HOW TO BECOME A DIGITAL NOMAD FAMILY: FINANCE HACKS
Based on our time on the road so far, we have come up with a few guides to share our top tips and tricks for digital nomad families. There are too many travel hacks to share in just one post, so we’ve divided the list up into three broad categories: finance, technology and entertainment, and packing (coming soon!).
To start us off, here’s everything you need to know about managing day-to-day money and finances when planning to become a digital nomad family:
ATMs and Foreign Exchanges
Before you head off to a new country, be sure to figure out the best way to get foreign cash once you’re there.
In some countries, cash is still king, so you’ll need to make sure you keep some on hand for when you visit smaller local shops and restaurants. You’re usually much better off skipping the foreign exchange places at home and just withdrawing the local currency from an ATM using your forex card once you arrive at your destination — just make sure you check which local ATMs charge the lowest withdrawal fees, since these can vary from a couple of dollars to anywhere between 20–30 dollars per transaction.
If you do need to use a foreign exchange service, you’ll usually get a better rate in your destination country than you will at home. Also, wherever possible, avoid the forex kiosks at the airport and visit the ones in town instead — the rates are usually much better outside of the airport.
Credit Cards
Before you leave for any extended trip, you need to make sure you have good travel credit card that does not charge forex fees on transactions. Most regular credit cards charge significant fees for foreign transactions, which are added on top of the unfavorable exchange rates they give you. A good travel card can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fees, so it’s a must-have for any long trip.
And if you can find a credit card that pays cash back for travel-related transactions like flight purchases and hotel bookings, you can make out like bandits during your time abroad. For example, our card gives us 3% cash back on all of our hotels, Airbnbs, and flights, which we then use for more travel. We also benefit from a suite of travel insurance coverages, which can be very handy as well, especially if you aren’t purchasing separate travel insurance.
Forex Cards
Regular credit cards charge large fees and tend to offer very poor exchange rates, which means that you’re getting dinged every single time you use your card overseas. Forex cards offer a solution to this: they offer some of the best exchange rates you will find and don’t charge additional fees on transactions. Getting yourself set up with a forex card before you leave can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the course of your trip.
We use our Wise forex cards as credit cards wherever possible when travelling. They’re basically Visa Debit cards that you top up in advance, and then use for foreign currency transactions like you would a credit card. Wise offers good forex rates and strong security functionality through their app, and doesn’t charge the foreign exchange fees of 1 to 2% that most conventional credit cards charge (in addition to gouging you with their poor forex rates).
The downside of using Wise for some is that you need to prepay into the account — but for us this is actually a positive, as it limits your potential loss if the card is ever hacked. You can refill the funds on your Wise card through your domestic bank account at minimal cost, so it’s easy to keep your balance low and top up it often to minimize any risk. If you want to check out the Wise card and all of its benefits, click the image at the bottom of this page. For us, it was a no-brainer.*
Travel Insurance
Health insurance is a must when you’re planning to travel long-term, and unfortunately most credit card travel insurance doesn’t usually offer adequate protection for digital nomads planning on being away from their home countries for extended periods, and many of the more popular private travel insurance companies only offer protection for short-term travel. Instead, you’ll need to look into companies that specialize in digital nomad insurance.
By far one of the most popular providers amongst digital nomad communities is SafetyWing, which offers extended travel insurance that renews automatically month-to-month. We subscribed to SafetyWing insurance shortly before we left on our adventure and so far have been happy with them, though thankfully we haven’t needed to file a claim just yet.
*Disclosure: All opinions expressed here are our own, and we only recommend products we use ourselves. This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.