FINANCES WHEN CRUISING AROUND THE WORLD…AN IMPORTANT UPDATE regarding the “The 3 Most Valuable Sailing Tools We use Sailing Around the World” (Original article here)
I have made an update regarding Transferwise in this article…regarding when you sign up…and the phone number to use when signing up. Transferwise is one of the financial tools I recommend for managing your finances as you sail around the world. It is a way to quickly pay in a foreign currency without exposing your credit card to fraud as you pay foreign businesses for products for your sailboat as you travel. I have used it for years with great success, and many many other sailors have too.
You MUST choose a phone number you will always have when signing up for Transferwise. If you should forget your password, they will need to use your listed phone number to reset your password! (Otherwise there is a security concern!)
I use Google Voice for my round the world phone number…http://voice.google.com. It can receive texts and phone calls anywhere in the world. Skype hasn’t worked for texts for me. There are probably other products too, or if you keep you home cellular plan with roaming, or your same Satellite phone number that could maybe work too…but choose carefully! Google Voice for sure works and it’s free though you may need to put some small credit on it. I signed up 12+ years ago and have never put anymore money on it! But you MUST have access to a phone number in the US to initially set it up. I do not think a number on Skype will allow it, but possibly worth a try if you are not in the US, at a friends house or other. After the original setup, you do not need a US phone number anymore
Read original article about financial tools used on Brick House here: Original Article
Sign up to use Transferwise here. We each get a free transfer (but they are so cheap anyways…) when you sign up through this link.
Great article. I have been looking for this type of information.
I went to the Transferwise website and watched their videos. I didn’t find their site very descriptive of the process but I did compare it to PayPal and Transferwise was $142 cheaper than PayPal on a $5,000 transfer. That is significant.
Finder.com does a comparison of the most popular money transfer sites and Transferwise comes up on top as the least expensive.
(https://www.finder.com/paypal-international-money-transfers?country_from=USA&country_to=EUR&amount=5000)
What I didn’t understand from the Transferwise site is whether you need to carry a balance with them in order to forward the money or if they withdraw the amount from a linked bank account at the time of transfer. It seem that a few additional steps are needed. On the receiving end is the transferred money held at the foreign bank or does it go directly into the receiver’s bank account?… in which case, do you need their banking information?
PayPal, Zelle and others allow you to transfer money to a recipients email address by link but they have to register to receive the funds. I’m wondering how Transferwise works on the receiving end.
Thanks for the information. You two are awesome!
Regarding your question on needing to carry a balance…no you definitely do not. I upgrade my account (no charge for the upgrade) to be a “borderless account”so I could carry balances in other currencies, and also so that people could pay em in other currencies besides USD. I carry a small Australian balance simply because someone bought something from me, secondhand in Australian currency through their Transferwise account. It was during a time when Australian dollars didn’t buy many usd (and still doesn’t) so I am just keeping it in there until it at least comes up in worth before I cash it in or use it. But to get back to your question…They can withdraw it to pay from your credit card or your bank account that you have linked to it which takes a couple of extra steps. They each carry a different dollar amount to use, much like PayPal. I can’t remember which was cheaper. The money on the receivers end goes right in to their bank account….they don’t need an account with Transferwise of to do any steps at all. To them it will appear simple as a deposit in to their bank account as forwarded to you. There is an optional field when you are filling out the form online to do the transfer that they can be notified when the payment is in their account, by email or you can just leave it blank.
I hope that helps and answers your questions. Just be sure to use a US phone number that you will always have access to SMS messages for. Google Voice works for sure..I think Skype does not but I could be remembering that wrong.