How to Plan a Guilt-Free Vacation in Retirement

Dreaming of big trips in retirement but worried they’ll derail your nest egg? Travel is one of the biggest goals people have for retirement, but actually spending the money can bring more anxiety than excitement. In this episode, Taylor explains how a thoughtful retirement plan can permit people to enjoy the experiences they have spent decades saving for. Tune in to learn how to permit yourself to travel boldly while keeping your retirement on track. It’s time to learn how to spend intentionally and enjoy retirement without constantly second-guessing every trip.

Here’s what we discuss in today’s show:

🏖️ Guilt-Free Travel: Enjoy vacations without second-guessing every expense

🧳 Plan Integration: Build travel directly into retirement spending

🗺️ Travel Goals: Match trips to each retirement phase

⚖️ Couples Tension: Balance different travel styles and priorities

💳 Trip Budgeting: Attach real numbers to future experiences

🩺 Hidden Costs: Prepare for insurance and overseas expenses

Resources:

Website:  https://www.demarsfinancial.com/

Phone: (509) 536-9556

Schedule an introduction call with Taylor: https://bit.ly/demarspodcast

Check out Taylor's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TaylorMadeRetirement

Taylor's Newsletter: https://demars-financial-group.kit.com/827c64fe0e

Disclaimer: Since we don't know your specific situation, none of this information should be construed as tax, legal, financial, insurance, financial advice, or other advice and may be outdated or inaccurate. It is your responsibility to verify all information yourself. This content is prepared for entertainment purposes only. If you need advice, please contact a qualified CPA, attorney, insurance agent, financial advisor, or the appropriate professional for the subject you would like help with. Demars Financial Group, LLC or its members cannot be held liable for any use or misuse of this content. Advisory services offered through Demars Financial Group LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. Demars Financial Group is not affiliated with LPL Financial.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Summer's here and moving right along, and somewhere between the excitement of planning a big trip and the anxiety of what it costs and what goes into it, sometimes we find that a lot of people, retirees and pre-retirees, end up feeling guilty about it. So this week on the podcast, let's do the guilt-free vacation, how to spend on travel without derailing your retirement.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

With third generation certified financial planner Taylor DeMars.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Hey everybody, welcome into the podcast. This is Taylor Made Retirement with Taylor DeMars, certified financial planner here with me to talk Taylor, talk about vacations a little bit, and you know, and and you know whether it's the beach or you're dealing with your budget or you're going to the mountains or whatever the case is, people kind of get a little stressed about big trips in retirement. And you've been doing a little bit of uh vacationing yourself this summer, and and so this seems like a good topic for us to just roll right into. How are you, my friend?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It does. It's a great topic. I'm doing well. Thanks, Mark. Good. Good to good to catch up with you here.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

But yeah, it is the season, right? We're in the throes of summer, and whether people are retired or not, it's uh it's a great time to be people getting out and enjoying the outdoors. And right uh apart from some of the smoke that some of the country's been afflicted with, including my my neck of the woods. But but no, all the same, this is this is a really key topic because if I if I had to just take a gander of all the you know many clients we work with and say, what are you excited about retirement in one word? Eight times out of ten, they're gonna see travel. Sure. Right? And that everyone defines that in their own way, whether it's you know the big bucketless trips or slow traveling in Europe or the Philippines, or even just you know doing road trips across the country or locally. So I thought it was a great topic for us to address today and how we help people not feel uh a barrier of guilt, because that often comes with this topic. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

You know, and so with that in mind, Taylor, with you saying that, when you guys are building a financial strategy, or or maybe not even just you guys, like uh the industry as a whole, is travel and vacation something that truly makes it into the plan, or is it a side thing, or do you think it should be like in every you know company's repertoire? Or what's your thoughts there?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, yeah, great question. I mean, if anything is gonna hit the the the numbers, we want it laid out, right? Okay, and in our process, we try to get as OCD as possible to figure out okay, what are those spending goals looking like, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Because you you ask most you know online calculators or you know, most retirement videos will will suppose a certain amount of spending per retirement, $8,000, $10,000. I had somebody I talked to today, they want to spend $20,000 a month, right? And the real you know, proof in the pudding is saying, okay, where do you actually spend those dollars between your gas, groceries, uh, you know, uh property taxes, and this vacation spending, right? And so I would say that this is definitely a core part of the planning, and and we try and get it to a detailed level of uh understanding of what they're mean by travel, because I think a lot of people get kind of plugged up by just thinking of the next big trip, right? Either something they've been saving up for or the one big bucket list, right? But we can't ignore the elephant in the room, which is hey, you're gonna have anniversaries every year. Uh, you're gonna have, you know, maybe a birthday trip, you're gonna try and celebrate a certain event, do things big and smaller.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

It doesn't have to always be a week in, you know, Europe, right? It could just be a three or four-day small thing, but it takes its toll. So that's a great point.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yep. So we're trying to define what is that travel. And I and I think to for the sake of simplicity, we find clients kind of slice and dice it from two angles as we integrate it into the plan.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

And the first of which is okay, what type of travel are we talking, right? Sometimes we have clients that define a domestic travel annual goal and a international travel goal. So that could be translated to maybe two or three domestic trips, going to, you know, see the the the cherry blossoms in DC or going to do your San Diego trip, right? Or maybe they have an annual vacation goal for international trips. Maybe they want to do uh something in Asia every year and Europe every year, so on. And so we're trying to actually put something tangible behind them rather than a big foggy number that says, hey, we're spending $30,000 a year. We try and one client told me, you know, they want to travel, and I kind of pressed on that button until the fact that they said, you know what, we want to take the whole family to St. Thomas. Perfect. What does it cost? And they they they didn't know, you know, they just kind of shrugged it off. It was just something that was, you know, sounded picturesque. And had it, I had a I just poked my nose into it and said, let's let's look it up. And so we just ballparked what it would cost for the whole family for for travel and and and stays. And so we said, okay, it's gonna be around this number, and then it made it into the line items or the plan. It wasn't an annual goal, but you know, we're trying to figure out what are the actual intentions behind these numbers because um they're they're they're real experiences, and we can't just kind of wave a wand in the air and expect it to be figured out on its own.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

No, that's awesome. And I would imagine, Taylor, that you know, for a lot of people, depending on their personality type, seeing it down on paper removes the guilt. That might be the only barrier they needed to get rid of some of that guilt. So that could go a long way for you know, for some folks, you know, you know, in um in this particular arena, some might be bothered more by that. They might need more than just seeing it on paper. But I think that's a great place to start and breaking that down. With that in mind, is there a natural rhythm to how retirees spend? I there's gotta be, right? Like I was talking with somebody the other day, we're talking about the heat wave that the basically the world has been in, you know, this summer, right? A lot of places have been pretty hot. And you know, uh I was talking with a a friend who's like, you know, going to Europe at 60 is a lot of walk, so it's a lot of walking, and they don't have air conditioning every place like we do here, right? Uh especially some of the older places, you know, Paris or you know, places in Italy or whatnot. And it's like, so is that gonna be easier at 60, or is it gonna be way tougher at 75? The answer seems like clear, it's gonna be way tougher at 75, right? So it feels like that natural rhythm's gotta be a bit more early on in the planning process. Is that kind of how you tee things up with folks or walk them or guide them towards that?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

100%. 100%. I and I don't want to skip over what you brought up earlier, which is a very clear point, which is just having the number down on paper, right? We're we're doing it on the computer on a software and such, but in spreadsheets, but having it written down as a line item, it it's like a light bulb goes on for many people where they don't I had a another c many client experience where they said, you know, I want to go and stay on an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora. Nice. Gosh darn it, that's and she wouldn't even bring herself to bring it up. I had to keep asking her, it's like, well, what is it? What is it? She because she kept saying I want to do the dream trip. And then we found out it would cost a pretty penny. But at least we outlined the number, plugged into the plan, it didn't sink the ship, and it was like the light bulb went off, where she's like, Well, maybe we'll actually do this next year, and uh, you know, I'll hold them accountable to it. But yes, putting having the numbers down and actually plugging them into a plan gives people permission. Now, to your second point, as as far as you know, how how phases of retirement affect the spending. Earlier I alluded to slicing and dicing vacation goals two ways. One is okay, what's the type of travel, domestic vacation or or international? Sure. The second way we slice and dice it is is uh as people were typify the the go-go or slogo and then the no-go years, right? Right. And so we'll we'll put in line items that say, hey, go go travel. And one client who wants to spend an insane amount. He said, uh, go go travel for uh of a hundred grand a year for the next five years. Holy moly. Yeah. And then downgrade to sixty, only sixty thousand dollars a year for the next you know, phase. Boy, just talking about roughening it.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

They must just, I mean, that what are they just they're hobos at that point.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

I know. I don't want to associate with them.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Um do they need do they need a podcast host that goes along with them? Just the scenario things for you. I'll put it in a good word for you. Anyway, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I'll put it in a good word. But it's uh it's exciting because I mean, to your point, like they're their prior advisor. I uh you know, not to disparage anybody, great guy for the relationship that they needed in the accumulation phase. When it came to how do we translate our portfolio into a sustainable, tax-efficient paycheck? They were kind of really scared to touch it, right? And that prevents them from even talking anywhere near the amount that we're talking about for spending. Now, of course, this is not financial advice, and this is not typical of all client scenarios. I just give it as an extreme scenario that they're saying, hey, here's the go-go phase and then the slow go phase for when we think we'll spend. Because as much as we're in denial, we're all getting older every day, and many of my clients they don't have 30 years of of good retirement. They've got about a dozen years of good knees. Um you talk about this this trip in Portugal or you know, you uh or Italy, my in-laws just went to Italy for uh for two weeks. You're you're looking at cobblestone streets.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah, that's what I was saying earlier.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Up and down stairs. And so, yeah, the trip between you know going at 60, where you're up and you're you're you're your phone with the youngins and you're taking pictures everywhere, versus when you're in 70, you're probably you know using a golf cart or a taxi to get around. You're not you know, you know, you don't feel the umph to see every nook and cranny versus obviously at 80, you're probably just saying, you know what, I'm just gonna stay in the air conditioned car, come back, and I'll bring me back some gelato. You know, it's a lot of different experiences.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Right. So definitely would change that dynamic quite a bit. Um that's really good stuff that you know that we've highlighted so far. Let's talk about the other, probably biggest elephant in the room, at least in my my little world, and I'm sure it's gonna be the same way for other people, Taylor, is when couples don't see eye to eye, right? So we talk I I said earlier, you know, for one person, maybe just seeing it on paper took care of all the guilt, right? Great. Now, typically most couples' opposites attract, right? So you're gonna have one that's maybe naturally a spender, and maybe one that's naturally a saver. And that can lead to travel tension too.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

It can, yeah. The the the persistent yin and yang we find among clients, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:59

And uh people sometimes or just the con I'm sorry, just the concept of travel. Like you might have one, like my I'm thinking my wife and I, whenever I said that, because she travels all the time for work and I never go anywhere. So when we get to retirement, she's like, I want to stay home and do nothing. And I'm like, well, I want to go somewhere finally. So we're at we're opposites, right? So a lot of people probably find themselves there.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

It's true. Yeah, I was about to say the same thing because it's not just the different appetite for how much do we want to spend, right? The the spend versus save, but it's also the different appetites of type of type of travel. And I'm I'm smirking here because I know one of our consistent listeners is gonna hear this. But in his scenario, you know, he he has an appetite and I love for soccer, right? We've been talking about soccer quite a bit with the World Cup going on, and and one of his dream trips is to go to Europe and and and experience Europe and maybe maybe even uh a football game or two there, right? There. And he and his wife has let's just call it much less of an inclination to go, right? She is the she's gonna appease him and and and entertain at least one trip. And so that that that commonly comes up with clients is is one will say, Hey, I want to do this sort of travel or this pace of travel. And the other one says, you know, send me a postcard, and and and we we gotta get account for that as well. But I think I think more people, uh I feel like there are probably layers underneath of that, right, that people haven't come to grips with yet sometimes where it's they really are worried about spending that much, or maybe they they really haven't experienced that type of travel or experience, and so they don't know if they'll like it or not or yeah, you know, or not. And so um at the end of the day, that's that's the exciting jigsaw puzzle we get to navigate, right? For clients, is it's not just about numbers and nerdiness, it's about trying to apply real life and preferences to all the all the quirks we're building here.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Yeah, and the every little quirk that makes us human, right? So there's all these little different things, and everybody's a bit different. Um I'll circle back a little bit here. So you talked earlier about like the big trip versus don't lose sight of the little things that pop up too. Do you think people plan out far enough for travel? Um is there a recommendation you'd like to see? Is it you know, like the really big deal clearly needs more time, or what's your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

As far as making sure that you have a budget for and then you just have time to plan for it, like far enough ahead.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Like, is this a what should you be planning? One year out, three years out, five years out? Like, what's your thoughts for some of that?

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah. You know, I'll be honest, I don't have a rule of thumb for that because I feel like it's so it's so personal, right? The one client couple I met with this last week, they uh they're about to take their with each other and and their their their two adult sons and doing a big you know Ireland Scotland uh trip. They're gonna hit up a bunch of places in Europe. And I had to ask, I was like, is this something that you know excites you and enthralls you or bogs you down? Because people can fit uh on very opposite ends of that spectrum. And for him, it was more exciting and and and he and and as the good saying goes, you know, the anticipation of a trip is half the fun. And so that sometimes planning a trip out far in advance, you know, suits someone's fancy. I I've had a more sporadic one.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah, I mean, wouldn't you think you would need to if you're trying to take 10 people to multiple countries? I'm like, you know, like that one year thinking, I would think would lead to surprises where you know, look, we're gonna do like this bigger deal. I want a couple of years to get this planned. And no, I guess I know costs and like the world's constantly changing as far as you can't, you know, totally book in what the the plane tickets, for example, Taylor, are gonna cost if you're taking ten people to Europe if you're doing it three years later. But I mean, I think you can still like have some of those pieces in there. At least maybe that helps with the stress, maybe that helps with the guilt. I don't know. I'm just kind of thinking outside the box a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

No, it's true. I mean, uh it's uh to each their own, right? And so, I mean, for example, I'm seeing this in my own family. My my my parents are taking me and my seven siblings and spouses and kids on a trip next uh next year, and and it's a cruise. So it's it's for cruise for better or worse can be more simple. Where it's a little more structure. Show up at show up at this day, you're not planning the day-to-day activities or the food. It's uh that's more simple simplistic way of planning, but yeah, where you're planning this European trip and you know what train and when and where that that could be more complex. Um and it actually kind of excites me because you bring up a good point that is another friction point that it may not be it may not be the permission, it may not be the money, but I do find that clients keep themselves from pulling the trigger on such travel because of the logistics, the friction of just simply planning. And so maybe I'm speaking ahead of myself, but um, I got a lot of ideas rolling around in my head and and I and I love helping clients achieve their goals. So one of the things that I hope to as we continue to expand our team and services is be able to offer a a curated experience at least once a year for our clients, where obviously we're not paying for it for our clients, but we know our clients well enough to know what themes and appetites they have and be able to say, hey, we've we've we've we've uh we're actually doing it, we're piloting it this uh this August with a subset of clients where we curated a an Alaskan cruise where we we tell them, hey, here's the here's the here's the cost, here's the time, here's where to show up, here's the excursion options. Um we know you can afford the money because this is what we planned for. So yeah, you're gonna bowl the turn or not. And and and and and and so we've got around 10, 12 clients, and they brought some family members and such that they're gonna experience. So my hope is to be able to develop a service for our clients that we're able to say, you know, I mean, obviously nothing is oblig uh obligatory, but be able to say, hey, you you know, who wants to do the the Norwegian fjords or or whatnot?

SPEAKER_02 15:21

And yeah, kind of adding a little bit of experience. But a little bit of the you know, the uh travel planner into the into the fold, right? You know, I don't is that a I wonder if that's a is that a dying thing? Is this is there still remember you used to go to a lot of towns, you would have multiple people that were just vacation planners, that's all they did all day long.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

So I I think it I think it it it's dyed to an extent, but the app but the I think the need for people to help there's just so many options these days. Yeah, right. There's just it's almost a value in just disseminating the complexity to simplicity and uh well to me it's almost like financial advice and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Like you could go online and start start the process, and you just get inundated with you know, and then next thing you know, you're like, oh, I can't make a decision. Analysis, analysis, yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh one final point here, we'll wrap it up with this. Something that catches people off guard, and I think this is a great point to finish on too is that don't forget about the the weird little things that you might not be thinking of, travel costs that you know kind of pop up. And I was talking with somebody, Taylor, and the first one that got me, and I don't know why, and I bet you a lot of other Americans are the same way, because you you hear it and you go, Well, duh, that totally makes sense. But you know, it's like if you're abroad and you're a senior, uh, Medicare is not gonna help you if something happens, right? It doesn't follow you outside the US. And so I guess that brings into account like conversation for travel insurance, yay or nay, depending on the type of t uh type of trip. You know, so just some things there. What what's your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah, good question. I mean, obviously, yeah, healthcare, it's kind of one of those things. Uh another small but obvious one that could be really painful if you forget is is letting your credit card company know you're traveling, right? Yeah. Um, because once you swipe in Europe, you know, they're saying, yeah, you're supposed to be in Virginia. Um they're gonna lock freeze up your credit card unless you told them. So, you know, if you want to have a an abroad, you know, cell phone plan or something or whatnot. But yeah, travel insurance, it it's uh it can be worth it. I had one client who trying to exactly remember the exact month and year because it was in the past two years and with all the Middle East uh you know conflict, I lose track. But it was, I think it was about the time that Israel itself uh was getting some some strikes on it. And I can't remember if it was in Jerusalem itself. Anyway, I had a client couple who had booked this amazing itinerary in in Israel went to visit the holy sites and such. And fortunately they had booked travel insurance because the the I think it was two weeks before they went, there were there were some strikes um there that you know wouldn't have impacted them directly, but we're definitely in the the greater city and area of places they were visiting.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

It feels like those bigger big ticket item trips might it might be worthwhile. I mean it yeah, if you're it's like four hours from where I am at to go to Aruba, right? If we're gonna go for three or four or five days, yeah, maybe not, right? But but if you're gonna do something, you know, if you're going over to you know Europe and Ireland and Scotland and you're doing the two-week thing, and you know, you who knows what could happen in two weeks. So it could be worthwhile. And don't forget grandparent. Yeah, don't forget grandparent expenses. I was thinking about this because you just said your your parents were taking all of you guys, the the whole herd. And I'm thinking that that grandpa stuff adds up. That grandma stuff adds up. You know, grandma, can you cover this? Grandparent, can you cover that? Right? Uh the nickel and dime stuff, too. Uh a friend of mine was like, Yeah, we were in we were in Hawaii and totally could not believe we forgot sunscreen. And the only place we could get it was the little thing at the hotel. Well, of course, in Hawaii, at the hotel, what do you think they paid for? It wound up being like $40 for like six ounces of sunscreen, right? Crazy. So just think about that stuff too, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Agreed. Good points. Good points.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

All right, folks. Well, look, you know, the point is to enjoy it, right? And and have a good time. You didn't save for decades to sit home and do nothing. And if you did, if that's the plan, and that's cool too, right? You know, beat yourself up. But a good plan makes things worth, you know, a little easier and hopefully makes things worth a little bit more enjoyable and removes some of that guilt. For most people, that includes a few memorable trips, maybe even giving yourself that permission, maybe some big ones and some small ones, and obviously keeping hopefully the fights at bay between you and your loved ones. So it's important to have a strategy when it comes to your finance, just like it's important to have a fine strategy when it comes to travel and retirement. And as always, you know, Taylor did a good job highlighting some things they're working on and do. And if you need help with any of that, go to demarsfinancial.com. That's demarsfinancial.com. Click on the could we be a fit uh button and get started there. See if uh they work out well for you, or just ask some questions, get yourself some time onto the calendar. We'll have links in the show descriptions down below of whatever app you're using. Don't forget to check out uh Taylor's YouTube channel as well. Uh and again, you can find all of that stuff at the website, demarsfinancial.com. Taylor, my friend, thanks for hanging out, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

My pleasure. Thanks so much, Mark.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

We will see you guys next time here on Taylor Made Retirement with Taylor Demars.