Is spending 10% of annual income on a fortnight’s holiday unreasonable?

[liloandtitch]

I’m late 30s and on a middle-income salary (comparable to a teacher), not a high earner.

Love long haul travel, did some shoestring / backpacking adventuring with friends in my 20s and had the time of my life.

Now 10 years on my friends are settled and I would love to travel again, but don’t want to travel alone, so have been looking at group travel.

I’ve found a company I like the look of, but their long haul destination group tours for 10-14 days are in the region of £2500 - £3000.

Add a long haul flight, and that’s £4000 gone before even factoring in spending money or new clothes and kit for the trip.

If I put savings aside for a year, I could ‘afford’ it… but it feels like ridiculous money for a middle-income person like me, it would be 10% of my salary

I have been thinking about doing a trip like this for years and always dismissed the idea an unaffordable having seen the prices.

But…. the idea won’t go away. Prices aren’t coming down. With prices shooting up in comparison to my salary, I almost feel it is kind of a now or never situation.

Do I need to put this idea to bed because spending 10% of my annual income on a holiday is obscenely irresponsible, especially in a cost of living crisis, or is this something other people in my situation would consider doing?

I do wonder whether other group members on such a trip would very very high earners with whom I’ll have little in common.

Any thoughts?

10% of income is probably a sensible limit for such things, so yes go for it as long as you are meeting all your more prosaic needs comfortably from the other 90%. If you are earning more than breadline minimum wage level income then you will definitely be spending on stuff you don't "need" and it's all just a matter of priorities. there will be some other luxuries you can't afford because you chose to spend the money on the holiday, and that is totally ok.

I don’t regret a penny I’ve ever spent on travel (sounds swisher than “holiday”) and I’m sure lots of it has been on credit.

You’re a long time dead.

It’s not the percentage as much as whether you can afford it with other outgoings.

My mortgage is really high, for instance, so for me spending 10% would be unaffordable. For others, it would be easily affordable

That's only about twice what you'd earn in that period. For me that 'd be a fairly cheap holiday.

I think I'd need to spend about 3 times what I'd earn in a period of about a week in order to go away and have enough money. Only thinking of going to spain and flights and meals. Not to las vegas or hawaii or new zealand or anything

This is what I always did- save through the year andhave a brilliant trip. I ended up meeting my husband on such a trip, and now we spend more on travel than the mortgage - its our absolute priority. No kids, mind. We have utterly brilliant memories.

Anyone recommend any companies for something like this please?

I've been on group holidays that cost around that amount. I don't think it was particularly people with fantastic salaries, but definitely those with fantastic pensions. I.e. at 51 years old I was known as the 'young one'!

Check with the company what the demographic is on your chosen trip - I didn't go on one to Sri Lanka as it was all couples in their 70s and 80s - not something that appealed, as single and 51.

Just to add - I went with Exodus and Explore. Mine weren't activity holidays, they were more sightseeing and wildlife, so would appeal to older people I guess, though there were still long walks of about 8 miles.

It's up to you and your priorities

You woludn't see me for dust! As a family of four we can spend that on a week somewhere not that excitng... go for it. What else are you going to spend your money on?

I'm actually a teacher, so I imagine our incomes are comparable.

I spend about that on my yearly holiday. I'm going on a 14 day trip to Norway and Iceland next summer, and that's probably going to be close to £3500 all in.

In the late 20's I travelled in Vietnam and Cambodia by myself. It was a different experience but better in so many ways. People were always inviting me to do stuff or eat with them. I'd thoroughly recommend it. DH and I did an organiséd tour in 2019 and it was a good way to fit a massive amount in. But restorative it was not.

I’m married with a 1 year old and we basically spend all out spare cash on travel - life is for living so go for it! You can always earn more money!!

In my late 20's.

I think if you are going on an interest holiday or group tour it's not going to matter what you earn or your position because you will all be there for the same experience.

saying that though you could travel alone it would be fine and you will definitely meet people while travelling. I’ve been on heaps of trips alone all around Asia and South America and always ended up with a bit of a crew to travel with once I was there

You say should you be putting this money aside for home improvements or when the car needs repairs, do you have savings for this?

If not, then it's highly likely you're not that sort of person who has sinking funds for those events so why now are you thinking you should?

Some people may think you should have various pota for savings and live very little as they have money all over the place for just in case events. If you can afford to save without compromising essentials (mortgage, bills and pension) them save and go. I would.

People can choose to distribute their "spare" money where they wish and how they see fit and having thousands in an account for a just in case scenario isn't the only right way to use your money.

You are saying it is 10% of your annual salary but that's an arbitrary number if you're not going annually. If you go every two or 5 years suddenly it's not such a large percentage and seems quite reasonable

Only you can decide if you want to / can afford to spend the money, OP.
As a family we spend probably close to 10% of our household income on holidays / mini breaks etc. We do have very healthy savings, luckily for us, but we prioritise travel as we love it so much. Not everyone does or wants to, which is fine. Each to their own.

If it's something you really want to do and you won't be putting yourself into loads of debt to do it, then just go for it!

It’s ridiculous if you did this every year, but this sounds like a once in a decade sort of trip. So I would go for it. You could go cheaper by not booking through a tour company. I’ve found having a four-five star hotel means a concierge who can get you tickets to anywhere, book taxis for you, make reservations in restaurants, book you with local tour guides and so on. I did that in China. Just went to a fab hotel and had a list of what I wanted to see/do and the concierge handled everything. This meant too that on the one day I was a bit ill it was ok to sleep in my room all day. I didn’t miss out on anything. If I’d been on a tour, I would have either missed out on something or been expected to ride a coach bus to another hotel/city.

Who decided you need to police your spending and there is a 'correct' amount. That idea came from somewhere!

It sounds a perfectly reasonable amount to spend, even annually if you wanted to and could afford other stuff. The number of people know in my 50s who suddenly can't travel due to illness/family responsibilities/injury, I'd say go for it.

You are in your late 30s. You have plenty of time to do sensible things like overpay your mortgage etc. Using a years’ savings on an ambition that you would like to fulfill now is not at all unreasonable. Moreover, life can be unpredictable. Carpe diem!

I spend that percentage every year on holidays. More in fact. Go for it!

Do it, but I would avoid Exodus. Very poor customer service.

Also, the group I was with was all much older than me (average late sixties) not necessarily a bad thing, just to be aware of.