Re: Sterling in freefall
 

and my pension fund. It's rather ironic that when my pension fund is doing good I have to accept a rotten exchange rate for converting pounds to euros to make a mortgage payment every month.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Ive been told recently that the FTSE doesn't have so much bearing on pension funds now cos the FTSE doesn't include foreign / far east companies and a lot of pension funds removed themselves from many Uk companies in the past

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

That's true Mitzy but all the exchanges follow one another nowadays anyway. If the FTSE100 goes down so does Eurofirst 300, Hang Seng, S&P500 etc.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

And today when the UK GDP figures were twice as good as the market was expecting and the GBP rose immediately and finished nearly 2.5cents up on the EUR since yesterday's low.

I don't think that had much to do with the FTSE's performance today.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

It all depends on who says what at the right or wrong time. :lol:

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Well, I’ve been studying the markets for a long time, of necessity. The two cent rise today happened after two items of good news, and there is more to come.

To project forward, a rise of two cents a day is too high. I’m looking at a one-cent-a-day rise, at least until Christmas, and possibly beyond.

Realistically, by next summer, one good old English pound should fetch two of the shaky Euros, and three of the even more shaky American Dollars.

I’m going to book a round-the-world cruise on the new Queen Elisabeth, Three I think, around April next year. If it all goes wrong, I’m going back to the UK, it doesn’t worry me that much, surprisingly.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Hiya I am new to the fourm but a quick word about exchange rates, for CASH exchange expect 1 pound to get you 1.10 Euros, for an interbank deal expect 1.13 if you are being offered 1.25 Euros per 1 pound today, then please be very carfeul, they are selling you the Euros at a massive loss, and that doesnt happen very often :-) A point of note, following yesterdays UK GDP figure of 0.8% there is less likelihood of a second round of Quant Easing and therefore the pound has strengthened overnight. Kind regards Graham

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Hhhmmmm, nice thought, Mervyn would go some funny colours!!!!, I'm sure something will stop that happening!!!!

Jo xxx

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=Rotor;8870566]I think you must have second sight considering what has happened to Crown

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Olivia, I do hope you didn't lose out when they crashed.

if you, or any others on here did, you may be interested in this group.

Making excellent progress and causing a bit of a stink with some useless, toothless authorities;)

http://www.crowncurrencyactiongroup.org/

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

No. I didn't ever use them many friends at my golf club did. It crashed just at the time large numbers were heading off on their Autumn golf holidays. My Sister in law used them for a couple of years and was full of praise for their service. She had nothing outstanding. I came close but they would only deliver to the home not work so that stopped me using them. There was also always that too good to be true element.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

A reflection of my own thoughts! Firstly can I suggest you Google for a short video called "Money As Debt". I don't think it's more than 15 mins long. It may open your eyes to how banks operate and how they have brought us to a state of collapse! How right you are - yes they use OUR deposits to gamble the markets. In my old days as an IFA, clients would say that their "money was safe in the bank" and no - they would not want the risk of stock markets! Today, if you put money on the markets you do at least get the upside if there is any but with the bank you only get the down side! As more and more tax payers' money is pumped into the banks whilst none is lent out and whilst huge bonuses continue to operate, one has to ask what hidden agenda in fact operates behind the scenes because, as a financial man myself, I simple cannot make any sense of things in spite of reading numerous books on the subject. Perhaps it is the bankers that rule and the politicians are compelled to do their bidding? Money does talk!

Moving back to our exchange rate misery (I have nearly as many € mortgages as fingers on my left hand! One might feel that England is in a state of collapse as refected by the € exchange rate and be inclined to liquidate everything English possible. However there is another thought. Devaluation and breakup of the Euro zone. If France, Holland and Germany continue with a "strong euro" whilst the PIGS break away and readopt their old currencies there could be some dramatic consequencies. Firstly all the cash in our Spanish banks would be devalued BUT so would all our mortgages AND the value of our property - but the latter not for long - Spanish property would be seriously cheap and this alone might rekindle the market from hard currency buyers and even the English! That could be very good news for us. But here are a couple of thoughts - (i) devaluations are NEVER announced in advance (cf Mexicos botched devaluation some years ago). You'd wake up on Mon (or Thur) morning and there it would be! (ii) a €50 note looks the same in Germand as Spain. I suspect that all cash would be valued at the German rate - there's the best arguement to keep all you cash under the bed!

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Ominous noises are coming from Ireland. Hard to tell if this will help or hinder sterling though - apparently UK banks (especially RBS) are heavily exposed to the Irish market. Can the UK govt (ie the taxpayer) afford another massive bailout? Or will failed banks be allowed to go under (unfortunately the UK govt have guaranteed account moneys). I suspect the UK govt will help to bail out Ireland, not through choice but through necessity. Vamos a ver...

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Whatever the outcome of the Irish 'situation', it should certainly have signifigant impact on the UK economy I should think.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

See what the experts say ;) (Oct 7th 2010)
Got a good rate on my FX exchange too.