Traveling the world is an exciting prospect with huge mental and physical rewards. For many people, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to sample new cultures, cuisines, learn new ways of life, and find inner peace. Without proper planning, however, traveling the world can jeopardize other plans, including buying your first home. These two potentially life-changing decisions not only compute for your time, but they may also scramble for the limited financial resources at your disposal. The key to achieving both milestones is finding a healthy balance between the two competing needs.
The following tips will help buy your first home and still afford to travel the world:
Set Goals
Realizing your desire of becoming a first-time homeowner and a traveler requires pragmatic and realistic goals that are time-bound. Avoid setting ambiguous dates to make a down payment for the home or soaking in the sun thousands of miles away from your new home. Be very specific when setting your goals and avoid generalization.
However, always set achievable goals. While it would be a dream come true for you to move into your new home and jet off to Magaluf, then Paris the following week, deduce whether such a goal is attainable with the financial resources available. Include small successes within your plan to motivate you and act as a launch pad for even more significant achievements. If you can’t make it to Mallorca’s Magaluf in your current financial situation because you put money down for the house, a few days’ visits to some serene and less expensive holiday destination can suffice.
Find Inspiration
Whether you want to provide a stable and secure home for your family, or improving your cultural diversity intelligence, find an incentive to make such a giant step. Have an unrelenting passion for your desires and goals. Let the success stories of others re-energize as you venture into an exciting, yet challenging phase in your life. There are dozens of success stories. Draw inspirations from the rich rewards of their steely determination, discipline, and commitment.
Assess Where You Are
Buying your first house while also traveling the world is a significant decision that requires a greater understanding before making. Your life will never be the same once you make the first step towards achieving these two critical milestones all at the same time. Therefore, it is only prudent that you have a deeper understanding of the journey you are about to start. Research about the destinations you would wish to visit, including the price tags, and what to expect. Search online for property listings and develop a clear mental picture of the home you want to purchase. Choose the neighborhood and assess whether it is the ideal location for your first home.
Becoming a globetrotter and new homeowner is a major journey. Setting sail without understanding anything about your destination would be an ill-advised move, which can easily end in a financial disaster. When assessing where you stand, be constructively critical and honest about your financial capabilities. Self-reflection will help you in turning your dreams into reality.
Draw Up a Budget
Collect information on house prices and your travel destinations. If you plan on visiting the Caribbean islands during the warm weather on a cruise ship, collect information on prices and any other related costs. Consult a professional assets agent to get budget estimates for a home in the desired neighborhood, including the down payment, monthly premiums, and any taxes involved. The lasting thing you want to hear while enjoying a glass of wine in the Eifel Tower is a foreclosure notice for your home because you are late with payments.
Use the collected data to draw up a flexible budget that caters for any eventualities during this journey. Avoid using fixed budget estimates. Be flexible and include price ranges for the trip and the home. This way, you can have ample wiggle room. Throughout the quest, let your budget act as a beacon and a point of reference.
Save a Little More Than Usual
Purchasing your first home while also traveling the world, without being sucked into a deadly financial vortex, requires a big financial outlay. Therefore, you might have to curb spending on luxuries and big-ticket items such as cars and expensive home appliances. Sometimes you might have to push your wedding to the back burner to raise enough money to put down for the down payment for the new home. The desire to own your first dream home while also visiting your favorite holiday destinations around the world may sometimes require shelving your plans to start a family.
The key to saving is to start by tracking your expenses for a month and identifying expenditures that you can reduce or eliminate. Sometimes it might be those large pizzas you buy every two days or the expensive gym registration that you barely utilize in a month due to a crazy work schedule. You can also save some cash by minimizing your weekend visits to the local bar. Over time, these seemingly small monies will accumulate and boost your desire to travel the world and purchase your first home.
Use Your Credit Cards
One of the easiest ways to get an airline ticket is to accumulate airline miles or airfare, which you can easily convert into an air ticket. Be disciplined when making the payments. Avoid lateness when making payments and frequently use your card. You’ll earn credit ratings and stand a better chance of landing a mortgage for your first home.
Commit by Establishing a Travel Fund
Religiously put that extra cash or change in your travel fund. Over time they will accumulate. You can use the money to buy the air ticket to your dream destination or use it to make payments for the home.
Owning your first home and becoming a globetrotter are life milestones that require discipline and hard work to pull off. The financial outlay required to pull off such a feat can be discouraging for many people. However, with financial discipline and proper mental preparation, it is achievable. Broaden your revenue streams and save wherever possible. Using your credit will allow you to redeem points to travel for free.
