EP - 11 The Benefits of Travelling
I am a big fan of traveling, so I wanted to share what I believe to be some of the benefits of going on holiday’s and traveling overseas.
I think one of the biggest surprises my new clients get when I first sit down with them to talk about their money and their lives is when I recommend that they start saving for their next trip or holiday ASAP. A lot of the time they say, I thought you would be telling us we aren’t allowed to go on holiday and that we had to start saving all of our money into our super fund. While I do recommend my clients to put money into their superannuation, I also strongly recommend that they plan to go on holidays and travel (if they can afford to). That is because I believe that traveling is so beneficial, especially for us a young Australians.
Firstly, I believe the most significant benefits of traveling outside of your home country is that it provides you with an appreciation and perspective, of what else is out in the world. When we live in a country like Australia it can sometimes be easy to complain about the small things, taxes being too high, coffee costing too much, our roads being too busy. But when you have travelled to countries, that may have a corrupt government, an unstable economy, holes in the street and where people are so poor that they can’t afford food let alone a $9 extra shot, soy milk Latte. You start to realise just how good we have it in Australia.
I have been fortunate enough to travel to approx. 12 different countries. This includes traveling through Southern Africa, a few trips to Australians second home, Bali and sometime experiencing the European summer which I would highly recommend doing. Not only has traveling to these countries given me a greater appreciation for what I am fortunate enough to have, by living in a country like Australia, but the life experiences that you get from traveling are something you can’t get from reading a textbook or scrolling through Instagram.
Experiences like trying to understand a non-English menu and order breakfast in Portugal, having your flight delayed by 3 hours, missing your transfer from the airport and trying to find your accommodation at 3:00 am with no phone or internet reception. And many other priceless experiences that can’t be learned in any other way besides being there and experiencing it for yourself.
I think one of the significant hesitations young people have about taking time off to go traveling is how this looks to prospective employers and what it will do to their career progression. I know for me this was something that I dealt with when I was coming out of university. I had some friends doing exchanges or traveling overseas. But looking back now and talking with other people who have returned from traveling and are now starting their careers. For a lot of them, they have said, having gaps in their resumes due to a few months or years of livings aboard or traveling overseas has helped their job prospects because their employers have seen this to be beneficial.
I know for me as a potential employer, I think someone who has lived overseas would be more appealing, due to the real world experience they would have obtained, compared to someone who has maybe spent the last year working for an entry level group. I don’t work in HR and, could be completely wrong, but that is something that I believe to be true. And with the world becoming smaller and smaller, with fewer barriers to be able to travel and work remotely I think having those experiences are going to become even more beneficially into the future.
Financial tips for savings to travel
Set a date when you want to go and a goal of how much you to have saved and start saving for it.
Take the 2nd job if you need to
Set up a separate savings account and put in place an automatic transfer, so you can’t touch your money
If you are planning on living overseas and you have HECS debt be sure to check out the ATO website about the rules on repaying your student debt when you are living abroad.
Get out there and go on your next holiday and book your next trip.
