Today I’m going to attempt something I don’t believe anyone has ever done in human history: push back on Big Vacation.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were thinking of booking a trip to Maine. We thought it would be fun to see the coastline, take in the fall leaves, and enjoy some time together without our toddlers. We thought a five or six-day trip would do the trick.
Here’s the breakdown of the estimated cost:
- Flights – $1,400
- Hotels/BNBs for six nights: $2,700
- Rental Car: $700
- Food/Souvenirs/Miscellaneous: $1,000
All in, I expect it would cost somewhere around $6,000 for five days.
Now, whether you think that’s a reasonable price to pay will depend on your financial situation, stage of life, or how much you love Fall on the East Coast.
But when I brought up the fact that this seemed like a significant amount of money to spend in a short period of time with people in my life, the unanimous response I received was, “Don’t even think about it! That’s just what vacations cost. It’s always worth it.”
Which got me to thinking: going on vacations has become the most culturally acceptable form of spending.
If I were to tell my friends that I couldn’t save any money last year because I spent it all on new clothes, they would think I’m financially irresponsible.
But if I told my friends that I couldn’t save any money last year because I spent it all on vacations with my family, no one would blink an eye.
“Good for you! How fun!”
You deserve it!”
“You know what they say, the money will return, but your time won’t.”
“Think about the memories!”
“Life is short!”
“Experiences over things!”
Splurge on a luxury car and someone might quietly judge you. Upgrade your house, and people wonder if you’re overextended. Buy expensive clothes or food, and you risk looking frivolous.
Going on vacation? Not only is it accepted, but it’s celebrated.
Vacationing has become so embedded in our culture that 36% of Americans say they’d rather go into debt than skip out on a vacation. The same survey shows that 47% of Millennials and 42% of Gen Z plan on going into debt in order to pay for their vacations.
What’s ironic is that of all the hobbies, vacationing is probably the most likely to land people in debt. If you haven’t noticed, going on vacation can be quite expensive.
The average family vacation cost in 2025 was estimated at $7,249. The average international vacation ran about $9,922. Both of those numbers have nearly doubled since 2022. I’ll rephrase that last sentence again for dramatic effect: the cost of going on a vacation has almost doubled in just three years.
Sometimes a helpful way to compare how expensive hobbies are is to break them down by cost per use.
For example, let’s say you like to mountain bike, so you buy a bike for $3,000. You then buy all of your equipment (helmet, gloves, clothes, glasses, shoes) for $1,000. You’ve spent $4,000 and plan on using this gear for the next three years. If you go biking 10 times a year, it essentially costs $133 a ride.
You can do the same exercise for tennis or golf or boating or eating at nice restaurants or anything else. What you’ll find is that going on vacation trumps almost all of our other pastimes in terms of cost per use.
You can go mountain biking 30 times over three years for half the price of one single, solitary vacation.
Here’s a short list of some of the things you could buy instead of a $7,000 vacation:
- A full kitchen appliance refresh
- A brand new wardrobe
- A country club membership
- A year of personal training sessions
- Two full sets of golf clubs
- A new musical instrument
- A date night with your spouse to a fancy restaurant every single week for an entire year
- All of your kids’ (and maybe a few others’) Christmas presents
- Season tickets to your favorite sports team
- Front row seats to 10+ major concerts
- A subscription to every streaming service known to man for you and your 50 closest friends
The list could go on and on. There are so many awesome things to spend your money on other than throwing hundreds of dollars a night for the privilege of sleeping in a creaky bed.
And that’s without mentioning the significant impact $7,000 can make from a wealth-building perspective, like fully funding a Roth IRA or HSA for the year, establishing a brokerage account, or paying off debt.
I guess my point is that I’ve heard so many people complain about their $15 Netflix subscription while at the same time applying zero scrutiny to their $5,000 vacation.
I’m not anti-vacation by any means. I’ve had some amazing travel experiences in my life and would have a lovely time on the coastline of Maine with my wife.
But I do think we need to push back at least a little on what TikTok and Instagram tell us and ask ourselves, “Is it worth it?”
If that answer is a resounding yes, then book the trip and enjoy it fully.
I’d simply encourage you to treat it like the major financial decision it really is.
Thanks for reading!
Jake Elm, CFP® is a financial advisor at Dentist Advisors. Jake a graduate of Utah Valley University’s nationally ranked Personal Financial Planning program. As a financial advisor at Dentist Advisors, he provides dentists with fiduciary guidance related to investments, debt, savings, taxes, and insurance. Learn more about Jake.