JLFS

Of course, they always make, but if you just sit on it nobody gains, so what is a better alternative?

jdr

Simple, spend it now and get a better quality of life, you are dead for a long while.

JLFS

Well there is that of course, but I kinda get a buzz by moving the same money about, it is sort of a challenge.

And if my marida knew she would demand the dosh for shoes and handbags. so how would that help me get a better quality of life?

jdr

A happy wife = a happy husband

missile

My savings accounts currently earn 4.00% or better.

JLFS

She is happy enough, if she had more shoes and handbags, that would only lead to more grief, because now there is hardly any room to put the damn things, it is OK if we dont have guests to say, but if we do, and we have to give them a bit of wardrobe space.....thats when the trouble starts.

JLFS

I would rather shift it because once the market has shifted over and above the 2ish point difference in the buy and sell price then each points are worth around a tenner for every thousand being moved.
And you can transfer anytime there is a shift big enough to take advantage of.

steviedeluxe

I'm looking forward to the day JLFS writes a book about his "domestics". His posts often strike a chord.

Dick Dasterdly

JLFS has got it right.
These women need to be kept under control.
Women are never satisfied, the more shoes and handbags they get,then the more they want.
More shoes handbags and the rest in no time at all need much more space, eventually a bigger house, then a bigger house still.
Think Mrs Marcos.
Much more fun and satisfaction playing the money markets and having your cake and eating it.

JLFS

I am sure that there are plenty on this forum who are in the same boat, regarding storage space, and the trouble is we live in a flat so and extention is out of the question.

Any tips in that department would be of great value.

bobd22

Johnnyone makes a good point; the BoE Committee was divided, but it is anticipated they will raise the Base Rate, next time

I fear you forget 1 thing Mervyn King, he will decide when intrest rates go up and I doubt it will be soon. There was speculation in the papers of another rise by the ECB so surely that will make it worse for sterling. Of course other side is ok Germany France Dutch can cope with higher intrest but what about the countries that are bust? can they, can't see how it can work for them.
Was it not Biggleswade that used to post a lot on ghe financial situation?

missile

Even with hindsight, looking at the exchange rates, I don't see where you could make better than 4.00% return on your £1000.

I would be interested to see some real examples. i.e dates when you bought and sold, what was the spread and transaction charges?

JLFS

1 May 2011 8:11:07 PM Sell Amount GBP 5,369.13 Buy Amount EUR 6,000.00 Our Rate GBP/EUR 1.1175 (0.8949
Current Date & Time 1 May 2011 8:13:38 PM Sell Amount EUR 6,123.40 Buy Amount GBP 5,369.00 Our Rate EUR/GBP 0.8768 (1.1405)

Here is an example of the spread, always the same, I am not doing live forex trading, which of course is a much lower spread, what I do is wait for a shift in the market which of course has to be greater than the 123.40 difference between the 2 amounts. ie 1.1175 to -1.1405 which is eaten by the broker, any bigger than that is 10 quid ish for each point per grand ie 1.1405 to 1.1505

just one example is

23/1/09 6000 euros bought 5605.80 pounds .934

5/2/09 5606 pounds bought 6288.27 euros 1.1229

288 euros up on the transaction.

bakedbean

They are both weak currencies now. Everyone knows the problems with the Euro. The UK has so much debt (and the US even worse) so just depends if either country manages to ride it out somehow.

steviedeluxe

Yes, that name rings a bell. Could well have been Biggleswade.

I'm afraid Mervyn King has announced that the UK economy is in too much debt, so interest rates should not be raised for a long time...

I've not looked at the exchange rate for a while - it seemed to have previously settled around 1 euro 16 for each pound. Today I looked and it's now just 1 Euro 11