Money in US dollar account - leave in dollars or convert to euro/sterling?

I'm moving from the US back to Ireland. I have a current account with a US bank with approximately $5000 in it. I'd be grateful for some educated opinions on what to do with the money, especially given that I'm going to get hit with a bad exchange rate. I'm aiming to put this money into some form of a easy access savings account as I have just enough cash back in Ireland to get me started there.

So far my options seem to be:

1. Keep the money in the US account as a hedge against having all my money in euros (involves watching the dollar plunge further)

2. Move the money directly into a sterling savings account (involves taking a hit on the exchange rate)

3. Move the money directly into a euro savings account (involves taking a hit on the exchange rate and being very exposed to the euro).

Obviously no-one can foretell the future but I'd be grateful for peoples opinions!

If there were a currency beauty contest then I would rank both sterling and US$ as uglier than the Euro, but I would also not say that the Euro is pretty. There are far better currencies to diversify into like Swiss Franc, Can$, Aus$ and of course gold.

If you will need the cash in euro eventually, move it back in chunks so you won't be at the total whim of the markets on the day you decide to transfer the lump sum.

Chris said:

If there were a currency beauty contest then I would rank both sterling and US$ as uglier than the Euro, but I would also not say that the Euro is pretty. There are far better currencies to diversify into like Swiss Franc, Can$, Aus$ and of course gold.

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i myself have money in a canadian dollar account and i wouldnt do it again , from what i can see , the canadian dollar more or less tracks the american dollar and that is not a good thing right now , swiss francs or australian dollars are a better bet IMO

farmerette said:

from what i can see , the canadian dollar more or less tracks the american dollar and that is not a good thing right now

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For this to be true the fx rate for USDCAD would have to be very level over the last couple of years. But fact is that until 2006/07 the rate fluctuated around 1.2 to 1.3. Since the start of 2009 the rate has gone from about 1.25 to 0.97. The Cn$ has been steadily appreciating against currencies like the US$ and Euro, which will only continue with increasing commodity prices.

Chris said:

For this to be true the fx rate for USDCAD would have to be very level over the last couple of years. But fact is that until 2006/07 the rate fluctuated around 1.2 to 1.3. Since the start of 2009 the rate has gone from about 1.25 to 0.97. The Cn$ has been steadily appreciating against currencies like the US$ and Euro, which will only continue with increasing commodity prices.

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i know its not litterally tracking the dollar but whenever the american dollar has depreciated against the euro in the past six months , the candian dollar has always always followed suit

leave in dollars for now

deciding on currencys is always difficult, Us dollar is gaining against euro and this will probably be trend for next few months, also commodities falling, farmerette is right about canadian dollar it tracks the us dollar closely, however it has been steadily rising against the dollar and the euro over the last 6 years, as for australian dollar its way over valued and aussie economy is over heating, it looks like ireland circa 2005, anything could happen, china slump could decimate commodities, or more likely the housing boom could end painfully