How can Canadians capitalize on the high Canadian dollar?
April 6, 2010 12:08 PM
The Canadian dollar is at par with the US dollar. As a Canadian who will not be traveling to the US or elsewhere in the near future, how else can I benefit from the high dollar?
Short of the currency market, and further to phrontist's suggestion, perhaps buy online gift certificates for US-only companies that you might (or usually) buy from to use down the line?
posted by mireille at 12:15 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by mireille at 12:15 PM on April 6, 2010
go to TD bank (hopefully you alread bank there). open a borderless account. buy US dollars at par. wait. when the parity goes away and the canadian dollar (hopefully) returns to 20%-ish then sell the US currency and buy canadian with it. poof! profit. of course if it never goes back to the norm then poof you did squat. always a risk (but if the us dollar doesnt head back to where it should be and the canadian dollar stays up there then we all have larger problems...)
posted by chasles at 12:22 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by chasles at 12:22 PM on April 6, 2010
Pre-booking, and paying for, a trip for some months down the road? It's not likely the dollars will stay at the same level for long.
posted by orange swan at 12:52 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by orange swan at 12:52 PM on April 6, 2010
Buy stuff you'd want to get in the US.
(Also, do not go to TD bank, unless you want to constantly correct their associates for doing things with your money you didn't want and giving you incorrect tax information. They are crap when it comes to client service.)
posted by Kurichina at 1:05 PM on April 6, 2010
(Also, do not go to TD bank, unless you want to constantly correct their associates for doing things with your money you didn't want and giving you incorrect tax information. They are crap when it comes to client service.)
posted by Kurichina at 1:05 PM on April 6, 2010
Buying US goods?
I should have been more specific. I was hoping someone might suggest what US goods I might consider buying and from which websites.
posted by kitcat at 1:21 PM on April 6, 2010
I should have been more specific. I was hoping someone might suggest what US goods I might consider buying and from which websites.
posted by kitcat at 1:21 PM on April 6, 2010
Seconding chasles. Anecdata point: contrary to Kurichina, I've always found TD Bank to be fine when it comes to customer service.
posted by arcticseal at 1:23 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by arcticseal at 1:23 PM on April 6, 2010
Also, do not go to TD bank, unless you want to constantly correct their associates for doing things with your money you didn't want and giving you incorrect tax information. They are crap when it comes to client service.
TD has the best customer service of any bank I've ever used. And unlike, say, Scotia (or, again, any other bank I've ever had accounts with), they're actually open a huge number of hours. Saturdays, even.
kitcat, the high dollar works relative to many other currencies as well. The exchange rate with the Euro is insanely good for us right now- last time I was in Europe our dollar was worth barely 60 Euro cents; today, it's 74. If you want to, say, buy Skype credit or if you want to buy some paid apps at Nokia's Ovi store, now is the time to do it.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 1:23 PM on April 6, 2010
TD has the best customer service of any bank I've ever used. And unlike, say, Scotia (or, again, any other bank I've ever had accounts with), they're actually open a huge number of hours. Saturdays, even.
kitcat, the high dollar works relative to many other currencies as well. The exchange rate with the Euro is insanely good for us right now- last time I was in Europe our dollar was worth barely 60 Euro cents; today, it's 74. If you want to, say, buy Skype credit or if you want to buy some paid apps at Nokia's Ovi store, now is the time to do it.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 1:23 PM on April 6, 2010
TD has the best customer service of any bank I've ever used.
Agreed, though I've only used them in NYC through their American subsidiary (what used to be Commerce Bank).
posted by dfriedman at 1:26 PM on April 6, 2010
Agreed, though I've only used them in NYC through their American subsidiary (what used to be Commerce Bank).
posted by dfriedman at 1:26 PM on April 6, 2010
If you have to ask this question, then you should not be gambling in the foreign exchange market.
posted by grouse at 1:59 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by grouse at 1:59 PM on April 6, 2010
I have to chime in with praise for TD, they have always given me insanely good customer service - talking to me for hours about debt consolidation and mortgage advice (even knowing I couldn't get a mortgage at the time), arranging an overdraft when a check was going to bounce, etc. etc. They rock.
posted by Billegible at 2:22 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by Billegible at 2:22 PM on April 6, 2010
buy US dollars at par. wait. when the parity goes away and the canadian dollar (hopefully) returns to 20%-ish then sell the US currency and buy canadian with it. poof! profit.
Sorry, this is horrible advice. It's currency speculation, pure and simple. You have no idea what the exchange rate is going to be in the future. (If the loonie is even higher at the future point when you need to spend those U.S. dollars, then you'd have overpaid by buying them now.)
Buy goods and/or services from the U.S., sure, but buying currency is risky even if you know what you're doing (and you don't).
Or what grouse said.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 3:41 PM on April 6, 2010
Sorry, this is horrible advice. It's currency speculation, pure and simple. You have no idea what the exchange rate is going to be in the future. (If the loonie is even higher at the future point when you need to spend those U.S. dollars, then you'd have overpaid by buying them now.)
Buy goods and/or services from the U.S., sure, but buying currency is risky even if you know what you're doing (and you don't).
Or what grouse said.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 3:41 PM on April 6, 2010
Buying two of the most liquid currencies is not risky. Their exchange rate is notvolatile and the currency can be easily exchanged for physical goods.
posted by dfriedman at 9:03 PM on April 6, 2010
posted by dfriedman at 9:03 PM on April 6, 2010
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posted by phrontist at 12:11 PM on April 6, 2010