I got an Activobank account a few years ago to put my euros. They don’t charge any fees - nor give you any interest.
Can you tell me more about interactive brokers please??
The USD continues to decline. It appears a stimulus bill will pass US Congress in the next days which will likely drive the USD even lower. @charmerc Do you have any idea how low it can go at this point? Are we talking about 0.80 or 0.75 lows? If it does go anywhere near that, this means a 7-15% decline just this year in buying power between March 2020 and December 2020. Some experts predict another 15% drop but that seems too dramatic.
I am now considering a different strategy if USD doesn’t recover in the next few months. Because I already converted some USD months ago for Portugal GV investment, I have considered getting a bank loan on a villa or apartment in Europe. Because I am buying outright there are no restrictions where I can buy (as opposed to GV which has some location restrictions.) If I get a 5 or 10 year fixed rate loan, then in 7 years I can roll my investment fund proceeds to pay off the loan.
I am not that familiar with real estate loans in Europe but I assume they work more or less the same as in other countries.
The stimulus package will (if not immediately) actually raise the value of the dollar. My personal prediction is that the dollar will continue its slide until most Americans get vaccinated and the economy rebounds. How low will it go? Probably upper 70’s. I think the dollar will come roaring back probably by the end of 2021. Or not, another guess is that in the long term, the USD/Euro will stay at the low 80’s. But I’m no euro-dollar expert. One article states that the euro will weaken a lot but I don’t think this European banker understands how bad the US economy is - forget the stock market, that’s just rich repositioning their wealth.
Assuming The Euro Will Recover Is 'Suicidal' | Seeking Alpha
When I was in Portugal this winter, my bank said that they could only loan me (as a non-EU citizen) 75% of the price on a 15 year loan. They seem to be very willing to loan to reliable Americans is the feeling I got from the bank. If that guy in the article is right, then the value of Portugal properties should be going down over the next few years. That’s just my guess though.
US politicians are already fighting among themselves to dole out more stimulus and increase the debt (i.e., weaken the dollar). This is an indication of inflationary environment which should send gold higher; the dollar lower.
Vis-a-vis the Euro I am not so sure because the ECB is also increasing debt.
Well, we’ll have to disagree that stimulus packages weaken the dollar.
Money transfer between fintech and ib has problems. You had better take care of it.
TransferWise Borderless to IB works great, at least for USD and EUR. I haven’t tried other currencies.
well that’s annoying. I start converting USD to EUR, and EUR weakens.
looks like it might have a bit to run yet, too.
proof that nothing has to make sense.
throws up hands
at least I only converted maybe 1/3 of what I needed.
EUR is still over .84 per USD, not bad actually relative to recent lows.
Monetary policy ?USD strength is increasingly difficult to predict because the Federal Reserve has its objectives and come hell or high water, they will usually get what they want by manipulating M2 , interest rates or a combination of the two.
By the way, congrats it appears you are taking a big step forward in your journey!
No, that’s good. The euro has been pretty strong since the summer. Now that it’s getting weaker, you’ll get more for your US dollar.
The US covid numbers are going down and are vaccinating people fast. Europe is doing a terrible job so the Euro is getting weaker. I now predict that the dollar will continue to strengthen for the rest of the year. Given that a variant doesn’t suddenly change the whole thing - where Americans start getting sick and dying again and the economy goes south. But with the stimulus bill, Americans will still be spending at least for the next couple of months, even locked up at home.
The Euro has quietly risen to a 5 year high.
This could be problematic for anyone looking to invest before end of year.
In terms of the GV investment, its about a $25,000 swing from the lows of the year. Not enough to outright deter anyone but maybe will give some pause.
My graph shows the 5 year high at around 1.254 around Jan 18… but yeah, it’s not great.