Money on Deposit Safety of the Euro

No you cannot transfer from RaboDirect to a foreign bank a/c. Not sure about NR.

I would love to move all my money to a safe currency but the problem is, what is a safe currency at the moment?. . The Euro is weakening all the time. Down a lot today. If we end up in Punt Nuas, who can predict what the final FX rate between the IR£ and € will be. The € may not even survive and if you have opened foreign bank a/cs you could end up with Belgian Fr and French Fr instead of IR£. Sterling??? The Uk need quantative easing also and as their biggest trading partners are Ireland and Europe, they will not be keen to see their currency appreciate too much against us and the rest of Europe as that will kill their exports.

If it was easy to find a safe currency and predict FX movements we would all be FX traders and we woudl all be rich. It's not that easy.

However the reality is that whether you decide to keep your money in Irl Banks, or in Foreign owned banks in IRl, or offshore in €, or offshore in other currencies, you are making a decision and placing a bet. Not doing anything IS still a decision/action that may or may not pay off.
 
I would see a difference between moving money to try and find a safe currency for one's life savings and predicting FX movements to get rich.

For instance, I take galleryman's point fabout the UK and quantitative easing. But if I am looking to move my money not to speculate against and benefit from euro/sterling exchange rate moves but to hedge against Ireland leaving/being kicked out of the euro thereby precipitating a new currency which would immediately massively devalue and/or the deposit guarantee collapsing and savings being lost entirely, surely a sterling account in a UK bank in the UK would be a reasonably sensible bet? Or indeed a euro account in Germany, on the assuption that whatever currency that Germany ends up with will be relatively stable?

Have to say I am tempted to look into opening a sterling bank account in a British bank in N Ireland
 
So - to repeat my original question - is there a consensus here about what we should do to try & safeguard our life savings? I'm really so worried about trying to make them secure we worked hard for that money - except for the small inheritance we recd - paid our tax over the years, didn't go mad etc. I would feel bad about moving money out of the country & feel a bit disloyal even considering it, but we'll never be able to save that money again.
 
TLC said:
So - to repeat my original question - is there a consensus here about what we should do to try & safeguard our life savings? I'm really so worried about trying to make them secure we worked hard for that money - except for the small inheritance we recd - paid our tax over the years, didn't go mad etc. I would feel bad about moving money out of the country & feel a bit disloyal even considering it, but we'll never be able to save that money again.
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I am in the same boat and am considering my options to try to protect our life savings. Today I closed an AngloIrish Bank account and will split the proceeds between Ulster and National Irish, keeping the amounts under the guarantee limits. I will also consider placing some(more) into a NI sterling account just in case. I am also considering buying a small amount of gold. I will hold at least the amount of our o/s mortgage in the account of the lender. Slim
 
Thanks Slim, we'll have to consider it too - it's a terrible dilemma - it almost feels unpatriotic to move what money we have
 
TLC, I wish I could answer your question, but the best I can do is tell you what I am doing to achieve the same goal as you, to protect my nest egg.

I split my INBS a/c between Nationwide Uk (not exceeding the UKFSC Scheme limit 50k per head) and RaboDIrect (not exceeding the Dutch DGS €100k per head). to bet against an Irl Gov default.
I gave notice on my An Post Deposit a/c and will move offshore to Keytrade and (not to exceed the Belgian DGS whcih is only €40k per head) and SOME OTHER FOREIGN Bank yet to be decided. To protect against both an Irl Default AND a departure of Ireland from the Euro.
Left some money in ptsb well below the Irish DGS limit so that I have some money earning a decent rate of interest and in a bank that I can get to and queue for my money if I needed to.

Personally I believe it is prudent to diversify, spread it around and worth all the research and hassel of opening multiple accounts, but only time will tell.
 
galleryman said:
No you cannot transfer from RaboDirect to a foreign bank a/c. Not sure about NR.

I would love to move all my money to a safe currency but the problem is, what is a safe currency at the moment?. . The Euro is weakening all the time. Down a lot today. If we end up in Punt Nuas, who can predict what the final FX rate between the IR£ and € will be. The € may not even survive and if you have opened foreign bank a/cs you could end up with Belgian Fr and French Fr instead of IR£. Sterling??? The Uk need quantative easing also and as their biggest trading partners are Ireland and Europe, they will not be keen to see their currency appreciate too much against us and the rest of Europe as that will kill their exports.

If it was easy to find a safe currency and predict FX movements we would all be FX traders and we woudl all be rich. It's not that easy.

However the reality is that whether you decide to keep your money in Irl Banks, or in Foreign owned banks in IRl, or offshore in €, or offshore in other currencies, you are making a decision and placing a bet. Not doing anything IS still a decision/action that may or may not pay off.
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anyone who put money in american dollars three weeks ago has made a small killing , who would have though six months ago that the dollar would see such a rebound against the euro
 
galleryman said:
I trust you meant to say ISNT the safest place either.
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d'oh!!! yes, meant to say ISN'T

if your looking for the safest within the euro area, surely Germany is top and there's threads in this forum about their banks e.g. Deutsche bank
 
As a US resident Im able to buy an Exchange Traded Fund that represents the value of the EURO (the ticker symbol is FXE) or most other currencies for that matter. I was wondering if that is available to you guys? And if so wouldn't it be better just to buy that ETF with your bank deposits?
 
bmcgonig said:
As a US resident Im able to buy an Exchange Traded Fund that represents the value of the EURO (the ticker symbol is FXE) or most other currencies for that matter. I was wondering if that is available to you guys? And if so wouldn't it be better just to buy that ETF with your bank deposits?
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is that not just for those who want to short or go long on currencies , i googled code for swiss franc and all that came up was LCHF ( long on swiss franc ) , if this isnt the case , could you tell me whats the code for the swiss franc and norwegian krona
 
farmerette said:
is that not just for those who want to short or go long on currencies , i googled code for swiss franc and all that came up was LCHF ( long on swiss franc ) , if this isnt the case , could you tell me whats the code for the swiss franc and norwegian krona
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The ticker for the Sw Franc is FXF. Again, this can be bought in the US, but Im not sure that it can be bought here.

Yes. Ur right. Now that I think of it its like going long the Euro and short the Dollar. Not what u want to do if u just want to keep ur money in Euros. However buying FXF might be a sound idea.
 
bmcgonig said:
The ticker for the Sw Franc is FXF. Again, this can be bought in the US, but Im not sure that it can be bought here.

Yes. Ur right. Now that I think of it its like going long the Euro and short the Dollar. Not what u want to do if u just want to keep ur money in Euros. However buying FXF might be a sound idea.
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Don't know anything about EFT's, but anyone out there got any ideas about the following...

Sell euros and buy eg Norwegian kronen as a forex trade by going short on the currency pair. Is it not the case that forex brokers offer much tighter spreads than banks and you'd also benefit by holding the currency with the higher of the 2 interest rates (NOK 2% - EUR 1% = 1%) and thereby also be getting interest on your holding of the foreign currency. Maybe some forex traders could shed more light on this?
 
bmcgonig said:
The ticker for the Sw Franc is FXF. Again, this can be bought in the US, but Im not sure that it can be bought here.

Yes. Ur right. Now that I think of it its like going long the Euro and short the Dollar. Not what u want to do if u just want to keep ur money in Euros. However buying FXF might be a sound idea.
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so in a nutshell , buying this via a stockbroker is effectivley the same as holding money in a dollar account in some other jurisdiction

p.s , would you mind telling me what the code is for the U.S dollar , better again , where can you find the codes of international currencies , all i can find is codes for going long or short

thanks
 
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