Pulaski

That's just stupid. Almost exactly the same number of people have moved money into the UK and benefited by the same amount as those who lost.

Bermudashorts

I have spent 25 years working in multi currency environment, in a reporting capacity and also hedging currency exposures and I can assure you FX rates can and do move 18% on a regular albeit not daily basis. It is also rare indeed for a currency to permanently devalue, you really only see this in barking mad despot regimes. The £ will rise again, I am certain of it. In the short term though yes it is a bit of a pain and something I shall have to bear in mind when considering my holiday spends in Disneyland next May.

nun

I don't have any money in the UK. I had a UK inheritance in 2014, but transferred the money to the US asap and got around $1.6 to the pound. I'm loving the inexpensive pound now as it makes my voluntary NIC contributions cheaper, but it won't be so good when I start to receive UK state pension.

mrken30

Just watch the pound decline when North Sea oil runs out or the financial services move to Frankfurt. Not something that's likely to happen, but who knows. Wasn't sterling still on the Gold standard in 1915 , and was probably "the" reserve currency.
Expecting sterling to reach $2 is as likely as it reaching $4 again, probably never.
I agree there will be ups and downs, but it has been around $1.30 for too long now.

Pulaski

Just under 3 months is "too long"?

AdobePinon

Seems like the sensible thing would be to convert your GBP to Dairy Milk bars. Upon shipping them to the US, you can set your own net effective exchange rate by selling to the famished BE masses.

mrken30

It's not like a one off moment like the Norman Lamont event. June to October is 4 months with no real sign of changing. When was the last time it was this low for this period of time with a negative outlook and no war to pay for?

Bermudashorts

When rates bobble around all over the place. Chill.

Mangaboy84

so since i need to add my savings to my future wife's I-864 and if i leave them in the UK bank do i just use the daily exchange rate when i fill out the forms or is there a set rate that i could use from like the IRS?

mrken30

Is it usual for a currency to drop over 40% against the USD in the space of less than 10 years? The pound has fallen from over $2 to around $1.20. It may take a while to get back up to $2. I don't see it happening anytime soon.

MidAtlantic

Usual, no, but it happens.

In the 1980s it was as high as $2.45 and as low as $1.04, a drop of 57%.

mrken30

the 80's involved some currency manipulation strategies such as the Plaza accord and Louvre Accord. I haven't heard of anything in the pipeline apart from maybe the Yuan.

Also the dollar was gaining on most major currencies in the early 80's not just GBP. This may happen again with the US being the only player raising rates

Pulaski

You can't take one outlying value figure, of $2, and pretend that it is "normal" and then use that value to rationalize that another outlying number, such as the current $1.25, is "abnormal".

In truth the spike in sterling upto $2 was as irrational as the current slump, and IMO both are only temporary deviations from the $1.60 mark around which sterling has drifted, above and below, for the past 30+ years. I have very little doubt that sterling will return to the same $1.60 +/- 20¢ range within a few years.

mrken30

True $2 was high for the pound, it only really got to this level several times in the 90's and 2000's. I thought the average over past 30 years was more like $1.75 +/- 20c. Still looking at history , such a steep decline over period of 10 years is not normal without external factors.

Pulaski

Well between 1980 and 1985, the rate dropped steadily and relentlessly from over $2.40 almost down to parity, but that didn't stop it bouncing back to $1.80 by 1988, and close to $2 again by 1992.