Storing foreign currency

Quickblood

I have never been on holiday and the way things are going I may never get one but I thought I might as well do my research. If they exchange rate is really good and I kinda want to hold onto some holiday money for when I may eventually get to go, do I have to get it in cash or can I store some foreign currency in a bank account or a digital wallet somewhere?

Alan_Bowen

Are we talking about £500 or so? if so, it is a complete waste to time speculating whether you would get a few extra Euro buying now than in 2 years time, meanwhile depriving yourself of the use of the money. As you have never been abroad so far, it doesn't appear to  be high on your list of priorities, paying that money to buy next weeks groceries seems like a much better idea

Quickblood

No going abroad wasn't but it is now, if they allow it Europe is definitely happening this year. Wasn't so much thinking about Euros or Dollars they look pretty stable but for example Brazilian reals would be something to buy assuming I can get away in December and as I'm not struggling to buy groceries, that money was just going into savings.

Voyager2002

Latin American countries generally have high inflation and depreciating currencies. Anyone with Brazilian reals in cash would be wise to exchange them for dollars, pounds, Euro... Anyone with pounds who buys Brazilian reals to hold for longer than a day has an individual view of what is likely to happen.

NoodleDoodleMan

You might want to investigate a money card, like Caxton FX - the currency you buy online is stored at that amount for future use.

Some let you convert the funds you have in credit to another currency at the prevailing FX rates.

Not everybody likes them, opinions differ - and this is not a recommendation for them in general, or any specific brand.

Make sure you read terms and conditions.

Quickblood

NoodleDoodleMan said:

You might want to investigate a money card, like Caxton FX - the currency you buy online is stored at that amount for future use.

Some let you convert the funds you have in credit to another currency at the prevailing FX rates.

Not everybody likes them, opinions differ - and this is not a recommendation for them in general, or any specific brand.

Make sure you read terms and conditions.

Brilliant, thanks very much!

vacheron

Quickblood said:

No going abroad wasn't but it is now, if they allow it Europe is definitely happening this year. Wasn't so much thinking about Euros or Dollars they look pretty stable but for example Brazilian reals would be something to buy assuming I can get away in December and as I'm not struggling to buy groceries, that money was just going into savings.

As the Real has been steadily weakening for the last 5 years, what makes you believe that if you buy now you will have timed the peak? 

If it keeps rising then you could be far better off doing nothing and buying before you travel, or just using a foreign currency card while you're out there. 

As with most things it will be a purely speculative punt. But if that interests you, and you don't mind the risk, then why not give it a go!

DCFC79

Just dont bother, a waste of money buying the Real.

NoodleDoodleMan

I should have mentioned  - these money cards tend to impose a dormancy fee if not used over a certain period of time.

Check the Ts&Cs if you are looking at any of them.

Sandtree

You can open UK bank accounts in various currencies but the likes of Euro or USD are more common and many arent free so only worth doing if you are going to store material sums of money. 

Currency speculation over a long timescale is hard to do and whilst any form of betting can be fun its probably not the best use of time/efforts. 

I've only done well out of exchange rates once and that was when I accidently left £1,000 of currency at home and markets tanked so was worth a fair bit more than the £1k when I transferred it back to GBP... wouldnt recommend it as a tactic though.