AIBU to think my daughter cannot afford this holiday abroad?

[ThisTealLeader]

Daughter (18) has booked a holiday with friends abroad, didn’t tell us the full amount and then lied about how much spending money she has. They are going bed and breakfast. She will have less than £200 spending money for a week’s holiday. She has used savings to pay for the holiday.
She is saying that her friend will be lending her money if she falls short, which she will I am sure.
My point is she is not being sensible with her money. She only works one day a week and so she cannot actually afford it and hasn’t thought it through.
I think she needs to cancel as it is irresponsible in my opinion to be going abroad with no backup. As far as I am aware she hasn’t booked travel insurance and is reluctant to do so as this will eat into her spending money.
Would like people’s thoughts on this?

If you could afford it, could you lend her some and have her pay you back gradually? If not, maybe let her get on with it. It would be a shame for her to miss out on a holiday with her friends and to never be able to share those memories with them. If you make her cancel I'm concerned it could negatively impact your relationship in future.

She’s 18. This is what happens.

Insurance will be £2.

She absolutely needs travel insurance. A lot of bank cards have it included with other deals and perks back so it may end up ‘free.’

If they are Airbnb and cooking etc then maybe she can stretch to £200, and maybe it’ll incentivise her to work more than one day per week? I can totally get the fomo and a reality check might do her good

I don’t think she should cancel. It’s probably her first holiday away with friends and it’ll be a big thing for her. £200 isn’t a huge amount but she’ll have to make it work. Personally, I wouldn’t travel without travel insurance but lots of people do. Could you loan her some money or give her some as a gift.

She needs insurance.

But spending money she can figure out herself/with her mates. This is part of growing up and learning independence

Can she do anything to earn more money before she goes - babysitting, jobs for family or neighbours, etc.

Insurance will be dirt cheap. Please buy her some now.

If she's self catering can she take noodles or stuff from home. Does she drink? Does she realise it's only £30 a day or less?

I'd be supporting her to find a solution rather than telling her to cancel.

Could you offer her to do jobs around house for you and pay her for them on condition she gets travel insurance? It will be very cheap for a teenager. That's what I'd do OP.

Can you not add her to your travel insurance? Shouldn’t be too expensive. Make sure she has a GHIC card if she’ll be in Europe.

£200 won’t be a lot but if they are spending all day on the beach/by the pool she will only really need to cover nights out. At that age I would have skipped a restaurant meal in favour of club entry, eaten snacks (supermarket bread/cheese/olives/meat) and drunk cheap wine in the flat before I went out, and then stuck to water all night. £200 would easily cover that for a week.

I'd give her some spending money. But I'm a soft touch.

Why do you think she didn’t tell you the full amount?

Where’s she going?
Travel insurance will be a few pounds, less than £10, assuming from the price she’s not going to the states. I’d buy the travel insurance and give her £50. It’ll still be tight, but I sense that’s not the issue- do you not want her to go away?

If my 18 yo dd was going on holiday with friends I’d be paying for her travel insurance and bunging her some money to have a good time. Are you not in a position to do this? She’s still young and the responsibility of money comes later. It did with me.

Buy the travel insurance for her. (And fully explain what it covers). Leave the rest up to her. If she has a cash flow problem, or ends up borrowing of friends, then that’s a lesson learnt. A good way to learn about money management.

Probably because she knew that we would say she couldn’t afford it!

I'd buy her the travel insurance, as it'll be you it comes back to bite if she needs help. You could also encourage her to find more work, or sell unused items, do jobs around the house, etc.

However, my DB lived life like your DD, and has had a wonderful life, compared to my careful one. He isn't in a fantastic place financially but I wish I'd had more fun like he has had at that age, and just a little less time worrying about money.

She absolutely needs insurance.

Depending on what they will be doing she can survive on £25 a day, although it won’t be much fun!

If she was otherwise a sensible child, reasonably good with money and working hard, I would definitely give her the money if I could.

id buy the travel insurance for her probably a yearly policy so you can rest easy at least with that aspect

but leave her to it with the 200£ spending money - she'll have to manage somehow and it might be a lesson learned for next time

You seem really up in her business? Let her figure it out, she is an adult.

My father stills speaks of a holiday 50 years ago where he had managed to run out of money a day before he was due to flyback. He could afford one coffee to share with his friend and that was all he had for 24 hours

Can't you offer to help her @ThisTealLeader.

Why wouldn’t you give her some spending money if you can afford to?

I don’t think she should cancel, but I wouldn’t let her go without travel insurance. Could you pay for that for her?

In all honesty I don’t think she is responsible enough and is vulnerable. So the money aside I think it’s a recipe for disaster in all
honesty.

It's a life lesson. Her friends (assuming they are good people) won't leave her short while over there... she just might end up having to spend all her wages from now until Christmas repaying them.

I would 100% as a parent make sure she had insurance though. And personally if my kids were going away I'd throw them a few quid heading out the door (maybe £50 if I had it).

You'd be very surprised how little money young people can survive on!

I certainly wouldn't be telling her to cancel.because she's an adult and needs to learn.