# Dollar Account



## Stronge (25 Apr 2011)

I had a dollar account with Anglo and that has now moved to AIB the interest rate is very low, does anyone know where I could get a better  rate, i thinks I am getting less than 1%.  Any ideas would be appeciated.


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## marksa (25 Apr 2011)

Stronge said:


> I had a dollar account with Anglo and that has now moved to AIB the interest rate is very low, does anyone know where I could get a better rate, i thinks I am getting less than 1%. Any ideas would be appeciated.


 
well us dollar interest rates are very low, so I'm not surprised. In fact it is your fx rate movements that you should be more interested in, or concerned about. Unless you have a natural requirement to hold USD - e.g. importing USD denominated goods, or plan to buy USD assets then it is not much sense. 

If you are looking to diversify outside of EUR, then try and spread your cash across a few currencies - e.g. USD, JPY, CHF, NOK (not necessarily these ones) - not all in one.

So watch the fx rate, not the interest rate.


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## Lightning (25 Apr 2011)

Stronge said:


> I had a dollar account with Anglo and that has now moved to AIB the interest rate is very low, does anyone know where I could get a better rate, i thinks I am getting less than 1%. Any ideas would be appeciated.


 
USD rates are low due to the historically low Fed rate of 0-0.25%. 

Anglo/AIB Isle of Man pay more for USD deposits than Anglo/AIB ROI. They pay 2.85% for a one year fixed USD account. 

Other offshore USD options are listed .

Domestically, Investec pay 1.1% for a one year USD account. See here. PTSB's lower USD rates are [broken link removed].

As Mark said, it might worth considering other currencies or converting back to EUR. Your choice.


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## Stronge (25 Apr 2011)

I have abt 30k In US$ am not sure what to do with them, I should have converted them earlier  but.....the rate has got so bad now  i dont know what to do with them.


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## chewchew (26 Apr 2011)

I'm in a similar situation. I have about $10k in USD. Not sure if I should wait for the dollar to rebound before converting it to Euros, or maybe the downward trend is likely to continue for the USD? 

I'm wondering if Countries like Spain, Italy and Belgium need financial aid will this cause the USD to rise against the Euro? If that were the case might be worth holding out a while longer.


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## farmerette (26 Apr 2011)

round about the time ( last november ) when many so called experts were predicting that the euro would not see the end of 2011 , i bought 30 k in american dollars and while i made some gains for about two weeks , it quickly became apparent that the euro was setting off on a rally , i got in when the euro was 1.29 dollars and got out in january when the euro was 1.34 dollars , today its something like 1.46 dollars , the dollar is not going to bounce back anytime soon and thier is absolutley nothing to suggest the euro is going to weaken anytime soon , were ireland , portugal or greece to leave the euro , the euro would strengthen further as it would be seen to have ditched some dead wood , btw , many people are being advised to buy gold right now , thats fine if you live in america but in euro terms , gold has not risen by one cent in nearly twelve months , gold is valued in dollars so even its going up all the time in dollars , its all relevant to how weak the dollar is against ( in our case ) the euro


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## joe sod (23 May 2011)

*dollar v euro*

the dollar has been weakening for the last 8 years or so but hasnt yet breached the 1.50 mark against the euro, it has been trading in the 1.20 to 1.50 mark for the last 6 years or so, all currencies are weakening because of inflation, the problem with the euro is that it cannot contain the different economies comprising it,


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## regvw (23 May 2011)

I totally agree with farmerette, excellently acurate and consise


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## bryanod (24 May 2011)

joe sod said:


> the dollar has been weakening for the last 8 years or so but hasnt yet breached the 1.50 mark against the euro, it has been trading in the 1.20 to 1.50 mark for the last 6 years or so, all currencies are weakening because of inflation, the problem with the euro is that it cannot contain the different economies comprising it,


 

Wow blatant inaccuracies, EURUSD reached a high of nearly 1.59 in 2008 and almost 1.51 in late 2009 too. Which rubbishes everything else including the bizarre statemetn that "all currencies are weakening" which is impossible, weakness in one means strength elsewhere.

Problem is, if/when this crises averts/forgotten by markets, the Euro will be stronger.


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## Chris (24 May 2011)

farmerette said:


> were ireland , portugal or greece to leave the euro , the euro would strengthen further as it would be seen to have ditched some dead wood ,


This is very true, but if the EU goes down the path of endless bailouts of further countries  then this will severely weaken the euro.



farmerette said:


> btw , many people are being advised to buy gold right now , thats fine if you live in america but in euro terms , gold has not risen by one cent in nearly twelve months , gold is valued in dollars so even its going up all the time in dollars , its all relevant to how weak the dollar is against ( in our case ) the euro


This is very inaccurate. First of all gold is most commonly quoted in US$, it is not valued in dollars. Gold is priced in every currency, as gold is essentially money, which is why it is traded on the foreign exchange desks of various stock/commodity exchanges.
12 months ago gold was trading between €950 and €990, today it is at €1080 even though the euro has strengthened against the US$, so again very false.
The only thing that is relevant is how weak the euro is against gold, not some other currency. 



bryanod said:


> Which rubbishes everything else including the bizarre statemetn that "all currencies are weakening" which is impossible, weakness in one means strength elsewhere.


Not necessarily true. If you measure all fiat currencies against gold, then they have all been declining for a long time, i.e. they are all weakening in purchasing power based on real assets. Even the strong Swiss Franc has been weakening against gold.


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## bryanod (24 May 2011)

Chris said:


> Not necessarily true. If you measure all fiat currencies against gold, then they have all been declining for a long time, i.e. they are all weakening in purchasing power based on real assets. Even the strong Swiss Franc has been weakening against gold.


 
Are you referring to the Euro/Gold price which had basically declined for 25 years until about 3 years ago as a weakening?

And since he said all currencies are weakening due to inflation, then that is impossible, real rates are not affected by inflation, it is purely nominal.

And anyway, if you are including gold as a "currency" then Gold has strengthened and the point stands.


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## Chris (24 May 2011)

bryanod said:


> Are you referring to the Euro/Gold price which had basically declined for 25 years until about 3 years ago as a weakening?


The euro is only 12 years old, not 25 years. In US$ terms gold was relatively flat from 1983 to 2000 (after the early 80s inflationary bubble), and has been increasing every single year since then. When the Euro was introduced in 1999 gold was trading at about $287 and the EURUSD exchange rate was about 1.1, so a euro price of about €260, in other words a four fold increase to today's price. So yes, that would be a perfect example of a severe weakening.



bryanod said:


> And since he said all currencies are weakening due to inflation, then that is impossible, real rates are not affected by inflation, it is purely nominal.


What I said was that all fiat currencies are weakening when measured against the one hard currency in the world. Could you clarify what you mean by "real rates are not affected by inflation, it is purely nominal"? Real interest rates are the summary of adding inflation, a negative number, to the net interest rate. 



bryanod said:


> And anyway, if you are including gold as a "currency" then Gold has strengthened and the point stands.


Absolutely true, but as I already said, that means that all fiat currencies have weakened when measured against the only hard currency.


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