Ignorant Question Alert! Holding Foreign Currencies

[Yukon Cornelius]

I have gold, I have silver.

What does it mean to "hold foreign currencies"?

Physcial ownership like gold?

I would like to diversify a bit and know nothing about the best ways to invest in foreign currencies. I don't have a ton of money to allocate to it, but I am willing to drop $1000 here, $1000 there etc...

Please advise.

 

[billjones]

Stick to PMs since the "best" paper currency (swiss franc) is now tied to the sinking Euro.

 

[Seraphim]

Yeppers.

Stick to PMs since the "best" paper currency (swiss franc) is now tied to the sinking Euro.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Stick to PMs since the "best" paper currency (swiss franc) is now tied to the sinking Euro.

This just happened like in the last day or so, no?

 

[matt0611]

Stick to PMs since the "best" paper currency (swiss franc) is now tied to the sinking Euro.

So true. I held Swiss francs and I got screwed over by the Swiss central bank yesterday by their devaluation.

I have some currencies in ETFs such as FXF (swiss francs) FXA (australian dollars), FXS (swedish kronas).

I think I'm gonna sell my swiss francs tomorrow but I still like having some currencies because they are a bit less volatile than precious metals.

I still like the australian dollar though, it returns 3.5+%, much better than holding US dollars IMO.

I do like having some of my money in currencies because its very liquid and mostly not as volatile as PMs or stocks. That being said, don't go overboard. I trust gold and silver much more in the long run.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

So true. I held Swiss francs and I got screwed over by the Swiss central bank yesterday by their devaluation.

I have some currencies in ETFs such as FXF (swiss francs) FXA (australian dollars), FXS (swedish kronas).

I think I'm gonna sell my swiss francs tomorrow but I still like having some currencies because they are a bit less volatile than precious metals.

I still like the australian dollar though, it returns 3.5+%, much better than holding US dollars IMO.

I do like having some of my money in currencies because its very liquid and mostly not as volatile as PMs or stocks. That being said, don't go overboard. I trust gold and silver much more in the long run.

How do you invest? Do you actually hold the currency? ETFs?

 

[GreenBulldog]

Try holding an account overseas. A vantageaccount with HSBC in Hong Kong is one way. You can open it from the US. You'll need a passport for the paperwork though.

I wouldn't hold foreign currencies in an US bank, like Everbank for example, because US law make the banks snoop around on you.

 

[matt0611]

How do you invest? Do you actually hold the currency? ETFs?

Yes, I hold the currencies as ETFs in my brokerage account. So somewhere there's some Swiss Francs and Aussies dollars sitting in a bank collecting interest for me (well, on the aussies at least).

There's probably better and more efficient ways to do it with Forex or opening up overseas accounts and such. But I like the simplicity and ease of doing it this way.