When it comes to saving money, seeing
the world is the top priority for Americans, according to a recent survey from SunTrust Bank.
The survey revealed that 45 percent of
Americans save their money for travel, surpassing saving money for emergency
savings, retirement, buying a house and buying a car/truck/motorcycle.
The quarterly National Financial Confidence Index surveyed
2,500 adult Americans representing different ages, incomes and geographic
regions. Even when the survey results are broken down by generation, traveling
is still the No. 1 reason to set money aside, especially for millennials (at 47
percent.)
After travel, 37 percent of Americans put money toward
emergency savings; 30 percent for retirement; 21 percent save money to buy a
house; and 20 percent save money to buy a car, truck and/or motorcycle.
Likewise, at the beginning of this year, Expedia released their own report highlighting that younger generations value experiences over possessions.
Stating the obvious, social media is influencing consumer purchasing decisions, with 36% of Gen-Z saying they've chosen a travel destination because they saw it on social media. However, priorities are shifting from posting a new handbag to live streaming a ziplining experience.
74% of all US respondents said they would prioritize spending spare change on experiences rather than products, especially millennials, with 65% disclosing that they are currently saving money to spend specifically on travel.
Nearly 20% of Gen-Z respondents said they have stayed at a specific hotel or destination in order to score a positive response from followers on posts on their own social media channels.
Nearly half of millennials said they would sell their clothes or furniture to travel more.
Why spout this info to you?
Several reasons.
First of all, besides suffering from Tsundoku, I have saved several thousand articles over the past four years, more than half of them in electronic format, but many cut out of magazines and other publications.
While walking today, the thought dawned on me that I have saved another fifty or so this month, with no end in sight. So what you are reading if you have read this far is commentary on one of the many articles that I saved.
I found it interesting that most people would prioritize saving up for traveling or a vacation over something less fascinating like, oh I don't know, retirement or a rainy day.
But when it comes to the many articles that I have read detailing Americans' lack of savings, in general, it really should come as no surprise.
Secondly, I am a middle aged guy of a Prime Age. I will be forty-eight in two months.
I am the father of two children, both of whom could be considered Generation Z by some measurements although by other definitions, some may consider my twenty-year-old son as a millennial.
Whatever you consider them, they would both spend every dime that they have on travel if I would let them. My daughter more so than my son.
She envies her friends who constantly show pictures of themselves in Hawaii, Mexico, the Bahamas or traipsing through Europe while we hang around at home most of the time over the holidays.
Not to go to far into the weeds, but many of her friends' fathers make more than I do and many of them have mothers with professional jobs, as well. If I had to ballpark the median household income of our daughters' friends, I would put it at $200 to $250 K, or roughly twice what ours is. Some of them higher, of course, since some of their fathers are successful attorneys, doctors and business owners.
If I could ever start making actual money from side hustles rather than just thinking and writing about doing so, I would gladly spend more on travel with my family. It is not that I do not want to, it is just that it is not my top priority like it is for many of those in the Expedia and SunTrust surveys.
My last reason for posting this is for you to consider if travel is your top priority or one of them.
Most of the financial advice that I read urges you to consider if your spending habits reflect your priorities. As much as I would love to travel more, my priority has been and remains paying for our children's college educations as much as possible while still Paying Ourselves First as much as I can.
Shelling out three grand per month for our son's college on top of my family's numerous living expenses and still trying to contribute to our "retirement" accounts does not leave a large amount for travel.
While we are by no means globe trotters, I want to point out that this year my son and I spent an awesome, unforgettable week together in NOLA, I traveled to Vegas for business for four days, to Madison, Wisconsin for two days and the four of us had a wonderful time together renting a farmhouse near the Wisconsin Dells in July.
We are planning to fly in and out of Vegas this December between Christmas and New Year's, to make the two-hour drive to and from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where my wife's father and his wife live. We last visited them during our kid's spring break three years ago when our son and daughter still had the same week off. That ended when our son began college.
Anyway, you get the picture.
We are by no means world travelers, but we get around the country from time to time.
Our son is now in a band that travels abroad once per year, usually to Europe, thus he will become the first one of the four of us to leave the country in the coming months.
We certainly enjoy traveling and would like to travel more, it simply is not our main priority for savings.
Is it yours?
While walking today, the thought dawned on me that I have saved another fifty or so this month, with no end in sight. So what you are reading if you have read this far is commentary on one of the many articles that I saved.
I found it interesting that most people would prioritize saving up for traveling or a vacation over something less fascinating like, oh I don't know, retirement or a rainy day.
But when it comes to the many articles that I have read detailing Americans' lack of savings, in general, it really should come as no surprise.
Secondly, I am a middle aged guy of a Prime Age. I will be forty-eight in two months.
I am the father of two children, both of whom could be considered Generation Z by some measurements although by other definitions, some may consider my twenty-year-old son as a millennial.
Whatever you consider them, they would both spend every dime that they have on travel if I would let them. My daughter more so than my son.
She envies her friends who constantly show pictures of themselves in Hawaii, Mexico, the Bahamas or traipsing through Europe while we hang around at home most of the time over the holidays.
Not to go to far into the weeds, but many of her friends' fathers make more than I do and many of them have mothers with professional jobs, as well. If I had to ballpark the median household income of our daughters' friends, I would put it at $200 to $250 K, or roughly twice what ours is. Some of them higher, of course, since some of their fathers are successful attorneys, doctors and business owners.
If I could ever start making actual money from side hustles rather than just thinking and writing about doing so, I would gladly spend more on travel with my family. It is not that I do not want to, it is just that it is not my top priority like it is for many of those in the Expedia and SunTrust surveys.
My last reason for posting this is for you to consider if travel is your top priority or one of them.
Most of the financial advice that I read urges you to consider if your spending habits reflect your priorities. As much as I would love to travel more, my priority has been and remains paying for our children's college educations as much as possible while still Paying Ourselves First as much as I can.
Shelling out three grand per month for our son's college on top of my family's numerous living expenses and still trying to contribute to our "retirement" accounts does not leave a large amount for travel.
While we are by no means globe trotters, I want to point out that this year my son and I spent an awesome, unforgettable week together in NOLA, I traveled to Vegas for business for four days, to Madison, Wisconsin for two days and the four of us had a wonderful time together renting a farmhouse near the Wisconsin Dells in July.
We are planning to fly in and out of Vegas this December between Christmas and New Year's, to make the two-hour drive to and from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where my wife's father and his wife live. We last visited them during our kid's spring break three years ago when our son and daughter still had the same week off. That ended when our son began college.
Anyway, you get the picture.
We are by no means world travelers, but we get around the country from time to time.
Our son is now in a band that travels abroad once per year, usually to Europe, thus he will become the first one of the four of us to leave the country in the coming months.
We certainly enjoy traveling and would like to travel more, it simply is not our main priority for savings.
Is it yours?
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