How to Fund your International Trip in December?

Last Updated : Oct. 23, 2017, 3:31 p.m.

Its that time of the year, when you start planning for your annual holidays with your loved ones. According to travel pundits, December is the time when most people prefer to tour their favourite destinations. That snorkeling trip to Bahamas, visiting Louvre museum in Paris, sightseeing across the biodiverse continent of Africa; your wish for an ideal international vacation can be anything. The only thing that matters is, how are you going to enable it? Have you saved enough corpus that you can afford to take your family to that frolic outing you promised?

Considering any decent vacation trip with 2 people is going to cost you around ₹2-2.5 lakhs, we have assimilated few pointers which can make your dream vacation a reality.

Assimilate your savings

Savings are an integral part of our day to day finances. Like every Arthur needs a Merlin, every good expenditure requires a booster of savings according to which you can enable your dreams to make it real and vivid to your senses. This is why all finance gurus lay major stress on the habit of saving because it gives you the much-needed backup in the time of need.

Check your contingencies

Still falling short of your financial goals? Then it’s time to look for some other contingencies with which you can muster the funds needed to fulfill your requirement. If you have a decent emergency fund, then you can use some of that money to finance your vacation.

Liquidate some of your assets

When falling short of your vacation corpus budget, you can also raise funds by liquidating some of your assets. Liquid mutual funds as the name suggests are those which have a portfolio of very short-term debt instruments, mainly below 91 days. Such a portfolio focuses on maintaining liquidity and safety of the investments. It is considered as the least risk category in mutual funds, as it does not invest in long-term bonds, and thus does not get affected much by interest rates movements. Thus it is meant to park money for a very short time frame.

Taking a Personal Loan

This is also an option, taking a personal loan for a lower amount like 2L. Banks can charge anywhere between 10.99% and 25% for a personal loan depending upon your credit score. But also keep in mind that you would be paying EMIs every month for three years for a fortnight’s break. But if taking a loan is the last resort then it’s better to stick to those personal loans which don’t exert you much when you go for a prepayment. That’s Right! Many lenders are now spreading the festive cheer by waiving off the processing fee on a personal loan by up to 50%.

Things to Ponder

Using the credit card to bear the holiday expenses is also a big no. While you could rack up rewards or get cashback on credit cards , it makes no sense to pay an interest of 18-45% by rolling over the bill each month.