Welcome back to this walk through my Money Manifesto check ins. If you’re just joining us, in 2014 I did a writing challenge related to a prompt from J. Money of Budgets Are Sexy fame. I ran some numbers through a calculator and figured that if I continued on the financial path I was on circa 2014, I will be a millionaire in a mere 25 years. Related to that, I wrote up this Money Manifesto about the ways I planned to try and live my life during this journey to millionaire status.

Fun update, that CNN calculator won’t load for me anymore, but this Bankrate calculator has actually jumped up my millionaire age to 56 and that’s with only factoring in contributions to my Roth IRA and HSA. Hopefully once I finish up this degree, I can go back to adding to 401k plans and brokerage accounts too. At any rate, maybe only 18 more years to go.

Or maybe all the wheels will come off the wagon and these numbers will mean nothing.

So much of risk planning and mitigation is trying to look through a crystal ball into the future – and yet… informed risk planning (aka fancy crystal balls) do seem to make a difference.

Well. That was quite a tangent.

Today’s point on the Money Manifesto is about traveling.

And I’m a bit gutted to admit that in 9 years, I haven’t made any movement on those last two continents (Asia and Antarctica). Clearly the only path to Antarctica is probably a cruise. So maybe old Mel will knock out that goal one day. And I am very hopeful to make it China before I turn like 45 but I’m thinking that trip is unlikely during this grad school phase.

However, I do think I’m nailing that I will travel a lot.

This has largely been helped by career but I am also lucky to have a best friend and a cousin who also are both super into prioritizing travel, so it’s not hard for me to find a travel buddy.

In the years since I wrote this Manifesto, I’ve moved to London, worked in Saudi Arabia, and went on a girls trip to Niagara Falls and Montreal.

I used rewards card to save money on several excellent trips: Eastern Europe ($320 saved), Iceland ($731.11 saved), Hawaii ($1239.84 saved), and FinCon ’14 in New Orleans.

I’ve been to every state except North Dakota thanks to my time with Holland America, Ringling and three other national tours.

Some random money related things I’ve learned about traveling over the years – if you pay off your credit cards every month (and really only then – the interest rates are exorbitant), rewards cards are incredible for both racking up rewards points with your regular spending but also for churning to rack up bonus rewards.

Related to that, if you have a really good travel card, you may not need travel insurance. Also, if you are international traveller – Global Entry, my friends. I cannot rave about it enough. The first time I walked right past what looked like a 2-3 hour immigration line right to the kiosk, I felt that money was well spent. The fact that I’ve done it countless times over the last few years – worth every penny.

And, if you have a good travel card, you probably get a credit that covers a substantial part of the cost.

A good suitcase is worth the splurge because no one wants to deal with the fallout of a cheap suitcase breaking while travelling.

A full sized pillow can be brought on an airplane and doesn’t count as any of your bags. This full sized pillow could be filled with clothes. No one would know.

Also several good travel rewards cards come with airport lounge access. This can help cut down on your airport spending – is it only me who loses all sense of money once I’m past security in an airport?

Totally not related to money, I do think travelling and experiencing other cultures, and especially working in environments with people from other cultures for extended periods of time, has been one of the most valuable educations of my life.

If you’re interested in seeing how the other goals on my Money Manifesto are going, you can read those posts here:

1. ) I will pay off all my debt. 
2. ) I will tithe 10%
3. ) I will save at least 15%
4. ) I will build up a $10,000 emergency fund.
5. ) I will max out my IRA every year.
6. ) I will put effort into learning how the stock market works better.
7. ) Then I’ll invest in it.
8. ) I’ll put effort into learning how REITS work.
9. ) And then I’ll invest in it. 
10. ) I will own a home and it will not be a McMansion. 
11. ) I will pay for cars up front, in cash.
12. ) I will write a book. About a little man named Jorge who lives in a jar in an antique shop. He has a mustache. 
13. ) I will keep on learning thrifty and frugal ways to live and then actually use them.
14. ) I will make good decisions about how to spend my money, but I also won’t sacrifice all of the now for later.