So who else is changing every cent they have to Sterling next week?

Mike 1972

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Anyone who seriously considers listening to any financial advice offered on after hours (or asking for advice for that matter) should probably just give up on society and go live an animal life in some jungle throwing crap at predators until they get digested whole by a snake. With the possible exception of the advice in this post

FYP !

OneArt

I get paid in US dollars. Hopefully it'll transfer well if Germany decides to go back to the D Mark!

Either that or I'll be giving English lessons for food.

gigino

Mike 1972 wrote: »

If Ireland were still using (or was in a currency union with) sterling the Bank of England would be setting its interest rates.

And with a population maybe 7% that of the UK, we would have a bigger say than we had in the eurozone, where the germans set rates below those of the bank of England during the "tiger years" - which suited the germans but not us. We are only 1% of the population of the eurozone and have no say in interest rates. If we had the bank of england interest rates 4, 6, 8, 10 years ago, we would not be in the mess we are in. It was Anglo + the other Irish banks borrowing massive amounts of cheap money from Germany etc which fuelled the building boom here.

dr.bollocko

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Anyone who seriously considers listening to any financial advice offered on after hours should probably just give up on society and go live an animal life in some jungle throwing crap at predators until they get digested whole by a snake.

Quite frankly, most financial advisers have been completely wrong over the past few years.
Even the "doom & gloom" merchants were too optimistic! :rolleyes:

starlit

It be cheaper to convert euro to sterling sometimes cause the rate varies from day to day. Though when buying stuff its more expensive to convert but when you buy something in the UK compared to Ireland the conversion rate is cheaper except you have added UK tax when it comes to things like the red tape with owning accommodation over there or letting it.

SmartHass

Are France/Germany not evidence that the euro can work in a well run economy, we just need to clean our house up.... since I stopped watching Vincent Browne and the frontline and paying heed to other sensationalist media ive been less worried about global meltdown

Latchy

doovdela wrote: »

It be cheaper to convert euro to sterling sometimes cause the rate varies from day to day.

You can have two or three money shops within yards of each other on the English high street and also the post office , with different rates of euro - currency- exchange which is nothing unusual but it does pay on the day , before heading over to mainland europe to pop into a few for best deals on sterling .

Mike 1972

gigino wrote: »

And with a population maybe 7% that of the UK, we would have a bigger say than we had in the eurozone,

Well between 1922 and 1979 when Ireland was in a currency union with sterling they had ZERO say in setting bank of England base rates.

And for most of following two decades Ireland was in the EMS/ERM which meant it had little real control of its interest rates then either (there might have been a percentage point wiggle room if even that) You may remember the currency crisis of the early 1990's.

The notion of a small economy heavily dependent on overseas trade and investment having any seriously meaningful control of its interest rates (along with many other aspects of its fiscal policies) is something of a myth. The best they can do is try and pick a larger economy to hitch its currency to and hope for the best.

During the late 1980's Ireland moved from tracking £STG to tracking the DM (and subsequently the €) while one can certainly argue that that decision was a mistake it is disingenuous to peddle the myth of Ireland ever achieving fiscal independence. Even the British economy is heavily linked to New York, Frankfurt, Tokyo and increasingly Beijing

oppenheimer1

Ah the Sunday night hysteria thread... more often seen on another forum to be fair.

gufnork

SmartHass wrote: »

Are France/Germany not evidence that the euro can work in a well run economy, we just need to clean our house up.... since I stopped watching Vincent Browne and the frontline and paying heed to other sensationalist media ive been less worried about global meltdown

Less worried about global meltdown? Maybe so, but Germany on a high is a good reason to start worrying if you ask me. But then I'm English and I wouldn't be English if I trusted those damn Germans. I'm sorry, but Germany in any position of power worries me greatly. Tell me I'm wrong, go on, tell me I'm wrong.

questionmark?

If your one of the lucky six or seven people to have savings. Then split it between Sterling and Canadian Dollars. Also some shares in a Oil company if your willing to invest long term as the dividends will be a good source of income and the shares can be sold in 10 or 20 years when the value has gone back up.

After hours answer - blast the money with piss and then invest it in coke and hookers.

Mike 1972

questionmark? wrote: »

After hours answer - blast the money with piss and then invest it in coke.

Or vice versa ?

Kojak

Solnskaya wrote: »

I'm buying Zimbabwean dollars! I'm gonna be a billionaire! Yay for paper money.

God Bless Robert Mugabe and his sound economic policies.............

OPENROAD

SmartHass wrote: »

Are France/Germany not evidence that the euro can work in a well run economy, we just need to clean our house up.... since I stopped watching Vincent Browne and the frontline and paying heed to other sensationalist media ive been less worried about global meltdown

And it can still work despite the diverse nature of all these differing Economies?

Mike 1972

Mike 1972 wrote: »

During the late 1980's Ireland moved from tracking £STG to tracking the DM (and subsequently the €) while one can certainly argue that that decision was a mistake

Come to think of it it really was a mistake.

What we should have done is tracked the Ostmark and then when German reunification came we could all have got 1:1 exchange :pac:

MegaWattKungFu

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Anyone who seriously considers listening to any financial advice offered on after hours should probably just give up on society and go live an animal life in some jungle throwing crap at predators until they get digested whole by a snake.

So what you're saying is... change it to dollars?

saywhatyousee

SmartHass wrote: »

Are France/Germany not evidence that the euro can work in a well run economy

France are next on the chopping block that is why Nick has been so quiet lately.

Mike 1972

MegaWattKungFu wrote: »

So what you're saying is... change it to dollars?

No No No

What the good doctor is saying is that we should ignore all financial advice offered on After hours and instead seek out the opinions and counsel of the community of drunkards on Dublin Bus.

They know where its at.

saa

Hmm I wonder..WWJD?

blast the money with piss and then invest it in coke and hookers.

Sorted.

wes

If the Euro goes, it will take a lot of other currencies with them. While the debt crisis here in Europe is getting the most press, we are hardly the only ones in the same hole. The US is in a pretty bad way as well, as are plenty of other places. Its a world wide problem, so there are very few safe havens, and if the Euro goes, there will be less.

Lone Stone

if you got the money buy gold! then after the euro burns you will be one of the elite rich people and can sleep with people's wifes and beat up the peasants.

Mike 1972

Lone Stone wrote: »

if you got the money buy gold!

I love all this advice as to "buy gold" as if its really that simple.

Leaving aside the fact that the value of gold just like anything else can go down as well as up there is the little matter of where/how does one store/secure your little stash of gold and protect it from predators ?

Snakeblood

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Anyone who seriously considers listening to any financial advice offered on after hours should probably just give up on society and go live an animal life in some jungle throwing crap at predators until they get digested whole by a snake.

QUICK WHERE IS THIS JUNGLE?!

Mike 1972

Mike 1972 wrote: »

I love all this advice as to "buy gold" as if its really that simple.

Leaving aside the fact that the value of gold just like anything else can go down as well as up there is the little matter of where/how does one store/secure your little stash of gold and protect it from predators ?

You're as well off stockpiling whiskey than gold, if you really think things are going to get so bad that paper money will be worthless.

Decent booze will get you a lot of food, fuel or hookers!

harmoniums

I've got a bit of gold, a very large collection of firearms and a bunch of dollars.



SHTF transportation:


passenger by harmoniums, on Flickr


It's an M35A2, she'll run or diesel or petrol, only 11mpg though.

If I'm prepared for the undead, I should be covered for a wee bit of currency instability

Robdude

I keep hearing how the Euro is going to fail but....

1.) It doesn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary. Here is a chart showing USD vs Euro for the last five years: http://www.indexmundi.com/xrates/graph.aspx?c1=USD&c2=EUR&days=1825

2.) When I ask people what currency is better nobody seems to have a good answer that people agree with. Should I buy dollars instead, I've asked, and people say 'Oh no, the US is F***ed' and so I say, 'Well, what about China, what do they use?' and people say, 'OH no, not China, their numbers are lies and are going to be the next Greece'. So I say, 'What, should I buy gold then?' and people tell me Gold is a bubble.

So I'm pretty confused.

whitesands

Robdude wrote: »

I keep hearing how the Euro is going to fail but....

1.) It doesn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary. Here is a chart showing USD vs Euro for the last five years: http://www.indexmundi.com/xrates/graph.aspx?c1=USD&c2=EUR&days=1825

So I'm pretty confused.

From the front page of the BBC website today, 'US debt talks on verge of failure' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15814728
It's no use comparing to $, the US solution is to inflate & raise the debt ceiling every few months, not really sustainable...

Robdude

whitesands wrote: »

From the front page of the BBC website today, 'US debt talks on verge of failure' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15814728
It's no use comparing to $, the US solution is to inflate & raise the debt ceiling every few months, not really sustainable...

I'm not trolling, I just really don't know; what is a fair thing to compare it to?

DublinWriter

Deleted User wrote: »

Decent booze will get you a lot of food, fuel or hookers!

Sorry, but am I alone in thinking that 2012 will be like Max Max Beyond Thunderdome?

Should I concentrate on sharpening my bowstaff skills? Is there a FAS course on making animal-skin clothing for beginners?

Daniel S

woodoo wrote: »

Put your money into apartments in Leitrim.

Do this literally. It's the last place they'll go looking for it.





Maybe the world is going to end in 2012. :pac:

whitesands

Robdude wrote: »

I'm not trolling, I just really don't know; what is a fair thing to compare it to?

Take your pick, anything but the US dollar. That's why gold is going up, people are losing confidence in the $ & €

amacca

DublinWriter wrote: »

Is there a FAS course on making animal-skin clothing for beginners?

No...no there isn't .....................I'm sure they offer something on financial planning though:D

Eric Cartman

swiss franc's , its funded on nazi gold so it cant lose

lawhec

I'm no expert, but this is what I think to be the case...

* The Euro itself will not go into oblivion, but some countries may be "expelled" from the currency union - Ireland isn't near Greek or Italian levels yet. Too many high profile politicians in the European mainland have invested too much time for it to fail.

* Sterling isn't as reliable as it once was, and if the Euro went tits up, sterling would take a huge hammering as many UK banks are exposed to Eurozone debt.

* The Swiss Franc is usually quite a reliable currency, but its current strength is too strong if there is such a thing, and the Swiss National Bank want the CHF to be eased off as it's harming Swiss exports and spending power near border areas. Its safe in that the currency is strong, but in future devaluing is likely.

* The Australian Dollar faces similar problems of being at a record strength, but unlike Switzerland it has less incentive for residents to spend the AU$ outside its borders and Australia itself is reasonably self-sufficient for its basics, therefore not hugely reliant on imports. If the mining industry takes a sharp turn though, say if China stops being a prominent buyer of its resources, the Australian Dollar will get weaker.

* Gold is at record high prices. Sometimes seen as a safe bet because people turn to it when fiat currencies appear shaky. But I'd be weary about getting any at the moment.

* While Japan has a large GDP debt, most of the debt is owned to its citizens as opposed to the debt being foreign owned, so isn't as risky. The Yen might be a worthwhile safe haven because its value doesn't look like its going to plummet in the near future.

* The US$ is going to take a major amount of economic prosperity to turn itself around, but is probably safe as long as the Petrodollar remains dominant. If a major oil-producing country decides to use another currency for trading, I see trouble. There was a possibility of a number of OPEC countries moving towards trading oil in Euros, but that doesn't look likely in the short term now.

P.S. Don't take my advice, please. I'm just making an observation. :eek:

Sky King

So.. when people say 'buy yen' how do you do that? You don't actually convert all your cash monies into yen do you?

Is it just a case of opening a japanese bank account?

Robdude

whitesands wrote: »

Take your pick, anything but the US dollar. That's why gold is going up, people are losing confidence in the $ & €

Euro & Yuan - http://www.indexmundi.com/xrates/graph.aspx?c1=EUR&c2=CNY&days=1825

Again, I don't know anything but it doesn't seem like a startling decline in value.

Teyla Emmagan

Thank God I don't have any money to worry about.