Any foreign currency investors here?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Today I sold 49,000 Mexican Pesos at Wells Fargo at an exchange rate of .07 for a total of $3500 US dollars. I'm sure I lost money but I can't recall how much I paid for it a few years back. Any foreign currencies investors here? Is foreign currencies a good or bad investment?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Today I sold some Canadian dollars. It pays to shop around because Chase Bank's exchange rate was .910 (about $150 less than Wells Fargo).

[bjl584]

I don't mess with FOREX. I can't really figure out the mechanisms that cause one currency to rise or fall compared to another. I can research stocks and mutual funds just fine, but currency seems to be more responsive to fear and emotions than it does actual economic forces most of the time.

[DenisD]

I tried currency through FOREX. However I use a reliable signal service with a trade copier to get the best results. It's one of my monthly income sources.

[scfr]

I am not a currency investor.

But I do on rare occasions purchase and sell paper currency from my husband's native country. I've followed the exchange rate of that particular currency for 28 years (and know the history of the exchange rate and many of the reasons why it was the way it was going back to when the exchange rate was fixed under Bretton Woods), so I guess you could say I'm a student of that one particular currency and have a strong sense of what is a "good" rate historically-speaking.

My husband uses that currency when he travels overseas on business, so we almost always have some on hand. Most of the time, the cash flow balances out, so we don't have to buy or sell very often. For example, we just both returned from a trip overseas where we received some cash gifts from relatives. We will just hold on to that money and my husband will use it on his next business trip.

On the rare occasions when I do either buy or sell the currency, I just check with all the local banks that offer currency exchange and go with the one that is offering the best rate.

Having said all that, I do have a rate in mind at which I would purchase a larger amount of that foreign currency, either to: 1) Hold for my husband to use on business trips, 2) Use if we decide to move overseas (something that we like knowing is an option should we ever decide to bail on the USA), or 3) Speculate on and hope to re-sell later for profit.

I would never speculate on a foreign currency other than this one, because I lack the know-how.

[cardtrick]

I have an account where I can hedge my currency risk. I haven't done anything lately, but in case something happens to the dollar, I can get out of it at the international rates within seconds (assuming I have enough margin in that account). If the Swiss Franc gets cheaper, I plan on buying some.

[MatthewC]

QuarterMillionMan,

If you don't "know" that it is a good investment for you, it probably isn't. I am not talking about the short-term consequences, but the long-term consequences. If you are operating on luck, I'd avoid Forex. Make investments in something where you understand why you are going to profit from investing in it. Really understanding an investment and being comfortable about it will increase your long-term investment returns. (And when I mean understand, I mean understanding backed up by solid statistics involving numbers generated using long-term data)