Oz Currency rates

noddy321

I am off to live in Australia soon and have watched the exchange rate drop over the last few months. I only have about 20K to exchange, can anyone please tell me the best way to do this - thank you.

97trophy

open an account with an fx broker, such as HIFX or similar.

Good luck in OZ!

tradetime

noddy321 wrote: »

I am off to live in Australia soon and have watched the exchange rate drop over the last few months. I only have about 20K to exchange, can anyone please tell me the best way to do this - thank you.

If your planning to live there, then afaik you can open an Australian Bank account with out actually living in the country, so I would explore that avenue, with a view of opening an account now and simply transferring my money over there, someone else might have a cheaper way, I don't know, but that's one to consider.

barrooo

Hopefully Generalli will see this post, he moved to Oz not too long ago, so might be your best bet for advice. If not try PMing him.

gozomark

noddy321 wrote: »

I am off to live in Australia soon and have watched the exchange rate drop over the last few months. .

last 3 months
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/15/three_month.stm

Buddy195

noddy321 wrote: »

I am off to live in Australia soon and have watched the exchange rate drop over the last few months. I only have about 20K to exchange, can anyone please tell me the best way to do this - thank you.

HiFX or similar, shame exchange rate has dropped over the last few years. Will be out in Aus in 2010, hoping to see £1 = AU$2.5 by then lol

climbgirl

I send money from the UK to Aus / NZ all the time and I use UKForex. Don't go through a high street bank, they have the worst exchange rates and the highest fees!

A bit of advice - get the account set up and get ready to go at a moment's notice. It takes a few days to get the account set up (id required etc) and the rates have been up and down like a yo-yo since November, fluctuating between 2.4 and 2.8 for the NZD, sometimes within the same week! So makes quite a difference if you're sending large sums. Watch it like a hawk and when it's high you're all set to go!

stv1x

If once you've set up an account in NZ/Oz and transferred the cash over there at a time when the rate is good, what happens if, at some stage later when the exchange rate falls back in your favour the other way, you then send it back to the UK with, potentially, a huge exchange rate profit? Is there a tax liability on this gain?

climbgirl

stv1x wrote: »

If once you've set up an account in NZ/Oz and transferred the cash over there at a time when the rate is good, what happens if, at some stage later when the exchange rate falls back in your favour the other way, you then send it back to the UK with, potentially, a huge exchange rate profit? Is there a tax liability on this gain?

I don't believe there is any tax liability. My friend who holds dual citizenship in two countries has been doing this for a short time and is making a decent amount with the current volatility in the exchange rates.

He hasn't made a high volume of transactions though and they're not for a particularly high amount - maybe tax liability kicks in when you make over a certain amount? I guess the only catch is if the rate tanks when you've got it out of the UK, you could lose a lot bringing it back if you need it here.

stv1x

Thanks for that climbgirl, I've got an account open in Auckland ready for rates to go up (I'm in no rush) and have an account set up with HiFX for the exchange but I can see me actually transferring several times to and from NZ before actually moving there permanently and am unsure of the tax implications.