Taking a trip this august to europe and ive been monitoring the EUR/USD in the last few weeks. Around late april the Euro was at a high of 1.49$ and today it is at only 1.41$ My question is, should i buy my euros now and save them, or wait till i actually get there and worry about it then. What if i bought just a % of what i was going to spend, say 1000$ and then the rest when im there? Any true forcasters out here? Thanks
Not a currency expert, or a trader, but I'd suggest just using ATMs over there (aside from cash you'll need when you land). I think the ATM fee was about 2-3% plus a 5 dollar foreign ATM fee from the bank. As long as you're withdrawing large amounts you shouldn't get too hosed. Plus then you don't have to worry about carrying large sums of cash on your trip. Also, you should look into if there are any partner banks with yours. That would waive the $5 fee, so you'd only have the foreign transaction amount. Of course, if the Euro is supposed to keep getting stronger and stronger, you may just want to buy them now. But like I said, I'm not a trader so I have no insight on that.
yea....im a veteran on where and how to trade currency in europe because of my frequent trips there....my question was more along the line of, should i buy now or buy later? Thanks for the info anyways PCE
It was like $1.25 when I was there last year. I think I started a thread about taking out some euros. oh well. Inflation today now is the highest its been in 2 1/2 years FWIW. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/business/economy/14econ.html so if the trend continues the dollar is going to be devalued. however, there is some instability in europe too, esp in Portugal that can fuck things up (when I was there and the Euro was weak was when Spain and Germany were getting hosed). I think in the short term though, the Euro is going to get weaker as they are in the middle of bailing out countries and things here won't get bad until at least the FED realizes they need to make some monetary policies which is later in the year. I personally don't think it matters for such small amounts of money. You can't take over 10grand there anyways without declaring it so why bother. Sure, go ahead and get out 500 euro in small bills I guess..ATMs are easier though and are right at the airport.
Anyone who tells you they know where currency exchange rates are going doesn't have a clue. Porkchopexpress has the right idea.
When travelling the world as a modern American citizen, cash is king. All ATM transactions of American citizens are now tracked by DHS, especially abroad. Depending on location or sequence of use you could be needlessly inviting a lifetime of suspicion, harassment or persecution.
