I took my first introductory Forex class last night. Forex is short for foreign exchange. Did you ever go someplace (like Mexico during Spring Break 1995) where the US dollar is stronger than that country’s currency. Everything seems really cheap, so you spend like a king while on vacation?
Well, many people make a living off of trading currencies. Currencies trade in pairs, such as Euro/US Dollar or Yen/US Dollar and it only costs about $200 to get started, and there are NO Commissions charged by my broker, just the spread between the bid and the ask price.
Well, looking at a one year chart of the US Dollar against the Euro we can see that the US dollar lost 12% of its value. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDEUR=X&t=1y
Hmmm…the Dow Jones is up roughly 12%. It’s a wash. Basically, the only reason the stock market is UP is because it requires more greenbacks to buy the same thing.
Now, look at commodities like gold, silver, and oil. They are on FIRE! My coach says the same thing in all his classes “A barrel of oil is a barrel of oil…the only thing that changes is how many greenbacks it takes to buy one.” I went long on oil in July when the so called “analysts” (who if you scroll down to my wage chart make about 30-50K/year) were shouting on CNBC “Oil will NEVER reach $80/barrel!” Hmmm, it was over $90/barrel today.
I bought shares of FXE and FXC last month when the Fed cut rates. These are the exchange traded funds that track the Euro (FXE) and Canadian dollar (FXC) However, they are not leveraged products (I’m not going to get rich quick) and they do charge a 0.4% maintenance fee like most funds do.
The Fed is probably going to cut rates again next Wednesday. This will send the stock markets soaring, the cost of oil higher, and create another false sense of security. Why a false sense of security? If interest rates are lower, then I won’t have to pay as much on my mortgage loan or credit card payment. Yes, this is true, but every time the Fed cuts rates, it DECREASES the value of the dollar. So it takes more dollars to buy the same thing! It’s a wash.
Great Avalon, this has absolutely nothing to do with strippers! Actually it does. This time of year we start getting the Canadian Golfers. In years past, it was only the wealthy Canadian golfers who had enough money to overcome the foreign exchange rate that could afford to come down here to play a game. However, the Canadian Dollar is now more valuable than the American Dollar! This means the wealthy golfers are even wealthier, and the average Canadian guy feels even richer! Check out this article I read in the Arizona Republic. The upscale resorts are specifically marketing Canadians to spend their vacation dollars in Phx/Scottsdale. http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special39/articles/1021biz-dollar-tourism1021.html
I have done this every year, but I will let my fellow strippers in on this little nugget of information. Both the Canadian Dollar, British Pound, and the Euro are worth more than the US Dollar. So, if the Canadian or European guy you are dancing for runs out of American Dollars. TAKE THE FOREIGN CURRENCY! It will be a little bit more work on your part because you will have to take a trip to the airport to exchange the currency, but dollar for CAD, Pound, or Euro you will come out ahead. And he will not have to pay the atm fee or interest rate on his credit card. Once again, you have created a win/win situation.
I do this every year. It’s a fun little game for me. In April or May I make my once a year trip to the airport and exchange in my various foreign currencies. Last year it was mostly Canadian dollars, Euros, British Pounds, Mexican Pesos and I even had a Danish Kroner and some Aussie Dollars!
Tags: foreign currency, forex, payment, strip club, stripper