​How can Allan and Liza, both 47, find room in their family budget for an annual vacation? 

Open this photo in gallery:Allan, 47, and Liza, 47, have two kids, a mortgage-free home, a cottage and a rental property, all in Southern Ontario.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and MailPlease log in to bookmark this story.Allan and Liza believe they’re on track financially for the long term, but they’d like to free up some cash flow now so they can take a family vacation each year. They are both 47 years old with two children, 12 and 14, a mortgage-free home, a cottage and a rental property, all in Southern Ontario.Allan has an executive position in finance, paying $120,000 a year, and Liza earns about $118,600 a year working as a government scientist. Liza is part of a defined benefit pension plan, indexed to inflation, while Allan has a group registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) to which both he and his employer contribute.“We would greatly appreciate some guidance on how to adjust our financial strategy to achieve more breathing room in our monthly budget without jeopardizing our long-term objectives,” Liza writes in an e-mail. They want to free up $5,000 to $8,000 a year mainly for travel. They also want to help pay for their children’s higher education. And they plan to retire in about 12 years and maintain their standard of living, indexed to inflation.“Would it be prudent to use our tax-free savings accounts to pay off the mortgage on our cottage more quickly?” Liza asks. Or should they lower their contributions to the children’s registered education savings plan (RESP)?We asked Jeff McCartney, a certified financial planner at Objective Financial Partners Inc. in Markham, Ont., to look at Allan and Liza’s situation. Objective Financial is an advice-only financial planning firm.What the Expert SaysLiza and Allan would like to retire at age 57, once their kids have graduated from university, Mr. McCartney says. With lifestyle spending of about $94,000 per year after-tax, excluding savings, “this should not be a challenge for them,” the planner says. That number also excludes cottage mortgage payments of $2,280 a month.“Their diligent savings approach has left them with a comfortable nest egg diversified across RRSPs, tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), and a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) from Allan’s previous employer. In addition, Liza is entitled to a defined benefit pension at age 57 that will pay her $76,000 per year plus a bridging benefit of $14,800 until age 65. Allan pays a percentage of his salary into a growing group RRSP, which his employer matches up to 3 per cent.“Combine that with future Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits and their retirement is looking quite secure,” Mr. McCartney says. “This will allow them to tackle some of the financial constraints they feel today.”When can Max, 54, and Erica, 42, leave their high-stress jobs and work part time instead?Liza and Allan would like to support their children through college or university. The cost of post-secondary education i