The US dollar seems to be going a bit haywire of late. First it was down for several months and now the thing is rebounding like crazy, at least when compared to the British pound and Canadian dollar. Lots of people make lots of money by dabbling with foreign exchange (forex) trading but I am not one of them.
I do business in four currencies and from time to time need to transfer my money from Paypal to my bank account or pay creditcard bills in other currencies. Unfortunately for me, I know nothing about fluctuations in foreign exchange and don’t really pay much attention to exchange rates so it’s always a crap shoot. I really have no interest in forex beyond attempting to not get ripped off too much when I exchange money.
My mum works in a bank and keeps coming home with updates of how well or how poorly the Canadian dollar is doing against the US dollar. Things have been up and down over the past few weeks and I’m not sure if I should swap my US money over to Canadian while the going is good or what. Because the US dollar has been so crap for so long I had been reluctant to change it. Now that it’s on the rebound I’m wondering if I should swap it over now or wait longer in case it gets even stronger against the Canadian dollar.
I really hate this part of being in this business. I guess operating in several currencies is a good thing but it’s also annoying to see small chunks of money being lost and gained based only on exchange rates. For me, it’s just an extra thing I need to pay attention to that I have zero actual interest in and it’s frustrating.
Do any of you pay much attention to exchange rates? If you’re planning a trip to you try to buy foreign money when the rate is good for you or do you just do like me, pay no attention to it and hope for the best when the exchange has to be made? I really should become more knowledgeable about this whol area but the whole idea of keeping on top of exchange rates just annoys me.
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