Episode Transcript:
Miesha Williams 0:13
Welcome to the networthy podcast, we're talking securing, saving and investing the bag. From side hustles, to main hustles and everything in between. Let's get to it.
Miesha Williams 0:29
Hi, everyone. So I really hope you all had an amazing week and was able to get something accomplished, whether it was something big or even just something small. Consider this message as me clapping you on along whatever journey it is that you're on. So I'm here today with some travel tips that are going to save your pockets. From finding the best resort and flight deals, to how to get companies to invest money every time you take a trip. I mean, who turns down free money right? So before you go planning and booking your next trip, turn this joint up, pull out your pencil and your paper, notes apps, bookmarks however it is that you get down, and let's get to it.
Miesha Williams 1:11
This episode was created using the anchor app. A free podcast creation tool, which allows you to record directly from your phone or your computer. I'm actually recording in my car right from my phone right now. You can download the anchor app or go to anchor.fm to get started, believe me it is the easiest way to get started with your podcast, download the anchor app today.
Miesha Williams 1:46
I'm going to start with no other than the acorns app. At this point, I push acorns so much that they should just sponsor me. I'm actually not sponsored by any company that I'm about to put you on to today. So I'm just here giving you free game. Before I go any further I ask that if I convince you to use acorns to sign up using my link that I will include in the description and in the resource guide for this episode, which you can find at MieshaWilliams.com/networthy, and that way we both can get paid when you sign up. And that goes for any referral link that I dropped today. But what I love about acorns is their found money feature. So with found money, acorns partners with some of your favorite companies and brands so that when you shop with them, they will invest a certain percentage into your acorns account. Now, this is to no extra cost to you. It's like receiving cash back except the money is invested. So it's cash for that will grow and earn you dividends. Remember from the stock episode that we love dividends, and these are purchases that you were making anyway, you know, places that you were shopping anyway, things that you had already decided that you were going to buy. So you can either go through the acorns app or download their Chrome extension in your browser. I do both but personally I do love the Chrome extension. Because when I'm on a site that is a acorns partner, I don't have to search the app to see, the Chrome extension will light up and remind you to activate it whenever you're on a site that has partnered with acorns. There are over 350 companies who have partnered with acorns from Nike to Macy's to Sephora. But what we are going to focus on for this episode is Expedia.
Miesha Williams 3:24
Expedia is a acorns partner and when you booked your flight, rental car or hotel through Expedia, they will invest a percentage into your acorns account. As of today, that percentage is 4%. So you either have to activate it through the app or through the Chrome extension, and then 4% of whatever you're booking through Expedia will be invested into your acorns account. So let's say your total cost for a resort is 1400. For a week, you booked through Expedia and acorns found money and Expedia will invest $56 into your account. That's $56 you wouldn't have if you had gone straight through the resort. And now that's $56 that you can either leave in acorns and grow for retirement, or a rainy day or just whatever you're into.
Miesha Williams 4:08
Now, Expedia has really come in handy for me. So I hope they survive the pandemic because they make travel super affordable. Once you start booking through Expedia, you will see that you rack up points very quickly. And especially when it comes to traveling within the United States, the hotel deals are bomb. Now, their base deals are already bomb. But when you start racking up points that gives you access to even better deals. So I travel for work a lot, and I love boutique hotels when I do. I hate staying in business and corporate hotels. But Expedia includes deals for both. So if you're more into a fancy hotel, they still have that for you. But this is a trick I learned during business travel. So if you've ever been flewed out by your job, then you know that you have to book your own accommodations upfront before they reimburse you. So they'll really send you across the country and expect you to come out of pocket for it, knowing that it could be another two or three checks before you see your money back for a trip that they asked you to go on. I don't like that. So Expedia allows you to book now and pay later on certain properties.
Miesha Williams 5:15
So what I do is I go in and I see where the conference Hotel is located and search that by name in Expedia for my dates, then see if it allows me to book now and pay later. At this time, I'm also scoping out boutique hotels close to this one and seeing which has the best deal and is located to where I want to be. I have found me the most beautiful hotels this way. I mean, I went to San Diego and I fell in love. My team had all booked the conference hotel and I had them meet me at my hotel, which was like the small boutique hotel right around the corner. And they were like, Oh, this is boujee, but in reality, I had paid less than half of what they paid. So with the book now pay later option in Expedia, not only are you getting a good deal through Expedia, but then cash then is then invested through acorns. But you also don't have to pay until you arrive. Right? Like Boom, boom, boom, this is like so many good things. So if you book your trips month in advance, you do not have to pay until you check in, which now gives you so much time to budget for this trip.So before we move on to other travel specific saving tips, I want to drop another browser extension from a company that I actually love. So if you haven't seen the commercials featuring Kawhi, I mean, all of Kawhi's commercials are hilarious but if you haven't seen this one, and you haven't heard of this browser extension it's called Honey.
Miesha Williams 6:35
So I actually met someone on the Honey team a few years ago in San Francisco, and I had seen the advertisements for honey on Facebook but I always assumed it was spam. So I never clicked on it. So as I was at this conference in San Francisco, I met a member of the Honey team and she showed me how to download the Honey extension in Chrome and I have been using it ever since. So with Honey as you're shopping, you don't have to search the internet for deals. Honey is like a huge database which includes active coupons from all over the place. So instead of trying to find the best coupon code, you just check out as usual, hit the Honey extension, and it will apply all the coupons to see which one gives you the best deal on your order. So you aren't left guessing if the 2% offer or if the free shipping coupon. You know, I really hate when they do that, right? Am I the only one I seen that? Like, sometimes you'll be shopping and they'll be like, oh, get 10% off your order using this code, or it'll be like free shipping using this other code. And so now you're sitting there stuck trying to do the math. To see which one gives you the most money off? Like no, Honey figures that out for you so you're not stuck doing the math. So it's always good to have that extension and let it run whenever you're shopping. I mean, I've gotten deals for clothes, parking spots. Yes, parking spots, because parking in DC is trash. Even sites that I didn't even know had a coupon available.
Miesha Williams 7:55
Honey is always there like I got you sis, I mean it's the best thing. If you're still shopping without Honey, you're throwing money away period. So if you have other travel sites that you like to go through or rental car sites, or even if you're just shopping for vacation clothes, you know, make sure you're hitting up honey. Like I said, I've saved so much money. I mean, I even saved $60 just on one item. And I would not have applied a coupon code for that. I didn't know there was a coupon code out there. I had already budgeted to spend the full amount and Honey popped up and was like, Oh, no, girl, we got you. So come on, y'all. Come on, go download honey. I know this sounds like a ad but I promise you it is not like it's just that good.
Miesha Williams 8:40
So let's get back to those travel savings. The next thing I want to highlight allows you to put your flights on a payment plan. I also have a link for this one as well. So again, if you sign up please use my link because I am not sponsored and given free game without being compensated is also known as slavery, which is illegal or should be illegal because let's be honest modern day slavery still exists. So if you're signing up please use the link in the description or on the website. Thank you.
Miesha Williams 9:08
So I really love this site. I mean, I love everything that I'm mentioning and I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't use it myself. And I know everyone is rich rich, no one budgets everybody's balling. So Bill Gates, if you listening let me explain why some of us benefit from flight payment plans. What I'm introducing to you is called airfordable. So have you ever went to look a flight and seen a good ass deal but wanted to wait till your next check. Then you go back once you have the money and the prices shot up. Or you see the flight that you want, but by the time you go back, it's sold out. That is the worst. with airfordable since it's split into payments, you are also receiving price protection. So what you do is the date you see the price that you like or the flight that you like, you take the screenshot of the flight, you upload it to airfordable and book through them. They secure your flight in advance for that price. There's also no credit involved. So no credit checks are needed. You aren't paying like any type of APR, interest, any of it. So let's say the flight is $400. And you don't have $400 today, you can split that into four payments of $100. Or, you know, the type of payment or the number of payments depends on how soon you're traveling and the cost of your flight. Airfordable will break that down for you and they are very transparent about how many payments that you're making and how often that you're making them. They don't have any hidden fees, they are super transparent and secure. They also have amazing customer services.
Miesha Williams 10:47
They have amazing customer service, and I know this from personal experience. So I had a flight booked through airfordable to Orlando. I ended up having to cancel my trip, but I wanted to take that flight credit and switch it to Raleigh instead. So I contacted airfordable and they responded to me super quickly and they were able to make those changes for me super quickly and very easily. They didn't give me any type of runaround, like they had my back. So if you're interested in using our affordable, I will leave a link in the description for you to receive $25 off your flight. And if you're signing up for these companies without using the links, knowing that I referred you look at yourself in a mirror and say Self. And your mirror self will say, Hey girl, what's up? And say self, I am a hater.
Miesha Williams 11:35
So next we have my faves. And I know I'm hyping everything that I'm putting on this episode, but I mean, these are really my faves. And this is how I book all my out of country trips. I mean, they be having me looking like I'm being flewed out when in reality we on this budget flight. And I've never flown spirit so don't even think that's where I'm going with this one. What I'm introducing to you now is called Southwest Vacations and man, I love Southwest in general. Like where else do you get two free checked bags and two carry ons and the price is always low. Life is good on Southwest, but Southwest vacations and Southwest are separate sites. The same company separate websites, think siblings. Southwest vacations have hella vacation packages both in the United States and outside of the United States. So you have your Miami deals, your Vegas deals, Orlando deals, but you also can like really flex on the gram for a little bit and get out to an island for the low low.
Miesha Williams 12:30
And they make it so easy for the average person to get out of the country. You just go in and put your destination and if you don't know where you want to go then just browse the site for deals and look up the pictures and the explanation of each destination and you know, find something that you like, but when you get ready to determine like you know how much you want to pay for and the prices and things then you just go to the little search engine and you put in your destination and you put your dates. Then choose how many rooms you need and what your preferences are and when I say preferences I'll give you an example. When we go out of the country we prefer to stay at adults only all inclusive resorts. And by all inclusive that just means that your food, drinks, including alcoholic beverages, yeah, yeah, alcohol are all included under the price of your stay. The good thing about this is that once you hit the resort, you do not have to pay for anything. I mean, of course tip well, but you won't, you don't have to pay at like different restaurants. They'll have like, all these different restaurants and bars and things and you just walk up, you order and you don't have to pull cash out. So when you go through Southwest Vacations, you can bundle your resort, your flight, your transportation, your excursions, and everything is taken care of before you even leave home.
Miesha Williams 13:46
You aren't spending hours searching the web for it. And you don't have to like guess if it's legit or not, because sometimes you might be searching for vacation deals and you come across the website and it's look super affordable, but it's really a scam. No Southwest Vacations takes all of the questioning out of booking your out of country trips. Everything is right there at your fingertips. So like I said, we do all inclusive. And then we also do adult only so that we don't have to like worry about being splashed in a pool by anybody's kids. And you also get poolside drink services and your swim up bars, like it is very relaxing. So yeah, you enter your destination and your dates and they will pull up you know, all the resorts that are available for you at that time. And then you just look through the resorts and see if they're offering anything that you like, then you pick the time that you want your fight or flight, you pick the shuttle that will take you from the airport to the resort and back. You pick your excursions, you know, you just go out the country and enjoy yourself.
Miesha Williams 14:44
So I don't want to say that taking out of country trips is easy to do, because that's very like elitist and you know, like, it depends on how accessible that is for you. But what I am saying right now is that Southwest Vacations makes it more accessible for the everyday person to get of the country. I mean the first flight that I ever got on was a Southwest Vacations flight to the Dominican Republic. Imagine that. My first time being on a plane I was going to DR. I had never been on a plane or out of the country and I was able to set it up all by myself and I booked the trip for four people and I had never been anywhere before. Southwest Vacations made it that easy for me.
Miesha Williams 15:25
So Southwest Vacations also has a payment option so like a payment plan option that you can do, but that you know in order to do so you do have to have a credit check ran and it does charge you interest. But this does allow you to split your payments for your entire trip up in you know over installments through a company called Uplift. You just make the down payment book and honestly you could travel before the trip is paid off. I know people that do this. I personally have never taken this route. And I mean the deals are so good during any season through Southwest Vacations that I just sav my money up using Acorns. And I put up how much I'm putting in Acorns based on how soon I'm traveling. And then I plan all of my own vacations, you know, my own vacations and my family vacations. So I'm able to like, look at my calendar and decide how much everybody needs to save in order to go on a trip at a certain date.
Miesha Williams 16:18
So I think how I do that, what I like to do now is when I'm planning things for my family, I will look at it months in advance, so I try to give everyone like six months to save their money for out of country trips. So let's say you're going out of the country for 1200 dollars, which with Southwest Vacations is very realistic. And remember that includes your flight, your resort stay, your food, your drinks, your alcohol, your ground transportation, and even an excursion or two. So then you have six months to save 1200 dollars. So that's $200 you're putting away a month for six months. Think about it, that's like $100 a check.
Miesha Williams 16:56
So if that's still a little too high for you, which I understand, then just give yourself more time. Maybe instead of doing six months, you split it up over eight months. So instead of $200 a month, you now put away $150 a month. And if that's still too much, give yourself some more grace. And at the same time, I use Acorns for this because the good thing is if I'm putting in, so let's say I'm putting $200 away a month in Acorns, which is just a bad example, but let's say that's what I'm doing because, you know, six months from now, I'm going to be able to, you know, book this $1,200 trip. At the same time. I'm also getting found money from other places I'm shopping. My roundups are on so when I'm making purchases elsewhere, the money is going to acorns, I'm also receiving dividends. I'm also like, interest like so it is adding up a lot more quickly.
Miesha Williams 17:43
So at the end of the day, I'm hitting that $1,200 way before the entire six months is up, and that's pretty nice. So you might say, Well, I don't want to wait that long. Okay, either wait and budget for it or don't go. Because then you have people that don't want to wait but and end up not not going anywhere at all. So like, all that time you spent complaining about it, you could have been putting money away. So for all that you might as well had been stacking money in the meantime. And if you're one of those people who are like, Oh $1,200 is nothing... Okay, then Bill Gates, you can cash app it to me. Like, if we flexing my cash app is still the same.
Miesha Williams 18:20
So everyone is going to plan and move differently. You just really have to do what works for you. And just make sure you aren't overextending yourself trying to impress other people. Also try to, I'll also try to get a resource guide up for this one and try to find you like some more, you know, flight scanners and other things that can make your trip more affordable to you.
Miesha Williams 18:40
But if you made it to the end, thank you. And if you use one of these things to book a trip, like I said, Go through my links that I will include in the description and the resource guide, and post your pictures if y'all book a trip using one of my methods, let me know about it. I want to hear about it and I want to see the pictures. See ya.
