eurospound rate is rubbish
inaperfectworld
Posts: 219
I bought some euros at 1.25/80 pence earlier this year. now the rate is about 1.14/87 pence. This is supposed to be a failed currency, a project which could never work, we are always being told the eurozone is a mess, so why is the exchange rate so poor with the pound?
I know financial markets are complex and not always rational but if the euro is a turkey it is a very big one
At conversion some 10 years ago the euro was 5 euros to three pounds or 63 pence.
I reckon my spending other than travel for my next trip is about 500 euros or £440, but if the pound wasn't rubbish against the euro it would be £310
I know financial markets are complex and not always rational but if the euro is a turkey it is a very big one
At conversion some 10 years ago the euro was 5 euros to three pounds or 63 pence.
I reckon my spending other than travel for my next trip is about 500 euros or £440, but if the pound wasn't rubbish against the euro it would be £310
0
Comments
-
looked at the UK recently?inaperfectworld wrote:I bought some euros at 1.25/80 pence earlier this year. now the rate is about 1.14/87 pence. This is supposed to be a failed currency, a project which could never work, we are always being told the eurozone is a mess, so why is the exchange rate so poor with the pound?"Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
Parktools :?:SheldonBrown0 -
inaperfectworld wrote:I bought some euros at 1.25/80 pence earlier this year. now the rate is about 1.14/87 pence. This is supposed to be a failed currency, a project which could never work, we are always being told the eurozone is a mess, so why is the exchange rate so poor with the pound?
I know financial markets are complex and not always rational but if the euro is a turkey it is a very big one
At conversion some 10 years ago the euro was 5 euros to three pounds or 63 pence.
I reckon my spending other than travel for my next trip is about 500 euros or £440, but if the pound wasn't rubbish against the euro it would be £310
There's a lot of truth in this. The current market rate is 1.18. We get about 1.17 when we bring over good size amounts from the UK (we get paid in pounds, costs in Euros).
Lets see; Greece - utterly f**ked, Italy - in a right mess, Spain 27% unemployment and utterly broke, Ireland - recovering but from a very low place, France - sliding inexorably down a slippery slope of socialist ideals that don't work. Ex - Yugo states not doing well either.
The only country doing alright is Germany.
It is a mystery to me as to why the Euro hasn't collapsed. It's not just strong against the pound, but the dollar and other currrencies too.0 -
Bankers know that if the Euro was to crash then the whole worldwide market would have a major dip too.
Artificially kept high for selfish reasons - self preservation.None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.0 -
Britain as a whole owes a pretty scary amount of money. Add it all up, and we're in a pretty close scrap with the Japanese for the "Who's In Deepest" contest. We also have the rather awkward issue of a large percentage of that debt not being in transparent, easy-to-spot, just-the-one-borrower Government debt, but instead lurking about in the financial sector and (more scarily, IMHO, because no politician has the balls to even mention it, let alone think about dealing with it) household debt.
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/4060/economics/total-uk-debt/Mangeur0 -
daviesee wrote:Bankers know that if the Euro was to crash then the whole worldwide market would have a major dip too.
Artificially kept high for selfish reasons - self preservation.
to an extent. the ecb are players in the forex market for starters and can sure up any issues, but more importantly its still strong as the ecb control interest rates and maintain low inflation in the eurozone relative to the BoE and UK's level to keep the currecny strong. if the problems continue, the EUR should relaly drop further, as relative to its history its still trading well, indeed its some way above levels when it first was adopted.
ultimately it would be beneficial for the struggling countries to devalue and leave but this would screw ze germans up as at the moment with the EUR there currency is massively undervalued and they would be negatively impacted as exports would rise massivley in cost.0 -
all the big players are equally worse off, if you look at the smaller developed countries, CAD, AUD, NZD i thnik they have done ok relative to the EUR.0
-
inaperfectworld wrote:This is supposed to be a failed currency, a project which could never work, we are always being told the eurozone is a mess, so why is the exchange rate so poor with the pound?
I know financial markets are complex and not always rational but if the euro is a turkey it is a very big one
who tells us this? our Government of the day does, thats who and what do they do to "kick start" our way to growth? - introduce cheap debt to homeowners who cant get a deposit ! exactly what got us into this mess.
What do we make? export to the world? fuug all really, i m just amazed the £/E is nt at parity or worse.
I long for the day when you got 10francs to the £ and a decent hotel and meal would be a few quid, the euro, even at its intro rate, scuppered all that!0 -
dont worry mamba, if it collapses those days will return...well not necessarily 10 francs to a pound, but certainly the rest of club med will be a damn site cheaper for us in the UK.0
-
mamba80 wrote:who tells us this? our Government of the day does, thats who and what do they do to "kick start" our way to growth? - introduce cheap debt to homeowners who cant get a deposit ! exactly what got us into this mess.
What do we make? export to the world? fuug all really, i m just amazed the £/E is nt at parity or worse.
I long for the day when you got 10francs to the £ and a decent hotel and meal would be a few quid, the euro, even at its intro rate, scuppered all that!
You may think the UK economy isn't doing that well, but compared to Spain and Greece, it's a bed of roses......0 -
Even better to be earning in Swiss francs and spending in Euros
0 -
Spain is so broke, in the time ive lived here ive seen the good times and the bad times and the bad times are nowhere near where we are now, this place is so finished and corrupt. The scary thing i find is that the government have no idea how bad the problem is and the ammount of money owed nobody will ever know or get an honest answer as they are lie to one another. I had a fair few euros in cash laying about and changed them all to pounds as im not sure how long its going to be about but i think the pound is at least a safer bet for my savings. No idea why its so strong still. Im banking on it falling through the floor then changing it back from uk and paying my morgage off. Wont happen i guess but you never know. Another thing here in spain we have all had to declare to the government as of 31st dec what money we have in what accoubts and assets outside of spain, so i think when they do a greece they will take a chunk from everyone even if the money is held in another country. So they think well there wont be a thing in my bank for them to take come next year. In my little town (sa pobla many of you will know it) its not the prettiest place but when you live there it grows on you. Four years ago there was lots of shops and bars and stuff and now there is virtually none, everything bust and shut down. Never seen anything like it, very sad. When the mess gets dealt with id love to see some positivity out here, been going on so long now. One thing spain has in its favour there is not much personal unsecured debt in spain as you were never allowed it. Lots of repossesions etc and houses being taken but like the uk many have tens of thousands on credit cards, here is spain they dont. If you wanted a loan from the bank to get even 1000 euros required so much paper work contracts, dna sample, sperm sample, god knows what else so many people never got into debt. They dont have any money but they dont have much debt, its the govenrment thats fuked it all up for them as they were pretty resposible, but the government in spain should all be shot as they have robbed and cheated the country out of billions in corrupt staff. Also the black market in spain is so big tons of cash dont get into the economy and never will.0
-
Pretty good assessment Jeff, if a bit depressing! France is rapidly heading the same way and Hollande is giving it a good shove in the wrong direction. Although France too has low levels of personal debt.
I would imagine that Majorca has resisted the recession slightly better than mainland Spain, so god only knows what it's like there.......
I think you did well to change some cash into £, if only out of security. It's beyond my comprehension why the Euro is as strong as it is, (and the stock markets come to that). Like you say, I don't think the city traders can see quite how bad it is on the ground, and are acting as if we are completely out of the woods, which are not, not by a long shot.
France is pinning it's hopes on growth next year (they've given up on it for this year), but I just cannot see it. If anything I see the recession deepening, (more negative growth).0 -
Berni i echo your sentiments entirely. Im sure outside of each of these countries the real world has no idea, some of our local governments are hundreds of millions in debt and were talking just little towns with literally hundreds or a few thousand residents and each one is hundreds of millions in debt, how on earth they let that happen is beyond comprehension, mallorca has got through far better due to the wider audience that come here (lots of germans of course) so they are doing better here than mainland by miles. Valencia is an absolute nightmare, i was going to move there before i moved so i had a very close call. The problem here too much like france but it must be worse here is its so seasonal. They shut the country at the end of summer more or less, or it feels that way. Other than weather im not sure what spain has to offer? Some olive oil and a few donkey skin handbags and that seems to be their entire gdp?
Who knows, all i know is id love to live in your chateau!
I think if we keep our heads down and hope for the best it seems thats the only option we have at the moment. But i do always ask myself
do i regret moving to spain? No
My house has fallen in value but am i selling? No
Would i like to live back in the uk? No
Do i have a good quality of life here? Yes
Thats all that matters at the end of the day. Im not interested in cars or obssesed with material objects like the majority in the uk keeping up with the joneses on credit cards, never have never will, here offers me as much sun and cycling as i could need which at the moment suits me fine, might as well enjoy it as theres bugger all we can do about the rest of it.
Still have no idea why the euro is so strong though? Im rambling off topic, stuck on a saturday night while the mrs is driving me up the wall watching stupid ghost programmes on the telly.0 -
When I first came to Germany, The pound was worth 1-3 against the Deutschmark. It was so cheap to live here being paid in pound sterling. When the Euro cam in, all the shops changed a DM for a € but kept the numbers the same. Overnight everything pretty much doubled in price. Whereas the German wage has increased along side to keep prices roughly the same, being paid pounds and paying German prices is expensive. Thank God for Tax-free shopping!!!0
-
Easier to read.mallorcajeff wrote:Spain is so broke, in the time I've lived here i've seen the good times and the bad times and the bad times are nowhere near where we are now, this place is so finished and corrupt. The scary thing i find is that the government have no idea how bad the problem is and the amount of money owed nobody will ever know or get an honest answer as they are lie to one another.
I had a fair few euros in cash laying about and changed them all to pounds as i'm not sure how long its going to be about but i think the pound is at least a safer bet for my savings. No idea why its so strong still. I'm banking on it falling through the floor then changing it back from uk and paying my mortgage off. Won't happen i guess but you never know.
Another thing here in spain we have all had to declare to the government as of 31st dec what money we have in what accounts and assets outside of spain, so i think when they do a greece they will take a chunk from everyone even if the money is held in another country. So they think well there won't be a thing in my bank for them to take come next year. In my little town (sa pobla many of you will know it) its not the prettiest place but when you live there it grows on you.
Four years ago there was lots of shops and bars and stuff and now there is virtually none, everything bust and shut down. Never seen anything like it, very sad. When the mess gets dealt with i'd love to see some positivity out here, been going on so long now. One thing Spain has in its favour there is not much personal unsecured debt in spain as you were never allowed it. Lots of repossessions etc and houses being taken but like the uk many have tens of thousands on credit cards, here is spain they don't.
If you wanted a loan from the bank to get even 1000 euros required so much paperwork contracts, dna sample, sperm sample, god knows what else so many people never got into debt. They don't have any money but they don't have much debt, its the govenrment thats fuked it all up for them as they were pretty responsible, but the government in Spain should all be shot as they have robbed and cheated the country out of billions in corrupt staff. Also the black market in spain is so big tons of cash don't get into the economy and never will.0 -
mallorcajeff wrote:
Berni i echo your sentiments entirely. I'm sure outside of each of these countries the real world has no idea, some of our local governments are hundreds of millions in debt and were talking just little towns with literally hundreds or a few thousand residents and each one is hundreds of millions in debt, how on earth they let that happen is beyond comprehension. Mallorca has got through far better due to the wider audience that come here (lots of Germans of course) so they are doing better here than mainland by miles.
Valencia is an absolute nightmare, i was going to move there before i moved so i had a very close call. The problem here too much like france but it must be worse here is its so seasonal. They shut the country at the end of summer more or less, or it feels that way. Other than weather i'm not sure what spain has to offer? Some olive oil and a few donkey skin handbags and that seems to be their entire gdp?
Who knows, all i know is i'd love to live in your chateau!
I think if we keep our heads down and hope for the best it seems thats the only option we have at the moment.
But i do always ask myself
Do i regret moving to Spain? No
My house has fallen in value, but am i selling? No
Would i like to live back in the uk? No
Do i have a good quality of life here? Yes
Thats all that matters at the end of the day. I'm not interested in cars or obsessed with material objects like the majority in the uk keeping up with the Joneses on credit cards, never have never will, here offers me as much sun and cycling as i could need which at the moment suits me fine, might as well enjoy it as there's bugger all we can do about the rest of it.
Still have no idea why the euro is so strong though? I'm rambling off topic, stuck on a Saturday night while the Mrs is driving me up the wall watching stupid ghost programmes on the telly.0
