I have $6000 USD what shall I do with it?

patnut

At the moment this is in an international current account earning next to nothing in interest.

Would I be better off exchanging this into £'s & then putting it into a high interest savings account.

Would this be a good time to do so... or shall I wait for a stronger $.

I was thinking of leaving $2000 for when I go on holiday. Would this be a good idea?

Thanks for any advice much appreciated.

cheerfulcat

Hi, patnut,

As I see it, you have several choices.

• Leave the money where it is, earning no interest, but available for spending in the US when on holiday.
• Leave the money where it is, awaiting a better exchange rate
• Move the lot into a US dollar deposit account paying a highish rate ( 4.5% - this option makes sense if you are likely to need US dollars within the next few years )
• Leave $2000 in the current/deposit account and exchange the rest for £
• Exchange the whole lot now

What you decide to do depends partly on whether you will be wanting to use US dollars within the next couple of years. It also depends on whether you are likely to need to have the money available here; if you don't have an emergency fund built up in sterling I would suggest that it would be best to exchange it all now. TBH I think that trying to time the market isn't worth it.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

cmacneil

Hi -

This question is sort of along the same lines. Apologies if it's already been discussed in another thread.

I have a requirement for a USD account and Euro account. I want to be able to deposit cash and occasionally cheques in those currencies. I'd like to have a debit card (although not mandatory) and withdraw cash in those currencies from time to time. The USD account could have around $5,000 in it and the Euro account around €2,000. The accounts will be funded from time to time from my GBP account and I'll need access to cash within 30 days on an irregular basis.

So, what options are available to me? While I don't necessarily require an offshore account, I did look at the Lloyds TSB Offshore option. The interest rate is miserable - less than 1%. I asked about Money Markets, which have a more attractive rate of return, but their initial deposit requirements are much higher than I can afford now. A previous poster has suggested Alliance & Leicester (above 4%) which looks good.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Chris