Not much to say here, finance isn’t the most exciting of topics either but crucial to travel.  I try to keep my finance as simple as possible trying to keep costs down not only in spend but all the peripheral costs too like bank and currency exchange charges.  I use my main bank account seldom and prefer using my cash card as my main finance too as it helps me stay on budget.  Carrying many cards around is also a pain and more so exposes you if should loose your card or your bags go missing.  I prefer doing my finance via my phone using apps as it adds an additional layer of security

Banking

Other than my normal bank account I use www.monzo.com, it’s a cash card so you incur less costs.  There is also a safety element to using the card, although you can cancel or put a freeze on it using an app, if it does get stolen or used without your knowledge you can limit the damage because they can only take what is in the account.  It’s also very easy to top-up and transfer money.  I prefer using a cash card as I find it’s easier to stick to a budget using it i.e. deposit your budget for the week and run with it, a little more control helps keeping you on line.  With Monzo you also get charged considerably less when making purchases, the only charge is the varies in currency difference.

Money Transfers

For transferring money, I use www.currencyfair.com.  The golden rules is don’t transfer money at the airport or at any major tourist location.  I’s also highly recommend checking what you bank charges you for using your card abroad.  There are many companies that offer a similar service to Currency Fair and no I haven’t researched them all, Currency Fair offers much better rates than my bank and the other companies I did research.  My main transfers are to South Africa, United Kingdom and I also use it to transfer currency when buying Bitcoin.

 

Batnomad
Batnomad

If you’d like to read about my thoughts, experiences and stories here is the link to the blog page.  Alternatively, I have also included separate postings on my Facebook page just with the photos – Facebook Batnomad