Aussie $ Dropping fast!

[QuirkyButterfly]

The Aussie $ is dropping fast at the moment. So should I:

A: put more money on my travel money card now before it goes down any further.

or

B: Wait until it hopefully (crosses fingers) goes back up again.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[HappyFingers]

Who can tell ?

This japan thing is getting ugly

We purchased our lax to fll last night for $550 for 4 tickets which we thought was a good price

As for the dollar

Who knows ?

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Canadian Dollar was doing the same thing .... my take on this is the demand for US Dollar from Japan, I hope this will be short lived. Canadian currency recovered a bit today (AUD should be similar), but I think there is a lot of Yen that people will want to convert to USD. If I were in Japan I would ...

 

[AussieDisneyNut]

We leave on the 27th and I had decided to just use our Visa debit card whilst we were away, BUT NOW I am kicking myself and am thinking about going to the ANZ today to buy another travel card! But as to your dilemma, depends on how far away your trip is and whether or not you like to "play the market". Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[DVCAustralia]

It is actually the Japanese, particularly insurance companies, pulling money back from overseas into Yen that is the dominate trade right now with the Yen at a post WWII high against the US$.
The dollar has held up remarkably well in the circumstances.
Having said that I would NEVER discourage someone from locking in the exchange rate before travelling, and in a historical post-float context the dollar is still very high and so buying today and getting .95 or so is nowhere near a bad rate.

 

[ViOnline]

What do you mean it is dropping fast? I would say it staying very stable around 1$AU = 1$US.

The Aussie $ is dropping fast at the moment. So should I:

A: put more money on my travel money card now before it goes down any further.

or

B: Wait until it hopefully (crosses fingers) goes back up again.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[battymum]

I am in the same position Quirky, the way I see it if you buy now you cant lose (provided you have the cash to do it) if the rate goes up - hang on to your travel card $ and use your credit card when travelling (but really how much higher is it going to go?) - if it goes down - well you have locked in the higher rate.

I have about $5000 left to pay for our trip, I am going to draw it out of our mortgage redraw today and put it on a travel card (I know I will be paying interest on it but $5k at 8% over 6mnths is only $200)
l am reluctant to do this as I really wanted to save all the money for our trip seperately and I would have saved that $5k over the next six months. I need to have defined goals to maintain discipline in saving

 

[WAMUMOF4]

This is what I understand from all my late night panic lol Oh I mean reading
the USA owes a lot of money to Japan (GFC stimulus) and the concern is that they will call in their debt sooner to help fund their repair or want them to refinace at a higher rate also they have a payment due to them very soon a rather large one from what I can gather! Which is why the Yen is something people want to buy at the moment.

We are at risk at the moment because we sell so much raw materials to Japan and the worry is that our export to them may drop short term but it has also been said that now that they have no nuclear power they will need more coal to power the country which means our exports will go up.in the long term.
March was always listed as a volatile time for the Aus$ because all our info from the floods, insurance figures and unemployment etc from that time is due out.
We decided in Feb (before Japan) that we would have as much paid of as we possibly could before the end of March and made
March a no spend on anything but USA month

 

[Travel Mum]

OMG, you Aussies think you have it bad. Our Kiwi dollar has just sunk to a two year low against the U.S.!!

 

[shaz105]

The Aussie dollar finished today at 99.36 as all is good at the moment

 

[marvel]

It was getting worrying, just like it dropped to under 80c last year in the space of 3 weeks. I got the Amex Global Card, this one doesn't expire and has no monthly fees ever. that way any money left over you can keep for future trips.

If the rate is still high when we are there, we will use the credit card more, we have the mastercard that doesn't charge exchange rates.

I think that if you can get 95c, which is about the rate you get today, it is still very very good. Personally, i get greedy if I don't get 98c and forget that for the past trips it has been 75c and 80c! Everything is still very cheap at 95c, and I will get some more if it stays at this level.

we get used to parity don't we !!

 

[Sugarglider]

well - financial press opinion is that the US dollar will continue to be dragged down. The Japanese have to repatriate their Yen from everywhere to pay their recovery and insurance costs which means they will not be able to loan it to the US for them to cover their huge debts. So the US Govt will be forced to do "quantitative easing III" - in other word print more money. This will bring the value of the US dollar down. Well - that's the story I've read

 

[kylieh]

"quantitative easing III" - in other word print more money

Scarey isn't it?

We paid in full our holiday - ie, accom and we have Deluxe Dining. So I have that all locked in and I don't have to worry.

We brought forward the purchase of our new camera. Was going to wait until I got my bonus from work in June but it's made in Japan and word was supplies would get tight and prices go up.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

well - financial press opinion is that the US dollar will continue to be dragged down. The Japanese have to repatriate their Yen from everywhere to pay their recovery and insurance costs which means they will not be able to loan it to the US for them to cover their huge debts. So the US Govt will be forced to do "quantitative easing III" - in other word print more money. This will bring the value of the US dollar down. Well - that's the story I've read

so that should be good news for us everytime they print money our $ usually go's up but I am wondering what imapct bombing Libya is going to have?

 

[battymum]

I went and bought some cash today. $1000 USD - cost me $995.45, this included a $10 fee at my bank, probably could have done better at the post office but I would have to wait until Tuesday to collect it. -

Its nice to have some greenbacks tucked away!

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I went and bought some cash today. $1000 USD - cost me $995.45, this included a $10 fee at my bank, probably could have done better at the post office but I would have to wait until Tuesday to collect it. -

Its nice to have some greenbacks tucked away!

Congrats it makes it feel more real when you have cold hard cash.

 

[Sugarglider]

I subscribe to a couple of investment newsletters. One yesterday is predicting $1.08 by July on the back of the strong demand for commodities.
(I am not responsible for anything, nobody saw me, you can't prove anything, do your own research )

 

[queenie82]

Finance Report Update.....

The Dollar is a little weaker at 105.6

I can handle that 'weaker' figure. Go get em little battler!!! Our Pacific Peso!!! :

 

[gippaloo]

It stinks for Americans travelling to you guys...I am going there in May, and I just checked, and I will be losing $50 USD to convert my spending cash over to AUD

 

[QuirkyButterfly]

When I first started this post it was because the Aussie $ was dropping. Now it looks like I am being sarcastic

I am not, I promise