Advice for father - US Dollars

[Regulator2005]

Hello people,
I need some advice.
My family lives in the UK and our father works abroad and gets paid in US Dollars. In-addition, his savings are in US Dollars apart from the shares he has. Now we both think that the American Dollar is a lose lose situation and is going to drop even more. This has left my father thinking what is the best currency he should change his money into in order to reserve what little retirement savings he has.

Any help /ideas or advice would me really great .
Hope ive posted this in the right section (It is currency)
Reg

 

[TheBramble]

Depends what your father is planning to do with his dollars.

If he's planning on staying in the US or investing in the US or you are all moving out to the US to join him - keep them as dollars.

Suggest he consider buying or part-investing in US commercial property.

Playing FX with retirement dollars in any currency pair is not the way to go. JMHO.

 

[Regulator2005]

Thanks Bramble,
Sorry he works in Vietnam, although they pay him in US Dollars. His money if I remember is kept in an offshore account and is changed into UK Currency when the family needs money for bills. I did not mean he wanted to look into FX trading and agree limiting risk with retirement money is priority.

Just really seeing if there are any ideas of what currency to change his money into to stop any more losses.
Sorry I’m a complete noobe to currency information.

But will look into any ideas anyone suggest that may save him losing anymore.
Thx
Regs

 

[TheBramble]

Vietnam!

Reg, is your father above doing things outside of what is considered mainstream?

Oppotunities for US$ as hard currency in that neck of the woods cover a delightfully wide spectrum.

 

[Regulator2005]

No would not say so. Basically, he works as a piping engineer. Spends most of the year there working to help build up his pot for him and my mother. He is 57 now and really is thinking about what type of currency would be best to change his US dollars into to prevent losses.

Reg

 

[TheBramble]

OK. If he's planning on coming back to the UK to spend and live his retirement I suggest simply transferring it all to a UK base and into sterling. Just take the hit once.

You could go exotic and try the Swissy or even hedge with some sort of forward rate on Sterling, but then he's going to have to at some point just plain get it back into Sterling and into the UK. He can't leave it off-shore once he's domiciled back in the U.K. - Not if he insists on being legit!

I'm not convinced when he or you talk about losses you necessarily have a handle on the size of the problem. Unless you know something we'd all like to know, there isn't any immediate cause for concern. A few pips here and there up and down aren't going to make that much difference. You ay in your first post you both believe the US$ is in a 'lose lose' situation. Why? And to what extent?

 

[fxmarkets]

what about backing the euro,(hedge) to take advantage of , if the US dollar begins to be thought about as 1 international reserve but not the only ,over the next few years.

Depends if oil is exchanged for euros, if that gets of the ground in the middle east over the next few years.
why should the USD be the ONLY international currency reserve in the Future?

 

[TheBramble]

Reg, it's been troubling me that although my intent has been positive, I am not qualified to give you or your Dad any advice of this nature. I doubt many on these boards are.

Given these funds are his living and retirement funds we're talking about - it's vital money. Not just trading capital which he can afford to lose.

If your Dad contacts a professionally accredited individual either in the US, Vietnam or the UK they will be able to ask him the right questions in order to give him the best set of options for him to consider.

They are most likely to want to know how much is coming across in a lump sum and when? Will there be further smaller transfers? If so, how much and how often and for how much longer?

They can then best advise him given the profile they will build on his current situation, his medium term needs and his long term plans for retirement.

If he has any sense, he'll completely disregard any advice from me or anyone else from a bulletin board!

Good luck.

 

[fxmarkets]

yeah seconded bramble ideas are ok to be suggested , i think then he needs to run the ideas by someone who has the legal insurance to bail them out of any wrongful advice.

 

[Regulator2005]

Thanks again

Bramble,
Don’t worry yourself. I want to again thank you for your ideas and views, it was exactly what I came in for. Also, I will just discuss the views people have mentioned with my father who will most likely seek advice also as you say.
To answer your question into why I believe the Dollar is a lose lose situation. I firstly began to agree with the findings and beliefs made by the authors of the following books:

The Dollar Crisis : Richard Duncan
The Demise of the Dollar : Addison Wiggin

Both I found interesting and ran along the same ideas I have had stimulated through other books on economics.

Apart from that – thanks again – until the next discussion.
Reg

 

[Trdr]

Until what age does father expect to be working to ?

Does father's work/employment mean always working 'off-shore' ?

Does father expect to be always paid in $ ?

What 'tax advantage' retirement programs is father contributing to ?

What are the banking/transfer/exchange fees incurred when the 'family needs money for bills' ?

The $ has already fallen a considerable distance, see chart. Hedging for farmers for eg is based on protecting the projected price of the cash crop; a futures hedge has a considerably lower margin than outright futures contract, same for fx pairs. An fx account can be opened for as little as $250 and a $10,000 minilot traded for as little as $50 (Onada doesn't have an account minimum but does limit leverage to 50:1). The farmer 'goes out' and Sells X futures hedge contracts close to his cash crop price and total harvest value, 'insuring' if the crop sells below his price he'll pick up the difference from the hedge. The cost of the hedge may or may not be included in the trade. In a sense it's a 'fixed price' transaction. The hedger can potentially obtain profits from the hedge by closing the position when the price starts to rally and re-entering the Short when the price continues to fall, but that's 'Trading'.

Does father wants to speculate on the 'lose-lose' of the $ by 'Trading' for instance the eurusd ?