Americans willing to go into debt for travel and entertainment, study finds

(InvestigateTV) — A recent Bankrate survey revealed that 27% of Americans would be willing to go into debt to travel, eat out, or see live entertainment.

Ted Rossman with Bankrate said this was concerning considering the current high interest rates.

“I don’t want to tell anyone they can’t have fun, but I do worry about this in light of credit card rates being at record highs,” Rossman noted. “The average is 20.75%. So, I think a better option for people would be to set a good budget ahead of time.”

Rossman said there’s going to be a lot of temptation to spend this summer and that’s not a bad thing, just make sure to plan for it.

He suggested setting money aside from every paycheck and have it transferred into a savings account.

“We know young adults are very driven by experiences and social things, and again that’s not a bad thing, as long as you’ve accounted for it,” Rossman explained. “I think sometimes also people fall into this trap, ‘Oh, I didn’t know the concert invite was coming’ or ‘the wedding invite was coming.’ You may not know exactly what the invite is, but you do want to put together a good entertainment budget.”

Rossman said a lot of people make the mistake of either not budgeting or if they do, they only account for the necessities. It’s important to put together a fun budget as well.

He said if a trip is budgeted, try to offset the cost with rewards points and miles.

Travelers could also pool resources with friends and share an Airbnb.

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