traveling--what to do with money?
I'm thinking of traveling to a few clubs for a change of scenery and to make some cash. Trying to find an interstate bank. Should I just use Western Union to wire the money??
I don't want to keep large sums of money on me for safety reasons.
sorry if this has been answered somewhere already...
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
Bring deposit slips with you, get money orders, and deposit them by mail. Also have a couple good hiding spots in your car (pockets sewn into seat linings, etc).
JMO,
Lena
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
Yes. Totally.She is on the ball. ;D When I traveled I turned the cash into money orders and filled the out to myself and mailed them to my house.
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
one quick word of wisdom - do NOT buy $1000 worth of money orders in the same place on the same day anymore! The anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act have created requirements that the merchant selling money orders report any large cash transactions to the IRS/FBI. While you'll certainly not be investigated for being a possible terrorist, the IRS might be very interested in where the cash to buy $1000 or more in money orders came from, and their computers will probably be looking at your tax returns for next year to see if you reported that $1000 as income.
US Post Offices will sell you money orders up to $500, so will WalMart service counters and other major grocery stores. If you're going to mail home money orders, I highly recommend buying a money order every day, or several smaller money orders from different places every day if last night's earnings exceeded $1000. Do NOT wait until the end of the week and attempt to buy $3000-$4000-$5000 of money orders all at once, as this will surely be reported by the merchant.
Today, you'll also have the reverse problem when you go to cash in the money orders once you get home. If you deposit them all in your bank account, that transaction will also be reported to the IRS. This is no big deal of course if you do in fact report all of this as income on next year's tax return, and pay estimated taxes on it in the meantime.
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
Melonie- The USPS offers money orders up to $1000, and they never ask for any personal information, so how does that work?
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
I recommend getting an account with a really big bank, like Bank of America, which is going to have an outpost almost anywhere you go.
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
It depends on you. I travel more than I am at home and have accts with Wells Fargo which is free and Bank of America.
My bills and room come to an average of $800 a week so the amount left over maybe $500-$1000 a week over a couple months time I keep with me. I never put more than several hundred dollars over my bills in the bank.
Money is not that good now that you will have so much you can't handle it. The most I had saved over several months is $5000 and I am quite comfortable keeping that with me in all $100's and $50's.
Just find out what works best for you after working for 2-3 weeks.
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
Quote:
Melonie- The USPS offers money orders up to $1000, and they never ask for any personal information, so how does that work?
Something called the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance System which USPS had in development even before 9/11.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industr...aundering.idg/
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in the near future even cash itself will not be untraceable due to a new technology known as Radio Frequency Identification, where tiny electronic tags will be sewn into everything, including our money. The Euro is supposed to have these tagged notes implemented within a couple of years, and its simply logical that the US will do the same with the dollar.
http://news.com.com/2100-1019-1009155.html
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
:)Just got on today and saw everyone's replies. Thank you so much. I am just getting started on this travel thing so we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck and energy!
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
Neither the USPS nor the other merchants who sell money orders will take down or report information if the total amount of money orders purchased by the same person on the same day is less than $1000. However, if you try to buy several $500 money orders at the same time such that they total over $1000, out come the IRS reporting forms. This was my whole point, not to wait until you have an entire weeks' worth of earnings on the road and then attempt to buy more than $1000 worth of money orders all at once to mail home.
You will also want to be careful not to accumulate over $10,000 in cash which you have to carry with you under any circumstances. $10,000 is the trigger amount which will get the Feds involved i.e suspected smuggling, suspected terrorism etc. if for some reason you should wind up being searched at a club, during a traffic stop etc. and you are discovered to be carrying this amount in cash. This is particularly true if you are crossing the US/Canada border or state lines in your travels.
Re: traveling--what to do with money?
Ms. Melonie is so right.I most certainly would get small money orders from different places.I don't make all that much to worry about it so I'm not too scared.