how much of your income should go to vacation?

Question

I just booked a vacation to vegas and think I may have spent too much based on what I make. What I spent is about a month's worth of my yearly earnings. Is that normal? What should be the actual percent of your yearly income that goes to a vacation do you think?

Answer 1

Vacations are discretionary spending. Here's the correct way to do it:

Work out your monthly budget - that's the items you CANNOT do without. They include food, rent, utilities, but not cell phone car, cable.

From what is left, put at least half into savings.

From the other half, pay for discretionary items, including cell phones, cars, cable and vacations.

You need to build an emergency fund of at least 3 months money - that's to get you through being laid off, or getting long term sick etc. You don't touch that money, so you want to put it in something long term like a CD.

Answer 2

We budget 9%. But what we do is plan on going on vacation. Pick the total price of the trip with transportation, lodging, food, excursions and then budget to save that much between the time we book the trip and the departure date. I hope this helps!

Answer 3

That's pretty high, but if you don't need the money for living expenses and paying bills, it's your money so your call what you do with it.