Cat’s out of the bag – Alex and I have FINALLY booked our honeymoon. I’d been hinting about where we were planning to go for the last few months, and I can now happily share that thanks to the Scotiabank #SavingsJourney we’ll be heading to Dubai and Mauritius for the big trip!
Both Dubai and Mauritius have been on our bucket lists for a while. While everyone knows about Dubai, it turns out that a lot of people hadn’t heard of Mauritius before. I’ve actually been dreaming about visiting Mauritius for over a decade, ever since I first learned about this exotic place! It’s a gorgeous island off the coast of east Africa, with a diverse culture and culinary scene. It has pristine beaches and many beautiful resorts, and I just can’t wait to share more about this island with all of you!
The best things in life really are worth waiting (and saving) for
Although we got married in July of 2017, we just booked our honeymoon two weeks ago for travel in mid-to-late April…yes, nearly a full year later! We always knew we wanted to wait a few months before going on our honeymoon (one less thing to have on our plate while planning our wedding). But truthfully, I didn’t think it would have taken this long! Without getting into too much detail, part of the delay was intentional and part was due to unforeseen circumstances with my husband’s work.
Nevertheless, I do think the delay was a blessing in disguise. Now that we are down to the nitty-gritty in terms of planning, I can really see the financial benefits from having the additional time. We’ve been able to save ‘the right way’ for this honeymoon, and it feels great to know we can go on such a big trip without having to worry about our finances or paying interest on our credit cards.
How Scotiabank Helped Us Save For Our Honeymoon
You may recall that I partnered with Scotiabank and wrote this post at the end of October about our savings journey. I’ve been banking with Scotiabank for a very long time and having a joint savings account is what enabled us to save for our wedding. So, when I learned about Scotiabank’s MomentumPLUS Savings Account—a new, higher-interest savings account—I was like, “tell me more”!
The MomentumPLUS Savings Account earns you more by offering a higher interest rate the longer you save. It allows you to select a savings period – 90, 180, 270 or 360 days – rewarding you with a premium interest rate the longer you leave the money untouched in your account.
Some other key features of the MomentumPLUS Savings Account are:
- No minimum balance
- No monthly fees
- Multiple premium periods within the same account
- Regular interest is paid monthly, while premium interest is paid at the end of the premium period
- 24/7 access to your account with online and mobile banking
- You can automate your savings to go into the account every month, so you don’t have to think about it
What I appreciate most about this account is the flexibility and choice. You can choose up to a maximum of five premium periods within the same account for your savings. When we opened the account, we weren’t exactly sure when we were going on the honeymoon. We also had another savings goal at the time: furniture for our new place, which we are moving into in May. We opted for the 180-day premium period as our main savings tier. At the same time, we deposited funds into a tier with a 90-day premium period, so as not to disturb interest accrual on funds in the 180-day premium period tier. We also visited our neighbourhood branch to speak with a Financial Advisor to decide how best to allocate our savings and earn interest, when things weren’t always clear to us.
Saving with Scotiabank, we really felt that our needs were being met and the bank truly ‘got’ us. Saving isn’t always black and white, and there is such a need for flexibility, as people’s circumstances change. We also didn’t just have one savings goal, so why should we be limited to one type of savings vehicle? The MomentumPLUS Savings Account let us save for more than one goal in the same account and allowed us to go on our dream honeymoon.
I must say, this was a really good lesson in the importance of regular savings for me. As I mentioned in my first post, I’ve always saved aggressively for big goals. Automating my savings taught me to appreciate the slow and steady approach. I didn’t even have to think about it on a monthly basis; and now that it’s been six months since I started our savings journey, I’ll have so much more saved because of the regular and premium interest.
You’ll also recall from my post that other changes were in order to help me save. Since the end of October, I can proudly and honestly say I was able to stay accountable to most of those changes. Some (like cutting back on eating out and buying specialty coffee) were easier than others (like taking public transport). But, once I put my mind to it and kept our ultimate honeymoon goal in mind, it became easier to stay on track.
Once the honeymoon is over, I’ll continue to use the MomentumPLUS Savings Account to save for our new home, and eventually, for my retirement. But for now, the flights are booked, the planning is in full swing, and we couldn’t be happier!
*This post was done in partnership with Scotiabank, but as always, all opinions are my own.
Photography by: Laura Clarke Photography
