Is my Aunt crazy to invest in a Turkish savings account?

**scfr** · 03-31-2008, 03:54 PM

She owns a home there, so presumably she spends time there and needs Turkish currency from time to time, right? In that case, no, I don't think it's crazy. She needs to have Turkish currency, so why not earn a high interest rate on it?

If she had never even been to Turkey, that would be another story.

**disneysteve** · 03-31-2008, 05:38 PM

Normally, I'd advise not to do this, but this may be an exception, as scfr pointed out. Since she actually has a residence in the country and, presumably, spends time there, it may be perfectly reasonable to maintain an account there.

What I wouldn't do is put a ton of money in that account hoping to get rich and bring the money back to the US as dollars because then you run into the currency risk issue which is significant.

**MaksimFA** · 03-31-2008, 08:17 PM

Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

Normally, I'd advise not to do this, but this may be an exception, as scfr pointed out. Since she actually has a residence in the country and, presumably, spends time there, it may be perfectly reasonable to maintain an account there.

What I wouldn't do is put a ton of money in that account hoping to get rich and bring the money back to the US as dollars because then you run into the currency risk issue which is significant.

Hit the nail on the head... and add in foreign excise tax... and you got a winner... did she bother to check to regulations in turkish banking? Hopefully it is a western bank in turkey. I would check to make sure that other banks in turkey are offering similar rates just so you can do your due dilligence.

**Brokemofo** · 03-31-2008, 08:19 PM

Thanks everyone. I'll let her know what you all are saying.

Is my Aunt crazy to invest in a Turkish savings account?