Depending on which country you live in and which foreign country you’re relocating to, the readjustment may be fairly small or very large.
There may be language differences, cultural differences, climate differences or traffic rules differences.
Just about every kind of difference.
Today we are going to focus on one of the main stresses when relocating and that’s how you go about managing money in a foreign Country.
Top Tips For Managing Money In A Foreign Country
When you first arrive in your new country, and before you start earning a salary, you’ll need to transfer money from your home country – and this can be very expensive!
But you’ll probably be able to use money transfer providers as a cheaper alternative to some of the other methods.
That’s the first thing you’ll need to find out.
In a new country, you’ll have to get used to using the new currency and how the currency compares to your home currency.
Earning money, spending and saving it, and managing or moving it will be different.
This can be quite intimidating! Fortunately, there are some basic steps you can take to make things just a little easier.
Keep Your Home Account Open
Don’t be too quick to close your home country account, even if you’re not planning to use it.
In the first place, you might be called on to help with unexpected expenses at home.
Just imagine how annoyed you’d be if you no longer have a way to do that, just at the moment you really need it.
Secondly, having accounts in different countries is like not putting all your eggs in the same basket.
It’s not impossible for somebody to lose all the money in their account in some kind of scam or even a robbery.
If that happens to you, at least you know your home-country bank account is still safe.
Get a Local Bank Account
Even if you’re thinking of your stay in your new country as temporary and you’re planning on going back home in the near future, trying to run your life in your new country using your home-country bank account just won’t cut it.
It may be possible to use your own ATM card in a foreign machine.
But even if it is, you’ll pay heavy charges for doing so.
You can be sure you’ll end up getting a local account in the end.
So rather save yourself the charges and get the account as soon as you can.
Research the Best Way of Transferring Money
Seeing that you craftily kept your home bank account open, you’ll be able to transfer money home if the need arises.
But transferring money from one country to another can be expensive, complicated and slow.
Therefore, you should always put some effort into finding out the best possible way of doing it.
PayPal and similar services are quite good for this, but you can’t send and receive payments from different countries in the same account.
Moreover, these services don’t always use the most up-to-the-minute conversion rate between the two currencies, which could cost you.
Research the Exchange Rate
On the subject of conversion rates.
You can’t do anything about fluctuations in the exchange rate.
But you can keep a close eye on how each currency is performing.
If you do that, you’ll be able to make the exchange rate work for you.
If you have money in pounds, and you need to pay in another currency, wait until the pound is strong (and your pounds can buy you the maximum possible amount of, say, Italian lira).
If you have lira, and you have to pay in pounds, wait until the pound is weaker, and you can buy a larger sum in pounds for a smaller sum in the lira.
Use Online Banking as Much as Possible
In addition to the convenience of online banking, another big plus is that there’s no language barrier.
You don’t have to try and explain to a teller what you want or try and find the right ATM menu in a language you don’t understand.
You can use your normal banking website in your own language.
Imagine if your bank card was lost or stolen while you were in a country whose language you didn’t speak.
That would be a nightmare!
Imagine calling the lost cards helpline, trying to select the correct option from the recorded menu, and explaining your problem to somebody who couldn’t understand you.
If you have online banking, you just choose ‘My Cards,’ select the right one, and press ‘Cancel’.
Final Thoughts
Living in or travelling to a foreign country can be very exciting and stimulating.
But moving house is also one of the most stressful life events to go through.
This is especially true if you move to a new house and a new country at the same time!
Handling your money wisely is one of the best things you can do to ensure that your experience in your new country is as enjoyable as possible.