‘I don’t have a budget’: Why people are going into debt to travel
The currently unemployed 30-year-old has been to Taipei, Budapest and New York in the past year, with no plans of giving up vacations while she looks for a job.
“I don’t have a budget. I’ll have a rough idea, but if I go over it, then I go over it. I won’t ever stop myself from having what I want on holiday.”
According to a 2023 study from finance website WalletHub, 25% of Americans say it’s worth going into debt for a good vacation. The majority of those going into debt do so by charging travel expenses on a credit card, with 20% of respondents saying they would rather skip a credit card payment and put the money toward a vacation.
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the author of The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class and a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. She believes that the current trend of travel moving from “optional” to “priority” began during the financial crisis in the 2000s and spiked after the pandemic.
“We wouldn’t have been able to predict it, the way the pandemic affected different generations in different ways, but the idea that our friends matter, living life matters, how important living a good life is – that has led to a change in how people spend their money.
“When you’re young, you don’t have money to shift into another area, but you can say, ‘I’ll think about this later and live my best life right now.’”
Currid-Halkett brings up what she calls “the avocado toast thing.”
She’s referring to a 2017 interview with Australian real estate mogul Tim Gurner, in which he appeared to imply that millennials couldn’t afford major purchases like down payments on homes because they were spending all their disposable income on avocado toast.
Gurner’s comments went viral and were turned into multiple memes, many of which made the argument that home prices had gone so much while wages remained stagnant, which was the real reason young people couldn’t afford to buy houses – not their brunch orders.
“Social mobility is so out of reach and something’s gotta give,” says Currid-Halkett. The mindset is “‘I can’t buy a house, I’m not sure I can afford college or grad school, so I might as well go to Spain and backpack. It’s barely a dent in the debt I’m going into for other things.’”
Alex King, founder of personal finance website Generation Money, uses another word for this phenomenon: “doomspending.”
“They do feel as if they’re owed something, and their generation has been treated unfairly,” he says. ”They think (credit card debt) is not as risky as it is. They don’t care so much about not getting into debt.”
King adds that social media has changed the way many people think about travel. Digital nomads, influencers and content creators make it look like traveling full-time is accessible for everyone.
Fraser agrees that FOMO plays a big role in her decision-making, as she hates feeling left out if her friends are going somewhere on vacation without her. She also makes an effort to visit shops, cafes and other spots she has seen online.
‘Buy now, pay later’
While some people may simply put an expensive flight on a credit card and pay it off later, others may sign up for installment programs through third-party programs like Klarna, Uplift and Affirm.
These “buy now, pay later” services are accepted by a range of airlines, including United, American and Delta, but King believes they can be predatory.
“There’s people who get into debt recklessly, but they begin to manage it over time and their income begins to increase. If they’re a little bit stricter about how they control it, they can be fine. But there are a group of people who get into the habit of getting into debt. When it hits is when they start thinking about buying a home. It’s not just your income that counts – it’s your debts as well.”
Fraser’s own financial experiences include a range of spending habits. In one case, she was moving out of an apartment and let the landlord keep her security deposit instead of paying for the coming month’s rent so she’d have cash in hand to spend on a trip with her friends. She has also been given money by her parents and charged items on a credit card in Hong Kong, which she stopped paying when she moved back to the UK.
As for long-term plans, she still isn’t sure what will happen, although her goal is to return to Hong Kong, where she was living before being laid off from her English teaching job last year.
“Eventually, if I’m going to get a house, I’ll get a house. I’ll make it work. I don’t want to say fate or anything like that, but if I’m meant to get a house, I know that I will get a house, so I just don’t stress about it.”
Despite the ongoing job search, the 30-year-old continues to prioritize travel, planning future trips without letting financial constraints deter her.In line with the findings of the 2023 WalletHub study, many individuals view vacations as a worthwhile investment, even if it means accumulating debt.
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