I want to be out of dollars, but not poor

July 12, 2008 8:07 PM

I would like to know the best way to turn actual US dollars into foreign currencies...

I'm very liquid, but want to protect the majority of my liquid assetts from deflation of the dollar. How do I get my dollars into Australian dollars, Swedish Kronos, Swiss francs, and Japanese yen and still have the best control over my assets?

posted by Rafaelloello to Law & Government (7 answers total)

I don't know if this is even true, but a tour manager from the UK told me that the casinos over there will convert dollars to pounds with no commission, presumably because they're going to get it anyway.
posted by knowles at 9:04 PM on July 12, 2008

Best answer: Take a look at EverBank and see if they will do what you want. Especially here.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:07 PM on July 12, 2008

The googlejuice you're looking for is probably "multi-currency account". They're massively popular in Asia - Citi and HSBC offer them to retail customers - but I can't find any US banks that offer them.

If you're with a reasonably big bank, ask to talk to a relationship manager - they'll probably be able to hook you up with something.
posted by The Shiny Thing at 10:39 PM on July 12, 2008

Best answer: I like the ETFs:

FXA oz
FXB pound
FXC loonie
FXE euro
FXF swiss
FXM peso
FXS krona
FXY yen

Check here for the current dividends these ETFs pay (FXY doesn't pay anything due to their ZIRP)
posted by yort at 10:48 PM on July 12, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions. I already own some of the currency ETFs, but multi-currency CDs seem like an even more conservative option.
posted by Rafaelloello at 6:29 AM on July 13, 2008

Or buy gold. I have some and I have looked several times after it recently, it has always stayed the same. Neither did increase nor decrease in weight. Only the dollar seems to be fluctuating against it...
posted by yoyo_nyc at 11:21 AM on July 13, 2008

Gold is being used as a hedge against the deflating dollar by just about everyone with a television, which is why the prices are so high. That's not to say that the dollar won't plummet even further than it already has (I personally believe it will, but that's another story). It's the easiest commodity to intellectually grasp for the paranoid, which is why I would advise looking at other commodities like Oil or Gas, which (pending news of a breakthrough in fusion power) are only going to go up.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:36 AM on July 13, 2008