Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 One of the things preying on my mind is the worry that we might be in for a big lump of inflation, particularly in building materials prices, if the pound drops significantly against the euro in the not too distant future, say if a “no-deal” Brexit [¹] because more likely in October or whenever. My capital is currently just sitting in a bank savings account (with a bit in ISAs). An obvious hedge might be to buy some euros. Very irritating that it's a 400 mile round trip to my nearest bank branch to talk to somebody about the mechanics of doing that. Any other thoughts? [¹] Please, let's not get side-tracked on the pros or cons of Brexits or deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Is there no bank left in Wick or Thurso? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bissoejosh Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 How about using an online currency broker? https://www.hifx.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerbJ Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 We have an apartment in Spain and have to have an Spanish Bank for managing all out outgoings and bills in Spain. We have tried lots of different routes for transferring funds from £ sterling to euros over the years with varying degrees of success and exchange cost We have been using Transferwise for the past 6 months or so. It works very well, with low fees. It provides proper bank accounts for £sterling, euros and US$.. Good apps for a completely online service. We also have a REVOLUT card, which is provides an additional route for cheap currency exchange.. Both work investigating and easy to set up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alphonsox Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 30 minutes ago, Ed Davies said: My capital is currently just sitting in a bank savings account (with a bit in ISAs). An obvious hedge might be to buy some euros. Buying Euros opens you up to currency risk which may come back to bite you if Brexit goes smoothly. Currently a Euro will cost you £0.91, immediately before the brexit vote you would have paid around £0.81. What happens to your cash if the exchange rate drops back ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) 56 minutes ago, ProDave said: Is there no bank left in Wick or Thurso? I'm currently with NatWest so RBS would be the obvious one to talk to but the RBS in Lybster closed a year ago and the one in Wick's gone or going very soon (not sure). There's one in Thurso, at least for now so could talk to them or maybe BoS or whatever in Wick. AFAIK nearest NatWest is in Aberdeen. Edited August 28, 2018 by Ed Davies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 26 minutes ago, Alphonsox said: What happens to your cash if the exchange rate drops back ? Indeed, always a gamble. OTOH, the price of timber seems to have risen about 10% in the mean time which I suspect is largely a result of £/€ rates so it'd only be like buying some timber futures at the wrong time. Can't really see it getting “worse” (if one has €) than it was pre-referendum but can easily see the possibility of it going a lot further the other way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visti Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Alphonsox said: Buying Euros opens you up to currency risk which may come back to bite you if Brexit goes smoothly. Currently a Euro will cost you £0.91, immediately before the brexit vote you would have paid around £0.81. What happens to your cash if the exchange rate drops back ? It is a risk, but that is the cornerstone of the Fx industry... Hedging ones bets. It's not a safe bet, and one your bank is unlikely to council you on (high standard banks standard policy is to give you the law, and to avoid anything construed as advice for legal reasons). If you want advice, consult a private Financial Services firm and they may have products to shore you up against a falling pound. You obviously pay for their management and advice. Else take the risk and purchase euros directly. We did that before Brexit and are thankful we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Most people will say try not to beat the market when investing. That said if you know that you can afford the goods you need now I would possibly buy what you can now, and look to hedge your bets for later by buying some Euros possibly, but not all. You will lose out if you buy and sell them though so you'd need to consider whether it may be worth it or not. No high street bank will want to give you advice on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 25 minutes ago, newhome said: Most people will say try not to beat the market when investing. Absolutely. My only aim, really, is to avoid losing out too badly if the currencies diverge wildly. 26 minutes ago, newhome said: That said if you know that you can afford the goods you need now I would possibly buy what you can now The problem is storage. I bought all the timber for the floor then changed my mind and decided to do the roof first with the result that about half that timber got sufficiently weathered that it'd require so much sanding that it was better to buy fresh. I suppose I could order and pay for, say, the windows now with delivery at some point in the future but that has its own risks, of course. Thanks chaps, those online accounts look interesting, particularly the Transferwise with a debit card. I'm going to run this past brother in law who flings around considerably more money than I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Visti said: It's not a safe bet, and one your bank is unlikely to council you on Yep, at most they're likely to say “if you want to do that then we have a Euro account you could use”. Looking online they don't seem to be pushing anything of the sort, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexphd1 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) If your are confident enough to invest your own cash in the currency market you are in the wrong job! Personally I would be spending lots of time on ebay/gumtree/ bidspotter etc looking for bargains to cover price increse. eg:- Roofshield with enough patience you can pick them up £70 a roll, cheapest I can find from a merchant is £100+vat roll. Odd lots of UFH pipe, 100m roll here 100m roll there . 2-3p meter. sockets picket up box of 50 schneider black nickel doubles for £60 There is a guy in inverness selling nice seconds Nordan windows..... Even keep a eye out for cheap tools picked up a immaculate dewalt(big one) router for £90, JS harris picked up a paint sprayer for peanuts. Sorry if this seems a bit of drift from the initial question but i am trying to get the point there is multiple ways to minimise future price change. Edited August 28, 2018 by Alexphd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 23 minutes ago, Ed Davies said: I suppose I could order and pay for, say, the windows now with delivery at some point in the future but that has its own risks, of course. Yes I think most things have an element of risk of various types. To mitigate against a financial risk of paying for something upfront pay by credit card. If ever there was really good reason to pay by credit card it is for the cover it provides when a supplier doesn't deliver / goes into liquidation. Even if you pay say £100 deposit on a card and the rest in cash you are covered for the whole purchase under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. Alternatively you could maybe buy high value but smaller items that you are able to store somewhere for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexphd1 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) I personally would not order windows until I need them. Our spec Inc size changed during build before ordering. I would be happy to order velux type windows before esp if they where offering £30 cash back on each window as just now. Plus they hold a decent resale value. Edited August 28, 2018 by Alexphd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 My windows will all be Velux. For simplicity, even the one vertical one will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visti Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Another tactic is to secure contracts in advance by paying the deposit. Our biggest ticket items (frame, windows etc...) Have all of en negotiated and paid for, even though we're not even on site yet. Again, risky... But if there's no risk there's no saving. Always proportional! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 Yes, fixing the price of contracts would be very helpful for some but I'm not really expecting to have many contracts. Talked to a local chap about him doing my drains. Thinking about it, might well ask him to help with the windows as well. Have a recommendation of another local chap to do the steel roof. Will need an electrician at some point (bit far north for you, @ProDave?) … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 52 minutes ago, Ed Davies said: . Will need an electrician at some point (bit far north for you, @ProDave?) … Not necessarily. Wired one at Tongue a few years back. As long as I am not too busy at the time and it can be arranged into sensible packages of a few days work with somewhere to crash for the night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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