Summer has recently arrived. But in a short time we have witnessed high summer pressure with warm winds and bright sun and also cold low pressure with rain, thunder and floods.
However, it may, if only for a short time, soon crack open in some parts of the country.
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Photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TTFive money traps you should avoid
When the holidays arrive, it is not entirely unusual to travel away and treat yourself to a slightly more luxurious everyday life.
Felicia Andersson Schoen is a private economist at Avanza. In an interview with News24 she shares five tips you should use to avoid an unexpectedly expensive holiday this summer.
1. Always pay in local currency
– Most foreign travelers are probably familiar with the situation. You look down at the card reader and see the choice “SEK or EUR”. Quite naturally, it feels best in the gut to choose SEK, but here the gut feeling is wrong. Always choose to pay in the local currency, it is more advantageous for you because otherwise there may be an unfavorable exchange rate.
2. Keep track of your insurances
– Many companies try here and there to sell you add-ons in the form of travel insurance, these are often completely unnecessary as there is travel cover both in your home insurance and through your debit card. The exception is if you are going to travel for more than 45 days, then it may be necessary to have additional insurance.
3. Credit cards can make vacations easier
– When you travel, it is not uncommon for hotels and rental car companies to charge expensive deposits that are reserved during the trip. In those cases, it can really be helpful to have a credit card so that the money on the regular debit card is reserved, she says and adds:
– Of course, I don’t want to encourage anyone to get into debt, but having a credit card with a low credit limit to use in these cases can be a smart decision as long as you don’t spend more money than you have available.
4. Pay by card if possible
– Due to the fees that are often added when withdrawing cash from ATMs, it may be an idea to try to pay by card as much as possible. Of course, it depends on where you are going to travel, but in Europe it is increasingly available to pay by card.
5. Have at least two payment cards with you on holiday
– Make sure you have at least two different payment cards with you from different banks. If possible, it is also best to have both a VISA and a MasterCard. This allows one to parry unwanted technical problems from an individual bank or issuer. Without access to money, one can easily become vulnerable abroad.
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Vacation? Don’t forget to budget
Andersson Schön also emphasizes that you should bear in mind that the holiday is limited and that there will be a weekday afterwards. By budgeting your expenses, you can more easily get an overview and insight to create the conditions to have money left when it’s time to return to everyday life.
– If you want to have money left over when you go back to work, it’s really simple math, budget so you spend less money than you bring in. There are so many options for travel so there is something to suit all budgets. If you want to keep costs down, Sweden’s nature is really a tip, incredibly beautiful. Book with good foresight can also usually be much cheaper.
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Missing a holiday can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars
However, there are certain things that are good to keep in mind before spending the money in order to also avoid financial mistakes, which in the long run can cost an unnecessary amount of money.
According to Andersson Schön, there is a common thing many people do. It may not seem like a lot of money at the moment, but if the same mistake is repeated during the holidays, the unnecessary expenses add up.
This is mainly about withdrawals from ATMs abroad.
– It differs enormously from which card issuer you have and what the ATM itself charges, but say between SEK 15-100 per withdrawal if you withdraw cash. When it comes to the exchange rate, the differences are smaller, but there, on the other hand, you often draw the card so many streams are small.
In the event that you spend a week in the sun and withdraw money on average once per day, it can result in you paying up to SEK 700 extra in withdrawal fees in the worst case.
READ MORE: Expensive holiday trap – can cost you SEK 3,185