Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with dollar

Isn't the cost of living different there?

that girl — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:02:51 -0800

Why are salaries in different nations stated in their US dollar equivalents in news programs? Are there any news programs or websites that show relative purchasing power in different countries? On the NBC nightly news last night, one story discussed how Iraqi widows were getting $41 a month government pension (when they could get it). However, I have no idea what that really means, because I don't know what anything costs in Iraq. Dollar values in these sorts of stories seem to be used for their shock values, of "Oh, look how little they're getting!" but I get the impression sometimes that this is not really the case, and going by the cost-of-living where they are, they are making more than enough money to even be able to provide for their extended families.

Does something like the Consumer Price Index exist for every country, and if not, what could I use to estimate how far $100 would go in a variety of developed/developing/3rd world nations?

What should a European do with this American savings account that is depreciating in value?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:42:23 -0800

European who has USD in an American account - what should I do? I'm European, but lived in the US for a little while, where I had a very good paying job that allowed me to save money. I have a little over $10,000 in an American CD now. I came home to Europe and went back to school, thinking I could use that money to start up a business, make a downpayment on an apartment or something once I gradutae.

I have been watching in horror as the dollar went down against the euro and now that money I was counting on is shrinking away. Are there any suggestions on what I should do with it? Should I just leave it and wait for the dollar to recover? Should I buy something in the US that is likely to appreciate in value? If I had a good income now, I would buy an American apartment or something with it, but I'm a student living from paycheque to paycheque.

What should I do?

finance proz

goldism — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:12:53 -0800

Short-term investments question: In your opinion, what stable foreign currency should I invest my money? I am new to investing and was looking for some other opinions\ideas on which currency to convert my money into today and convert back to the US dollar, in say...6 months.

Best way to replace a torn Canadian $20 bill?

chudmonkey — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:25:03 -0800

Where can I find guidelines for the usability of torn/ripped Canadian currency? What should I do with this specific $20 bill? I got a torn $20 from an ATM. I called the ATM company and I have the option of mailing them the bill and getting a credit. But I'm wondering if that's my only option. I don't mind standing in line at a local bank to get a replacement bill, but I don't want to stand in line at a bank to find out if I can get one or not.

Here's the specific bill I got. You can see it's missing about 20% of its width.

I have to say I'm stymied trying to answer this for myself using the 'net. I can't find any Canadian government/bank guidelines and the only reference I have is a 15-year-old memory of a Street Cents episode that seemed to indicate that banks will exchange torn currency for a percentage value based on remaining surface area. A friend is insistent that if the bill has both serial numbers, it's still usable, but my friend has no expertise or reliable knowledge of this topic.

You help will be greatly appreciated.

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money?

Afroblanco — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:18:24 -0800

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money? Anyone who's seen me around the finance threads knows that I take bearishness to an extreme. Having witnessed the 2000 tech crash, I have no faith in the stock market or the US economy. I keep all of my money (USD) in a savings account. However, with the recent financial turmoil, I have a few questions :

1) Is it conceivable for the FDIC to fail?
2) If so, is there a place where I can put my money that will be safer than a savings account?
3) What's the safest, most risk-free way for me to save money and not get killed by inflation and the tanking US dollar?
4) If there is a safe way for me to save money and not be punished by inflation and the depreciating dollar, is there a way that I can do this without having to stress out and micromanage my finances? I don't want to be checking the finance page and making adjustments every day.

One thing that I must ask of you all - please do not turn this into a political debate. I know that issues of economics are often politically charged, but I ask you to please not address that aspect of the situation. Also, please take it easy on me. Even though I follow finance news, I've never done any investing or money management other than socking money away in my savings account. I'm a n00b, I admit it, so please don't talk down to me.

Any links to relevant articles or informational resources - especially those readable to the layman - will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Is the MasterRental benefit all it's cracked up to be?

mr. creosote — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:42:36 -0800

Question about the "MasterRental" rental insurance benefit that most of us have on our MasterCards. I was looking through the MasterRental benefit that came with my credit card and was thinking "joy! now I can decline the costly LDWs when I'm renting a car."

However I got to reading the fine print and saw "coverage is secondary to any other applicable insurance or coverage available to you." So it sounds like what would happen is if I do damage the rental car or the rental place blames me for some ding that I didn't do, MasterRental would tell me to use my own insurance, leaving me holding the bag and having to either pay cash or get a black mark with my insurance company.

Is this the case? Can anyone shed light on this?

Is the money supply contracting, or expanding?

Pastabagel — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:39:51 -0800

FinanceFilter: Is the money supply contracting, or expanding, after netting all the Fed action, bank closures, mortgage defaults, etc? The dollar falling seems to signal a net increase of money supply, but this is inconsistent with the thesis of a credit or liquidity crunch. If the money supply is growing at a slower rate due to tighter lending practices, shouldn't the dollar be rising, even in the face of Fed-rate cutting? Do we know the net expansion or contraction of the money supply due to the combination of rate cuts and mortgage defaults? I understand that Fed rate cuts have the effect of increasing the money supply. I understand that lower rates lower the value of the dollar, because it puts more dollars into existence tomorrow than existed today, i.e. given a constant demand, the increase of supply lowers the price.

The housing boom that peaked in 2005 involved people borrowing money to buy houses that it turns out they could not afford. This borrowing of money expanded the money supply back then. I understand that as people defaulted on their mortgages, the money supply didn't recontract (as the money that was created was spent on the house and put into the system). But as the dominoes fell, and first the mortgage companies, then regional and national banks, then CDO-holding brokerages and hedge funds were hit and stopped lending out, there should have been an attendant lack of money (from mtge payments, etc.) to lend out to future borrowers. So the money supply in the future should be smaller than we expected it to be last year. Shouldn't this cause the dollar to rise (or fall slower)?

In other words, given the 2005-2006 money supply and interest rates, the dollar had a price. But given future lending trends, the money supply growth should be slower, which other things being equal should increase the value of the dollar, right?

Is it possible that the Fed knows quantitatively the extent of the default/CDO worthlessness problem (and future money supply contraction), and isn't revealing publicly what it knows? If so, wouldn't this mean that when the Fed cuts rates, we don't hear about the amount of the money supply contraction that the Fed's inflationary move is supposed to offset, we only hear about the inflationary part of it and conclude therefrom that the money supply is growing too fast?

How do I invest in Euros?

pikaboy202 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:36:33 -0800

Are there any financial institutions available in the US to buy Euros as a hedge against the falling dollar? As we all know, the value of the Dollar is falling and money in the bank is free-falling due to both the falling dollar and inflation. In a way to hedge against the falling dollar, I thought it might be possible to save in Euros or even the Chinese Yuan instead.

Is there any financial institutions are methods to invest in Euros or have a savings accounts entirely in Euros instead of Dollars in the US?

converting dollars to cheese!

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:13:32 -0800

I'm going to Europe for at least a year in September. When should I convert my dollars to euros? I know that if I were planning on staying in the US, converting money to different currencies would not be the best course of action. But what about in my specific situation?

I will probably be in France from at least September-June (longer if possible). There, I will only be making ~750 euros/month after taxes so I will want to use money that I have saved for this trip to supplement that. But! I'm worried that something awful will happen in the next six months and my US savings will be worth a more meager sum than they already are. (Am I on the wrong track here? Will the economic stimulus package fix everything?)

Would it be totally foolish to transfer my dollars to euros now? If so, when should I do it instead? (and how?)

How to avoid losing most of my inheritance to Uncle Sam?

Grither — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:00:39 -0800

How do I get money (30,000 Euro/$50,000) from Europe to the United States with the least amount of pain? My mother used some money from my grandmother (to be a sort of inheritance for me) to buy a house in France, and she has now sold the house, and wants to give the money to me to do with as I please. We are trying to figure out the best way to get this money to me from Europe without giving most of it to Uncle Sam. It seems like she can gift $12,000USD to me each year without any tax implications for her, but will I get taxed on that? And is there anyway of doing the whole amount in one fell swoop without losing most of the money to taxes?

I have gone through previous questions, and I do not want advice on what to do with the money, as that has been answered many times, I am just looking for some help, ideas, info on how to get the money into the country. Should I be talking to a financial planner, lawyer, or accountant on how to accomplish this, or should I just try to get the money over here without any counsel, and just figure out the tax implications on my own?

FX gives me a headache

barrakuda — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:46:02 -0800

I am permanently moving from the US to Europe in about a month. I have about $50K in savings in HSBC high (and ever-falling) interest account. I am at a loss as to what to do with this money. Money-savvy Mefites, please come to the rescue. So I have all this money sitting in savings. For the next four months my salary will continue to be paid in dollars. I am a horrible, albeit charming, investment ignoramus. On one hand, I feel terrible about converting my savings to euros, on the other I don't know whether I want to leave my money in the States especially if the dollar is to further depreciate against the euro. I considered buying an apartment in Washington, DC and renting it out; but I wonder if there are other means of managing my hard-earned money and assuring that it will not loose its value. Ideas? Comments? Anyone? Bueller?

Dollars for Moldovanians!

greytape — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:02:19 -0800

Why don't small countries use the dollar or the euro in place of their own currency? So I'm the President of Moldovania, a small, poor, corrupt country located somewhere in Africa/Latin America/Central Asia. We have trouble with inflation and would like to make international business easier, so I hit upon the idea of scrapping the national currency and using another major currency in its place.
Why do my economic advisors tell me this is a stupid idea? Is it because this would piss off the US/EU, and be in some way illegal, or would the move simply be suicidal in terms of abandoning control of my own economy? Has it ever been tried?

Help me sell my gold

mr. remy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:54:42 -0800

I found a 1910 Indian head ten dollar gold coin in my childhood piggy bank. It looks like this. I have seen it listed online for different values between $400 and $1700. I am broke and (regretfully) feel like I need to convert it into cash. How do I do this quickly, fairly, and for maximum profit?

Books on the economy

mooza — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:14:05 -0800

Can the hive recommend books on the global economy? I'm pretty clueless so I'm looking for stuff that's easy to read, a la The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Ultimately I want to understand what's going on right now, with the declining US dollar, subprime something or others, trade deficits, how China fits in, how climate change fits in, and bonus points for how it affects the Australian economy.

I'm sorry, I absolutely do not know where to begin, so please excuse the vagueness. I just find what I'm hearing on the radio and in the paper really quite fascinating...just the other day I heard a bunch of economists talk about how the world is heading into a depression. Frightening.

How can I quickly compare prices of common items here in the states vs. in various foreign countries?

J-Garr — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:28:33 -0800

How can I quickly compare prices of common items here in the states vs. in various foreign countries? I've looked at cost of living sites and read numerous euro vs dollar articles but nothing fits what I was hoping to find.

I know that in Portland Oregon a pint of beer will cost somewhere between $2-$8. $2 being a great happy hour and $8 being full price at a more expensive restaurant. What I want to know is what is the price range for the same item in Frankfurt or Toyko or London? It would be great if the same site would give me the comparison: The Euro is currently worth about $1.50 so a $5 beer in Portland would cost $13 in Munich (or whatever/wherever).

Does that site exist?

[forex filter] Who knows how many euros one dollar will buy next summer? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller??

deejay jaydee — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:36:08 -0800

What do currency speculators think the euro-dollar exchange rate will be in June 2008? Are there online sources that currency speculators use to project or predict exchange futures? Can non-traders see these sources? Am I asking for something that just doesn't exist??? I've seen at least a couple of folks here on the green express some expertise in foreign exchange and currency trading. And I'm not interested in engaging in such trades, but I do have a professional opportunity to travel to Europe next summer, and in order to put together the most iron-clad proposal for funding from my boss, I kind of need to know what currency traders *think* the dollar-euro exchange rate is likely to be in June 2008. (I work at a well-funded, but appropriately tight-fisted NFP.)

Now, I know that the actual, honest answer is "who in the f@ck knows?! (and now geddoff my lawn!!)" But at the same time, I can't believe that currency speculators simply guess at this stuff . . . they must base their predictions on some sort of data. (Mustn't they? Eek.) Is this data privately held? Does it result from ungodly derivatives and financial models only slightly less complex than your average Rube Goldberg machine? Or is there some sort of secret website run by the Trilateral Commission? (Who, of course, must preordain these sorts of things [responsibly, of course]. Oh, and btw, if there is such a TLC site, can you send me an invite via MeFi Mail? We'll be BFF! I promise!!!)

But to return to the serious side of my question, I found lots of discussion on how to make/lose a ton of money in forex by searching the green (and the internets) . . . but I didn't see anybody talking about sources for the data that trader and speculators base their assumptions or predictions on. Can a simple, honest, international traveler get a bead on where the euro is likely to be in June 2008?

I'm sure this is one of these impossible questions . . . but it can't be most stupidly impossible question asked here today . . . can it?? I mean, I know if there were an ironclad site for this stuff, then everybody in the world would be using it and making jillions of dollars trading currencies. And I also know that YANMFA, and that MMWV, and all of the other acronyms that we use here in lieu of "watch your six." But at the same time, is it really the case that currency speculators base all of their models simply by following financial headlines? There isn't some sort of predictive market for this field? One that I can peek at??

Bonus points for anyone who can explain currency futures to a total financial numbskull (like myself).

Saving money in euros...

Afroblanco — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:49:23 -0800

I keep all my savings in a Citibank e-savings account, which is like a regular savings account, only with a higher interest rate. Recently, the dollar has totally been tanking, and this trend doesn't show any signs of reversing. What's the easiest, safest, most profitable way for me to save my money in euros instead of dollars? This is what I like about the e-savings account :

1) My money is FDIC insured.
2) The interest rate is higher than that of a typical savings account. It's somewhere around 4.25%.
3) I can take my money out any time I want without incurring any kind of penalty.
4) It's ultra-low-maintenance - I can just put my money in and forget about it.

I would like to put my money in euros without sacrificing any of the above, if possible. I know that I won't be able to find something that's FDIC insured, but I would like something that has a similar degree of security.

The fact of the matter is that the dollar is totally tanking, and I don't want to see my life's savings evaporate because of inflation or anything else that I don't really understand.

If the dollar collapses, what the hell happens to my retirement account?

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:54:38 -0800

Looking for good articles, links, etc. that discuss (rationally, not all panicky-like) strategies for managing one's 401(k) in light of recent shifts in the market and (perhaps more importantly) the declining dollar. So far, everything I've found seems geared toward investors managing their stock portfolios rather than workers managing their retirement accounts. Part II: if anyone would care to comment (I know that You Are Not A [or My] Financial Planner), here's my particular situation (hence why the question is anonymous; it's that weird American neurosis about discussing income rearing its ugly head).

Me: late 30s, unmarried/no kids (but long-term SO and I are discussing both of those factors changing over the next couple of years). I expect to retire in 25-28 years. My employer also offers a pension on top of our retirement plan, in which I am fully vested (but don’t know how much I want to even bank on it, considering the horror stories that sometimes crop up regarding disappearing pension funds). I don't plan on relying on Social Security for anything; I figure if it still exists when I retire, that will be gravy.

Income: $53,000/year, with 4-5% raises annually. I put aside 10% of pretax income into my retirement account, with a company match of 4% of my income. I plan to increase my investment by 1 or 2% annually till I reach my contribution limit. (Other relevant financial facts: I rent my home, own my car outright, and have about $7000 in savings; my only debt is about $3000 in CC debt--at 0% till next summer--which I am on track to pay off once and for all in less than a year.)

Currently have just under $27,000 in account (I didn't really start getting serious about contributing to plan and managing it till a few years ago). My asset allocation is:
- 25% international equity
- 30% U.S. small/mid equity
- 30% U.S. large equity
- 15% "guaranteed income"

None of those funds has significant holdings in real estate, so they haven’t (so far) lost much value in the recent market gyrations at all (in fact, while some of my individual funds are down, my overall return is--for now, at least--still quite good). Beyond that, I understand that the market has its cycles anyway, and has historically always gained in value over the long run. (And since I’m not retiring for at least 25 years, the long run is what I am concerned about.)

BUT! I am very concerned about long-term dollar devaluation. Does it make any sense to shift more money into international funds (which are doing extremely well for me), even though those are normally considered the most risky? That is, if the dollar keeps declining for years to come (which I think it might), doesn't that actually mean that international funds become less risky?

Also, is there anything (besides hysteria) to the rising hubbub in the blogosphere of "Buy gold! Buy gold!"? And what to make of the analysis that I read somewhere (wish I could find it now) that the long-term historical gains in the stock market may begin to reverse once the baby-boomers begin retiring (i.e., once they start removing their funds out of the market in quantities greater than the current workforce will be putting their funds into the market)?

Sorry if some of these questions seem rudimentary. As I said, I only started paying attention to these things in the past few years. Thanks!

Dollars to donuts

doctorcurly — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:42:04 -0800

Should I be worried about an impending collapse of the US dollar? There's been a lot in the news lately to suggest that the US dollar is headed for even deeper trouble than it's been, starting with various oil-producing countries moving away from the dollar standard, and China's threatening to off-load its stash of dollar reserves.

Any economists out there care to comment?
This question was asked also about a year ago, but the times, they are a-changin'...

Whaddya mean we dropped a zero from it?

richter_x — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:03:04 -0800

WhatIf Filter - What would happen if the dollar 3/4ths of it's value? For all you economic MeFites out there?

I remember someone talking about this a long time ago, and he mentioned something about debt you hold being cheaper because things cost more, and (eventually) you might make more because of the change. Would this hold true? What other dire consequences would come about from such a thing happening? Additionally, would there be any bright spots in this, where if properly planned, you might actually come out better than you would otherwise?

When to convert Dollars to Euros?

sirion — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:30:56 -0800

Financial Advice: I need to convert a lot (10k?) of Dollars to Euros in the next few months. When should I? Are there some pretty well-known patterns in the ebb and flow of these currencies?

Best exchange rate

sic — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:31:46 -0800

Exchanging euros to dollars for a vacation. What's the best way? I'm going to the US for around a month over the summer (late august - september) and I was wondering what is the best way to exchange euros to dollars. I'm looking for the most advantageous exchange - should I buy cash, traveller's checks? Should I simply use credit cards? Should I exchange money now or will the dollar continue to drop over the next 6-7 weeks?

I'm not planning on spending a great deal of money - perhaps a few thousand euros.

The Zen of Cash

bjrubble — Mon, 07 May 2007 23:03:05 -0800

Instructions for making an origami crane from a dollar bill? About 5 years ago I had the idea to leave some money for a friend by folding an origami crane out of a $20. I spent about 2 minutes on Google and found instructions, and everything worked out beautifully. A few weeks ago I had the same thought, but have been utterly unable to find instructions on how to do this fold. The only reference I've been able to find is a book (published 2 years after I found the instructions online), but I'm not keen on buying a book just for one model. I'm hoping someone out there can help me out.

I[t] went down, down, down and the flames went higher

quadrinary — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:40:07 -0800

Why is the value of the US Dollar tanking, and what can I do about it? I can't help but be incredibly frustrated after watching the US Dollar's value slip further this week (One GBP is more than $2, the Euro is nearly $1.36, and even the Afghani is holding its value better than the dollar - 49.1 AFG to the dollar). As someone who travels and works abroad frequently, I've tried to narrow down what is causing the dollar lose value as I observe it buy less and less in other countries. Many articles state that

Many articles discuss the overspending on housing and "toys" (seriously - how many people can truly afford or justify spending $1500 on a plasma screen?) combined with dependence on the government for income as the problem. If this is the case, is our national "credit" slipping beyond belief? Is our government hemorrhaging money so much that it's killing our currency? What's really happening here?

Secondly since I, as one small man, can't do anything immediately about the problem what can I do to protect myself from my currency's slipping value? I've considered buying other more stable foreign currencies but I'm unsure of ways to do this without taking massive hits on exchange commissions. I'm up for any and all ideas here.

Thanks.

car rental dollar hertz roadtrip chicago

krautland — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:08:27 -0800

chicagofilter: renting a car - from a dealer (or: where can I find a decently priced mileage-free rental for a roadtrip) ? it's roadtrip time and I am loathing the car rental places already.
having reserved a full-size vehicle at enterprise last time around, I ended up in a ford taurus with itchy cloth seats, hand-crank windows and no keyless entry system.

that left me feeling kind of ripped off, which is why I was excited to see in a thread over on dethroner someone suggest contacting car dealerships in order to get a decently-priced vehicle without mileage restrictions.

only that the first three dealerships I called today practically laughed at me.
no, they all said, we only loan vehicles while yours is in for service.

so, dearest hivemind: do you have recommendations who I should talk to? have you done this kind of deal? has it worked out?