Euro exchange rates

[ColinM50]

Anyone any gut feel about which way they're heading?

Sold a house in France in the autumn and I've got about 150K Euros sitting in a French bank earning sod tout interest.

Don't really need the money back in UK for the time being, though may buy a BTL house here in the Spring, so what do I do with the Euros? And no, I'm not giving them to you, son and daughter have tried that one already.

Do I keep the money in Euros or invest it in shares there or bring it back and change to sterling and get a massive 2.5% interest here or what?

More to the point, the Euro exchange rate today is 1.18. Anyone got a feeling where it's headed? Up or down?

[stneville]

Depends on what time frame you are looking at next week, next month, next year... The Euro looks like its going to fall in the long term against the pound, in the short term it looks like its consolidating. You aren't going to earn loads in of interest in the uk either. If it was me i would be keeping it in Euros for the time being if you dont need the cash.

[ringram]

Given DE is the strongest member and its benefiting from the lower Euro, if the Euro fails or breaks up etc, or even if things come right the DAX will do well.
So one idea is to buy into the DAX as a long term investment.

Ive been waiting for it to drop.. but its not happened yet!

[crugbun]

hmmm, similar situation here, sale of land in France just about to complete and money will be sent to a UK bank account.
Any tips on avoiding massive bank charges for the transfer?

[martinmac]

Same situation with me too. Make sure the bank gives the a good exchange rate. Have a look at the mid rate before you talk to them.

[nonplussed]

martinmac said:

Same situation with me too. Make sure the bank gives the a good exchange rate. Have a look at the mid rate before you talk to them.

Or use a specialist FX broker. I use a company called PureFX, originally recommended by another PH'er. They're on www.purefx.co.uk. When I had to move a lot of money the other way, they gave me a vastly better rate than any of the high street banks.

[digger_R]

I've used some on here

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...

[marky1]

crugbun said:

hmmm, similar situation here, sale of land in France just about to complete and money will be sent to a UK bank account.
Any tips on avoiding massive bank charges for the transfer?

Why massive bank charges? They shouldn't charge more than £25 for a transfer.

[crugbun]

just assuming they would take any chance they can. I guess what I meant was their exchange rate may not be the best about.

[Shadow62]

Shop around, try hifx.com or sgx etc. Should be pretty close to spot rates.

Op - done well waiting so far 1.15xx now.

Btw the exchange is normally quoted the other way round