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Inheritance in euros - what to do


im so stressed about what to do as this is life changing and I’m terrified of making a mistake.
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If you had inherited £250k you would not be looking to do a bit of currency speculation.If the currency moved by 10% would that make real difference to what you would do, I doubt it.Currency markets are not like stock markets, basically more time in the stock market can make up any drop. Today’s euro/pound might be the best it is ever again.1
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Unless you have an address in a Euro country, you are unlikely to be able to open any Euro accounts that pay interest. As a UK resident, you can open a Starling Euro account, but this pays 0% interest. Interest rates in Euro accounts are generally lower than Sterling rates.
What’s best for you to do depends entirely on your plans for the money. If your FA (who I hope is an IFA) suggests to transfer the lot to the UK, they presumably are recommending this because they know that this fits best with your requirements.
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Or given the weak exchange rate , should I exchange it ?
Not sure why you think it is weak?
For the past 5 years the value of One Pound has effectively moved within a band of €1.10 to €1.20, which is not that much over such a long period.
For the past 18 months it has been between €1.12 and €1.16, which in exchange rate terms is very stable.
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A few years ago, I had husband's pension in US dollars in Hong Kong. I investigated at the time, but the easiest way was to ask pension fund to change to Sterling and transfer it to my bank in UK. I am sure it was all done through HSBC bank in Hong Kong. I got a favourable rate at the time, and was more than I expected in Sterling.1
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Mar2505123 said:Hello, I have inherited over 300k in euros and I am unsure of the best way to exchange it. Or given the weak exchange rate , should I exchange it ? Am I able to open euro savings accounts or my FA says exchange it to sterling, take what I’m given and put it into savings here as at least I’m earning interest.
im so stressed about what to do as this is life changing and I’m terrified of making a mistake.I'm reluctant to suggest anything but you could send it to a Wise euro account you can earn interest by investing it in a Blackrock money market type fund (very short dated, high quality bonds) but Wise isn't a bank and your capital will be at (low) risk. Is it worth the risk for just 3.66%, though?
https://wise.com/gb/interest/
You could look in the Channel Islands e.g., Lloyds International but you won't be covered by the FSCS but rather Jersey's deposit insurance scheme. Again, for c.3.5%.0 -
Where is the money now? Has it already been paid into an account? Is it a cheque? Is it awaiting your instructions?
However you do it, get it into GBP and then go from there. After that: pension, investments, savings.1 -
Mar2505123 said:my FA says exchange it to sterling, take what I’m given and put it into savings here as at least I’m earning interest.
Sterling has been pretty low vs the euro since late 2015 so you will get a lot more pounds out of your euros than you would have done a couple of decades ago.1 -
woolly_wombat said:Mar2505123 said:my FA says exchange it to sterling, take what I’m given and put it into savings here as at least I’m earning interest.
Sterling has been pretty low vs the euro since late 2015 so you will get a lot more pounds out of your euros than you would have done a couple of decades ago.
One point worth mentioning, if the OP regularly take holidays in the Eurozone, it would make sense to hang on to some Euros for future spending money ( saving on forex charges) whilst the Wise account mentioned by Wmb194 would ensure those funds attract some interest return.
Finally although the OP maybe a saver rather than investment orientated, there is an investment case for holding euros ( and indeed dollars ) as a separate asset class as part of a diversified portfolio. After all realised currency gains still remain CGT exempt ( a gift originally reserved for non doms but later extended to the wider tax paying public).0 -
Yes indeed, Brexit did the OP a big favour in weakening the pound from a high of 1.43 euros in November 2015
When I worked I was always very conscious of the £/€ exchange rate and that €1.43 rate was causing all sorts of problems with import/export as most companies saw a rate around €1.30 as more realistic. IIRC the rate did move down towards that level even before the Brexit surprise result.
Also don't forget how sterling dropped as low as 1.12 euros to the pound following the Truss budget in 2022.As mentioned in an earlier post, despite some blips the £/€ rate has been trading within a relatively small range for some time now.
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