{"id":37419,"date":"2022-11-08T19:05:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T02:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/millennial-money-set-financial-limits-for-holiday-visits\/"},"modified":"2022-11-09T02:05:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T02:05:27","slug":"millennial-money-set-financial-limits-for-holiday-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/millennial-money-set-financial-limits-for-holiday-visits\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennial Money: Set financial limits for holiday visits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A traveler moves through the Philadelphia International Airport ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend. The concept of \u201cgoing home for the holidays\u201d changes throughout your life, and many millennials are going through that transition. (Matt Rourke\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Matt Rourke<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For many, visiting family for the winter holidays is a matter of \u201chow,\u201d not \u201cif.\u201d But this year, rising costs could make travel less affordable, especially when paired with other life changes \u2013 say, moving cross-country, going to school or getting married.<\/p>\n

The best way to tame these holiday travel costs? Set financial boundaries with your family and friends early on. Having these conversations can be intimidating, but there are ways to make compromises that keep the holidays feeling special without derailing your goals.<\/p>\n

Accept that travel isn\u2019t always possible<\/div>\n

As you add new commitments to your life, it can get hard to maintain the same holiday travel routine. Younger millennials may find themselves moving farther away from their families for job opportunities, like Audrey Peshkam, who moved to New York earlier this year from her hometown in Southern California to work for a nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time, visiting my parents for Christmas is going to be a pretty significant expense,\u201d Peshkam says. \u201cIf I stay in New York long term, I\u2019ll have to justify the cost of a cross-country flight every year.\u201d She hopes that as she progresses in her career, the financial strain will decrease.<\/p>\n

Antoinette Myers Perry, who lives with her wife and dogs in the Washington, D.C., area and is currently earning her third postgraduate degree, has been balancing these trade-offs for over a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in the early parts of my career, I couldn\u2019t always afford to fly home,\u201d Perry says. \u201cHolidays also meant picking one parent and sibling over another, which was often a heartbreaking choice.\u201d (Perry\u2019s family is split across states.)<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that I\u2019ve gotten older and established my own family, it\u2019s even harder,\u201d she adds, explaining that she now has to take into account her wife\u2019s family and her dogs\u2019 travel limitations, too.<\/p>\n

As jobs, partners, pets and kids add complexity to holiday plans and magnify expenses, it\u2019s essential to keep your expectations in check \u2013 and communicate them with your family.<\/p>\n

\"Tony
Tony Vicari, aviation director of the Durango-La Plata County Airport, greets passengers in this archived photo.<\/span>Terrance Siemon\/BCI Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Set expectations<\/div>\n

Finances and family occasions are often two of the most important aspects of adult life, which can cause conflict if they\u2019re not in sync. To avoid misunderstandings, communicate your limitations in advance.<\/p>\n

Perry says that for years, the conversation about her ability to visit home for the holidays was so difficult that she would just outright avoid having it. She would opt to spend holidays with faculty and community members during college and early adulthood instead of traveling.<\/p>\n

Now, she aims for compromise, helping her family to expect visits that work with her budget and schedule.<\/p>\n

Whatever your holiday travel limitations are, it\u2019s better to be honest than overextend your finances to avoid letting people down. Even if you can\u2019t afford a plane ticket, you can still make plans to catch up with friends and family members over a phone call or video chat. And in some cases, if your loved ones know about your financial situation in advance, they might be willing to cover some or all of your travel expenses.<\/p>\n

Offer to host<\/div>\n

For many, a significant shift in life is when \u201chome\u201d shifts from somewhere you visit to somewhere you host. Millennials are establishing their own houses, families and holiday traditions, and they may find that it feels right to start inviting retired parents to come to them. While hosting comes with certain expenses and time commitments, it might be more manageable than traveling for some.<\/p>\n

You might be able to persuade your family to come to you instead by sharing your situation. Pets and kids are an extra hassle to drive or fly with, and having a new home can be a good excuse to invite people over.<\/p>\n

Get creative<\/div>\n

If flights surrounding popular holidays are out of your budget, try an un-Thanksgiving<\/a> (or an un-anything) to celebrate the same traditions during a less busy week. Another option is prioritizing one essential holiday, whether that\u2019s a religious occasion, a seasonal favorite or a family member\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family cares a lot more about Christmas than Thanksgiving,\u201d Peshkam says. \u201cI can\u2019t afford to go home for both, so they know I\u2019ll be spending Thanksgiving with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unable to visit your own family for major holidays, talk to friends, neighbors or co-workers. You may be surprised how willing people are to open their homes and share their holiday meals with extra guests, including their partners and kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpending holidays with community members who were kind enough to host me in their homes expanded my definition of family,\u201d Perry says. \u201cAnd as I\u2019ve shared these diverse experiences with my own family, they\u2019ve almost always forgiven me for not making it home.\u201d<\/p>\n

This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Dalia Ramirez is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: dramirez@nerdwallet.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A traveler moves through the Philadelphia International Airport ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend. The concept of \u201cgoing home for the holidays\u201d changes throughout your life, and many millennials are going through that transition. (Matt Rourke\/The Associated Press)Matt Rourke For many, visiting family for the winter holidays is a matter of \u201chow,\u201d not \u201cif.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,1469],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-travel-and-commuting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37419"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}