're not saying like millions of dollars. We just need access to cash so that you can get out of a situation. Like say you travel to Paris. Rightly you're like, oh, great, I got this backpack is hostel and it's really really good, and you finally get there and you realize that like your roommates are really
creepy and making yourself feel really uncomfortable. I need you to have enough cash to get out of that situation. And if you don't put yourself in that position when traveling, you can't afford to go. So like, that's the negative note that we're starting on. But it's gonna get good from here because then we have some of our tips and tricks. So I do apologize, but I do think it's so important to just be like, look, I was a financial advisor. I also would like to think I
have my head screwed on. You might not agree, and that's fine, but at least I told you by totally.
It's a tough pill to swallow.
It's not nice because you're often like already budgeting for so much and in the Cosey lives the room right now, you don't want to hear, Oh, there's these other costs that you've got to allocate for.
We didn't think about it, of course, But.
Today, beck, we're not only going to explore how to set your budget before setting sail, but also we're going to discuss the often overlooked aspects of budgeting for your return home. So fasten your little sleep belt. You're gonna have to get over your fear of flying, beckh you can. We're gonna work on it.
That's so true. Okay, sorry, I've been watching yellow Jackets. That's incurable choice. But v we have done a few episodes in the past on travel and your finances, so we're gonna link these in the show notes. A few just off the top of my head, travel saving hacks, slag, common financial mistakes for travelers, travel ensure sexy. But I want to talk about something that can be common for some people. Do you think it can be hard letting go of money on something like travel If you've been
saving hard, like can it feel like a waste? Oh yeah, of money, which is a weird thing.
Now it totally cares. So in like twenty eighteen, my two best friends Steph and Rose and I we decided to do Europe together and so like we'd obviously planned it in advance, and oh my gosh, like I just remember, I'm gonna go find the spreadsheet for that, because okay, you and I both know that I was meticulous in
spreadsheeting that. So I want to know what the total budget is and I cannot remember, but I remember it being so expensive, like it would have been over ten thousand dollars for this trip, and that was individually, like as in each because we spent six weeks in Europe, So I think, like ten grand for a six week trip nowadays is pretty good, but this was twenty eighteen,
so we had done a lot of saving. Anyway, I remember saving, saving, saving, and we went to a travel agent and we'd like set it all up with them because we're like, we don't really know what we're doing. We want an itinerary for six whole weeks, and you know, we all couldn't decide on like where we wanted to go. So we went to this travel agent kind of brain dumped on her and said sort it out anyway. I remember when all of that was sorted and she was like,
you're happy with all of that? Can I start looking it in? And we were like yeah, yeah, let's go. Let's go. And she sent us an invoice via email to be like this is what Stefo's Rose Victoria and it was all the same. But I remember being like, wait, what I have to give you the cash? Like oh yeah, I just had built up this level of safety, like a feeling of having cash yeah to go, and then realizing I had to give it away and I was like oh yeah, so yeah, Like even I experienced that, I feel like.
When you're spending money on an experience, it does feel like if you can't see where all your money went at the end.
Yeah.
I mean by the time we went on the trip, we had all fully paid for the trip, so nothing was outstanding. So that then felt good because we weren't having to cough up cash at every hostel and every trip tail. Oh yeah, go a math like if you pay for it in a dance, did you really favor it? But it did feel bad, but I think it's really important to you know, have your values aligned and go, you know, I do want to do this, and if it's a goal of yours, create that goal. Save for
that goal. And it can be really gratifying. Like I remember being on the trip. This was like sealed in my mind.
Right.
We're sitting in this little park in France. We were in Paris, and we were having a very frugal trip back and we had gone to a local supermarket and bought some like baguette and some cheese. And I remember so vividly picking apricots because I was just like, oh, apricots in you know, France. For me for some reason, that was really nice. And I bought these apricots, and I'm sitting in the park on the most beautiful day,
and I was like, I did this. I got myself here, I paid for this, Like amazing, that feeling of being like wow, I'm so grateful, but also how cool. And I took a picture of the apricot because I was like I need to remember this, like it was just so weird. But I think it can also be so gratifying because you just know you've achieved this massive goal.
Amen's sister so cool, right, So what's the first step when we're actually planning to travel.
We're back to the boring partner apricots here, but we're going to set our budgets. So, unless you're obscenely wealthy unrelatable, traveling without a budget is like embarking on a journey without a map. It might be like super exhilarating you first, but you risk losing your way and just running around. I'm not achieving much, guilty. You need to understand if you're a luxury traveler or maybe like a budget adventurer.
I was like a mix of both, Like I wanted the lux but I couldn't afford the lot totally, so we compromised and stayed in hostels but did more lux experiences, which I think you know, there's always a level of compromise, but your budget is essentially your compass and steering towards the experiences the line with your preferences. So some people might say I would never stay in hostel V like
absolutely not. Couldn't do it, Okay, Like I'm not saying you have to do what I did, but like when I sat down and worked out what budget I had to travel and how much I could save in the period of time that we were saving, and my friends were on very similar incomes to me at the time, so it didn't feel like, you know, one of us was significantly you know, out earning and had higher expectations.
But we had these conversations and it was like, all right, well, we don't really have the budget for fancy hotels or even hotels at all. Let's go find some really good like hostels that we could stay in. And like, our compromise was stay in a hostel, but we want it
to be private room like, so we felt safe. And so you need to understand that because that's going to be a major expense that will stop you from achieving other things while you're over there, Right, So we did that knowing that we could have done the same amount of time in really fancy hotels, but we wouldn't have
had very much budget for day to day activities. Yeah, so we're like, actually, we would prefer to be able to go and do fun stuff every day, and we kind of don't mind where we crash as long as we're safe. So I guess that leads into making sure that you're outlining your major expenses. So first you'll have transportation, and you need to when you're looking at transportation, not
just look at the plane flight there. One of the things that stings a lot of people is the transfer from your airport to wherever you're staying, and that can also be a bit of a clunky journey. So unless you're a really lean traveler, like we had three girls that were getting off a plane after you know, twenty four hours plus traveling, we all had six weeks worth of luggage that wasn't just going to go in a
standard taxi, you know. So we had to work out have we organized if we're catching a train and catching a train with two wheelly suitcases each. I regret that was what was in budget, Beck, So.
We did it.
We were so grumpy, Like the day we arrived, we're all a bit salty, but that is okay. We need to work out accommodation meals, what activities are you going to do, travel, insurance, beck, and any unexpected issues that you might encounter on your trip. Obviously, flexibility is key when making a budget, and while it's essential to have a roadmap, I want you to leave room for some level of spontaneity because you'll get somewhere and be like,
oh my god, that's so cool. I really want to participate. But if it's too locked and loaded, you're not going to be able to do that. So I would make sure that there's like a little bit of budget left for spontaneity and making sure that you can join in on a few things. Obviously, I also want you to consider a budget not as a restriction, but more as a tool to enhance your travel experience. It's a way to kind of ensure that you can savor every moment
without worrying about your financial situation. Becau, there's nothing worse than going oh bit nof more than I can chew, and then you're anxious your whole holiday. I know, absolutely not that sounds like trash. Let's not do that. Let's just be really realistic and go all right, we've got ten grand, how far can we make this stretch? Or I've got five grand or whatever it is. And these are big numbers. So there's a lot of privilege in
traveling as well. But I also just want to be like, well, once you've got your budget, what are we doing with it? How is it gonna work for us? How can we you know, set in Stone as many things, so that you know, beck, once you get to this place, you're not like, oh, I didn't realize it in me, do you know what I mean? We just don't need that stress, So what's next? So unnecessary unless you're going old school. Phones are a vital part of our day today, right,
So when I am overseas, it's glued to me. I know it shouldn't be should be hiding it, but I'm using it for Google Maps. I'm using it to look up a coffee shop. I'm using it to like get to my next destination, take photo, take photos. I'm using it to you know, order uber Like absolutely, you don't really want to be sprung with a huge phone bill while you're away, so check your list and check it twice.
Because when I went to Europe, I was like great, Like I had a phone plan that gave five dollars a day international roaming, which gave me access to my existing data. It's like great, that works for me, And I googled it was a available in the locations I was going. Yep, absolutely every location I was going is available in Great Norries. Tick tick tick tick tick. But
it wasn't available in the UAE. So we did a stopover in Dubai and my dumb us went and turned my phone on and my girlfriends were like, oh, we don't have reception. I was like, don't worry, just tether to my phone.
Oh gosh is it?
Eight hundred dollars later that's how much my phone bill was in Dubai because it didn't have international roaming. But because I was like, well that's fine, like I've got access to this, I just turned it on and started using it. But Dubai wasn't included.
Oh no, that's.
That I talked my way out of it. I called. I was so apologetic. I was like I didn't know and like I kind of boord this and then they were like, okay, no worries, Like oh I think I ended up paying like two hundred dollars or something instead of like that was nice if them wasn't it?
That's really nice?
But still, but phone plan understand it. You might find that getting a SIM card when you get overseas is the cheapest and best for you.
It's a good idea.
Another is do you need to negotiate a new rate or plan with your service provider? So like you might want to switch carriers before you're going to make sure that you're getting the best bank for bucks. So, like, there's lots of things to think about and plan before you go. When it comes to like.
Tech, gotcha okay, okay, okay, I'm liking it. You know, so far nothing seems too out of reach. What's nothing out of reach? If we have a plan back, Yeah, one hundred percent fee, sit.
Down, nothing, not one thing, but we are going to want to have a think about how you're going to pay for things, the actual transactions, like are we're going to go overseas with a credit card? Are you going to use a debit card? Are you getting cash out? Now? I certainly can't be trusted with one, but if you have a credit card, cards with minimal foreign transaction fees and travel perks can be a really good option. Important though,
before you travel back, call we bank. Let them know because red flag to them is seeing Beck buy a coffee in Melbourne one morning and then all of a sudden, she's buying coffee in France. They're gonna go scam sus block your card, make sure Beck can't access her money because we're trying to protect Beck. But you need to call your bank and be like, hey, got some travel plans. If you see transactions from France, it will indeed be me.
It will be me making transactions in France. I wouldn't underestimate the importance of cash, so some places might not have embraced the card revolution. So having a little bit of local currency is important and can be a lifesaver. I actually found this to be more true in the US than in Europe, because Europe seemed to be pretty across like tap to pay and credit card transactions and stuff,
and I was in the US last year. If they're smaller businesses, like they don't have Apple Pay, like they take legit credit cards, and because I'm so in I guess the swing of just taking my phone places and expecting to pay. There were a few places that I got to that I went to like tap to pay and they're like, oh, no, you have to use like a real card, and I'd be like, sorry, what, I'm not carrying one, Like I left all of those in
my hotel, Like yeah, just use Apple Bay. So when you are traveling, having a number of different options can be really helpful. Also, I'm an anxious girlie. Having a number of different cards has always made me feel really good. So if I'm traveling overseas, like I'll have my standard debit card, but I'll also have one with another bank, and both debit cards that are carrying person never have
access to my full amount of money. I'll always like just transfer five hundred dollars ish each time that I need to from my big travel budget over to that debit card. So if it gets lost and someone starts being tap happy, like, I'm not losing absolutely everything. So really, and you know, if my card gets skimmed or something overseas, like, they don't have access to, you know, all of my savings.
They just have access to the money that I've given myself access to for like that day, all those few days.
You know, that's fairy clever idea NAVI. I am shocked to my core that I I've only heard this word a few times peppered throughout this I don't know what's your favorite thing to talk about? Travel insurance.
You're like me, I'm so sick of insurance.
I am, but I am shocked and I'm kind of proud of you that you haven't brought it up more so far. Do you want to talk about it. No, it's all good.
Thanks for bringing it up, of course, but yes, I do really want to talk about travel insurance.
There she is.
Yeah, it's so important. We had my friend Rihanne and Tracy on the podcast a while ago, and thankfully she had travel insurance. But when she was twenty, Like, if you've listened to the episode, you'll know the story. If you haven't, please go listen to the episode, because really you will see the value in travel insurance. Yeah, she dove into a pool in Bali and it was more shallow than she thought it would be. And now she's a paraplegic, she's thriving like she's one of the coolest
human beings I know. But that is one thing that you just can't foresee. She was twenty, she was having the best time. She was even partying or drinking. She was on just like a chill holiday with her mom. Like you wouldn't expect that kind of outcome, right, Like you don't go to Bali and think, oh, hey, this is gonna be wild. I'm with my mom, do you know what I mean? So I think it's so important and so many people go, oh, it's not with it.
I don't bother with it. Like I think there's this automatic default that it's not about covering your person, it's about covering your stuff. They're like, oh, I can't be bothered. It's so expensive. If I lose my phone or just replace it whatever, I'll get a new one when I get home. Like it's actually more than that. It's actually not about your luggage being covered, because I don't care
about your luggage back. Like to be real brutal, if you lost your suitcase, great, we can replace that quite easily. Might be expensive, it's really frustrating. You know, you've got all your skin care products in there in that stuff adds up, but you haven't lost your life and your parents aren't paying three hundred thousand dollars to have you airlifted from a random country back to Australia. Like that's
what I want you to be protected from. I want to make sure that if you need, you know, to be met vacked from one location to another, it's not going to financially cripple you. I need to know that if something happens in a foreign country and you get hurt, you don't have thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of medical bills. And you have heard how bad the American system is, right, that system applies to you if you are over there and you do not have
travel insurance. Same with every other healthcare system around the world. You might go, oh, their hospitals are good. But it's not really about that, is it. It's about getting you home safely because you can't just get on a normal flight.
Yeah.
So yeah, I've just got a lot to say about that. Obviously, I want it to be the biggest waste of money in the entire world. Like I would love you to go v I travel all the time, always get travel insurance, never claimed on it. What a waste. I'd be like, lucky you slayh Like that's so good. But make sure that you're when you start looking into this, you're choosing a policy that actually aligns with your travel ambitions. So are you going to be like paragliding or skiing or
scuba diving. You need to make sure that your insurance actually covers these activities. So showing my privilege again, I have been to New Zealand to go skiing. That is a different country. I need travel insurance for that, but I need to upgrade my travel insurance to include snowsports, ye, because otherwise it's not included. And if I got hurt skiing, they'd be like, well, you didn't have that level of cover. So make sure you are checking it, because, as I
said before, it's not actually about protecting your belongings. I mean, it's nice to have as a little security blanket, but it's actually about your life. It's about making sure that you're in the best possible position. And I mean the bonus of that is travel insurance usually covers things like flight cancelations, obviously medical emergencies, but making sure that you have the right cover. Let's go to a break because
I need to calm down. But if you don't have travel insurance, you can't afford to travel beck end of story. But see you on the flip side of this break.
Welcome back, everyone. So we're talking about how to prepare your finances for travel, and you left us on a bit of a giant pill two swallows, So I hope everyone's gotten that down nice and safely.
Nice and smoothly, nice and smoothly, yeah, nice and smoothly.
Shut right down. So you have a few more things to say.
I actually want to ask a question. Okay, Beck, have you ever been traveling and then spent every single cent in your bank account and had nothing left for when you come home?
Yes?
So it's Jessic Gorici like, I feel like we've all done.
It right totally.
Yolo. I'm overseas, need to have the best time ever, Like I don't want to miss out on a thing. Comes home and there's twenty seven cents in your account and you're like.
Worry about that later.
Yeah, so the problem for another day. It's not we're going to make sure that we're okay. We need to talk about budgeting for when you come home. It's so easy to get excited and swept up in the trip that you actually forget that you'll be coming home and have like bills to pay, life to pay for you
actually have to put food on the table. Still really boring when you get home that you're not eating baggettes under the Eiffel Tower, but you actually have to go to the supermarket and stock up your fridge because you've been away for a while and that costs money. And often we come home and we don't have that money. It's so important to I guess acknowledge that every journey it's going to come to an end, and returning home, yeah,
there's going to be some financial consequences. So first things first, I would make sure that I understand what my bills or rent or mortgage and other related costs are going to cost us. It's super tempting to focus on, I guess, just the adventure, but returning to a financial mess can obviously dampen the post holiday glow. We want to keep that going as long as possible, so set aside a portion of your budget to cover these impending costs. Gabby
who is on the she's on the money team. She's just got back from a massive Europe trip, and she had a really cool few tips for me when it came to budgeting, because obviously we like talk about it off air as well, and she was like, one of my favorite things because petrol sucks. When you get home, you've probably got an empty tank. She said, I always make sure that I fill my car full of fuel before I leave for a trip, so I have it
full tank coming home. And she said, and sometimes I'll buy myself like one hundred dollars fuel gift card, pop it in the center consoles. So when I come home. I know I've got the fuel in there, and I'm not gonna have to pay for fuel for a little while. So isn't that smart? I feel like so much less stressed coming home to Oh yeah, actually I've got money for that, and I can't spend it on anything else either.
And she said, making sure that she has like some non perishable items in the pantry, So making sure she's got some pasta and some tomato paste and like some stuff that she can make some dinners with without having to go to the supermarket. Because obviously you're like, I don't want to split with more food. You could prepay some of your bills, so if you know, oh, quarterly we pay xys, why don't I just call up and ask what you know an indication of my next bill
is going to be. They might go, it's one fifty, all right, or I'm just going to put one fifty on the account so that when that bill comes it's not going to sting as much. Like let's take so much pressure off ourselves. Same thing with like rand and mortgage,
like make sure that that is allocated. Have a think about I guess baggage fees as well, Like what if you really like shopping, Beck, are you going to get stung at the airport on the way home when you have mixed to no money because your bags are real heavy. Make sure that we're thinking about this, like, I know that when we go overseas, you'll be like that, I have twenty three kilos. Do you know how easy it
is to go over that twenty three kilos? You've been collecting souvenirs the hallway home and then they're like, yep, so your bag has come over. That's just one hundred and eighty dollars.
You're like, sorry, what, Yeah, that's a good point.
We have one hundred and eighty dollars and I don't want to throw my stuff out.
That's a very good point.
Fee Obviously, we need to plan for these expenses in advance to make sure that there's like a little smooth transition home and we're not stressed and we just get to continue our holiday glow.
I love that this is kind of off topic and maybe irrelevant for a lot of people, but really quickly, there's this freezer hack where you put a coin on top of like an ice cube or something to see if.
I've seen that on and I'm Sorry, I was trying to swallow some of my oat last which I definitely shouldn't have while we're recording.
But isn't that smart If you're gonna put meals in the freezer, you know, maybe there's a blackout or something and you want to see if the food's been unfrozen then refrozen.
Yeah, you put a coin on the top of a frozen cup of water, and if you get home and the coin is still on top of that piece of frozen ice, we're all good. Freezer didn't turn off, Yes, But if the coin has melted through and he's now at the bottom of the cup, well, your whole freezer has been defrosted and refrozen.
While you're exactly all sorts a bit of a money saving hat because you can chuck a couple of coins on there, you forget.
Put put fifty bucks in the bottom.
Yeah, exactly genius. So I guess that kind of does it. But is there anything else?
Look, I think it's really important that when you're spending your hard earned money and taking some time off, we want to savor all of those moments. So making sure that you're not coming home to a financial stress that takes the shine away to me is really important. And making sure that you're covering yourself and budgeting for everything is going to mean that just the holidays better.
I have so much more.
Fun if you know you're not under any financial stress. Like, no one wants to come home to a financial mess, and we don't have to if we plan well, Beck and I love it. We can do that. That's very easy. I think that's all we have time for today.
I think that's a pretty good episode and a good place to leave it.
Oh, we're so smart. We have a good week, guys. We will see you on Friday.
Bye, guys.
The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
authorized representatives of Money. Sheper pty Ltd ABN three two one is six four nine two seven seven zero eight a f s L four five one, two, eight, nine
H