Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Fiscal paranoia

I don't get out much, but when I do, it seems that the foreign exchange currency rate always bends to my disadvantage. I thought I was making this up until I checked the last couple of years GBP versus AED. The AED is pegged against the USD. This is a complete list of recent trips to Europe and the States:-

  • June 2004: 6.69
  • July 2004: 6.82 The pound gets 2% more expensive just as I arrive in the UK.

  • June 2005: 6.70
  • July 2005: 6.38 The pound gets 5% cheaper just as I leave the UK.

  • April 2006: 6.39
  • May 2006: 6.82 The pound gets 7% more expensive just as I arrive in the UK.

  • July 2007: 7.57
  • August 2007: 7.32 The dollar gets 3% more expensive, just as I leave for the USA.

    Players on the foreign currency exchange markets may like to know that I'm next due out of the UAE in December 2007.

    It's a similar story with the UK housing market. I buy a house in 1991 at the nadir of the house price slump. The value remains unchanged for the next eight years. I sell the house in 1999 for more or less what I paid for it, and within nanoseconds it'd doubled in value, doubling again over the following five years. I owe it to everyone involved in the property market in Dubai not to buy anything. The Goat is more than capable of single-hoofedly causing an immediate property crash.
  • 2 comments:

    Mme Cyn said...

    And I'm going to marry this fiscal Typhoid Mary?

    nzm said...

    Mme Cyn: heh - separate bank accounts and travel is recommended!

    Grumpy: stop travelling for our sakes!

    To the two of you: thinking of you and all the very best for your upcoming nuptials! Have a fab time in the US.

     

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