kds travel and expenses

KDS hopes to simplify travel and expense management as its KDS Neo software incorporates machine learning and sees interface enhancements

Travel and expense technology provider KDS has revealed updates to its unified travel and expense software KDS Neo that it believes further optimises and simplifies its usage based on extensive analytics and new machine learning capabilities.

The enhancements include upgraded optical character recognition (OCR) that is now available on desktop as well as mobile. In addition, KDS Neo now uses machine learning to advance its smart receipt capture capabilities, specifically for multi-country support.

KDS says the OCR allows users to automatically update digital expense reports from a simple photo of their receipt after it used more than 400,000 receipts from over 65 countries during the development stage to teach the system to recognise all supported languages.

Through the use of machine learning, over time the system will "self-teach" to expand on languages and different types of data fields recognised by the application. For example, KDS says the technology could ultimately determine whether an expensed meal receipt was breakfast or dinner.

The company is also exploring long-term functionality that would compare OCR data to expensed items to identify any manual changes and possibly indicate errors or fraud. Other changes to the solution are focused on increasing simplicity and user control during the travel shopping process.

"We listened to feedback from users on what they expect to see in KDS Neo. They want more control over how they book and a simpler, consumer-like user experience. This means complete cross-device functionality and options that correspond to what they actually need," says Bertrand Blais, vice president of product at KDS.

The enhancements come as part of a continued programme of development, growth and investment in KDS Neo by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), which acquired the company in 2016. Further updates include a multi-leg taxi booking functionality, premium seat booking options and personalisation of mileage claims.

The multi-leg taxi booking allows corporate travellers to add several taxi journeys to a trip at the time of booking. For example, travel between meetings, conference venues, and hotels can be pre-booked and pre-paid, saving time and reducing hassle for the traveller. The traveller can now also provide data to taxi providers such as flight number and arrival/departure terminal information directly in the booking tool.

The premium seat booking tool allows users to access to preferential seat pricing and availability based on their frequent flyer status when it is included in their profile, while the mileage personalisation functionality allows users to save favourite itineraries to quickly expense regular car trips.

It is now two-and-a-half years since KDS became part of the American Express GBT family and with the support of the global TMC, it has steadily increased its client base and R&D investment to simplify the user experience. Since its acquisition the company has increased its staffing levels by 40% and its R&D investment as a proportion of its revenue is now among the highest in the technology sector at 23%.

"One of the most exciting results of our closer relationship with GBT is the dynamism it injects into our business. We have been able to accelerate product development and extend this offering to a larger client base, which in turn feeds our R&D. It's a virtuous cycle that has paid off for all our users," explained Roxana Bressy, CEO of KDS last year.

The further simplification of the user experience of the KDS Neo travel solution through the injection of insights from usage data into its development decisions as part of GBT's ambitions to create a seamless end-to-end experience centred on the modern business traveller, is a clear benefit of this closer relationship.

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TRAVEL AND EXPENSE MANAGEMENT

Kds neo review, product snapshot, product pricing.

Contact vendor directly for pricing information.

Product is available as a SaaS solution that requires no additional hardware.

Customer Focus

Vendor works with midsize, large and multi-national enterprises.

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Aeroports de Paris, Alcatel-Lucent, Amcor, Arcelor Mittal, Europ Assistance

About KDS Neo

The software provides users with information on travel options and ancillary services, integrates content from third-party suppliers like Booking.com, and ensures that users comply to company travel and spend policies. Additionally, the platform is the only tool that provides users with fully integrated bookable ground transportation booking and management tools, and is designed to provide managers with the ability to control travel expenses while employees are traveling.

About the Company

KDS was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in France.

KDS Neo Key Features

• Mobile application that provides traveling employees with full system functionality from any location
• Total cost of trip visibility
• Presents expenses in context with business events such as meetings or trips
• Builds expense claims by reconciling receipts and trip data
• Automates expense approval workflows

Products Similar to KDS Neo

KDS Debuts T&E Savings Assessment Tool

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KDS Unveils The Next Generation Of Travel & Expense Management Systems

Paris , February 2, 2011 – The industry-leading innovators of KDS are today launching a set of products that will revolutionise travel and expense (T&E) management.

Speaking at the company’s ‘KDS Now! 2011’ conference in Paris, chief executive Yves Weisselberger said: “We’re unveiling technologies that will give companies unprecedented levels of flexibility, visibility, forecasting, ease and efficiency in their travel booking and expense processing.”

Through an on-screen ‘dashboard’, the ‘KDS Executive Suite’ provides companies with an instant graphic overview of their T&E performance. In a single glance, a financial director can see many key performance indicators (KPIs), monitoring concerns from whether company policies and processes are being correctly applied by staff to what would happen if those policies were to change. “Best of all,” says Weisselberger, “the Executive Suite’s revolutionary new ‘Foresight’ early warning system follows and predicts KPI trends to provide advance warning of forthcoming problems. If company targets are not going to be met by year-end, ‘Foresight’ can recommend practical, pre-emptive corrective measures. There has never been a technology-based solution to this problem before.

“Finance directors will love the ‘Executive Suite’,” continues Weisselberger. “You can customise the dashboard to show the KPIs that really matter to your business, from ‘Return on Investment from T&E’ through to ‘Compliance to Travel Policy’. Then you can immediately assess your company’s performance and solve any problems – or even potential problems – with just a few taps on the keyboard. Realising too late that you have a crisis – and introducing a panic travel ban, for example – is just not a sign of good management.”

The Executive Suite ‘Index’ function allows the user to see exactly how money is being spent, and by whom, even breaking figures down into spend on individual vendors if required.

“T&E spend normally represents 2-8% of a company’s turnover,” says Weisselberger. “The ‘Executive Suite’ brings the same level of visibility and cost discipline to T&E management as companies routinely demand in other areas of substantial spend.

“The ‘Executive Suite is a landmark in T&E management; a major step forward in helping companies maximise the return on their travel budgets.”

‘KDS Mobile’ brings the company’s T&E services to employees on the move anywhere in the world, through a mobile phone or similar hand-held device. Staff downtime is therefore minimised. Among the many advantages, expenses can be entered whilst, for example, staff are travelling between meetings in a taxi, and travel requests and approvals need never be delayed again simply because an employee or manager is off-site. “‘KDS Mobile’ is our first-generation mobile product,” says Weisselberger, “and we are very excited about the prospects. Further generations of KDS mobile products will follow soon.”

The new KDS ‘Receipt Scanning’ service removes the paper trail from expense processing. “The employee could, for example, scan his receipts on the office photocopier and then send that scan electronically when submitting the claim,” says Weisselberger. “Or he could even photograph the receipts with his mobile phone and attach the images to the claim.” Finance teams therefore no longer need to waste time matching a pile of physical receipts to the entries on a claim form. By improving the reconciliation of routine receipts and claims, the team can focus instead on missing or unusual receipts.

Finally, KDS is launching a ‘Partner Programme’ service that offers travel management companies (TMCs) the best package yet for communicating with corporate customers through a portal. “Our goal,” says Weisselberger, “is to allow our partners to serve their customers in the best way possible. We want to make our partners self-sufficient in a shorter timeframe than ever before. Our fully-hosted portals already allow TMCs to forget about infrastructure and focus on customers. Through the Partner Programme, TMCs can now look forward to software, services, training and tools designed to accelerate revenue and drive customer satisfaction.”

Over 380 people attended ‘KDS Now! 2011’, which was hosted by leading travel journalist and broadcaster Simon Calder.

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NEO Expense Management Software

Are you working with the NEO Expense Management System? Then we can assist you!

GB Business is able to work with almost any expense management software solution on the market, offering expense processing and auditing services.

Capture receipts on the go with the mobile app. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and GPS data from your phone help to pre-populate related information and can be automatically entered into your expense report.

By reconciling your credit card statement with your receipts and data coming from your trip bookings, Neo can build your expense claim in just a few seconds.

Neo automates approval workflows and accelerates expense reimbursements. Expense compliance is clearly visible, easing approval for managers and accounting, and improving spend control.

Visit NEO Website – for more information

GB Business offers: Secure & transparent outsourced Expense Management

GB Business can significantly decrease the time it takes to do your business expense processing. A secure and transparent outsourced service that simplifies your expense processing, removes a lot of unnecessary paper trails and speeds up the process and also making it less open to inaccuracies and errors.

The GB Business solution makes expense processing easier for the claimant and the approver.

Business Expense Processing Service

Receipt handling.

We make sure that receipts are properly imaged and matched to the correct expense report and enables staff to just mail their hard copy receipts without having to organise or scan all paperwork.

Scanning of Paper

Secure conversion of hard copy documents into electronic formats, delivered to quickly and safely. Clients can send all business receipts and invoices to GB Business. We will scan all paperwork and make this available to be loaded onto any expense management system in order to organise them into business expense reports.

Back Office Storage

GB Business provides clients with a secure back office storage facility to safeguard and archive all documents. But rest assured, ease and speed of access to documents is guaranteed as and when required.

Expense Report Payment

GB Business can handle your payment process like reimbursing employees and paying your corporate charge card vendors. Our clients can outsource expense report reimbursements to end users, available in any currency to any financial institution that accepts ACH payments. The process includes extensive controls and safety features that will ensure integrity, completeness, confidentiality and accuracy.

System Administration

Complete outsourcing of your system administration will enable our clients to focus on higher value tasks. GB Business is able to act as your system administrator and performs all necessary administrative functions and tasks according to your customised schedule.

End User Support

Users have access to an expert by email and/or phone to discuss issues and/or concerns related to the creation of the expense reports and/or the approval process.

Business Expense Auditing Service

Receipt match & verification.

Check of receipts with expense claim and verify if dates on receipts correspond. Amounts and type of expenditure are checked for compliance with agreed company policy.

Confirmation Reasonable Expense

Checked is claim is compliant with agreed company policy.

VAT Compliance and VAT Reclaim

Expense claim is checked for VAT compliance and checked if there are VAT elements that could be reclaimed.

Fraud Issues

Checks to eliminate fraudulent expense claims.

Business Expense Management Consultancy

We can work with almost any software solution, contact us today.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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KDS Corporate

KDS Corporate is an On Demand Travel & Expense Solution providing a ‘one stop shop’ for corporate travel with support for low cost airlines, national rail, Eurostar, non GDS hotels and non GDS car rental. Content is delivered in an integrated display to assist travel managers and corporate travelers to see the total cost of travel and make a realistic assessment of alternative fares and modes of transport

KDS Corporate enables companies to implement their own Travel & Expense management strategy by offering complete control. The solution supports consistent policy enforcement, offers quick and powerful travel inventory search options, and provides customized expense reporting configurations that simplify accounting settings and reporting. Internally, companies can be certain their travel-related spend is being used wisely and, where necessary, can adjust KDS Corporate to optimize supplier relationships.

In addition, by unifying Travel & Expense management in a single system, companies can minimize their total cost of ownership while they maximize the adoption rate of the solution.

Based on the most innovative application service provider (ASP) technology, KDS Corporate provides users with the best service to manage their travel related spend over the Internet. Using Web 2.0 for our second generation of Travel & Expense management solution is based on a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). This architecture will help KDS to respond more quickly and cost-effectively to the changing market conditions. Moreover, KDS Corporate new architecture provides ultimate security guarantees, memory management, and exception handling. With KDS, users' experience is closer to desktop applications: they have access to an intuitive, fast and reliable service

KDS Corporate Benefits

With one eye on client needs and another on emerging trends in the market, KDS Corporate was developed to make expense management easier, more accurate and an overall benefit to the business. KDS Corporate includes:

Advanced Day-to-Day Functionality

Automated expenses reconciliation with travel services;

Credit card charges importing;

Hotel e-folio feed;

Payroll and in-house reimbursement;

Multiple project code allocation;

Real-time business rules at the front-end to help enforce corporate policy.

Cross-border Capabilities

KDS knows that as businesses become global, expense management can become even more difficult. Using KDS Corporate can eliminate a great number of barriers that have complicated cross-border expense tracking in the past:

Daily and historical currency exchange rates allow for regional pricing comparisons;

Multi-currency reporting, supported by a normalizing base currency, means that the head office can receive expense reports from abroad without the hassle of manual currency conversion;

Country-specific mileage calculators help keep accurate count from region to region (i.e. as personal mileage rates vary according to the UK’s Inland Revenue, or are calculated by different standards such as horsepower in Belgium).

Business Operations

KDS Corporate Travel & Expense reporting features enables KDS customers to drill down into the detailed spending data required by managers to optimize their policies and contracts. Keeping a full and easily mapped audit trail is essential to operating smoothly in an increasingly tight regulatory environment:

Reporting capabilities are a key element of KDS Corporate, which provides intuitive and flexible report writing as a standalone solution and also integrates with proven Business Intelligence tools;

Workflow tracking and multi-level approvals identify and help prevent bottlenecks in the reimbursement process;

VAT reclaim assistance helps UK companies process and meet tax obligations;

Sarbanes-Oxley requirements are addressed with self-monitoring features such as fraud detection, detection of duplicate claims, and a comprehensive audit trail.

Prime Travels is a global TMC working with clients in India, USA, Europe and APAC region for Business and Leisure travel services. We offer Corporate Travel Services, MICE, Offsites, Leisure Holidays and much more. Prime Travels has its own offices in Delhi, Bengaluru, London, New York and Singapore and we work as a partner with our clients to ensure Cost Savings on Business Travel, use Travel Technology tools to ensure Travel Policy compliance and much more, all backed by quality services 24x7.

Unravel India at its best with PrimeTravelS.com. Travel India and experience mystic journey to the land of charm and splendor. This country offers everything a visitor can ever ask for. From beaches, hill stations, wildlife sanctuaries, forts, palaces, castles, temples, India is place of rich tradition and idyllic atmosphere. If you want to travel India in a luxurious manner, get in touch with PrimeTravelS.com, one of the best travel agents India and get cheap air tickets to India for discovering India without any hassles.

You will be thrilled to discover this vast country with multiple facets. Diversity showcased by India in regard with tradition, culture, natural beauty and topography is alluring as well as overwhelming. It is not possible for somebody to Travel India; explore the whole country on his own, so PrimeTravelS.com provides a plethora of options along with cheap air tickets to India to have a rendezvous with this magical land to gather memories of a lifetime. With range of efficient and affordable options, this company offers the best of deals amongst all the travel agents India. You can get the packages customized according to your convenience too. There are endless places to explore in India, so it is not possible for you to cover all the places in one visit. One of the finest travel agents India will help you plan out Travel India options with ease without fleecing you.

Keep your stress of organizing the trip at bay with PrimeTravelS.com by your side. Everything is proficiently handled by the professionals of the company. PrimeTravelS.com aims at complete client's satisfaction with the best of travel packages. Safe travel and comfortable accommodation adds to the fun while you travel India. Tie ups with luxurious and premium hotels at different places in India lets the company provide you with a relaxing stay. You do not have to fret about your accommodation, food, air tickets. In short leave your traveling worries on PrimeTravelS.com and have the best of time unraveling India. Whether going for the first time or second, you will relish warmth and great hospitality along with cheap air tickets to India.

Experience uninterrupted pleasure with the pre-planned trip organized by great travel agents India. PrimeTravelS.com makes sure that you get cheap air tickets to India along with quality on the board services. You will not be disappointed on anything. The best of cuisines adds to the delight of food lovers. India has something for every visitor. You can look forward to a pleasant stay at the preferred locations in India with PrimeTravelS.com. You can easily make last minute changes too. Your comfort stands on the priority of the company; you will face no convenience throughout your association with it.

The user friendly website allows easy bookings to your favorite destinations in India simple. You can check the FAQ on the site for solving any confusion regarding the services of PrimeTravelS.com. You can also fill the easy form available for various packages to let the company revert to your individual needs. Check out different package categories offered by these best of travel agents India and pick a suitable for yourself. Experience beauty of India with endless packages and cheap air tickets to India offered by PrimeTravelS.com. You will want to visit India again and again with the company's convenient services.

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IRS Tax Tip 2023-15, February 7, 2023

Whether someone travels for work once a year or once a month, figuring out travel expense tax write-offs might seem confusing. The IRS has information to help all business travelers properly claim these valuable deductions.

Here are some tax details all business travelers should know

Business travel deductions are available when employees must travel away from their  tax home  or  main place of work  for business reasons. A taxpayer is traveling away from home if they are away for longer than an ordinary day's work and they need to sleep to meet the demands of their work while away.

Travel expenses  must be ordinary and necessary. They can't be lavish, extravagant or for personal purposes.

Employers can deduct travel expenses paid or incurred during a  temporary work assignment  if the assignment length does not exceed one year.

Travel expenses for  conventions  are deductible if attendance benefits the business. There are special rules for conventions held  outside North America .

Deductible travel expenses include:

• Travel by airplane, train, bus or car between your home and your business destination.
• Fares for taxis or other types of transportation between an airport or train station and a hotel, or from a hotel to a work location.
• Shipping of baggage and sample or display material between regular and temporary work locations.
• Using a personally owned car for business.
• Lodging and  meals .
• Dry cleaning and laundry.
• Business calls and communication.
• Tips paid for services related to any of these expenses.
• Other similar ordinary and necessary expenses related to the business travel.

Self-employed individuals or farmers with travel deductions

• Those who are self-employed can deduct travel expenses on  Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship) .
• Farmers can use  Schedule F (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Farming .

Travel deductions for the National Guard or military reserves

National Guard or military reserve servicemembers can claim a deduction for unreimbursed travel expenses paid during the  performance of their duty .

Recordkeeping

Well-organized records  make it easier to prepare a tax return. Keep records such as receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support a deduction.

Subscribe to IRS Tax Tips

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Planning a vacation here’s your 2024 summer travel insurance guide.

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The joy of a summer vacation. But do you have protection for your trip?

Planning a vacation this summer? Yeah, you and just about everyone else.

More than 9 out of 10 Americans say they'll travel more this year, according to a recent Nationwide Travel Insurance survey . Most of those trips will happen in June, July and August.

Not just that, but 40 percent of the respondents say they'll spend more this year than last year. So how do you protect your vacation investment?

Travel insurance is the standard answer, but what kind of insurance — and how do you find it? That's the question many Americans are wrestling with as they make their travel plans.

Protecting your vacation is a serious concern this summer, experts say.

“Travelers are beefing up their trip protection with security advisory and extraction protection," notes Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies .

It's not just that they're spending more. It's that there's more to lose. The ongoing war in Ukraine, the Hamas attacks on Israel, and other violent conflicts have made travel insurance a key part of trip planning.

This summer may break travel records, experts say.

Samsung Issues Critical Update For Millions Of Galaxy Users

Netflix s best new show arrives with a perfect 100 critic score, ufc 300 results bonus winners after historic event, it's going to be a busy summer for travel.

Overall policy sales for the 2024 summer travel season are up this year, but there's a spike in sales for policies in August, which is typically the busiest time of the summer. "Sales are up more than 25% over last year," says Stan Sandberg, co-founder of travel insurance site TravelInsurance.com .

Western Europe continues to be the most popular summer destination for Americans, with some notable hotspots. Travel insurance sales for Greece are up over 60% this year compared with 2023, followed by Norway and Portugal, which are up 57% and 52%, respectively, according to Sandberg.

Everyone's travel insurance needs are different, according to the pros.

What should you insure when you travel this summer?

Laura Heidt, the insurance desk manager for Brownell Travel in Birmingham, Ala., says there are some things every travel insurance policy should cover this summer.

"I always recommend people insure for the unexpected, such as flight delays, missed connections and medical coverage while out of the country," she says. "If you are willing to forgo the cancellation and delay coverages, which are typically the most expensive parts of a policy, you should still, absolutely, cover yourself with at least the medical component."

Heidt says she's seen a 10% boost in travel insurance sales for this summer compared with the same time last year, and many people are opting for the pricier "cancel for any reason" policies, which allow you to cancel your trip and receive a partial refund of your prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses.

Travel insurance companies are seeing a similar trend.

"A majority of travelers choose a comprehensive travel insurance plan which includes coverage for trip cancellation, emergency medical, lost or delayed baggage and delay," explains Tim Dodge, vice president of marketing at Arch RoamRight .

He says this year, travelers are purchasing travel insurance on average within 11 days of their trip deposit to receive the additional benefit of the waiver exclusion for pre-existing conditions.

If you're traveling with kids, you'll need extra travel insurance protection.

Get a policy that's tailored to your needs

Travel insurance comes in all shapes and sizes. So you'll want to try a few on for size before you buy. You can actually do that, since most policies have a "free look" period that makes them fully refundable for the first week or two (depending on the policy).

"It's important to consider your specific travel plans and any potential disruptions in order to protect your investment," says Robert Gallagher, president of the US Travel Insurance Association (USTIA).

He says traditional plans offer coverage for unexpected cancellations, interruptions, delays, emergency medical expenses and lost or delayed baggage. For international travel, USTIA advises opting for a plan with emergency medical and medical evacuation coverage.

It also depends on who you're traveling with. For example, if you're traveling with your children, you'll want to consider a family-friendly priced travel insurance plan. But your destination also matters, says Carol Mueller, vice president at Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP).

"For young families, I typically recommend the ExactCare plan due to its pricing of two children at no additional cost for every one adult on the policy," she says. "However, for families venturing abroad, I’d suggest considering a plan like BHTP's LuxuryCare, which is designed to meet the distinctive needs of a high-investment vacation.”

You have choices when it comes to family coverage. For example, Allianz’s OneTrip Prime plan also includes coverage for kids 17 and younger when traveling with a parent or grandparent.

Medical evacuations can be expensive.

Look beyond travel insurance for extra protection

Mike Hallman, CEO of the air medical transport and travel security program Medjet , says MedjetHorizon memberships are selling briskly. They offer 24/7 security and crisis response, as well as transportation to a hospital at home if you're injured. Travelers are skittish even if they aren't going bungee-jumping.

"With geopolitical tensions still growing — all the riots in France, Italy, Ecuador and other tourist destinations over the last year — and crime causing the threat level to be raised for the Bahamas and Jamaica, it’s no wonder," he adds.

He makes a good point. Travel insurance can cover many of the events you're likely to encounter, such as a missed connection, lost luggage or a medical emergency. But it's also important to know what isn't covered — and to make plans accordingly.

Beware of travel insurance "overconfidence"

The summer travel season is still a few months away, but insurance experts are worried. Yes, they've seen a general uptick in insurance sales, but some travelers remain unprotected.

"We've started to see early signs that travelers are exercising less caution and are slightly less likely to sign up for travel insurance," says Joe Cronin, CEO of International Citizens Insurance .

By comparison, travelers purchased plenty of medical insurance in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. Cronin believes travelers were terrified of getting stuck with COVID-19 in a foreign country without insurance.

"To those who are thinking about traveling internationally without travel insurance, my recommendation is to spend a few minutes looking deeper before deciding," he adds.

Some types of insurance, such as a standalone medical policy, cost just a few dollars a day. A medical evacuation membership is also affordable. And even full-featured travel insurance policies can be cost-effective when you consider the benefits.

"Don’t put your summer travel memories, or your investment, at risk by forgoing the right vacation coverage," says Daniel Durazo, director of communications at Allianz Partners USA . "With international travel peaking during the summer season, an unprotected trip can leave travelers on the hook for costs resulting from an unexpected trip delay or medical emergency abroad."

Bottom line: Seriously consider travel insurance to protect your trip — and don't be overconfident. You never know what might happen this summer.

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How Travel Can Help You Teach Your Kids about Money

• I’ve been using family travel as a way to teach my kids about money since they were little.
• It’s an engaging and real-life way to teach kids about budgeting, financial decision making, and more advanced topics like exchange rates (chances to do math with them on the fly).
• It’s also a way to start teaching them to be great future travelers, one small step at a time.

When I first started traveling with kids, I didn’t realize just how much money lessons and travel could go hand in hand. But over the years, I’ve realized how travel is actually an easy way to teach kids about money that will boost their financial literacy. With its currency switching, daily meals, and souvenirs, travel brings a consciousness that things cost money into kids’ realms. Talking to them about those costs will help them become financially wise adults. 

Teach Kids about Money by Talking Through Vacation Expenses with Them

It’s tempting to gloss over the fact that travel costs money , and that for many people even cheap family vacations are a special splurge that’s different from daily life. Early on, I noticed that my first impulse was to avoid these conversations out of a vague horror that my kids might start dropping figures on unsuspecting friends and relatives. But looking at the bigger picture, I realized that travel budgeting truly is a lesson on financial literacy for kids that’s just waiting to be capitalized on.

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If you’re a spreadsheet whiz, you could present vacation expenditures that way, showing kids how spending more or less in a certain category affects the total. Even if you have a more relaxed approach to budgeting, you can attach dollar amounts to the elements that make up a vacation, from flights or rental cars to hotel stays , vacation rentals , activities, food, and extras.

This conversation goes farther if your kids have a baseline understanding for how much things at home cost, so it can be helpful to compare what you spend on a month of gas for the car with the cost of a flight, for example, or break down your mortgage or rent into a nightly rate and compare it to a hotel stay. It will also help kids understand why sometimes vacation decisions are either/or rather than yes/both. 

Give Kids Their Own Vacation Money to Manage

Giving kids money up front on vacation helps them practice spending in a supervised environment. In my family, this money is for extras—not meals and activities but the kinds of things that are the extras that kids tend to covet like toys, stuffies, and shirts.

It’s not up to me if they decide they want a t-shirt or stuffed animal or outrageously large lollipop, and once they’ve made their decision and spent their money, they understand the well is dry. And then we can focus on having a good time and connecting as a family , not negotiating about stuff. 

To use this approach, you first decide how you want to work as the bank. Do you want to give them a daily amount, a by-attraction or by-city amount, or a set amount for the whole trip? For younger kids, smaller amounts broken up by day or attraction will probably go better, while for older kids and traveling teenagers , letting them practice planning ahead by giving them a larger amount up front can be good. Once they hit the tween years, you can even consider a debit card that they can travel with.

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Something magic happens when you give kids their own money to manage: They ask for things less often. Because if it’s their money, it’s their decision.

Teach Kids about Money by Setting Age-Related Budgets

Make sure to be developmentally realistic as you come up with your plan for teaching kids about money with their own vacation budget. Here are some ideas to get you started, broken down by general age range. But you know your kid best, so create your own approach accordingly.

Ages 3-5: Give younger kids an amount that feels significant to them but doesn’t overwhelm. Generally, I take a look at the average cost of a t-shirt and use that as the amount. For kids this young, using cash helps move money out of the theoretical realm and into reality. However, giving kids that cash to manage can lead to losing it quickly, so you might want to show them the money but say you’ll hold onto it until it’s time to spend. When it comes time to spend it, let them hand the money over so they get that experience. 

Ages 5-9: At this age, assess whether or not having your child hold their money is a good idea. Something that came up for my family is that my elementary-aged daughter, like many of her peers, wears leggings without pockets, so she wasn’t able to tote her own cash. If you find yourself in a cashless environment (some places no longer take cash) or if you just prefer to pay for things by credit card, keep a piece of paper, a note on your phone, or use a spending app so your child can track their tally. 

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Ages 9 and up: Someone once told me that anything vital you want to teach your kids, you should teach them before puberty hits and you become the least-cool, least-knowledgeable person they know. That’s why it’s vital to not wait too long to teach children money habits and financial responsibility. At about age nine, consider giving kids a larger lump sum of cash or a prepaid debit card, which can act as a credit card with training wheels. Chase has a debit card geared to kids that I’ve had good luck with. Either way, they’ll need to track their own spending and think carefully about each purchase if they want to make it last. 

Use Foreign Currency As a Series of Mini-Lessons

Kids love the fact that money looks different in different places. When you arrive in a foreign country, go to an ATM (the exchange rate is significantly better than the one you’ll get at exchange desks) and pull out cash. Buy something small so you get a variety of coins and bills back, and then sit down with your kid(s) and check it out. It will be a lesson in:

• The country’s culture: Who/what is on the money? With internet access, you can look up the faces and objects featured on the bills and coins and learn about the culture you’re visiting. This also encourages kids to ramp up their curiosity in a new place where there’s so much to decode. I’ve learned more about money by doing this than I ever knew before.
• Exchange rates: Rounding to an easy-to-understand exchange rate helps. If kids are young, you could even just give a general sense, like “a little less than a dollar” or “a little more than a dollar.” For many kids, it will be a new way of thinking about numbers.
• Kinesthetic-tactile learning: The act of learning by doing—and by touching and interacting with currency—helps kids build a more three-dimensional picture of value, cost, and money. Letting kids participate in hands-on financial learning is like building little neural bridges between the acts of seeing ice cream, wanting ice cream, buying ice cream, eating ice cream, and then later seeing a toy but knowing you made your choice and that choice was ice cream. 

Travel offers a natural way to give kids a financial education about help them practice them the skills they will need to one day travel as confident adults. 

More from FamilyVacationist:

• 10 Best Luggage Brands for All Types of Travelers
• 8 Best Puerto Rico All-Inclusive Resorts for Families
• 11 Best Caribbean Vacations for Families

The post How Travel Can Help You Teach Your Kids about Money appeared first on FamilyVacationist .

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Employee Travel and Reimbursement Fiscal Year End Updates FY 2024

Employee Travel and Reimbursement (ET&R) has included updates for the 2024 fiscal year-end process. Please use the information below as a reference for the fiscal year-end schedule related to out-of-pocket reimbursements, corporate card charges, and experimental subject payment forms. 

Out of Pocket Expenses*

Both electronic and paper reimbursement forms must be submitted, approved, and received in ET&R by the end of the day on Monday, June 17, 2024, to be posted in the current fiscal year.

Experimental Subject Payment Forms*

Experimental Subject Payment forms must be received in ET&R by 5:00 pm on Monday, June 17, 2024, to be posted in the current fiscal year.

*NOTE : all reimbursement forms/expense reports are due to ET&R by 5:00 pm on Monday, June 17, 2024.  This is a change from prior fiscal years.

Corporate Card Transactions – Concur

• All expense reports received in ET&R by the end of the day on Monday, June 17, 2024, will be processed in fiscal year 2024.
• 695685 - Unapproved Corporate Card Transactions; Assigned corporate card expenses without complete approval.
• 695695 - Unassigned Corporate Card Transactions; Unassigned corporate card expenses with no action taken.
• ET&R will send Untimely Posting Notification emails for transactions through May 15 beginning Wednesday, May 22 through Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
• Employee Travel & Reimbursement will stop posting transactions for fiscal year 2024 on Monday, July 8, 2024. We will send a complete list of Assigned and Unassigned transactions to Business Managers and Management Centers on Tuesday morning, July 9, 2024. This will allow time for departments to review the outstanding corporate card charges and process accruals per their management center guidelines.  ET&R will not process an accrual of corporate card charges for fiscal year 2024.

► Deadlines for departments that are using the WORKS system for FLEET and other applicable programs will be communicated by the Card Services team.

We appreciate your continued support. If you have questions, please contact a member of our team at 668-3877 or via email at [email protected] .

Travel costs keeping some home through summer break from school

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - With rising costs having far-reaching impacts, one area in which families are adjusting is planning for summer activities. For many, sacrifices include forfeiting an extensive summer vacation.

“Vacationing becomes difficult when just the cost to get there used to be the cost for the whole vacation,” said Lisa Roberts, a Kansas-married mother of two who is among those making sacrifices when it comes to travel. “Sometimes I feel guilty because we would like to travel to see the ocean, beaches, or even get out of the country, but at this point in time, it’s not in the budget for a family of four.”

A time that is supposed to be stress-free can be made stressful with the costs.

“The idea of a vacation is not having to pick and choose what you do when you’re there, or deciding whether you’re going to cook and stay in versus going out to dinner. The point of going on vacation is to enjoy all the things when you’re not at home,” Roberts said.

She’s not alone. Many who responded to a question from 12 News about summer vacations said the costs of groceries, gas and other basic necessities are too high to think about taking time off.

AAA (Triple A) travel expert Matt Bert offered recommendations for those wanting to travel affordably.

“(If) you want to do something and haven’t planned it yet, look at cruises, look at all-inclusives,” he said. “I think where your dollar goes farther.”

Bert added that getting away, near or far, can be beneficial to your mental health.

“Just to pull yourself away from the chaotic mess of work and jobs and whatever else is going on in your life,” he said.

For those opting to stay close to home this summer to save money, in Kansas, the Sunflower Summer app offers deals from May 25 through Aug. 11. With it, parents can get free tickets for their children to see attractions across the state. All you have to do is download the app.

Copyright 2024 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email [email protected]

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