Euro Vs Dollar

[d2k73]

I couldnt really find a suitable place for this threads so mods please feel free to move it to a suitable forum....

Basically im off to naples next october and i was just wondering when should i change my euros into dollars, is the dollar expected to get weaker or stronger angainst the euro..it has got alot stronger in the past year as i can recall you could get over $1.30 for your euro now its down to just over $1.17...
Any help appreciated
Cheers

[scroggs]

You couldn't find a 'suitable place' because there isn't one! We don't have a financial advice forum, though sometimes I think we should...

I think you'll get better information from the financial pages of whatever serious newspapers you can buy where you are than you will here. You might be lucky and find a wannabe who is working at a high level in financial markets, but I have to say I think it's unlikely.

For what it's worth, I believe that the dollar is likely to slowly increase in value against the euro as Europe continues to stagnate economically and America continues in relatively strong growth. How far it will go is anyone's guess, but I doubt we'll get back to the days when the euro and the dollar were at parity.

Just a reminder to all wannabes, wherever you intend to train: whenever you change your money, do not under any circumstances pay your school up front. Make sure your money remains under your control until you have received the services you are paying for. Use an escrow account or a credit card to drip-feed the money to the FTO. That way, if the school goes to the wall, you don't lose all your savings. It's happened many times before...

Scroggs

[conor_mc]

d2k73,

You could put your question to the forum at AskAboutMoney.com (http://www.askaboutmoney.com) for some financial advice, but you'll probably be told that since none of us have a crystal ball, all advice on the direction that the dollar-euro rate will take should be taken with a pinch of salt.

As regards more generic advice (assuming you already have a significant amount saved towards your trip to Naples), if you're happy with the value of the training against the current exchange rate, you could hedge your bets and convert some of your euro's to dollars now. If the rate continues to slide, you'll be glad you did it. If the exchange rate rises again, you'll probably kick yourself but at least you have an accurate budget (i.e. the euro costs) to work from.

Another potential factor to bear in mind is the cost of oil. Recent falls in oil prices are being off-set in Europe by the strengthening dollar. If oil continues to decrease in price, the dollar cost of flying the US may fall sufficiently to make it still worthwhile despite a weakening euro.

Food for thought....