5 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY WHEN TRAVELING – LIKE MONEY PEOPLE DO IT
People whose work it is to manage big and bigger money tend to be very careful with their own expenses – which is how they pave their path to stability and wealth. We’ve surveyed bankers and financiers willing to share the iron rules by which they live when they travel, and we think these rules could make us richer and our journeys cheaper.
1. Plan your expenses
For people who manage money, travel expenses are never planned haphazardly. It only takes half an hour to write up a basic budget: this is how much I’m willing to spend in total, this is what the tickets and the hotel will cost, this is for food and transport, this is for museum, opera and concert tickets, and this is a fun, but specific sum that I can spend on spontaneous joy, light purchases and funny souvenirs. From this moment, you can stop asking the question “What can I afford?” and “God, where did all my money go?” and just travel with a clear conscience.
2. Keep an eye on small spendings
In a lovely anecdote about Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov and an old lady, Raskolnikov says: “It’s a terrible shame to kill an old lady for twenty pence… But five old ladies, now you’re talking!” We have no plans to harm old ladies, but any financier will tell you that it’s just as important to keep an eye on small expenses as on large ones. For example, buying a single SIM card (LINK) that allows you to stay in contact in any country and pay several times less than you would on roaming charges is just as important as making a wise purchase on a travel card that allows you to cut down your travel expenses by half if not more.
3, Look at the exchange rate when you exchange currency
People for whom money is a profession don’t go to the first money changer they find on the street, only to get fleeced for a commission on top of a terrible exchange rate. They know the answers to several questions in advance: “What will the commission be when I pay by credit card?”, “Is it cheaper to withdraw cash at a cash machine or bring it with me?”, “Which currency converter has the best rate?”. Finding the answers to these questions in advance takes a mere twenty minutes, and the feeling that you’re controlling your money and making wise decisions is priceless.
4. Shop like the locals do
Financiers know exactly what a tourist trap is: a place where crowds of tourists congregate, where any goods – from water to souvenirs, from pizza to supermarket food – can cost twice as much as they do in places where most of the customers are permanent residents of the city. In the age of Google Maps and Trip Advisor, it’s a sin not to go an extra block away to buy food in an ordinary supermarket rather than in a monstrously expensive shop of doubtful quality in the city’s main tourist square.
5. Save wisely
For people who work with money, expenses are split into ‘need’, ‘want’ and ‘unnecessary’ – and the difference between the second and the third is often not what has been purchased, but how it was purchased. Financiers never neglect seasonal sales in luxury boutiques, online opera ticket purchases with good bargains, the option to take out a member card that gives discounts in an elite club, and other methods of getting more for less. Your tastes can be as refined as you like – it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give any thought to your expenses.
Essentially, the most important advice that money people have given us regarding travel expenses can be boiled down to this simple formula: “You can do anything you like – except stop keeping track of your money.” We think that if we can learn to follow this tip, our journeys could become much more fun – and much less expensive.