Minimizing Sterling Weakness

[seasider]

I will be in Thailand early May, at a similar time to the UK elections.

It seems, by all the predictions and polls we will have a hung parliament and there will be a run on the pound. Again, all the 'experts' are predicting the Pound will weaken significantly.

Would it therefore be plausible to change my money into an alternative currency now, like us$ or Euros before the pound weakens further and then change into Thai Baht when im over, as i normally do. Or has forecasts such as a hung parliament already been factored in to the Pound Sterling rate?

I guess i would lose a fair percentage of my money with bad exchange rates, if i keep changing from currency to currency.

Anyway, just a thought, probably not worth pursuing, as much a debate on the state of the pound than anything else.

[fishhooks]

If you think the THB rate to the Pound is "reasonable" at the moment, why not do a change to Baht now?

Unless you are thinking of changing significant amounts, your not going to lose much in UK interest, by having Baht in your pocket now, if going in May.

Every time I have a thought of exchanging currencies before a trip I do it ASAP, as each time I hang on for a while the good ol' Oz $ takes a dive.

[keeniau96]

Speculating on foreign exchange is very iffy. On Wall Street there is a favorite saying: "It's easy to make a small fortune in forex trading, just start with a large one."

[Penkoprod]

If you think the THB rate to the Pound is "reasonable" at the moment, why not do a change to Baht now?

Unless you are thinking of changing significant amounts, your not going to lose much in UK interest, by having Baht in your pocket now, if going in May.

Every time I have a thought of exchanging currencies before a trip I do it ASAP, as each time I hang on for a while the good ol' Oz $ takes a dive.

The problem with that theory is, the OP would have to buy the Baht in UK, and therefore get a much more disadventagious rate than what is on offer in Thailand. (Unless anyone knows of a way of getting the "Thai rate" in UK currency exchange institutions)

Penkoprod

Edited April 22, 2010 by Penkoprod

[seasider]

If you think the THB rate to the Pound is "reasonable" at the moment, why not do a change to Baht now?

Unless you are thinking of changing significant amounts, your not going to lose much in UK interest, by having Baht in your pocket now, if going in May.

Every time I have a thought of exchanging currencies before a trip I do it ASAP, as each time I hang on for a while the good ol' Oz $ takes a dive.

Because the rate here (offshore rate) is much worse than the rate i would get in Thailand.

[chiang mai]

If you think the THB rate to the Pound is "reasonable" at the moment, why not do a change to Baht now?

Unless you are thinking of changing significant amounts, your not going to lose much in UK interest, by having Baht in your pocket now, if going in May.

Every time I have a thought of exchanging currencies before a trip I do it ASAP, as each time I hang on for a while the good ol' Oz $ takes a dive.

Because the rate here (offshore rate) is much worse than the rate i would get in Thailand.

If you don't have access to a Thai bank account, into which you could deposit Thai Baht in exchange for your Pounds, you don't have any good options other than to consider using one of the specialist currency exchanges such as Caxtons - given that you're only looking for holiday money I doubt that would be a viable move on your part. If it were me I might be tempted to take a punt and exchange when I got here, the markets are already discounting the possibility of a Sterling crisis so our fears may not be realised.

[OxfordWill]

I've been thinking the same thing, my largest single deposit of any currency is in sterling in the UK and I am really completely undecided as to whether to act or not. I will probably have to act now or leave it for years. Been wishing recently I had studied financial things at school.

[chiang mai]

I've been thinking the same thing, my largest single deposit of any currency is in sterling in the UK and I am really completely undecided as to whether to act or not. I will probably have to act now or leave it for years. Been wishing recently I had studied financial things at school.

If you own Pounds but spend Baht, consider hedging 50% of your Pounds into Baht or similar, that way you're fully hedged and it''s safer than playing just "red or black"!

[roamer]

If you go to this link. FairFX You can buy a prepaid travel money card which you can load with Euros or dollars with what is effectively a corporate rate. The card is free, if you load £500 or more onto it converted into euros or dollars. Otherwise, it costs £10. The charge for ATM withdrawals is €1.5 or $2 dollars. If you do a little bit of research you'll find this card gets rave reviews all over the place. Its backed by the Newcastle Building Society.

Overall this is probably the most economic way of doing things. You can also just load your card with sterling, if you prefer.

Edited April 22, 2010 by roamer

[seasider]

If you think the THB rate to the Pound is "reasonable" at the moment, why not do a change to Baht now?

Unless you are thinking of changing significant amounts, your not going to lose much in UK interest, by having Baht in your pocket now, if going in May.

Every time I have a thought of exchanging currencies before a trip I do it ASAP, as each time I hang on for a while the good ol' Oz $ takes a dive.

Because the rate here (offshore rate) is much worse than the rate i would get in Thailand.

If you don't have access to a Thai bank account, into which you could deposit Thai Baht in exchange for your Pounds, you don't have any good options other than to consider using one of the specialist currency exchanges such as Caxtons - given that you're only looking for holiday money I doubt that would be a viable move on your part. If it were me I might be tempted to take a punt and exchange when I got here, the markets are already discounting the possibility of a Sterling crisis so our fears may not be realised.

I do still have active Thai bank accounts from my days working and living in Thailand.

[chiang mai]

If you think the THB rate to the Pound is "reasonable" at the moment, why not do a change to Baht now?

Unless you are thinking of changing significant amounts, your not going to lose much in UK interest, by having Baht in your pocket now, if going in May.

Every time I have a thought of exchanging currencies before a trip I do it ASAP, as each time I hang on for a while the good ol' Oz $ takes a dive.

Because the rate here (offshore rate) is much worse than the rate i would get in Thailand.

If you don't have access to a Thai bank account, into which you could deposit Thai Baht in exchange for your Pounds, you don't have any good options other than to consider using one of the specialist currency exchanges such as Caxtons - given that you're only looking for holiday money I doubt that would be a viable move on your part. If it were me I might be tempted to take a punt and exchange when I got here, the markets are already discounting the possibility of a Sterling crisis so our fears may not be realised.

I do still have active Thai bank accounts from my days working and living in Thailand.

Well if you do have a Thai bank account then that makes things easier but you surely must realise that you are trying to make this decision at one of the worst possible moments in time - working in your favour of a better exchange rate is the fact that violence in Bangkok is escalating quite seriously so there's a chance that the Baht to Pound exchange rate could improve as a result. Working against you however is the idea that a hung Parliament might create a Sterling crisis which would cause your exchange rate to worsen quite dramatically, these are not normal considerations most people face when trying to decide whether to exchange or not! I guess that my answer now must be that you should consider changing half of your holiday money now by sending Sterling to your Thai bank account and asking them to exchange it into Baht and then exchange the other half when you get here, that way you've covered all your bases.

[BlueSmurf]

I think its not a good idea to mess with moving sterling into a third currency and back again.Too much chance and commision lost....Maybe best for a few of you guys to do what I did.I sold some land my wife had which was bought at a exchange rate of 70 baht to the pound and we are living on that for now! I ALSO THINK IT WILL NOT BE A HUNG PARLIMENT! The Consevatives will get in. Well I hope and the polls are still looking that way..

So maybe time to find out how much the wife loves you and sell the house and rent again..Never made sense to me to buy anyway when you can rent..Everyone has a different reason but hey things are tight now..but i'am still enjoyong 70 baht to the pound!!! Long Live The Pound!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

[fishhooks]

I don't know if this applies to the pound in UK, you say that you still maintain a Thai Bank Account.

The very best way here in Australia to convert A$ to THB is to do a Telegraphic Transfer (TT) between your local AUS bank and a major bank in Thailand, making "very" sure that the transaction leaves here in A$'s and is converted to THB at the Thai bank end.

Even though the banks at this end charge a fee of approx A$20 - A$25, the end result dropped into your Thai bank is actually slightly better than changing Travelers Cheques in the same bank if you were in Thailand at the same time.

As is well known, the Travelers Cheque rate in Thailand is always a tad better than changing cash, even taking into account the few baht fee charge on each cheque.

[ESB7]

£ will strengthen regardless of Hung Parliment or not, Euro is set to crash, get your Baht when you get here.

[roamer]

I think its not a good idea to mess with moving sterling into a third currency and back again.Too much chance and commision lost....Maybe best for a few of you guys to do what I did.I sold some land my wife had which was bought at a exchange rate of 70 baht to the pound and we are living on that for now! I ALSO THINK IT WILL NOT BE A HUNG PARLIMENT! The Consevatives will get in. Well I hope and the polls are still looking that way..

So maybe time to find out how much the wife loves you and sell the house and rent again..Never made sense to me to buy anyway when you can rent..Everyone has a different reason but hey things are tight now..but i'am still enjoyong 70 baht to the pound!!! Long Live The Pound!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

I'd certainly like to see those polls, can't recall seeing one since the way before the election was called that suggests a Tory majority. They may well end up with the larger share of the vote but that doesn't translate into seats. They would need to gain a minimum of 116 extra seats to form a government and in reality another 20 on top of that at least to stand a chance of making it workable. Not saying it can't happen but have not seen a poll that suggests it will.

[game4shame]

^ the lib dems have made up some ground on the opinion polls so it's level pegging atm, but I reckon labour will hang onto power. the same rumours were flying around last time (re the tories) and labour still came out on top. as my dad once said - labour are f*cking useless, but the tories are worse.

anyway, back on the topic of sterling trends: I am by no means an expert but I imagined that the political instability in thailand is WAY worse than UK so if the pound does weaken then I'd expect the THB would too?

[OOB]

If you have a Thai bank account use a service such as hifx.co.uk. All can be done online, they are fully regulated and you'll get forex (rather than tourist) rates.

I use them twice a year to move spending money over - obviously the more you move the better the rate as they profit on the margin (not on fees).

[chiang mai]

^ so if the pound does weaken then I'd expect the THB would too?

Since you made it a question: no, the Baht's relationship is with the US Dollar and not with the Pound.