How to afford more vacation days?

Hello folks!

Hope all are doing great! Who wants more vacation days?? The answer is, I want, you want, everyone wants!! Today I am going to share few thoughts on what I am doing to get more vacation days from work and hence reduce burn out from work stress. One of the major downsides of corporate America is fewer paid vacation days compared to Europe and Canada. On average, we get about two weeks of paid vacation days per year. Depending on employer, it can be few days more or less but I guess this is a good average number. I find this few paid vacations are no way enough for working people to de-stress and recharge! In most European countries and in Canada, the number of paid vacations is more than 4 weeks/yearly. I think we should have more paid vacation days to bring more quality to life.

If I think the total number of off days I get from office are about total little over 3 weeks = 2-week vacation + 1 week (Christmas, New year, Thanksgiving etc.). So technically this means for every 4 months of continuous work, we get about 1 week of days off. I am sure who ever is reading this now feeling the same gloom as I am feeling while typing this ☹.

Now, how I think there is a way out from this except pack and move to Canada or Europe. LOL. One of the solutions I am thinking for myself is how to cover the expenses for more unpaid vacation days. One thing I have found for my employer or most other employer, is that they are ok to grant few more yearly unpaid weeks/days off. Now for most of us this may not be a very feasible as how to cover the expenses for say one additional week of off from work?Maybe I am not going for exotic destination vacation but just planning a relaxing staycation! But I still need to cover for mortgage/rent, food and all other monthly mandatory expenses. As I am practicing a habit of saving and investing for a while, I think there is a fairly simple way to afford few extra weeks from work. What if I save some fixed amount in each month and invest in some solid dividend paying stocks or ETF that that pays about 4% yearly dividend. Then use that dividend money to cover expenses for the unpaid off days I take from my work.

Now the question is how long I need to save and invest to afford 1 additional week of vacation per year?

Here is an example that works for me (The numbers are for just to get the idea!)

So that’s about 1.5 year of effort to enjoy 1 additional week of escape from daily grinding and grumpy boss😊 Who would not love that in their right minds.hhaha! If I continue like this for about 3 years, I can afford total 2 weeks worth of free days from work every year. Now the grand total of off weeks are 2 unpaid + 3 paid = 5 weeks. Now I can afford 1 week to enjoy after every 2.5 months of work, not too bad, I guess!

Now if I continue like this for 7-8 years I will have enough days to relax without worrying about work stress or money stress. In that case, I may not ever need to take full retirement unless I hate my job or something bad happens Healthwise. And most important part is that my original investment fund  is still growing as I am not taking any money out except the dividends. It s kinda like growing a fruit tree and enjoy only the fruits while let the tree grow so over time it will provide more fruits! To be precise, if my stocks price grow at a conservative average of  4% (not considering dividend) and I invest $1200/month for 7 years, I would have well over $100k as net fund.

So I am not seeing myself to moving to Canada or Europe anytime soon to afford  more vacation days, LOL!

Take care guys!

Photo credit: Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

Disclaimer: This article shows my personal opinion and it’s for entertainment purpose only. This is no way professional financial advice. You may seek professional advice or conduct own research before investing. This site uses affiliated links and cookies. Please read the disclaimer & Privacy section for details.