Plan financial year post holidays expenses tutorial 2021 or how you can plan the year financially if you have fallen to zero after the holidays.

Holidays are a great pleasure on a personal level, but can be a real torment on the level of personal finances.

It is a period in which spending skyrockets and misalignment of the previously proposed budget can be quite common. Therefore, carrying out financial planning is vital so as not to enter into a negative spiral with individual accounts.

Many people end this vacation period to zero. It's pretty commonplace. Extraordinary expenses are undertaken, they are carried away by the relaxation of the moment and do not attend to the basic principles of personal finances. Savings are blown away at a stroke and economic health is forgotten for a moment.

This can be harmful in the long run, but you can turn around if you take the bull by the horns.

Plan financial year post holidays expenses tutorial 2021

Keep in mind that Spaniards spend on average 3,000 euros a year on holidays. In fact, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, the average expenditure per household for this period was 2,944 in 2019 –the last year of which there are relatively normal records–.

This is a fairly large amount of the annual family budget, above all that is allocated in the year to clothing, education and leisure items together.

However, despite its relevance, the truth is that few families give vacations the importance they deserve within their family budget. Most of them prefer to throw away their savings or finance the holidays to enjoy the trip and pay for it throughout the year.

But is it possible to assume the cost of the holidays without it supposing an extra expense for your family budget? How can you plan the year financially so that the same thing does not happen to you again the next year?

The first step in determining your goal is to prepare a sufficiently detailed budget of all travel expenses, from the hotel, transportation and expenses for leisure. The goal is that you deviate as little as possible from it, as it happens with other family games.

Plan financial year post holidays expenses tutorial 2021

Also, knowing how much to save per month for a trip is important. Thus, one of the simplest options when it comes to saving for travel is to set aside a certain amount of money throughout the year in order to collect everything necessary to pay for the trip.

The longer you plan your vacation, the less monthly effort you'll need to get it done.

To be able to pay for a holiday of 3,000 euros, for example, you need to save 250 euros per month over 12 months.

In this way, in the case of planning a trip of 3,000 euros, which is approximately the average of Spaniards, you will have to save 500 euros for 6 months. But if you plan it with more time (one year) you will only have to save 250 euros per month.

The current tools of banks, even, make it easier for you to achieve that goal.

Plan financial year post holidays expenses tutorial 2021

For example, a set of targets, their amounts and their deadlines can be set, and the bank is responsible for transferring the amount needed to reach the target at the beginning of the month. And all this automatically.

Saving is not the only way to financially plan the next course when you have fallen to zero after the holidays.

You can also invest part of your savings to get an extra return that facilitates the goal. The important thing is that you choose the instruments that best fit your risk profile and that have immediate liquidity to be able to repay the capital at the time of the holiday payment.

One of these instruments are investment funds, a product that allows you to recover in a few days the investment, with total liquidity. In addition, there are a wide variety of mutual funds that fit the risk profile of each investor.

But, of course, you have to keep in mind that, if the return is not the expected, you can lose part of the invested, especially if you choose an equity product with greater risk.

Plan financial year post holidays expenses tutorial 2021

When planning holidays, there are certain expenses that are difficult to reduce, such as a flight, the train ticket or the cost of gasoline in the car, unless you travel at another time of the year, book well in advance or travel when gasoline is cheaper, something very difficult to predict.

You should never let go of all the expenses you have. For example, even if you are away from home, it still causes expenses.

You have to pay Community of Owners and even, although it is slightly reduced by the lower consumption, electricity, water or telephone that have a fixed expense part. Also, the return from vacation is not exempt from certain financial burdens.

For example, for families with children, the summer return coincides with the return to school. Always reserve enough money to cover these expenses.