Why I diversify my assets across currencies with Global66

Table of Contents

• Three ways to hold and use dollars from Colombia
• The problem isn't the dollar, it's concentration
• What diversifying across currencies actually means
• Why you should hold dollars (the least glamorous, most profitable reason)
• Why I use Global66

  • What I haven't liked
• If you're going to open the account, use my link
• How to start without overcomplicating it
• What this article is not
• In summary

Three ways to hold and use dollars from Colombia

Before getting into the argument, the practical comparison. Here's what changes depending on how you manage your dollars:

	Traditional bank card	Cash / exchange house	Multi-currency account (Global66)
Exchange rate	The bank's or card network's, with a built-in margin	Variable, depends on where you go	Real market rate
Who decides when the conversion happens?	The provider, on the day they bill you	You, but in person	You, from the app, whenever you want
International transaction fee	Typically 2–3%, depending on the product	Not applicable	No fee between Global66 accounts
Holding a dollar balance	No	Yes, but in physical bills	Yes, in up to 10 currencies
Paying online subscriptions	Yes	No	Yes, with an international Mastercard
Receiving payments from abroad	With costs and paperwork	No	Yes, via IBAN account details
Yield on your balance	No	No	Yes, per current conditions
Regulation in Colombia	Supervised bank	Informal	SEDPE authorized by the Superfinanciera

Fee percentages vary by bank and product; check yours. Global66's conditions are those published on its site as of September 2026.

Want the third column? Open your Global66 Account with my link and get the cashback benefit on purchases currently available for new users. → Sign up for Global66 Referral link. You get the signup benefit, and it helps me keep this blog running.

The problem isn't the dollar, it's concentration

When an investor says "diversify," they usually think about assets: stocks, bonds, real estate, crypto. But there's a layer underneath that almost nobody looks at: the currency all those assets are denominated in.

You can have a beautiful portfolio — a CDT, an apartment, an investment fund, your business — and still be fully concentrated, because everything is in pesos. If the peso devalues 30%, your "diversified" portfolio lost 30% of its international purchasing power in one blow, without any of your assets dropping a cent on paper.

And this isn't theoretical. According to Portafolio, the dollar in Colombia went from about $1,700 to nearly $5,000 in a decade. Anyone holding everything in pesos during that period didn't lose money in their account: they lost the ability to buy anything that came from abroad. A computer. A flight. A course. A subscription to a tool they need for work.

Then came the correction: 2026 has been a year of strong peso, with the dollar falling around 16% year-to-date, according to Infobae. And there lies the point: it goes up and down. Nobody knows which comes first.

Currency diversification doesn't exist to beat the market. It exists so that neither direction destroys you.

What diversifying across currencies actually means

I'm not talking about forex speculation or leveraged trading. In plain terms, diversifying across currencies is something far more boring: holding part of what you own denominated in a currency other than your country's.

That's it. It could be 10%, 20%, 40%. The percentage depends on your situation, not a universal formula. But there are three profiles where the argument becomes especially strong:

If your expenses are already partly in dollars. If you pay for Adobe, Claude, Figma, hosting, domains, Canva, ChatGPT or any SaaS tool, you already have dollar expenses. Covering dollar expenses with peso income means taking on currency risk every month. Holding dollars isn't speculating: it's matching your expenses to your assets. It's literally the opposite of taking risks.

If you work, or want to work, with foreign clients. Freelance, agency, digital product, consulting. Getting paid in dollars and converting everything to pesos immediately is making a market decision every time you get paid, whether you want to or not.

If your horizon is long. Travel, studies, equipment, moving abroad, retirement. Any future goal that will be paid in hard currency is worth saving in hard currency.

Why you should hold dollars (the least glamorous, most profitable reason)

Everyone talks about dollars as a safe haven. I want to talk about something far more mundane: with dollars, your subscriptions get cheaper.

When you pay a $20 USD subscription with a traditional bank card in pesos, you don't pay the market rate. You pay:

• The bank's or card network's exchange rate, with a built-in margin
• International transaction fees, which on many cards run 2–3%
• The tax or charges associated with foreign-currency transactions, depending on the product

The result is that a $20 USD subscription ends up costing you noticeably more than $20. And if you have five or six tools — which is normal for anyone working in digital — the accumulated yearly overpayment is not trivial.

Paying from an account that already holds dollars eliminates the conversion at billing time. No surprise rate. The $20 goes out as $20. And you decided when to buy those dollars, instead of a billing calendar at a company in California deciding for you.

That, for me, was the decisive argument. Not the safe haven. The month-to-month operational savings.

Why I use Global66

I've been using Global66 for a while, and the main reason is simple: it's convenient from Latin America. That sounds like faint praise, but anyone who has tried to open a dollar account from Colombia knows that "convenient" is a luxury.

Here's what works for me:

A true multi-currency account. According to its official site, the Cuenta Global lets you hold balances in up to 10 currencies — Colombian pesos, dollars, euros, among others — within the same app. You're not opening "another account": you're switching pockets.

The real exchange rate. You convert when you want, at the market rate, not when the invoice arrives. This is what lets me buy dollars when they're cheap — as during much of 2026 — and use them months later without thinking about the TRM again.

International Mastercard. It works for online and physical purchases, and it's compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay. It's the one I use for subscriptions.

Receiving international payments. It lets you receive dollars and euros via international account details (IBAN), which is directly useful if you invoice abroad.

It's regulated in Colombia. Global66 received authorization from the Superintendencia Financiera to operate as an SEDPE (Specialized Society in Electronic Deposits and Payments). It's not an app that appeared out of nowhere: it operates under supervision. For me, that was a non-negotiable requirement before moving a single peso.

Yield on your balance. Its website mentions yields of up to 11% E.A. in pesos and up to 6% E.A. in dollars, calculated daily. These figures change over time and with market conditions, so verify them in the app before counting on them: don't take them from this article as fixed.

What I haven't liked

If I only tell you the good stuff, don't believe a word I say.

Payments sometimes take a while to process. It's happened to me. It's not the norm — usually it's fast, sometimes a matter of minutes — but there have been occasions where an operation took longer than you'd expect. If you have a payment with a tight deadline, don't leave it for the last minute. That's my honest recommendation.

Promotions have conditions. Like any fintech, promotional benefits change, have minimum amounts and expiration dates. Read the terms before counting on a specific benefit.

It doesn't replace your bank. It's a tool for foreign currency and international payments, not your entire financial life. I use it for what it's good at, not for everything.

With all that on the table: I use it, and I keep using it. Stability and convenience beat the friction of the alternatives I tried before.

If you're going to open the account, use my link

Global66 has run promotions of up to 10% cashback on purchases for new users — La República reported one with a minimum purchase of $20 USD, valid at national and international merchants.

👉 Sign up for Global66 with my link to access the cashback benefit on your purchases.

It's a referral link: you get the signup benefit and it helps me keep Crea Cosas going. Since promotions change, check the current terms inside the app when you sign up — don't take my word for it, take the legal terms' word.

How to start without overcomplicating it

If you've never held money in another currency, this is the shortest path I know:

1. Pick a small, boring percentage. Start with money you won't need in the next six months. It doesn't have to be much.
2. Open the account and verify your identity. It's a digital process; have your ID handy.
3. Convert in parts, not all at once. Buying the same amount every month frees you from the problem of "guessing the best moment." You won't beat the market; you just need to not lose to concentration.
4. Move your subscriptions to the dollar card. This is the step with an immediate, measurable return. Start with the three most expensive ones.
5. Review it quarterly, not daily. Watching the TRM every day is the fastest way to make a bad decision.

What this article is not

I'm not a financial advisor, and this isn't investment advice. It's what I do and why. Your situation — your income, your debts, your goals, your risk tolerance — is different from mine.

Holding dollars has risk too: if the peso strengthens, as it has for much of 2026, your dollars are worth less in pesos. That's precisely the point of diversifying. You're not picking a winner. You're deciding not to depend on a single one winning. And like any decision with tax implications in Colombia, it's worth reviewing with your accountant.

In summary

• Holding everything in a single currency is a concentrated bet, even if you never consciously chose it.
• Diversifying across currencies isn't speculating: it's matching your assets to your future expenses.
• If you already pay for tools in dollars, holding dollars is the conservative decision, not the risky one.
• Global66 works for me because of convenience from Latin America, the real exchange rate, the international card and local regulation. It's not perfect — sometimes it's slow — but it's stable.
• The best time to start isn't when the dollar is "cheap." It's when you stop needing to know.

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Want to build a digital business that invoices in multiple currencies? At Leo Transforma that's exactly what we work on.