Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

cathmerrick

Wonder if anyone could give me some advice I need to get some money from Spain to the UK after selling my home and returning. I want to know how to get the cash back to the UK the quickest, safest and cheapest way to me.

Everyone seems to want a slice of the money and I have paid so much out already in tax and fees etc it is quickly dwindling and I seem to be losing my capital that I have to buy a home back in the UK/:question:

donny-gal

There are two main companies Moneycorp and Currencies Direct, I used both to get money out to Spain when buying ours, and to be honest preferred the former. Short of coming through customs with a suitcase full of cash cannot think of another way, unless you are with Halifax or Santander Banks in both England and Spain and they may do a cheap transfer.
DG

donny-gal

I know some of you watch this closer than I, but it has dropped from 1.15 when I got here at the end of January to 1.103 today:mad:. Is it the damn election? As I am returning to France + Spain in June/July I am just wondering whether to get now as I was thinking when it was 1.15 or is it just a blip?:(
DG

droopsnout

Hi, D-G.

The latest fall was due to worries that the election could result in a hung parliament. Goodness knows what it would have fallen to if the euro hadn't itself been weak!! The pound did actually fall to 1.09-and-a-bit yesterday. I didn't post cos I was told off for being gloomy when I last did that!!

There has also been a mention that the Pru may have to sell £35 million in order to buy the dollars it needs to purchase the Asian business of AIG, the American insurer which is in trouble. Some say that such a sale of sterling would result in its value decreasing. Personally, I would have thought that £35 million is pretty small beer, internationally speaking, these days.

Mind you, I'd be very happy indeed with just 1% of that!

benichembla

It's has to be only a matter of time before we see 1.15+, it's a fight between Sterling and the Euro as to who is in the deepest, Sterling is Govenment and Election related, where the Euro has BIG Deep problems so will loose out in the long term.

droopsnout

My apologies for getting one letter wrong in my last post. The £35 million I referred to should actually have been £35 BILLION!

Which means, of course, that the beer isn't so small!

I don't recall seeing previous posts here from benichembla, so would like to extend to you a welcome to the thread. I also hope that you are very right!!

gfplux

I am driving from Luxembourg to 83 in France on Sunday. Returning on the 19th.
I have some garden work to do. Having been working on my garden in Luxembourg today at just above freezing hopefully it will be warmer in the South of France.

On the £ V € debate. There was a FRONT page headline in the Wednesday 3rd March issue of the Herald tribune "UK teeters on the brink of its own fiscal tragedy" It did not make for encouraging reading for holders of ££££'s The article clearly suggests that the UK is in a bad way only a little better than Greece.
Here is the link to the same article in the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/business/global/03pound.html

The New York Times owns the International herald Tribune.

droopsnout

Thanks, gfplux.

An illuminating, if very discouraging, article.

I don't know whether to go with benichembla or gfplux. There's only one way to find out ... [Harry Hill reference ]

Well, enjoy your gardening in 83. It got up to 20 degrees when I was there during the first week of February. Mind you, it snowed after that ...

gfplux

PETROL PRICES.

On Sunday I drove from Luxembourg to the South of France (83) 940k. Sticking to the speed limits in France I was able to do this on one tank of fuel (diesel)
Having paid 91 cents a litre for diesel in Luxembourg I noticed on the French Motorways that the price was around €1.20. (diesel)
This morning I filled my diesel tank at the Elf station in San Peire, Les Issambres (83360) at €1.088.
I also noted that petrol was 95 - €1.322 and 98 - 1.344.
So remember when travelling in France buy your fuel off the motorway.
In Luxembourg the price is fixed by the Government so the prices are the same at all stations.

droopsnout

In France, always fill up at the supermarket. In this area, Intermarch! is generally cheapest. We did notice in February that fuel seemed cheaper on the Riviera than it is here. Diesel here the other day was 1,11€.

At all costs (!) avoid filling up on the motorway. It's like in the UK: the dearest place for fuel.

Edit: Note to mods. It's about time the e-acute accent thing was fixed! How can it be used in a naughty word? Not being able to use e-acute is !!!!!!! silly!