damn.......just lost 12% on our savings :(

[Guest zamunda]

We live in Southern Africa and the local currency lost 12% to the Oz$. I am sooo pissed off

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Think about it this was - when you are moving somewhere, you're not 'changing your money' into the other currency, you are buying it (as if the Australian Dollar was cat food, or carrots, or gold - ie a commodity, not money).

 

Would your brain think you have lost, say $100,000, because housing prices have risen over the past 5 years? Probably not - you might think 'oh, it would be ncie if houses still cost the same, but there you go' - try and think the same way with currency - yes it would be nice if it was still a really high exchange rate, but the markets have changed (as has the housing market) and it just costs more now. You have to shop around a bit as well to find the best person to buy those dollars off as well we found.

 

I do empathise as we could have funded things so so much easier with a more favourable exchange rate, (as we only have a very small amount of money it really does make a massive difference to us, as £100 either way makes more a difference if you only have £1000 really) but at the end of the day, thats just the way the market is now, same way as housing prices have shot up. Ce la vie

[Guest zamunda]

Think about it this was - when you are moving somewhere, you're not 'changing your money' into the other currency, you are buying it (as if the Australian Dollar was cat food, or carrots, or gold - ie a commodity, not money).

 

Would your brain think you have lost, say $100,000, because housing prices have risen over the past 5 years? Probably not - you might think 'oh, it would be ncie if houses still cost the same, but there you go' - try and think the same way with currency - yes it would be nice if it was still a really high exchange rate, but the markets have changed (as has the housing market) and it just costs more now. You have to shop around a bit as well to find the best person to buy those dollars off as well we found.

 

I do empathise as we could have funded things so so much easier with a more favourable exchange rate, (as we only have a very small amount of money it really does make a massive difference to us, as £100 either way makes more a difference if you only have £1000 really) but at the end of the day, thats just the way the market is now, same way as housing prices have shot up. Ce la vie

 

Thanks. I do agree and you are quite correct. We have to change our way of looking at it.

 

Guess after all the hard work to see a loss is quite difficult to take in. But as my father says...."there is still life after....".