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Maxene Jennings
- October 3, 2019
My wife and I recently decided to take a year off of work and travel the world. How can you afford to travel the world? Put simply, as Dave Ramsey says, we “live like no one else, so later we can live like no one else”. I agree with this statement, but I don’t think that it has to be later. For us it’s right NOW!!!
When my wife and I made the decision to spend a year traveling the world, most of our friends and family were excited and also surprised that we could actually afford to live out our dreams when we were this young. Guess what? YOU CAN TOO!!! You probably don’t think you can, but in this article I’ll show you how we went from flat broke to world travelers in a relatively short amount of time.
I know, right now you are probably saying, “I’ll never be able to do that.” or “I don’t have the money to travel.” That was the response that we received most of the time when we told people that we were going to take a year off of work and travel around the world for a year.
For many of you it may be somewhat unrealistic, but only to a point. I understand if you have kids or other responsibilities that you’ve chosen as higher priorities. I respect that with all of my heart. However, for the rest of us that think world travel is just too expensive, I’m proof that anyone can do it. I believe that if you apply the principles below, then you can achieve any dream or goal that it is in your heart, no matter the financial cost.
For most of you reading this, world travel is definitely a realistic possibility.
This blog is not just for following us around the world. Hopefully it encourages and inspires everyone reading to live their dreams, follow their passion, and fulfill their calling in life. It really only takes an open mind, the willingness to GO, and a bit of discipline.
Here are 4 principles that we have applied that have helped us meet our financial goals:
#1 GET THE RIGHT SAVINGS ACCOUNT
A great way to save money, short-term, without any extra work or time is to put your savings into an online checking or money market account.
My Credit Union savings account accrue’s approximately 0.15%/year in interest, which is calculated quarterly. For example, let’s say I have $1000 in my savings account. That means I would earn about $1.50 per year in interest. I can see everyone rushing to their nearest Credit Union for interest rates this high!
The amount I would make is actually a little more than that because of compound interest, but that’s a totally different subject that I’m not going to go into. I just want to do simple math for the example. However, you can find out more about compound interest regarding savings accounts. I’ve found that Investopedia has some great financial resources and is easy to understand.
Trust me, you want to know about compound interest. It’s free money and all you have to do is watch the pennies pile up.
Now, back to money market accounts!
Because my Credit Union’s interest rates were so low, I opened a Money Market Account through Ally Bank, which is online only. You can read about Money Market Accounts. They are a great alternative to your traditional savings account that is probably earning the lowest interest rates possible.
Ally pays 0.85% interest per year and it is calculated daily! That means my same $1000 earns $8.50/ year in interest. Plus, it’s calculated daily so I actually earn more as it is compounded more often. Yes, I’ve seen interest rates for savings accounts as high as 1.25%, but there were also some fees involved with the accounts. I think that Ally actually offers a 1% interest checking account, which I may switch over to. In the meantime, I’m still enjoying a plush 0.85% interest by doing nothing. Now imagine if you had much larger numbers than $1000. You can check out the Ally Money Market Account. This can really add up without having to do anything except keep your money in the bank.
I even got a debit card with the account! However, there are only 6 debit transactions available per month without charge. This is a savings account though, so the only thing I’d ever be using it for is an emergency.
That’s one thing to note – Keep your savings account your savings account. It’s easy to dip into it if you’ve spent all of your “spending money” for the week and really want to go out with friends. Sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to accomplish your goals. Actually, nothing in life that is really worth anything comes without some sort of sacrifice – besides compound interest!
#2 COUPONS, REBATES, AND CLEARANCE
Another way that you can save money is signing up for email offers, coupons, and browsing the internet (sometimes for hours) to get the best deals. Yes, this is no secret, but in our culture of convenience you often pay a much higher price than you have to. The first thing I do when I walk into a store, especially if I’ve never been there before, is to go online to see if they have any coupons, rebates, ect. It’s amazing how much money you can save by taking 30 seconds to look online.
We had to buy a lot of stuff in order to go on this trip. Yes, some of it may have been unnecessary (new backpacks, shoes, camera, ect). However, I didn’t pay full price for anything except my backpack. It is from Tortuga and they only sell their backpacks from their online store. I couldn’t find a coupon for it, but I’m okay with that as I looked as much as I could and still couldn’t find a better deal.
I literally saved thousands of dollars on what we needed just by looking on the internet for clearance deals and from purchasing on ebay.
I spent hours online looking at product reviews, comparing multiple stores, and creating countless “Carts” that I would never end up using. To me, it was worth it. If you asked my wife she would say the exact opposite.
Maybe you don’t have the patience to sit for hours looking in the clearance area of 10 different online stores. However, you probably have a friend that loves to shop and you could make a night of it. One thing that will definitely help in the process is finding creative ways to make yourself like doing something that you hate.
#3 SET GOALS
In my opinion, one of the most important ways you can save money is to set goals. Setting goals is definitely one of the most important lessons that we’ve learned through this whole process. We would not be where we are financially if we didn’t have goals to keep us on track and give us the persistence to keep saving and stop spending. The goal you set doesn’t have to be anything huge, it just has to be in place.
The point is not really what you set as your goal, but that you set them – period.
It’s actually easier if you start small, because it will give you a boost of confidence. Once you start accomplishing the small goals it will give you hope for the larger ones. Our first goal was a $1000 emergency fund. We put this in place so that if anything serious happened we would have the money to pay for it.
In each phase of our financial journey we have set higher and higher goals because we began to realize that we could actually accomplish them. When we first started to change our mindset regarding finances there was almost no hope of getting out of debt or saving our money, and world travel wasn’t even a consideration until our retirement – which was in a whole different world by itself.
However, we soon learned that anything is possible for those that are willing to put in the effort and do the things necessary to live out their dreams.
#4 DISCIPLINE
Yes, discipline is required for you to actually achieve your goals. Most of us probably hate it as much as we hate paying for taxes and insurance. However, it is also necessary and has also changed my life. Taxes and Insurance haven’t changed my life, just discipline. A few years ago my wife and I started budgeting every penny. We did our budget as soon as we got paid and every dollar had a name. What does that mean? It means that we told our money where to go. This concept is a lot easier said than done.
After a month or two of seriously budgeting every dollar it becomes a lot easier. Also, you’ll find out how much you are spending on worthless things and what you can cut out in order to immediately start saving or at least start paying off more debt.
We cut out almost all unnecessary expenses to be able to save more. Well, we didn’t start saving immediately. First we had to pay off our debt. We had some credit cards, student loans, and the largest debt was a car. With a lot of determination and a pretty meager lifestyle we were able to pay off all of our debt within a year. By meager, I mean that we had no internet, no cable, only went out to eat sparingly, bought the bare minimum for food (while still eating healthy), and really started to shop for bargains everywhere we could get them.
After the year was over and all of our debt was paid off we realized how much we could have saved if we didn’t have any debt to begin with. This was like a punch in the face!
Then we started saving for a down payment to buy a new home. Well, that changed once we decided to travel, but the concept of budgeting is universal and will work for anything that you’re saving for. We saved for approximately 3 years until we made the decision to travel. One thing that really made the difference was that both of us were on the same page, at least financially. We both did the budget together and both knew exactly where our money was, where it was going, and most importantly, where it was staying – In our savings account!
#5 WORK YOUR TAIL OFF
Although steps 2 and 3 are great concepts, they won’t work if you don’t. I’ve worked at least two jobs this whole time we’ve been saving, bought and sold things to make money on Craigslist, and worked as hard as I could at my 9-5 job to earn incentives and bonuses when they were available. My wife also worked as much overtime as she could when there was the opportunity.
The main reason that our job gave both of us a leave of absence for a whole year is because we are good workers. I do believe in divine favor, but I also don’t think that favor comes from being lazy. Hard work pays off and sometimes in greater ways than you would ever expect.
I’m grateful that our company would even consider giving us the time off, but I also know that we’ve worked very hard to get where we are today. If you want to travel the world you’ll need to put in some elbow grease to make it a reality. We’ve sacrificed a lot during this past season of our life, thankfully not our marriage, and now we’re reaping the rewards.
I do have a few of suggestions for maximizing your efforts to earn more money at work:
Ask for a raise. If you’re already a good worker and have the production results to prove it, asking for a raise is definitely a great way to earn more income immediately. You’d be surprised by what many companies will do to keep their best workers. Get past the fact that it may be awkward at first. If you deserve it, they will most likely give it to you.
Show up to work, and show up on time. I know that is is somewhat of a no-brainer, but there a LOT of people who take attendance as an afterthought. This is probably the first thing that your employer will look at when they are going to promote someone. Also, you probably won’t get a raise if you can’t even show up to work on-time.
Find a better job. Before I started working in the insurance industry, I was working in retail sales – enough said. I was the top salesperson in our store and made a reasonable income, but I knew that I could make much more. I decided to look for a different job and ended up working for a great company offers excellent benefits and after some hard work, ended up paying much more than my previous job.
The principles discussed in this article are not just for traveling the world, but they are principles for living. The key is being smart with your money, using the free resources available, and getting the most out of what you already have. I won’t lie and say that finances aren’t the largest part of traveling, they definitely are. However, if traveling the world is something that you really want to do, but think you can’t afford it – I’m here to tell you that you can!
I can’t leave this article without saying that none of this would be possible without the blessing of God on our lives and also the help of my dear friend, Mahlon Heatwole. Mahlon has been my mentor for over 5 years and is the one who really taught me how to manage money, set goals, and actually accomplish them. I love and miss him dearly on our travels and this would not have been possible without his unfailing support and much-needed accountability.
Just to recap, here are a few principles you can put in place to make traveling the world a reality in your life:
- Work your tail end off
- Develop discipline
- Set goals
- Shop smart with coupons, rebates and clearance online
- Save smart with higher interest savings accounts
As always, we really appreciate you taking the time to read our blog! Please like, share, and comment below!
About the Author
Peter Wynn is a freelance writer who travels the world whilst working abroad. Originally from Melbourne, he’s been able to craft a successful living working part-time with startups and media agencies from UK, Europe and North America to keep his dream alive.