Travel, Health, and Wealth - By Lewis J. Walker, CFP(R)

In discussing life planning, beyond financial security as foundational, health tops “wish lists.” Also, travel for fun, rest, or the thrill of discovery often is mentioned. But a “wish” and a “solid goal” are very far apart! According to a 10/21/2014 report from U.S. Travel Association (USTA), Americans are taking less vacation time off than at any point in the last 40 years! Is there a link between travel and wellbeing?

In 2013, workers took an average of 16 days vacation versus roughly 20 days in 2000. A money issue, perhaps. But “slaving away” might be unwise financially. Says USTA, “More time at the office does not correlate with a raise or bonus. Employees who left 11-15 days unused are less likely by 6.5% to receive a raise or bonus than those who used all of their vacation days.” There is a cost to employers reflected in stress-related absences, burnout, and lower levels of creativity and enthusiasm.

Quoting Seneca, a 1st century Roman Stoic philosopher who intoned, “Voyage, travel, and change of place impart vigor,” a 2015 USTA report extolled the health benefits of travel. An annual vacation can cut a person’s risk of heart attack in half. Blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormones decline on holidays in only one or two days. Leave your cell phone in your room and read a novel under a shady palm tree, overlooking an impossibly clear blue Caribbean Sea in Punta Cana, for example. Go ahead, have the beach boy bring a Piña Colada, you’re on holiday! You can’t tell me that isn’t healthy!

Stay-at-home workers need downtime. Per USTA, homemakers who vacation only once every six years or less have almost twice the risk of myocardial infarction or coronary death than do homemakers who take two or more vacations per year.

Increases in adventure travel may reflect the fact that active vacations contribute to overall physical and mental fitness. Listen up guys! “Woman who take more vacations are more satisfied with their marriages,” notes USTA.

Include travel in education planning for your children. Children learn from travel experiences, including precepts of good behavior, increased levels of curiosity and desires to learn. Check out the Junior Ranger program available at most American national parks and many historical sites. The USTA report noted that international exchange students emerged as more open-minded, flexible, confident, and tolerant following a stint abroad.

What is the difference between a “wish” and a “goal”? If in thinking about travel you say, “Someday I want to go to Italy,” or “I wish I could....,” you do not have a solid plan. Words like maybe, someday, or perhaps indicate fanciful thinking devoid of resolve. If you proclaim, “I will go to...,” or, “We are going to travel to...,” now you have a goal. Even if you cannot afford the trip today, you know what it costs and you can begin accumulating funds. Set up a separate “trip account” and add money on a regular basis.

America is a gorgeous country, with 50 states and territories offering amazing experiences. Have you seen Alaska or Hawaii? Strolled beaches in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands?

Of the six continents, Australia and Antarctica are a long way away, but why not? Jet travel puts every corner of the globe in reach. Photographing big cats in southern Africa, petting manta rays in shallow warm waters off of Bora Bora, gazing at towering icebergs from a zodiac in Antarctica, floating over Cappadocia in Turkey at dawn in a balloon, watching a momma grizzly and her cub jump on salmon in a rushing stream on a late afternoon hike in Alaska, landing on a glacier at 9,000 feet in southern New Zealand, savoring a 13 year old red wine at a candlelight dinner in a chateau in Bordeaux, playing in the surf with your children or grandchildren along a white sand beach...how do you put a price on that?

If you travel for business, even a few days tacked on to a trip for R&R, preferably with your loved one at your side, can add to health, and even wealth. If you are rested you are energized, more creative, more productive. Start planning a fun trip today. Counsels Seneca, “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”

Lewis Walker is President of Walker Capital Management, LLC. Securities and advisory services offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. (SFA). Lewis Walker is a registered representative and investment adviser representative of SFA which is otherwise unaffiliated with Walker Capital Management, LLC. lewisw@theinvestmentcoach.com