How do you exchange currencies?

[KevinR]

If I wanted to withdraw money from the bank and exchange it to a more stable form, how would I do this? at the bank itself? a post office? and also, what would be the most stable currency to exchange to? (I'll probably do some gold too). Thanks

 

[ItsTime]

Your bank itself should be able to do it for you. Depends on what they have at the bank it may take awhile for them to get it for you. I have not done it in awhile though so I may be wrong.

 

[Mark]

AAA (Triple A - auto club) had the best rate for Euros when I needed some a while back.

 

[John of Des Moines]

Set up an account at europac.net (Peter Schiff's firm)

 

[raystone]

Your bank will be able to get many currencies. However, they probably won't have Renminbi, which many predict (including Jim Rogers) may take off if they unpeg it from the dollar. For that, you'll need to go to a currency exchange window, such as they have at airports and in large downtowns.

 

[jonahtrainer]

If I wanted to withdraw money from the bank and exchange it to a more stable form, how would I do this? at the bank itself? a post office? and also, what would be the most stable currency to exchange to? (I'll probably do some gold too). Thanks

I have a GoldMoney Holding and they make it super easy with a cheap .49% fee. The funds are also held in savings accounts in two of the safest banks in the world. It sounds like GoldMoney would meet your needs best.

I also have some Interactive Brokers accounts and you can easily engage in Forex transactions to get funds in different currencies.

Some banks will perform currency exchange. There are also currency exchange shops in most large cities like LA, NY, London, etc. Watch out though as both charge huge fees.

 

[Deborah K]

We're planning on getting out of the dollar as well. We were thinking of the Chinese RMB and the Swiss Franc. Since the bank run yesterday in Hong Kong, I don't know about that now. I'm thinking maybe we should open a swiss account and go into the swiss franc.

 

[Zippyjuan]

The Renminbi is currently pegged- not allowed to freely change in value- so you would not gain any protection from changes in the dollar there. You face two risks when you opt to buy another currency. The first is the cost of transaction times two- buying the other currency and then later on converting it back into dollars when you want to buy something. Do you think that the value of the dollar will fall enough to make up the difference? The second is currency risk- that the dollar will either not fall enough to keep you even or that it even gains against the currency you change into. In that case, you lose money so the only way you can come out better off is if the dollar falls by more than the cost of your buying and reselling the foreign currency. If the exchange charges you ten percent, you need the dollar to fall by at least 20%.

 

[FreeMarketEconomy]

Depending on the currency interest rates, duration of your positions, and the amount you leverage you use you can make a lot of money.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Leverage works in both directions- you can also lose a lot of money- even more than you have initially invested. That is why the investment banks are in such trouble- they leveraged and lost- up to 30 times what they had invested of their own money.

 

[KevinR]

here's the thing, i got a loan for school this year, half already paid for this semester, and the other half will be just sitting in my bank until next jan or so, i just didn't want it to be worthless by then I'm leaning towards putting the loan money all in gold until I need it...

 

[raystone]

here's the thing, i got a loan for school this year, half already paid for this semester, and the other half will be just sitting in my bank until next jan or so, i just didn't want it to be worthless by then I'm leaning towards putting the loan money all in gold until I need it...

all eggs in one basket = bad
diversification = good