Author Topic: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing  (Read 6293 times)

MrsCoolCat

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1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« on: March 14, 2015, 11:18:02 AM »
I've never followed currency closely but what are ur thoughts/theories about the almost equal currencies?! For as long as I can remember it was 1.33+ Euro to 1 USD. I'm thinking I want to buy Euros since I plan on visiting Europe within 5-10 yrs. I'm really jealous of those who retire this yr! I'm curious as to what u remember rates like bc I never noticed or remember if they were equal and why bc I'm more Mustachian now then before... I wanna travel. Wishing I was FI so i can take a 2 week break w/o caring about workload, etc. Oh well.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2015, 11:45:28 AM »
I've never followed currency closely but what are ur thoughts/theories about the almost equal currencies?! For as long as I can remember it was 1.33+ Euro to 1 USD. I'm thinking I want to buy Euros since I plan on visiting Europe within 5-10 yrs.

I think you should wait until you go there to exchange your money. A lot can happen in 5-10 years, plus speculating on currencies is a pretty feisty personal finance move.

Quote
I'm curious as to what u remember rates like bc I never noticed or remember if they were equal and why bc I'm more Mustachian now then before... I wanna travel. Wishing I was FI so i can take a 2 week break w/o caring about workload, etc. Oh well.

When I lived in Germany (2009-2012) the rate was about 1.5 $/1 €. I visited a lot of Eastern European places to take advantage of their exchange rates though. And I went to Scotland when the rate was 1.2 $/1 £. The EU and Scotland felt expensive, but Eastern and Central Europe were awesome.

MrStash2000

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2015, 11:57:42 AM »
Stay away from Euros. You do not want to fight their central banks who are devaluing their currency.

johnny847

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2015, 12:23:30 PM »
I don't believe in timing the market. You're talking about trying to time the currency market.

I don't think anybody can reliably predict what the currency market will do five years from now. Who knows, maybe the euro will be even cheaper by the time you go. Or maybe it'll be super expensive.

The fact that the dollar is almost at parity with the euro is an emotionally satisfying benchmark that really means nothing for your situation

iluvzbeach

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2015, 01:09:19 PM »
My mom just retired a few months ago and is spending this year traveling throughout Europe. She feels like she's hit the jackpot and is glad to be seeing her USD go so much further than she'd originally expected. We just hope the Euro continues to remain low and go even lower.

forummm

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2015, 06:27:55 AM »
And if you bought euros, what would you do with them for the 5-10 years you were holding them? If you held them as physical cash you would lose to inflation. If you held them as a bond in euros, some of those are paying negative interest (losing to inflation and in the interest rate).

chasesfish

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2015, 06:33:15 AM »
If you think the euro will increase, then buy a European stock fund.   You'll win from the euro increase and their economy improving,   It's too complicated for me to figure out

aj_yooper

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2015, 03:56:37 PM »
If you think the euro will increase, then buy a European stock fund.   You'll win from the euro increase and their economy improving,   It's too complicated for me to figure out

I am thinking of adding to my international value funds for this reason.  Our strong dollar allows us to get a lot more shares than normal, but there is no assurance of good times, quickly or ever, unfortunately.   We are also thinking of a trip to Europe next year too, which is another simpler way of benefiting. 

schoenbauer

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2015, 06:03:56 AM »
Stay away from Euros. You do not want to fight their central banks who are devaluing their currency.

...I hope you are not holding US$. I mean it's not like the FED hasn't done what the ECB is doing now ;)

Scandium

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2015, 07:42:43 AM »
You could do some travel arbitrage, but I'd only do that in the short term, i.e. this summer. I suggest a trip to norway though. The NOK has fallen 30%+ against the dollar since last year. The most expensive country in the world is 30% off, so if you ever wanted to go this would be the time.. (It's still quite expensive though)

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2015, 08:16:06 AM »
You could do some travel arbitrage, but I'd only do that in the short term, i.e. this summer. I suggest a trip to norway though. The NOK has fallen 30%+ against the dollar since last year. The most expensive country in the world is 30% off, so if you ever wanted to go this would be the time.. (It's still quite expensive though)

My wife and I are planning to do exactly that in July. Hoping the krone drops some more before then.

theoverlook

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2015, 09:32:07 AM »
I've never followed currency closely but what are ur thoughts/theories about the almost equal currencies?! For as long as I can remember it was 1.33+ Euro to 1 USD. I'm thinking I want to buy Euros since I plan on visiting Europe within 5-10 yrs. I'm really jealous of those who retire this yr! I'm curious as to what u remember rates like bc I never noticed or remember if they were equal and why bc I'm more Mustachian now then before... I wanna travel. Wishing I was FI so i can take a 2 week break w/o caring about workload, etc. Oh well.

You can't even take two weeks off?  That's rough!  No wonder you're looking forward to FI!  :-)

skyrefuge

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2015, 10:16:18 AM »
I'm curious as to what u remember rates like bc I never noticed or remember if they were equal

Luckily, no one has to remember, because these days, the Internet remembers for us, with a lot more detail and accuracy. So you're probably better off asking it rather than us.

Short answer is that rates were still "better" in 1999-2002 than they are now.

http://fxtop.com/en/historical-exchange-rates-graph-zoom.php?C1=EUR&C2=USD&A=1&DD1=01&MM1=01&YYYY1=1990&DD2=31&MM2=03&YYYY2=2015&LARGE=1&LANG=en&CJ=0&MM1Y=1

MrsCoolCat

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2015, 05:03:26 PM »
You can't even take two weeks off?  That's rough!  No wonder you're looking forward to FI!  :-)

I don't know if it's just me or the nature of my work but it doesn't seem that those at my company (or imo most Americans) take that much time off back-to-back unless it's coincidentally during Xmas or Thanksgiving and even that's usually just a week. I took two weeks during my honeymoon last year. I feel that that was the last time I could take it without guilt. Though a part of me reasons that because I don't get paid a lot, that if I really were to get sh!t over 2 weeks then suck it I'ma FU (in my mind)... but you know, gotta proceed with caution kinda thing because I probably should try to keep this job UNTIL I actually HIT FI. LOL, sigh, 1st world problems. Plus DH is a lawyer so idk if he will or can take that much time off...

aschmidt2930

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2015, 08:50:33 PM »
5-10 years is way too far down the road to even consider something like this, invest it instead.  Also, I believe there's a good chance that the Euro continues to drop below a 1 to 1, in our favor.  If that's the case, I will not be buying Euros, but will seriously consider Oktoberfest in Munich this year!

MrsCoolCat

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Re: 1 Euro to 1.05 USD & Investing
« Reply #15 on: March 17, 2015, 11:47:15 AM »
5-10 years is way too far down the road to even consider something like this, invest it instead.  Also, I believe there's a good chance that the Euro continues to drop below a 1 to 1, in our favor.  If that's the case, I will not be buying Euros, but will seriously consider Oktoberfest in Munich this year!

It def sounds like a plan! I'm gonna mysteriously get sick for a week in Oct.! LoL