Transferring my money, when should I think about it?

Foreign currency banknotes - Emigrate2

Looking for expert advice – Speak to Halo Financial – Emigrate2’s currency partners.

Find out the latest currency news for the country you are migrating to:

GBPAUD – Australia – News

GBPCAD – Canada – News

GBPEUR – Europe – News

GBPNZD – New Zealand – News

GBPUSD – United States of America – News

All in the timing

So you have a job lined up, a visa application sent through…but how about your currency? It’s all in the timing, as they say in sport, in landing the right job and in financial transactions. The currency markets survive on well-timed transactions and when moving funds across borders, your wealth will be enhanced or damaged through the timing of your transactions.

So, if you get the timing right, you’ll not only maximise your migration nest egg, but you may also recoup the cost of obtaining your visa! Take a look at the following example (volatility throughout the year is typical of the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Dollars):

Example

You’re migrating to Australia and have accumulated a cash sum of £200,000 after the sale of your house and other assets. Had you exchanged your currency on the 23rd August 2017, you would have arrived with AUD$ 323,796. However, if you had exchanged on the 27th March 2018, you would have arrived with AUD$ 368,796. That’s a gain of AUD$ 45,000 in less than eight months – and it’s solely due to exchange rate fluctuations.

Plan ahead

So the first question is what can you do to Happy family having fun on summer vacation - Emigrate2plan for these movements? The first thing everyone says to us about planning for currency market movements is that you can’t predict the future. That is undoubtedly true and we wouldn’t claim to be some sort of soothsayer, but there is nothing wrong with preparing for the worst and taking advantage of the best outcome when it presents itself.

Murphy’s Law tells you that the exchange rate is never ever going to be at its very best level just when you are ready to convert your funds but, fear not; that isn’t an issue. You can book a Forward trade, which lets you set an exchange rate for up to a year in advance for planned future payments. These trades comes in many shapes and sizes to suit your needs.

Lump sum payments can be booked as individual trades. With Halo Financial a trade can be arranged where you can agree the exchange rate today and set the settlement date for that trade up to 1 year into the future.

If you have a regular monthly transfer to make for a salary, rent, mortgage, pension or other payments, you can use that same Forward trade facility to arrange a set amount of money to be converted at a pre-determined exchange rate for up to 12 months into the future. Being able to budget on a monthly basis can make all the difference when you are on a fixed income, or where an exact transfer amount has to arrive each month.

Work with the experts to use the tools available

So, whilst timing is essential if you are to make the most of the exchange rate, you can use the tools that currency market professionals have used for years to take advantage of that attractive exchange rate and set the ideal settlement date for your particular circumstances. Don’t worry though; it’s not cheating, just good planning. Why not get in touch to find out more?

By David Johnson, Halo Financial