How much cash to carry, how much to put on the card, without losing extra Multi-currency card vs cash comparator: all-cash, all-card and a mixed plan, side by side

Before a trip there's always the call to make: how much to exchange as cash, how much to leave to the card. The two paths cost differently. Cash loses at the exchange counter's spread; card loses at the issuer's conversion fee. Usually the card fee is thinner, but some places take cash only. This tool takes the cash share you set and lays all-cash, all-card and your mixed plan side by side, telling you how much more your current share costs than going all-card, so you can decide how much cash to actually carry.

Trip budget (home currency) Roughly what you'll spend on this trip, e.g. 2000

Cash share % Share you plan to pay in cash, e.g. 40

Cash exchange spread % The buy/sell spread you eat, often 6

Card conversion fee % Issuer's foreign-transaction fee, often 1.5

How to read this All three numbers are "cost paid just for converting", not the money you actually spend. All-cash = budget × spread; all-card = budget × conversion fee; your mixed = the two, weighted by your cash share. In most cases the spread is higher than the conversion fee, so a higher cash share means a higher total cost, but that doesn't make cash useless: small shops, markets, change and tips still lean on it. This tool quantifies "the price of carrying more cash" so you can weigh it against reality. To weigh card versus cash more fully, read cash or card and multi-currency travel cards.

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