How to manage money as a liveaboard

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Peter

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Going to be full time liveaboards this year's after a few years of summers only, ending up Spain/Gibraltar for winter. Depending on what the Muppets in charge of brexit come up with.
My question if how do others mange there money, uk income, as full time liveaboards. Just looking for ideas. As previously just managed by taking a fistfull of € with us. But accepting we cannot do as full time on boat.
 
Some ramblings from a few years full time cruising

It is essential to have someone looking after your post that can open it and email on the bits you need to action. It is also useful to have someone who has your power of attorney to save sudden trips home

We use Debit and Credit cards from UK banks and carry a small amount of cash for emergencies. Best to look around for the cards whilst you are still working as they are more amenable to issuing cards if you have a job and the credit limit may be higher.

We use Nationwide Flex+ debit cards as foreign ATM transactions are not chargeable (saves about £3 - £4 a time) which easily covers the monthly account fee and we also have a Nationwide Credit Card that does not charge for foreign currency card transactions. I am sure there are other bank options out there.

We no longer use Travellers Cheques as, in our part of the world, no one will accept them anymore.

It is also a good idea to have Mastercard and Visa cards as some countries/banks prefer one over the other

Another trick is to have more than 1 card for the following reasons


  • In case you loose or break one as they will only send a new card to a UK address which then has to be forwarded onto you. Also have joint accounts so you have more than 1 card to each account for the same reason.


  • We have also found some places charge extra if you pay by cards e.g. Yard bills and antifouling materials so we carry multiple debit cards to allow us to withdraw multiple amounts from the ATM in one go. We only keep enough money on each debit card account to allow for 1 withdrawal at a time to try and reduce the risk of fraud and we always check the account after it has been used.


  • We are also finding the cards these days last about 2 years in the tropics before they start de-laminating, I think it is due to the newer types of ATM that drag the card into the machine and hold it,

Be prepared for your cards to be stopped for fraud checks if you change countries or spending profile or “suspicious behaviour” on the card at least once a year, (you get notified by post to your UK address), another reason to have more than 1 card whilst you are sorting this out

Have fun out there!!
 
Whilst using a cashpoint in Grenada my card was rejected. After trying two more the second one informed me that it had been blocked. A phone call to Lloyds in UK established that a minor software fault in the first machine had triggered a security block and they sorted it.

The useful thing about this was that I discovered Lloyds had a reverse-charge international line. It might be worth finding out if your bank does too.
 
Most points covered but importantly, you need to keep a UK address even if on relatives electoral role or you will have problems. As well as possibly being kicked out of the GP and health system, it's virtually impossible to shift savings and ISAs around banks each year for the best rates, if you are seen as not being resident. Some atms in Gibraltar offer euros or sterling but be careful as several charge for cash withdrawals.
 
Peter said:
Going to be full time liveaboards this year's after a few years of summers only, ending up Spain/Gibraltar for winter. Depending on what the Muppets in charge of brexit come up with.
My question if how do others mange there money, uk income, as full time liveaboards. Just looking for ideas. As previously just managed by taking a fistfull of € with us. But accepting we cannot do as full time on boat.
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We use a Halifax Clarity Card, good exchange rate, allegedly the interbank rate and no sneaky charge per transaction. Have used to pay marina bill for a year so thousands of euros dont faze it. Also good for cash out but I go online immediately and transfer money in to cover to avoid interest charges. The Post Office Online exchange rate is the best when back home, order on line and then go to pick up. I used to use FairFX but the PO beats them every time by 1.5 cents. Lidl stores everywhere so cheap, cheaper than the UK in some cases. La Linea is the best for deals at the mo and safest from the surge that besets Gib. Just 8 mins walk to the border. Albufeira still the cheapest marina on the Algarve and certainly the safest. Filling up now as the infrastructure gets better so maybe hikes on the way?
 
As a stick in the mud I've been happy with Nationwide Credit Card for purchases with Nationwide Flexplus for cash up until now, both offering comission free interbank rates. However, just got a Monzo card which does the same but a lot more with a pretty good app which does everthing so you can keep the physical card somewhere safe as a backup for when your phone visits the seabed. Limited to £200 a month cash withdrawals but I doubt I ever spend more than £50/month cash nowadays.
 
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Like many a nationwide flex card which was kept on even after they started charging for it. Might ditch that now with revolut though.
Revolut - been great so far.
https://www.revolut.com/en-PT/
Interbank rate weekdays and can do free bank transfers . In Portugal anyway, handy for bigger bills. Think it's only E200 a month from cash machine then 2%. I've 2 cards plus a https://n26.com/en-eu one as well so should be safe if a card or 2 gets eaten by a machine. One slight worry is needing a mobile to get text confirmation for some transfers, the app will work on an android emulator on a PC but won't get the texts on that.

Plus http://www.expense-iq.com/ on android to keep track of it all :)
 
+1 for Nationwide - been excellent for 5 years cruising so far - combined with Apple Pay (Android phones do this sort of thing too I'm told) means mostly I just go ashore with my Apple watch on and use contactless for everything (paying with my nationwide card stored on my watch) which means swimming ashore for a drink etc can be done without needing those pesky waterproof containers for cash or cards and there is zero chance of losing anything
 
My approach has been a little different. I am now less inclined to use Nationwide cards as the charges have gradually mounted. If I am staying in a country for 6 months or more, I open a local bank account and use Transferwise to transfer funds from the UK. As an EU resident, one can open an account in any member country. Also banks in old Commonwealth countries allow UK residents to open accounts.

Advantages: (i) Avoids international transfer charges and sub-par currency exchange rates on individual transactions. (ii) ATM withdrawals are free - in many countries now there are charges for cash withdrawals using the card of another bank.

Issues: (i) The bank will need a provable residential address for communication and mailing bank cards, but usually your UK address will be acceptable. (ii) Make sure the bank offers internet banking, with a website in a language which you know (many offer English versions). (iii) Some European banks make extraordinarily high charges for running a current account and/or issuing a debit card. Avoid these, even though the cost may be partly offset by interest. (iv) After Brexit, we may be asked to close European accounts.
 
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I think the op as Been given some good advise and other to say manage money with care and don't go overboard with buying stuff you don't need there no more I can add ,
Money don't last for ever and If you can't replace what you spend then you really have to take care of what you spend .
Or may end up having to cut your dream shorter then you think ,
 
Plus 1 for the nationwide flex plus. The account also comes with free travel insurance for 30 days max, but it can be extended for a reasonable extra fee (max 190 days any one trip). The insurance can be tailored to your requirements. I have a feeling that the flex+ account is only available as an upgrade so may not be available to new customers. I have been with nationwide for over 30 years and they have always given me good customer service.
 
Having lived in Holland for a while we have a Dutch bank account with ABN Amro that I retained when I retired. This has proved invaluable: we can almost always pay for supermarket purchases with the card and ATMs have never refused us. We transfer money from our UK account at the start of each season, while the Dutch government kindly pays us both a pension into the account. And we pay our marina bills using IBAN, also without any exchange rate or service charges.
 
Another vote for Revolut.

We've been using it for sometime now and it is very good. You can also transfer to European back accounts at no cost.
 
jamiepyoung said:
Another vote for Revolut.

We've been using it for sometime now and it is very good. You can also transfer to European back accounts at no cost.
Click to expand...

Agreed, the Revolut app is great, constantly updated exchange rates, daily summary of spending, all so easy to use. I will be cancelling my Lloyd’s account, no longer use it.
 
We’ve successfully used Revolut in the Med and SE Asia over the last three years.

It’s a prepaid credit card but the phone app is excellent and quick if you want to credit the card at a supermarket checkout (we’ve tested that a few times!).

The only problem we had was a money laundering enquiry from them when my wife transferred £10,000 into the card rather than £1000!

However, they have now reduced the cash withdrawal limits and will charge for most withdrawals at ATMs.

Starling bank does not charge for cash withdrawals at ATMs so we have just opened a bank account with them. It’s a slightly different arrangement than with Revolut but given that we put about £20k through the card each year, the new charges make it worth trying another solution.

We are a bit old fashioned and so we often take out cash and pay for many day to day expenses with cash - especially restaurants, bars and coffee shops etc. This caution comes from many years of work travel where my wife’s cards have been cloned several times. This is often no problem if you return to the U.K. to sort it out, but more difficult if trying to sort it out whilst overseas.

Anyway, we’ve just received our Starling cards (within a few days) for the new account so we will know if it works for us later this season. We have though kept the Revolut card as a back up.

Garold
 
I managed on Nationwide debit and credit cards for 12 years as a liveaboard in Spain, and would caution against opening a Spanish bank account on two grounds.
Firstly, their charges are high and they have a nasty habit of debiting first and asking questions second.
Secondly, if you only have UK bank accounts it reinforces your undoubted claim that you are a British and not Spanish resident.
The advice to maintain a UK address is very sound - it removes all sorts of complications.
 
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