Digital Nomads Losing up to €3,000 a Year in FX Costs

Digital nomads — professionals who work remotely while living across multiple countries — now number an estimated 40–50 million worldwide, reflecting a rapid and sustained shift in how people earn and spend across borders.

Growth is being reinforced by remote working trends and government-backed visa programmes such as the Portugal Digital Nomad Visa, Spain Digital Nomad Visa and the Dubai Virtual Working Programme, with increased adoption of multicurrency cards, such as deVere Vault, reflecting how financial behaviour is evolving alongside this trend.

Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, says: “As this cohort of workers expands, so does exposure to foreign exchange costs, often in ways that are not immediately visible.

“Many digital nomads are paid in one currency, hold savings in another, and spend across several more.

“Traditional debit and credit cards, built around a single base currency, typically convert transactions automatically at the point of sale, applying foreign exchange spreads that commonly range between 2% and 3%, and in some cases higher once fees are included.”

For individuals spending €3,000 to €5,000 a month internationally, that equates to €60 to €150 lost every month purely through conversion. Over a year, that rises to €720 to €1,800 — before accounting for additional frictions.

Those frictions are significant. Double conversions — where income, account base and spending currency differ — can apply multiple FX spreads to a single transaction. Recurring payments for subscriptions and professional services, often billed in foreign currencies, create constant low-level leakage.

Converting funds at the point of transaction also removes any ability to manage timing in volatile currency markets.

“Taken together, these factors can push total annual losses towards €3,000.

“This is a structural inefficiency. People are earning in one currency and spending across several, using tools that were never designed for that reality.

“The costs are incremental, but they’re relentless.”

Longer stays across multiple countries are intensifying the effect. Digital nomads are increasingly living across jurisdictions for extended periods, with spending spread across currencies on a daily basis, rather than concentrated into short-term travel.

This is driving a shift in behaviour.

Nigel Green comments: “We’re seeing a move from passive spending to active currency management.

“It’s our experience that people are increasingly questioning how their money is being converted and what it is costing them over periods of time.”

The trend, says deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and asset management organisations, is reflected in rising demand over the last 12 months for its multicurrency card, deVere Vault, a prepaid Mastercard® multicurrency card that enables users to hold balances in multiple currencies and spend globally.

By allowing users to spend directly from pre-held currency balances, rather than converting at the point of transaction, multicurrency cards reduce repeated FX charges and give users greater control over how and when exchanges take place.

“As digital nomadism continues to expand, the financial implications of living and working across currencies are becoming harder to ignore.

“For a growing segment of the global workforce, managing foreign exchange efficiently is moving from a secondary consideration to a core part of everyday financial decision-making,” concludes the deVere CEO.