Have you been dying to go on a trip for the longest time? Do you finally want to save up for a big vacation?

Whenever I talk about a past trip or one that’s coming up I get asked the usual question from curious friends.

How do you afford to travel so often?

My answer is simple.

It’s all about prioritizing. If you want to travel you need to set your priorities straight so that you can manage to pull off a trip. You need to cut back on the crap that’s not allowing you to travel.

Below is the formula that I follow when it comes to planning one of the many trips that I attend per year:

Pick a rough time frame.

The first step is to decide when you think you’ll be able to go on this trip. If you’re broke it could be a year. If you’re doing okay, it could be a few months.

The good news is that if you have a year for the trip, it’s going to be easy to save. You just need to put aside $20 a week and you’ll have over one thousand dollars in your bank account after a year. That’s good enough for most travel destinations.

Ask around to see who’s interested.

The next step is to see who’s going to attend this trip with you. Do you have a girlfriend itching to go away? Perhaps your best friend wants to ditch the winter? I recommend that you ask your close friends to see who can pull this trip off with you.

Pick a destination.

Where do you want to go? How much money are you willing to spend? How much money can you realistically put aside for this trip?

After looking around, you’ll easily find an answer to this.

Start saving.

When I have a trip coming up I try to either save more money or make more money (or a combination of both). If you want to make more money you can start freelancing now. You can also increase the hours at your current job to have more money coming in. You can sell your crap. There are dozens of ways that anyone can increase their income right now.

As for the saving money equation: just cut out the crap that’s holding you back.

Create a sub-account.

The final step involves setting up a specific savings account where you’ll hold (or hide) the money for this trip.

To keep my focused on my goal I create a sub-account with ING Direction. I label this account after the trip destination. For example, “CANCUN 2013 BABY!” is a suitable title.

That’s how you can plan for and budget for a trip.

Where are you going to go next? Make sure to take some pictures for us.

You’re done with college. You got your credentials. You found a job. You’re making decent money for the first time ever. What’s next?

You want to experiment and see what life has to offer. You want to break out of your bubble. You want a different life from the one that you had in college. You want to figure out what this money-saving stuff you hear about is all about.

I needed a cash advance and had to resort to my emergency fund to make the repairs. I wanted to share financial advice for college graduates looking to get ahead:

Build your emergency fund.

My friend, things happen in life. We always assume the best-case scenario. The reality is that anything can happen. I didn’t realize the importance of an emergency fund until I crashed my car in the snow one cold evening. I had to resort to my emergency fund to make the repairs.

An emergency fund or savings account or whatever you want to call it, is money that you have waiting for you in case you need. You don’t have to invest this money or take any chances with it. Just let it sit until you absolutely need. Believe me, you’ll need it one day.

Retirement.

I don’t want to bore you with retirement talk. I just want you to browse around to see if your employer offers any sort of retirement plan where they match contributions. You don’t want to miss out on free money.

Kill student debt.

I’ve written pretty extensively about crushing student debt. You already know what needs to be done and I’m not here to preach. I just want you to decide what you plan on doing about your student debt before it’s too late and the creditors start chasing you for the money,

Credit cards.

Ah the always polarizing topic of credit cards. If you want to get ahead financially you want to use credit cards and not let credit cards use you. Of course this is easier said than done.

How can you use your credit card like a champ?

• Only spend money that you have.
• Keep your limit low if you don’t have control.
• Get relevant credit card rewards.
• Pay off your balance every single month.
• Repeat.

Don’t let your balance become outstanding! That’s not a good thing.

Get roommates.

I won’t try to convince you to live at home. As much money as you can save, it’s just not worth it. There’s no price tag for your freedom. I recommend finding solid roommates that you can rent a place with to save money on rent and to motivate each other to work harder. It’s important that you watch who you surround yourself with in your years after college.

Wait to buy a home.

The most important financial decision that you’ll have to make in your late-20s is if buying a home is right for you. Most college graduates feel that getting a home right after school is the logical step and pretty much mandatory. I want you to challenge that. I want to see you actually run some real numbers to determine if it’s even worth it for you to put so much money into a home.

That’s what you can do in your years after college to get ahead of your friends. You don’t have to do all of this. You can slowly apply these tips to your life.

Are you ready to save some of the money that you’re making? We all know that making money is challenging. What’s even more difficult is learning how to save a piece of this income. This is why you come here.

Last week we looked at how to make more money. You figured out how to increase your income and have more money coming into your pocket. Now it’s time to save a bit more of this money that you have coming in.

Let’s look at 10 ways you can save money right now:

1. Cut a subscription.

Once every little while I check out my monthly bills to see what I can cut. I usually find at least one subscription that I can live without. I then cut the subscription and check to see if I notice any difference in the quality of my life.

2. Reduce a subsctiption.

If you don’t want to cut something, you can simply reduce it. I do this with my subscriptions all of the time. I will look at them and see what I can cut. Last month I shaved a few bucks off my cell phone bill by reducing something that I really didn’t need.

3. Hit up the grocery store.

Instead of going after fast good you can hit up the grocery store to see what they have to offer. At the grocery store you can save some serious coin in the long run on food.

4. Drink water.

Screw the expensive fluids and soft drinks. Stick to water and stay hydrated. You might also save some money in the process.

5. Plan ahead.

The reason that we spend money is because we don’t plan in advance. This happens to me all of the time. I go on instinct and spend more money than anticipated. The alternative is to plan ahead and think of ways to save money,

6. Delay a purchase.

If you feel the urge to grab something right now you can save money by simply delaying this purchase. Do you have to buy that flat screen right now? Can you wait? If you delay a purchase you can find yourself with more savings than expected.

7. Ask for a discount.

If you don’t ask the answer is always no. I made it a habit to always ask for a discount. You have absolutely nothing to lose. Ask for a discount and see what happens. If you get turned down, no big deal. If you get accepted, you win. Give it a try.

8. Ask your friends for help.

Your friends can always give you a hand because combined you guys have more resources than just one person alone. If you ask your friends you can get plenty of savings done.

9. Ride a bike.

Instead of driving or paying for public transportation you can squeeze some exercise in by riding your bike to school or work. You’ll save a ton of money and work on your fitness. Why not?

10. Keep it simple.

Once again, you don’t have to do anything complicated. You can keep it simple and cut back on your expenses when you can.

That’s how you can save some money right now my friend. How much more money will you have in your pocket?

Have you ever attended a conference before?

I used to always hear about conferences and professional events. I knew that they were a wise move to make. I knew that it made sense to attend these sorts of events. I just never did it. I never went. I made up excuses. The truth was that I was afraid of stepping outside of my comfort zone. We all get held back by the thought of being uncomfortable and stuck in an unfamiliar situation.

Then I finally started to attend events alone. I went on trips, to book signings, networking events, and conferences. I met tons of cool people, learned more than I ever could on my own, and have tremendously enjoyed the experience.

What’s holding you back from attending a conference? Why not experiment by attending one?

I wanted to look at what goes into attending conference.

Preparing for a conference, what do I do?

At this point you have to perform a few simple actions:

• Find an event that you want to attend and enrol.
• Figure out what you goals are. Do you want to meet certain people? Do you want to just learn more about the field?
• Check out the list of attendees and get to know a little about them.
• Bring outfits for different occasions.
• Get ready for an interesting experience.

Now you’re ready to attend the conference.

What are some general tips for when you’re at the conference or event?

1. Remember that everyone else is nervous. There’s no shame in being nervous. Every single person there will be a bit hesitant about the whole experience.
2. Try to meet everyone. There’s lots of folks that will surprise you. My goal at conferences is to try to meet everyone in attendance. You’ll never know what hidden gems you can pick up.
3. Don’t judge. You don’t want to offend anyone by being judgmental. I try not to pass judgment on old friends or new friends. Nobody likes that.
4. Learn from everyone in attendance. Every single person has something to offer you and vice versa. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. This is a learning experience.

By the end of all of this you’re going to be sad to go home. You must say goodbye to all of your new friends. One event is over and the next one i just around the corner.

What happens after the conference?

Now it’s time for you to go home. What do you do?

I’ve been told that you must followup or die. This means that you should try to keep tabs on everyone that you meet. The goal when you get home should be to try to stay in touch with everyone that you’ve met. These can be life long long friends if you just stay in touch.

That’s how you can have a blast at a networking event or conference in the near future. What’s holding you back?

Every single person I encounter thinks that home ownership is the best option. Nobody wants to rent. Renting is often viewed as “throwing money away.” Why would you want to throw money away when you can buy a home? That’s what everyone says about this topic.

I have different thoughts on this topic. I think that renting is a strong option. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to rent instead of owning.

What are the benefits of renting? Why should you consider renting instead of buying?

You can save money.

When you rent a place, you just pay your monthly fee and that’s all you have to worry about. The rest of your money can be put towards savings or whatever else that you want to do in life. You don’t have to put every single penny into your home. For some of us, we just need a roof over our heads.

Renting doesn’t come with any hidden fees.

As mentioned above, you only pay your rent and nothing else. A home comes with the following hidden fees that you would’ve never expected:

• Increased consumption due to more expenses.
• Property taxes.
• Fixing equipment around the home.
• The time it takes to do work around the place.

Can you handle all of those hidden expenses that come with buying?

You have the option to travel more.

As a home owner, you might get financially strapped dealing with the bills. You also don’t have any flexibility because you have to make your mortgage payments or else you lose your home. This limits your ability to travel or do anything interesting in life. I rented out my condo last fall so that I could have more money to play with and to travel. The first thing that I did was buy  ticket to Poland for a month all on my own.

Do you want to travel more? Would you rather spend the money on house-related bills.

Those are the benefits of renting. Now I want to ask you: why don’t you consider renting?

My experiment for today is simple. I want you to run the numbers. Don’t just follow your gut or listen to what conventional wisdom tells you. Do some actual calculations before making this decision. This means that you factor in all of the costs associated with buying a home. Then compare it to renting. Then factor in your savings/income.

Are you able to buy a home? Would you be better off renting for now? This is for you to decide after running the numbers.