How to fund a trip without having an income

My roommate from college is a fascinating creature. She topped her stream in school and pursued a B.A. degree in English and Media Studies - yet always, without fail, gets confused between 'lose' and 'loose', and 'quiet' and 'quite'. If a vendor asked her to calculate 67 + 25, she would confidently propose multiple incorrect answers until someone mercifully stopped her - yet she funded her grad trip solely by herself without having a consistent income to start from. Here's how she did it.

Halfway through our second year, we decided to celebrate our graduation in Goa. We called home to let our parents know early to avoid future resistance, and good that we did since my roommate's mother informed her of a wedding in the family that was coinciding with the trip. Hours of fighting about responsibility later, aunty said, "I'm not paying for your trip. If you want to go, save the money yourself." What was probably said in anger was taken to heart and my roommate promptly whipped out an Excel sheet and titled it 'Goa 2024.'

She spent the next week planning her finances. The budget included round-trip flight tickets, Airbnb expenses, cab rentals, food, drinks and other beverages, emergency cash, and a little extra for shopping and adventure sports. The tentative expense was around Rs 40,000. Since she started planning 17 months in advance, she needed to save close to Rs 2,400 per month. Not an easy feat for a college student with irregular pocket money, but she started an SIP to keep herself accountable.

That's when she did something truly out of the box for us - she started investing. After hours of frantic Googling, she realised that for short-term goals like a trip, safe and easily accessible investments are essential. For this, she learnt from Value Research that debt mutual funds are ideal. After considering various debt fund categories, she decided on short-duration debt funds because they sounded, in her words, "damn professional."

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Here's why that was a good choice: Short-duration debt funds are suitable for investment horizons of one to three years. You can expect it to earn higher returns than what a bank fixed deposit can fetch. The risk of incurring a loss in these funds is low. Additionally, you are taxed only when you redeem, unlike bank deposits where you have to pay taxes every year on the accrued interest.

Once her strategy was in place, she committed to saving Rs 1,500 per month from her pocket money, surviving solely on (deadly) mess food (very brave), and visiting relatives to scrape together another Rs 500-1,000 per visit (India is culturally beautiful!). Sometimes, she even participated in paid research experiments to hit her savings goal.

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By the end of 17 months, she had saved around Rs 34,000. Moved by her dedication, we - her friends - pooled in to cover the difference, but it wasn't necessary. I took a gamble and told her mom how much she had saved, and aunty was so impressed that she paid the difference herself. We went on that trip and, as luck would have it, ended up spending less than planned. The remaining amount went back into the fund, and she's already saving up for 'Goa 2025.'

If there's one thing you take away from this, let it be this: starting small doesn't mean starting weak. You don't need a hefty paycheck to build good saving habits or invest for short-term goals. Whether it's putting aside a few hundred rupees from pocket money or choosing debt funds, every little effort counts. It's not as hard as it sounds. Start saving and investing today, and you might just surprise yourself with how far you can go.

Also read: Opening my first mutual fund account: What you should know

This article was originally published on March 22, 2025.