Saving overseas

welshman83

Hi guys,

A quick question, I have searched but now been even to find any answers.
I have a few £££ that I would like to save (low 6 figures).
I also have around £20k currently invested in individual shares.

What I am hoping to do was to make use of the decent interest rates from around the world.

So I suppose my question would be, is there any easy ways to open accounts in different countries, Places like OZ, Brazil etc.

Thanks

John

King_Of_Bling

welshman83 wrote: »

What I am hoping to do was to make use of the decent interest rates from around the world.

So I suppose my question would be, is there any easy ways to open accounts in different countries, Places like OZ, Brazil etc.

Thanks

John

Very risky, with currency movements wiping out any gains from abroad.

welshman83

Cheers guys, a little food for thought there.
I know the worry of inflation, but i was hoping with some of the more developed counties, especially with OZ, this is less likely to happen.

I suppose the ultimate answer to advise with regards to large amounts is to speak to a IFA.

Thanks

John

atush

If you want to trade currency, open an acct that lets you trade forex. Much easier than opening accts overseas.

The best way to trade in foreign countries is thru shares and investment trusts that trade in those markets so earn in thos markets. For OZ, you want an austrailan fund or a fund or trust that invests in Asian ecomies incl Aus. For brasil, you want a latin american fund or a BRIC emerging markets fund or trust.

I would employ these strategies with your funds that are currently in individual shares (ie the 20K) as forex is risky and pick a spread of investments for your 6 fig sum. Incl things like 15K of NSI ilscs and max out your isas as I presume you are a taxpayer.

Ark_Welder

There are also UCITS-compliant managed funds that will do this too. Performance fees on one of them though...

Porcupine

Let me tell you a story. Sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

Once upon a time I was saving some money for expenses in Euroland. The year was 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had just been released, and Northern Rock was a minor high street bank that nobody had heard of. I looked at the rates I could get in Euroland (3%) and the rates I could get in Blightly (6%), and the fact that the Euro:Pound rate hadn't fluctuated much since the creation of the Euro in 1999. So I put them in a sterling fixed term account at 6.x% (with Icesave, see how I pick all the winners?)

Then something called the credit crunch happened, and Sterling collapsed. By the time I could get it out, my cash which was previously worth 1.5 Euro/Pound was now worth 1.15 Euro/Pound. I just lost a quarter of my money. Oops. After watching the market carefully for some months, I managed to convert back at 1.25. So I made 3% more interest but lost 17% in the exchange rate. Had I timed it wrong I would have lost up to a third.

Stay tuned children for our next thrilling installment, where we find out exactly how dire UK-based Euro accounts are and discover the superior service provided by Mr Mattress: for roughly the same interest rate you can put cash in and out easily, and sending money to people just costs the price of a stamp...

atush

At that time i too had expenses in euroland but stayed in sterling.

I had euro acct at Barclays to pay them but they were dire. Debit card never worked so had to rely on checks. Now have an HSBC euro acct but only slightly better.

i too invested cash in an ex Iceland bank (Kaupthing SF) but did get all my money back plus 5% interest on top.

experience08

atush wrote: »

i too invested cash in an ex Iceland bank (Kaupthing SF) but did get all my money back plus 5% interest on top.

Thank the Lord for Darling

atush

experience08 wrote: »

Thank the Lord for Darling

No, thank Darling for closing a bank that was operating well, unlike it's parent. Darling closed KSF by freezing it's assets to pay off UK customers of it's parent bank. A total disgrace.:mad:

But I got my money back plus interest as I made sure to invest under the mon protected amt.:)

Ark_Welder

atush wrote: »

No, thank Darling for closing a bank that was operating well, unlike it's parent. Darling closed KSF by freezing it's assets to pay off UK customers of it's parent bank. A total disgrace.:mad:

But I got my money back plus interest as I made sure to invest under the mon protected amt.:)

BBC 2008: "The Manx Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) suspended the bank's licence on 8 October after its parent bank Kaupthing was nationalised. "

atush

Yes, but it did because a lot of the cash was in UK banks and the treasury froze the assests as thy didn't recognize they weren't owned by Kaupthing in iceland.

They had no other option but to suspend. as there wasn't working capital.