It’s no secret that everyone is rethinking their finances and their approach to earning money. In a post-pandemic world, people know that they can’t rely on others to bring them their income.
Lockdowns can happen. Widespread international events can destroy jobs.
And this doesn’t even include the number of positions that are about to be passed on to artificial intelligence and learning machines.
More and more people are looking to work for themselves and diversify not only their income sources and diversify their income storage.
Many of these people find themselves working with multiple currencies.
While this is an awesome financial development when it comes to your money (working with more currencies helps protect you if a given currency takes a hit from, let’s say, mad inflation), this being said, it can be hard to work with multiple currencies when you’re trying to pay bills of use your money.
The following will explore one major component of working with your money in multiple currencies: money transfers.
What Is A Money Transfer?
In the most basic sense, a money transfer involves moving money from one bank account to another.
This can be done online, with an application on your phone, or by visiting a bank branch.
Of course, depending on where you’re moving money from and what currencies you’re switching between, not all apps, online options, or bank branches will be able to help you.
The main draw of bank transfers compared to moving the money yourself (literally withdrawing the money and carrying it to the place you’d like to deposit it) is convenience.
You’re able to skip a lot of steps and don’t have to risk carrying around large sums of money if that makes you uncomfortable.
What Does A Money Transfer Require?
In the most basic sense, a money transfer requires two bank accounts and some money.
One account sends the money, and the other account receives the money. These accounts can be owned by the same person or different people.
In some cases, you might also require an application account, and, if you’re exchanging money between currencies, you probably want to be aware of the exchange rate.
The exchange rate between two currencies can change several times each day, and if you’re able to wait for a good exchange rate, you might end up with a little more bang for your buck than you otherwise would have had.
Part of wise financial planning, if you work with multiple currencies, will probably involve a system wherein you check the exchange rate often and make your exchanges when things are favorable.
Types Of Transfers: E-Transfer
An e-transfer is a feature that’s available to a lot of people who use online banking or mobile banking with an established bank.
It involves sending money from your account to someone else’s account through their email.
They need to click on the email and accept the transfer before it happens.
Some accounts let you do this for free, whereas other accounts will charge a small amount, usually something like $1.50, to move the money.
Often, however, e-transfers are only available within a single currency or within a single nation.
A Canadian with a Canadian bank account, for instance, might not be able to e-transfer money to an American with an American bank account.
Types Of Transfers: Peer-to-Peer
Peer-to-peer transfers have become very simple in this era. There are several applications that make it easy to send money from your bank account to a friend or family member, or a small business.
You’ve probably heard of some of these payment apps. In many cases, if you’re the one receiving money via these apps, you’ll have to go into the app and send the money to your bank account if you want to use it.
Some applications have the option to automatically transfer funds to your bank account every 24 hours, but most apps require you to manually send the money each time you receive it.
It’s important to note that each of these apps has its own fee structure (often, it doesn’t cost much), processing times, and limits on transactions.
Depending on how often you’re moving money and how much money you’re moving, different apps are going to look more ideal than others.
If you’re regularly moving money in a particular way, it’s worth your time and effort to figure out which application best suits your needs.
For instance, if you’re looking into how to send money from USA to UAE, you probably want to look into an option that works with both US dollars and Emirati Dirhams.
You also want a provider that has decent rates and quick transfer times.
Types Of Transfers: Wire Transfers
Wire transfers are secure transfers that send money to external accounts (outside the bank from which the money is being sent).
They’re fast, but they usually involve a fee that is a little more than you’d like. The fee is usually justified by wire transfer providers by how soon the money is available in the recipient’s account—it’s easy to find wire transfers that take a single day or a few hours.
Types Of Transfers: Written Checks
You’re probably familiar with checks, as this used to be the way everyone got paid.
This involves printing out or writing a check that specifies how much money is being given and for what purpose.
The recipient must first receive the check and then deposit it in their account. The advent of mobile check deposit (wherein a person takes a photo of the check and their banking app verifies the check) can make this process much faster than it used to be.
Of course, most banking institutions still take a few business days to clear the check, and this can delay the transfer.
The above breakdown should have clarified the money transfer process. Of course, if moving money is a large part of your financial plan, it’s a good idea to speak to a financial advisor to see if there are any additional steps you can take to help you save money or make your existing money go further.
In a post-2020 world, no one has an excuse not to take their financial well-being into their own hands.
The world is undergoing a lot of changes, and these changes are going to influence world economies.
It’s still too early to know whether these changes will be positive for you or not, so it’s better to be prepared to take care of your finances.
