Money
Overview
Navigating all the options for accessing money while traveling safely and avoiding excessive fees isn’t always straightforward.
Gone are the days of stashing wads of cash and traveler’s cheques on your body and in luggage like we did in the old days. Online banking and ATMs have put paid to that. But now, we face a different set of challenges:
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- Access – to your money in some countries may be limited because of limited infrastructure, a cash economy, and minuscule withdrawal limits.
- Security – Having strategies in place to keep your cards, cash, and accounts out of the hands of scammers and bad guys.
- Costs – Working out ways to minimize or eliminate exchange and withdrawal fees and maximize cross rates.
We’ve yet to find any product or service that can do all these. But we now have a suite of cards and accounts that optimize our funds and spending while on the road.
On this page, you will find advice, resources, and links to help you access your money, keep it safe, and save on fees while traveling.
Section 1 – Provides a selection of resources, including links to some products.
Section 2 – Links to our other posts and pages relevant to accessing and managing money on the road.
Of course, resources such as bank accounts, credit cards, and money exchanges constantly change and evolve. And different nationalities will have access to different products.
We try to keep up, but please tell us if you know of products, services, and tools you think are superior to those mentioned. We’re always excited to learn about and test new things.
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Section 1 – Money Resources
We carry two different credit cards. 1 Mastercard and 1 Visa. Having the choice is essential as some countries still prefer one or the other.
Features to look for:
- Competitive exchange rates – some banks have terrible exchange rates, and you can lose several percent on every transaction.
- No foreign exchange fees – Besides bad rates, some banks levy an additional fee for spending in a foreign currency. (2-4%!)
- No currency Conversion Fees –
- Convenient 2FA – We prefer a TOKEN, biometrics, approved devices, or an authenticator (e.g. Google authenticator or Authy) to SMS as we constantly change SIMS.
So, we keep one credit card connected to most of our funds in our Australian account. But because it has poor exchange rates and FOREX fees, we only use it to pay bills in AUD and as an emergency backup.
Our main credit card is a 28Degrees Global Platinum Mastercard through Latitude Financial. It’s:
- A free card (Note: They recently (July 2024) tried to implement an 8 AUD/month fee. There was a huge outcry, and they’ve waived that fee for us at least. If they try to charge you the fee, ask them to waive it. No harm in asking!)
- Has competitive exchange rates and
- No international transaction or currency conversion fees.
- 45 days interest-free – We pay our cards off monthly, so the interest rate isn’t a consideration.
- There are a load of other benefits I’ve not adequately explored.
The downside is that we must register a valid Australian phone number, which is inconvenient as we constantly change SIM cards for data and communications. We used to need it for 2FA and had someone back in Australia help us, which was sometimes inconvenient. However, I can now use the app to generate one-time passcodes for secure online payment, so it’s no longer a problem.
We are currently researching alternative credit cards for different nationalities. Please let us know in the comments which card you use, and where you are from.
Australia
USA –
UK
Europe
Canada
Not everywhere takes credit cards, so you will need a sound debit card for accessing cash and some EFT payments.
Look for:
- No international ATM fees
- Competitive exchange rates
We carry two atm and are looking at a few other alternatives to diversify:
Wise Visa Debit Card is connected to our WISE Borderless account.
We chose it because it:
- Is free to open an account
- Has excellent exchange rates,
- Has very low and completely transparent fees,
- Has excellent security features,
- In addition to the physical card, we can generate digital cards to use for online purchases.
- Security is excellent. You can freeze and unfreeze both physical and digital cards in seconds, and
- We can withdraw a limited amount of cash for free each month. Over that limit, the fees are still less than those on our second card from our Aussie bank, as described below.
Wise is available to most nationalities.
THIS LINK will give you your first transfer of up to the equivalent of approximately $1000 AUD for free.
Our second card is a Mastercard debit card connected to most of our funds back home. This card has poor exchange rates and high international withdrawal fees, so it’s for visits back home and dire emergencies.
We save a bucket of money by transferring cash from our Aussie accounts to our Wise account for free and then using our WISE card.
Because we regularly change countries and thus currencies, we need an account that helps us manage that economically.
We also get paid in multiple different currencies, so our account must also accept those.
Wise (Formerly Transferwise) was a revelation when it first came out and has only improved since. It literally saved us thousands in fees and poor exchange rates when compared with our Australian bank and Paypal.
We have both business accounts, and I (Sharyn) also have a personal account attached to that. (Important for transferring cash in some countries with restrictions e.g., Bangladesh) We both have Visa Debit cards attached to the business account.
Other options include:
Revolut – It seems to be the closest competitor to WISE.
We’ll gradually investigate new options and build on this list, but for now, that’s not a priority, as WISE works so well for us.
As well as having 2FA on and backup cards and accounts, there are a couple of ways you can protect your cards and cash.
We use:
- Money Belts to conceal extra cash, cards, security tokens, and passports. I wear mine in the small of my back. Tim wears his to the front. Previous belts also had a waterproof inner for extra protection.
- Sharyn – A neck pouch that slips down the front of my shirt for day-to-day cards and cash.
- Sharyn – An over-the-body handbag with a slash-proof strap.
- Tim – Zipped and/or deep front pockets for his wallet.
- A carabinier on daypacks
Also recommended:
RFID blocking wallet/purse – to prevent card details from being scanned by the baddies.
Section 2 – Other Posts, Pages, & Resources
Disclosure: Note that some of the links and advertisements and links, on this page (such as those to WayAway) lead to products from our partners. If you buy something after using those links, we may earn a small commission from the sale. However, you have our assurance that you won’t pay any more than you would by buying directly from their site. And we promise to only link to products or companies we’ve used personally, been recommended by trusted family, friends, or travel buddies, or researched thoroughly before adding them to the list. You may also see other links served to you by Google. These will display products that Google thinks you want to see. If you click on those advertisements, we also get paid a small (minuscule) amount. If you want to know more about how you help to fund our travels without costing you a cent – then CLICK THIS LINK for a more comprehensive explanation.