Should I Use My Credit Card Overseas? Credit Card vs. Amex Prepaid vs. Travelex
That is a good question. Of course, it depends. There are a number of credit cards out there that offer no foreign transactions fees, the normal 3% per transaction fee that most credit cards levy. Discover is one of them; however, it is not widely accepted around the world. I would have considered it for my recent trip to Paris if it could be used there, which it can't. Then I learned about the
, which doesn't have any fees. I tested this card out by loading a small amount of money from my bank account. Unfortunately, it took 5 business days in order for me to see the amount on the AMEX card! This is way too long to wait for funds, especially for a 10-day trip. The other disadvantage was that most merchants don't accept AMEX due to their higher merchant fees.
My next major issue involved convenience and security. Europe is way beyond the U.S. in regards to credit card security, as the
technology is ubiquitous there. This is not to be confused with the Chip and Signature technology now included in many U.S. credit cards. The Chip-and-PIN technology doesn't require any signature at all, as credit card transactions are processed reading the chip and having you enter a unique pin. This is the only way to process some transactions in Europe, such as at kiosques at train stations, toll booths, etc. Since I planned on taking the train from the airport upon my arrival and purchasing Metro tickets, I really wanted this type of credit card, as my whole goal is to avoid carrying any large amounts of cash.
That was when I discovered the
Travelex Cash Passport Prepaid Mastercard
, and boy was I happy I did! Not only could I load the card in Euros but it comes with Chip-and-PIN technology. And it is so quick and easy to load the card: all I had to do was go to their
, enter how much I want, and then use my own bank's debit card to process the transfer. The best part of all was that funds became available almost immediately! This was so convenient when I was in Paris and wanted to add more funds before my card ran out, which happened pretty quickly since I ended up using this card for
everything.
I never had to use cash, as even taxis accepted it. And forget about waiting in line. Since other tourists had no luck with their cards at the kiosques for the train and buying tickets at the Louvre, they would leave frustrated only to cut my wait short so that I could use my card with no issues at all. Another advantage was that all restaurants had hand held card readers, so my card never left my sight as the servers would bring the reader to my table, insert my card, I would enter my pin, and it would print a receipt. Talk about secure (not having to see a stranger walk away with your card like in the U.S.)! And speaking of, it was so easy to
and view my remaining balance, including recent authorizations, and they have a tricky secure way of confirming your login by confirming only certain digits of your password. On a final note, while there are no foreign transactions fees or other transaction fees, you will be subject to Travelex's exchange rate at the time of the conversion when adding new funds. Of course, this varies according to currency exchange fluctuations and I tend to think that the rate may be a little higher with Travelex, but let me tell, for the cost of convenience and security, it is totally worth it! I will definitely use this card when I return to Europe in the near future.
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Google Apps + Method CRM = Marriage Made in the Cloud
I have been using
and customizing it for my clients for years. It has been (and still continues to be) the best way to sync QuickBooks for Desktop into the cloud. But it also works with QuickBooks Online, which is a great way to compensate for its shortcomings such as its lack of sales orders. I am a big proponent for moving as much as possible into the cloud, and I have done so with every single file stored and cross-platform apps. The main holdouts on my computer are still Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax. For the longest time, I was such a big Microsoft follower, and I still continue to use Word and Excel for certain features and quick functionality. However, it seems like MS was going into the wrong direction and I stopped upgrading by staying with Windows 7 and Office 2010. I just didn't like the flat graphics of their latest Office offerings and we all know what a disaster Windows 8 is. My last holdout until recently was Outlook. I have used it for so many years and I really loved both the Evernote and Method CRM plugins. But it just seemed so "one-way", as I am now spoiled by the Google ecosystem: apps that sync info to and from the cloud to my PC, Android smartphone, Google Glass, and Chromebook. Yes, I took the blue pill and I love it!
I've had a personal Gmail account for as long as I can remember and nothing beats needing only one login for
everything
Google. But I could never get the same kind of syncing with my business' own email domain. I've heard about
before, but I was always afraid of "letting go" of controlling my email via
, which I think is the best web hosting company for features. I decided to take the plunge a couple of months ago and signed up for a free trial. The only hiccup was finding out that I had Google services under my business email that I must have set up a long time ago, which prevented me from transferring the domain. But then I remembered a cool little feature that shows you everything you have with Google. After I had cleaned that up and signed up again, it was a
total breeze
setting up the domain in Google Apps. It literally took under
30 minutes.
Next, with just a few clicks I was able to set up the Gmail Gadget from Marketplace Apps via the Admin console. Since I already have a Method account, it was free. And then
instantly
I was able to add contacts and activities
within
my emails.
And the best part is that if the gadget recognizes an existing contact via their email address, I can easily add an activity, case, or opportunity or view existing activities, transactions, documents, and more; information that was already in QuickBooks and Method now all available within Gmail!
Now, this is where it gets really fun. Within Method, I can track all my activities and work on them later, such as replying to emails, returning phone calls, working on To Do's.
And I don't have to go back into Gmail to reply to emails, as I can send them
directly
from within Method and it still shows in my Gmail Sent folder.
I could go on and on about how much I can accomplish just with this gadget...
...but there is something even more incredible that I have struggled with for years. I have always preferred creating events in my personal Google calendar so that my business appointments showed across my devices, especially my smartphone and Google Glass, which is great for driving navigation. But I couldn't send invites to my clients using my personal email address. And if I created appointments in Outlook, it was such a pain getting it to sync with my Google calendar. I've used an Outlook add-on, which then no longer became available, and then I added it as an internet calendar. But I just hated the dual calendars in Outlook and it was just too clunky, not very
seamless.
Google Apps solved this problem. Now I can create appointments in my Google calendar, send invites, and best of all, it now syncs
bidirectionally
with my calendar in Method!
An event created in Google now shows up in Method:
And an appointment created in Method...
...now shows up in Google calendar.
And this is where Google really shines: sharing. By sharing my Google Apps calendar with my personal calendar and vice versus, I can now see all my daily events in just
one
calendar on my mobile devices. The time that this has saved me is amazing! I could still use Outlook, as I have recently learned of the
Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®
. But I had already weaned myself off of it with the advantage of having everything I need in multiple tabs in my Chrome browser, not to mention never having to worry about having to back up that pesky Outlook.pst file or transfer it to a new computer. I can totally understand people's reluctance to change, but I can tell you that I have never missed my Outlook. The same will probably be true when I switch to QuickBooks Online, which would be perfect for my business, but I'll save that migration for later.
So, now the details:
You can get started with Google Apps with a
. After that, it is just $5 per month per user with 30GB of storage. They now have a new plan that is $10 per month per user with all the same features plus unlimited storage,
, and more. But make sure you
ask me for a coupon
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. After that, it is just $25 per month per user or $40 per month per user for their Pro plan, which includes the ability to customize additional fields and tables not in QuickBooks and to add additional free apps such as Method Field Services. And remember: I can provide major discounts on QuickBooks for Desktop and Online (up to 50% for the life of your subscription!), not to mention get
all of this stuff set up for you.