If the US Dollar is declining, then where the hell do I...

[jas498]

If the US Dollar is declining, then where the hell should I invest my retirement money??

I don't know -too- much about the market or investing. I have a Roth IRA now, since I'm in a low tax bracket (and don't plan on staying that way). I've heard it's a good idea to hedge your bets by investing in foreign currencies but am still speculative about the idea. And what about inflation...

My mattress is starting to look quite appealing.

[Just Lurking]

I can't help you with your retirement money, but I can certainly relate to your problem with the US dollar (albeit in a very different way). I am Canadian and get PAID in American money. The US dollar's weakness has gotten to be REALLY bloody annoying! I used to get $1.50 to $1.55 Canadian for every US dollar. Now I get about 97 cents.

[ElectricVolcano]

Originally Posted by jas498

If the US Dollar is declining, then where the hell should I invest my retirement money??

Switzerland! But seriously, if the US Dollar is declining in value, your mattress would probably the worst place to store it. Burglars look there first anyway. In the future, we might adopt the European Union's Euro if our money turns to crap. In the mean time, ask an investment professional.

[aries]

I wouldn't worry too much about the value of the dollar relative to other currencies... don't invest in them at this point now that it's stabilized against most of them.

Either it will bounce back, or if it continues to decline, the domestic economy will pick up again (that's a good thing) and we'll have to rely more on American products traded at normal prices.

[shyvr6]

I would wait it out and see what the next president does.

[UltraShy]

Originally Posted by jas498

If the US Dollar is declining, then where the hell should I invest my retirement money??

It would be accurate to say the US dollar has declined significantly over the last 8 years. It's impossible to know what it will do in the future.

Take a look at www.diehards.org for the best investment forum anywhere. They'll be happy to answer all your questions and you'll find lots of great information.

As to where to invest, Vanguard ( www.vanguard.com ) is the obvious choice due to having the lowest costs in the industry. One of their Target Retirement Funds seems an obvious choice for somebody who needs simplicity such as novice investor like you. They have tools on their site to help you pick the right fund(s) for your needs.

As for foreign currencies, you are invested in them when you own funds that contain foreign stocks (or bonds) as long at the fund doesn't hedge currencies (as many actively-managed funds do to various extents). Vanguard's stock index funds don't hedge, so they provide pure currency exposure.

[No Limit]

Well I regret in not investing my money in Euros. If I did that couple of years ago, then I wouldn't be posting this right now.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by Just Lurking

I can't help you with your retirement money, but I can certainly relate to your problem with the US dollar (albeit in a very different way). I am Canadian and get PAID in American money. The US dollar's weakness has gotten to be REALLY bloody annoying! I used to get $1.50 to $1.55 Canadian for every US dollar. Now I get about 97 cents.

That's really annoying! A large pay cut in effect.

[learning07]

theres plenty of stuff for $1 at Mcdonalds,Burger King,etc. =)

[trey]

At the cost of oil prices, maybe you should buy a whack of oil barrels and hang onto them for a while. Sell them off in a few years, hehe

[millenniumman75]

Originally Posted by ElectricVolcano

Switzerland! But seriously, if the US Dollar is declining in value, your mattress would probably the worst place to store it. Burglars look there first anyway. In the future, we might adopt the European Union's Euro if our money turns to crap. In the mean time, ask an investment professional.

We will NEVER adopt the Euro.

In terms of investment, things that the LEAST volatile will help for now. Wait until the market bottoms, then go into higher volatility.
Roth IRAs are good (I need to start putting money in again), as are mutual funds.

[coldmorning]

Originally Posted by trey

At the cost of oil prices, maybe you should buy a whack of oil barrels and hang onto them for a while. Sell them off in a few years, hehe

You can actually do this... in the commodities market. You can buy rights to purchase oil at current prices and sell those rights for more money should oil go higher. And you don't have to actually carry around or store barrels of oil (which can get messy if they start to leak). Of course there's no guarantee that oil will go higher or even stay at their current prices. And if it goes down, you will lose money.

Companies will actually do this. If say, an airline wants to protect against higher fuel costs, they will buy rights to current prices for oil. But there is a cost to doing this. And if prices go down, they can lose money.

[UltraShy]

Originally Posted by millenniumman75

We will NEVER adopt the Euro.

The name alone doesn't really work if extended outside of Europe. Even the UK refuses to adopt the Euro. Having a common currency does facilitate trade (imagine how much harder selling things from one US state to another would be if there were 50 different currencies with each state having its own). The downside of a common currency is that it forces all the nations using it to have the same monetary policy instead of being able to control money supply & interest rates independent from what other nations choose to do.

Originally Posted by millenniumman75

Wait until the market bottoms, then go into higher volatility.

Excellent advice if you own a crystal ball. Where can I get one? Bottoms & peaks can only be seen long after the fact.

Originally Posted by millenniumman75

Roth IRAs are good (I need to start putting money in again), as are mutual funds.

You speak as if Roths and mutual funds are totally different things. A Roth is simply a type of account registration and it can hold almost any type of investment, and mutual funds would be a common choice for Roths.

[Classified]

Originally Posted by UltraShy

The name alone doesn't really work if extended outside of Europe. Even the UK refuses to adopt the Euro. Having a common currency does facilitate trade (imagine how much harder selling things from one US state to another would be if there were 50 different currencies with each state having its own). The downside of a common currency is that it forces all the nations using it to have the same monetary policy instead of being able to control money supply & interest rates independent from what other nations choose to do.

Didn't you hear about the Amero?
http://www.designscomputed.com/coins/dc ... y_list.htm

It would be interesting to see if some financial institution would offer the equivalent of an Amero (You could do the same thing by trading 1/3 of your investment for each of the currencies and watching them go up and down.









http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/amero.asp

[jas498]

Originally Posted by Classified

Didn't you hear about the Amero?
http://www.designscomputed.com/coins/dc ... y_list.htm

It would be interesting to see if some financial institution would offer the equivalent of an Amero (You could do the same thing by trading 1/3 of your investment for each of the currencies and watching them go up and down.









http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/amero.asp

I don't understand this. I have heard about the Amero and I'm highly against it, from the information I've learned. But I didn't know it had a "value" yet as compared to other currencies? And why 1/3? Thanks... sorry if this sounds like a dumb question!

[coldmorning]

Originally Posted by jas498

I don't understand this. I have heard about the Amero and I'm highly against it, from the information I've learned. But I didn't know it had a "value" yet as compared to other currencies? And why 1/3? Thanks... sorry if this sounds like a dumb question!

The Amero is just a hoax... there is no such thing.

The US already has its currency being used internationally for trade (although it's slowly starting to lose this status). Some countries even use the US dollar as their only currency... astounding if you understand the implications of this. There is no way that the US will give this up in the near future by agreeing to some currency like the Amero.

[Classified]

Let's say I gave the bank $3000 Canadian Dollars. They would convert 1/3 into US dollars, and 1/3 into Mexican Pesos, and keep 1/3 in Canadian dollars. That way, if the Canadian dollar falls again, but the other two currencies stay the same or get stronger, the cash is diversified and you won't lose as much.

is pretty close to what you are supposed to do in the stock market. Pick 5-10 stocks, 1 will crash, 1 will double and 8 will increase and decrease a little over a decent time period.

[coldmorning]

Originally Posted by Classified

Let's say I gave the bank $3000 Canadian Dollars. They would convert 1/3 into US dollars, and 1/3 into Mexican Pesos, and keep 1/3 in Canadian dollars. That way, if the Canadian dollar falls again, but the other two currencies stay the same or get stronger, the cash is diversified and you won't lose as much.

is pretty close to what you are supposed to do in the stock market. Pick 5-10 stocks, 1 will crash, 1 will double and 8 will increase and decrease a little over a decent time period.

But those three countries have very connected economies. It's possible that if one goes down, the others might go down. For currency diversification, wouldn't you want something from diversified economies (e.g. Europe and Asia)? Or better yet, why not just put it into gold? After all, almost all countries eventually decide to print more money which makes the value fall.

[jas498]

I see, thanks.

Perhaps the Amero is a hoax, but I don't think the idea behind it is. Not much different than the Euro and the EU. The NAU has already formed and just a few days ago, the SAU was also formed. Perhaps not the Amero, but one day (although I do agree, not in the near future) there will be a common currency in North America.

[redstardude]

I know it sounds glib, but eventually the US dollar will recover.

But first there has to be a serious look at the financial status of the economy. Unfortunately, there will be a lot of pain with strucutral changes, burdened by those who can least afford it.