Leaving on a vacation is always a pleasure. It sets your mind free from the mundane and routine activities that you keep doing all through the year at work or home. Planning for vacation does take a lot, right from getting your tickets, accommodation, sightseeing, packing, etc.
While you are excited about doing all those activities, we wish to remind you of the important financial tasks that you should not forget doing before you set off.
Tip #1: Make Sure All Your EMIs And Other Outstanding Bills Are Paid On Time
While you concentrate on your vacation and all the fun you are going to have there, do not forget your responsibilities towards the credit you have availed back home. It is highly essential that you make sure all EMIs or the credit card outstanding bills will be paid in your absence. It may be good to set up automatic debit payments through your bank account. If that is not possible, it may be good to pay them off before you leave. It is no fun to come back home to late payment fees and a drop in credit score (depending on the duration of your trip)
Additional Reading: Personal loan for travel
Tip #2: Arm Yourself With A Travel Insurance
Emergencies may come at any moment. So, before you take the flight out of the country, make sure to subscribe for a travel insurance. It not only covers all your medical ailments and hospitalization, but also pays you for inconvenience caused due to lost luggage, trip cancellation, loss of passport, etc. Remember that cost of hospitalization or even consulting a doctor proves quite expensive when on foreign soil. Do not let your vacation be marred by such experiences.
Tip #3: Carry Your Cash In The Form of a Travel Card
The world is more technologically advanced, hence you no longer need to carry wads of currency notes around on a holiday. Barring currency that may be required for you to get to your hotel from the airport and a little extra, it is good to carry rest of the currency on your prepaid travel card. You can prevent incidents of your cash being stolen. However, make sure you carry the emergency contact numbers of the card helpline to report loss of your card, if any.
Tip #4: Learn About Credit Card Charges When Used Abroad
Alternatively, you may also use your existing credit card when vacationing abroad if you want to avoid the hassles of applying for a prepaid currency card. However, you would need to make sure of the charges levied by your card for usage abroad before you use it. There are some travel credit cards like HDFC Bank Regalia Credit Card or YES BANK’s YES First Preferred Credit Card that offer lowest Markup on Foreign Currency Payments.
Tip #5: Make a List of All Cards That You Will Carry With You
You may not like to get stuck or limit your holiday in any way and to facilitate that, you might decide to carry more cards as back-up. While on one hand it may be a good move, there is always a risk of them getting stolen or lost. In spite of being careful, you may end up losing them. How do you ensure that they are put into fraudulent usage? Make sure you carry a list of all the cards that you are carrying with you with their card numbers and the emergency contact numbers on which you need to inform about the card loss.
Additional Reading: Importance of Having a Travel Credit Card
Tip #6: Do Your Research On Exchange Rates
Currency Exchange Rates play a very important role in planning finances for any foreign vacation. Exchanges rates can move up or down in a short period of time and are affected by various factors like the condition of global economy, interest rates in different part of the world, inflation, political stability, etc. It is good to draw up a budget for your expenses and get quotes from different agencies. Generally, you pay more to take foreign exchange in currency notes rather than load it on a prepaid card. Also, it is good to know that airports are one of the costliest places to exchange currency.
Tip #7: Check On the Mobile Usage
With the connected world that we live in, it has become impossible to be away from your smartphone even for a few minutes. Moreover, it has become a necessity to get OTPs or updates on the happenings on your bank or other financial transactions. It is even important to get directions or be in touch with your folks back home. International roaming charges are often very expensive but you get to be connected. Or you could get a SIM card at your destination. Do your research on which one works better for you.
Tip #8: Update Your Documents
While it may sound very far-fetched, it is good to keep all your documents like Will or Nomination Papers updated while you are away. An emergency can strike anytime and you do not want to your next-of-kin to face difficulties. So it may be a good idea to keep your important legal and financial documents updated at all times.
Tip #9: Monitor Your Accounts Back Home
While you are taking all possible actions to ensure that you have a smooth an stress-free holiday, you should not neglect your accounts back home. Opt for alerts for usage on your credit or debit cards on both SMS and email and keep an eye on any unauthorized transactions that occur on any of your savings or credit card accounts.
Tip #10: Make Sure You Have Householder's Insurance
Your home is one of the most expensive assets you might own and together with the contents, it does amount to quite a sum. While you are away holidaying, your home and its belongings are at risk from a variety of factors like natural or manmade calamities like fire, riots, etc or even from a burglary. It might be extremely devastating for anyone to come back home to such a situation.
Make use of our simple tips to ensure you have a wonderful vacation and at the same time maintain your finances in order.