Holiday & Vacation Savings – Seasonal Satisfaction with Club Accounts
A few years of missed opportunities from being cooped up and our always-busy lives have made many of us more eager than ever to hit the road, get out on the waves, or take off to a new destination. But the rising cost of… well, everything is making vacation planning more stressful than it used to be. And hey – aren’t vacations supposed to be fun?! Saving money by acting as your own travel agent will help, but to really make a difference, try a vacation savings plan so you know your travel expenses will be covered, and you can enjoy your adventures. That’s where travel and holiday savings club accounts come in!
HOW VACATION SAVINGS WITH A CLUB ACCOUNT WORKS
Vacation club accounts are a flexible way to keep the money you want to earmark for vacation separate from your other accounts to reduce the temptation to spend money you’ve set aside for travel and leisure. Start stashing your vacation savings in a club account with at least $10 and, ideally, $50 (to start earning dividends and APY – that is, annual percentage yield).
From there, make regular contributions in whatever way you prefer. Setting up a payroll deduction or direct deposit is a great method, as it sets a regular schedule to help add to your vacation savings, allowing you to make the arrangements once and then forget about it! Your savings will pile up as you push through the year, then be waiting for you come vacation time. You can open a travel club account for your vacation savings any time and pull the money at any point you need it, which is perfect if your recreational travel happens during off-peak times.
VACATION SAVINGS VS BOOK NOW, PAY LATER
If you’ve been looking at ways to finance a break from your day-to-day, you may have come across services offering “book now, pay later” for a variety of travel arrangements. What’s the deal with that? These offers are “point-of-sale loans” – encouraging you to pay for large expenses incrementally over time. What they aren’t always clear about is that these offers are exactly what the name implies – a loan. Depending on the terms of that particular loan, you might be looking at a steep interest rate or terms and conditions that make the initial offer of “book now, pay later” far less appealing.
While it can be tempting to think of these offers as a speedy alternative to your holiday savings plans, the ultimate “point” of these point-of-sale loans is to earn money for the company offering them. More often than not, you will be paying even more for your vacation – and even favorable terms might be restricted by large down payments or impeccable credit. Typically, these arrangements don’t make provisions for cancellations or delays either and can leave you in debt for a trip you didn’t even get to enjoy!
Travel club accounts, on the other hand, don’t carry any of these drawbacks and allow you to access the money you’ve saved at any time in case you need to nix your travel plans due to an emergency.
WINTER VACATION SAVINGS – TRAVEL OR THE HOLIDAY HAUL
Vacation travel expenses aren’t the only big annual ticket you can anticipate. Whether you pack up the family to wander through a winter wonderland or stay cozy at home, the holiday season means a sharp spike in spending for most of us. One way to take some of the humbug out of a complicated and expensive time of year is by planning ahead much earlier with a holiday club account.
Similar to how travel club accounts set you on a structured path for vacation savings, a holiday club account gets you saving for high year-end costs early and grants you the convenience to make contributions however you’d like (payroll deduction, direct deposit, or on-the-fly contributions are an option here too). While these often get dedicated to gifts, parties, and other seasonal needs, you can always use these savings for travel, too!
The big difference between a holiday club account and a vacation savings-focused travel club is in distribution. Holiday club accounts are set to disperse in the first week of October each year – putting those secure savings back into your account nice and early so you can lock down your holiday shopping or seasonal travel arrangements before the rush.
STACK YOUR HOLIDAY AND VACATION SAVINGS NOW
Ready to get started? Setting up a vacation club account or holiday club account is simple. Call, text, or hop on to live chat at ffcommunity.com, if you’d like a hand, or set up your club account on your own time through our digital banking (desktop, mobile, and the FFCCU app). We walk you through the process in this tutorial video. The sooner you start, the greater your savings, so contact us today – ‘Future You’ will appreciate it!
Posted In: Saving
