It takes Cash to Care...

Old Jamaican Banknotes

“It takes cash to care” is a saying that my father continually repeats to me whenever the subject of money comes up. In a strange way his crazy saying makes sense. Whether its Jamaica, The Bahamas, Europe, or Canada money is a factor and its better to have an understanding of how it all works because if not you will reach your last dollar before you know it.

The Jamaican dollar is the national currency of Jamaica, which is sometimes expressed using the currency code JMD or currency symbol J$. There are various banknotes used in Jamaica with the most frequent ranging from $50 to $5000. Although these amount sounds like a lot they are actually not that much.

A neat little trick I learned to understand the conversion between Jamaican dollars and Canadian or American dollars is to move 2 decimal places left. For instance $1000 JMD is roughly $10.00 Canadian. My conversion trick isn’t as accurate as apps like XE Currency but it gives you a sense of what the money is valued so you can see and understand how you are spending your money.

Most Recent Jamaican Banknotes

The exchange rate for 1 JMD to CAD or USD continually fluctuates. For instance, 1 JMD is 0.0103 CAD and 0.94 USD. This basically means that for J$100 you get $1.03 Canadian.

The advice I would give to an exchange student or traveller is to walk with as little money as possible and try to have JMD on you. But if not American dollars is preferred over Canadian dollars; however, when you use USD you lose out because you’re losing $200 to $300 JMD at a time. 

Fun Fact:

The earliest currency in Jamaica was Spanish copper coins called maravedies but the dollar has been Jamaican currency since 1969.