I the £ on an up againt the euro???

[Quillan]

[quote user="velcorin"]

BBC unbiased? They're in the entertainment business! Pure and simple. I gave up with them after apparently there was a riot, and pitch invasion, by massed gangs of alcohol fuelled, violent, football hooligans at a football match I was at.........................ermmmm, no there wasn't..................zilch, nothing, nada, rien, but, that's the story they wanted, and presumably the whole of middle England(/France!) tutted into their cornflakes. My mother rang to check I was OK!

[/quote]

Sorry I should have added a Smiley, it was written tongue in cheek. [;-)] Calm down, calm down. [:D]

[JMB]

Ee bah gum. I've just noticed that the pound in your pocket has got smaller. It's trading at 1.1039 against the euro this morning.

[Jako]

Look here in the FT:

Traders build up record bets against sterling

[Www]

[Boscoe]

Mark Deans, dealing manager at the brokerage Moneycorp, agreed: “If the

fears of a hung Parliament were to come true, sterling could fall even

further, with a risk of us reaching parity against the euro.”

My guess is that we'll reach parity before the election...

[mint]

Even I manage to understand this explanation:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7046377.ece

[JMB]

OMG it's getting even smaller. It's trading at 1.0992 so goodbye the 1.10 line. The next one is 1.05 and then................1 to 1.

And after that who knows will we see a 0.75.

[NormanH]

I have never understood the idea that parity is some sort of limit.

[Quillan]

Well having most of my money here in France (and getting some good interest rates on my savings I might add, my French savings have done better than my UK pension investment in 2009) theres a few capital items I want to buy from the UK so the more it moves down for me the better. In fact if it went beyond the 1 to 1 I would be really happy. Then it can go back up to 1.50 over the next 6 years for when I draw my UK pension. [:D]

[Gardian]

Is there a smiley that = '& bollocks to you' ? [6]

[AnOther]

[quote user="Gardian"]Is there a smiley that = '& bollocks to you' ? [6][/quote]Something like this do you mean [Www]

[img]http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ToFXGAzcZiFyZM:http://flamingchorizo.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/fuck-you.jpg[/img]

Personally I'm with Q though, hanging on in vain hope of a better rate tomorrow is largely futile as Murphy's dictates that there will only ever be two ideal times to buy foreign currency................yesterday and tomorrow [blink]

[Gardengirl]

Well, yesterday wasn't a good rate when I got some money out of Nationwide, so I'll hope for better things tomorrow! [:)]

[bigears]

hi

I've just checked the sterling nz$ and oz$ rates and found sterling to be mega weak.  The world view of sterling is poor.  I cannot see sterling improving in the short term. 

[dragonrouge]

These FX guys make money out of bluff and double bluff. Next thing we will hear is that Xmas falls on a Sunday this year and it is not a leap year so rates may go down.

And of course that they want to build a £M6 dragon on the outskirts of Wrexham so that should influence borrowings and thus negative and again rates go down.

Two years ago I factored in 1.03 to the £ so not too far to go. When we purchased originally it was £1.675 and thus we had a benefit then we sold in Normandie and now down here somewhere the money is still floating about in our existing home.

If I could sell I would discount heavily and move the money back into £'s.

For a number of reasons we are seriously reflecting upon moving back. No dialogue please that issue has been done to death.

It is really painful for people whose income is derived from £ and when a baguette now becomes say £0.80 and a small glass of wine £2.45 it does tend to concentrate the mind.

[Quillan]

For month after month its been said in the press and elsewhere by so called 'experts' that the Euro would crash. First it was this, then it was that and the latest was Greece and a few other countries. I know a few people who, like some on this forum, have been saying "yes but WHEN". For all the doom and gloom spread around about the state of the Euro its still here and is relatively stable compared to other currencies. I find it very difficult to understand some of the readers comments written in the press. First they complain because of the week pound and that their European holiday will be more expensive this year and in the next breath condemning any attempt to join the Euro. Its a bit like some Brits I overheard in a bar some weeks ago who live in France saying they were going to vote UKip because they would take the UK out of Europe. No thought about what may happen to themselves and their French life if such a thing were to happen.

I don't think anyone could have predicted what was going to happen with the exchange rate and I do have some compassion for those with UK incomes that are finding life very difficult at the moment. It seems a shame that they have come to France to live a particular lifestyle that appeals to them only to find they can't afford it anymore. Likewise those that decide to go back should not, in my opinion, hold any feeling of shame or failure, nobody could have predicted this. Personally I think some of those contemplating going now should be admired for having the balls to admit they are going or thinking of going, sometimes its better to jump before you get pushed. Likewise I do think some were stupid when they came here on a very tight budget leaving themselves open to the mercy of the exchange rate which we all know fluctuates. Its like betting every month on your income, will it be more or less than last month and lets face ever since the Euro came in to existence it has steadily got stronger against the pound or should I say the pound has got weaker against the Euro.

Since I left the UK I don't see any reason to go back, I won't say never because thats a definite and big word to use but I can't see it happening. Likewise I don't think I will stay in France forever, things change as we get older. My main consideration now is what to do with my pension 'pot', leave it in the UK in a currency I don't use or move it to a currency I do use, the Euro. Of course then I have to think about do I stay in Europe. Its a decision I will have to make over the next couple of years and of course the exchange rate plays a very big part. I often wonder how much better off I would have been if the ability to move (easily) your pension out of the UK was around when I moved here but then we can't live in the 'what if' past.

I try to look at the brighter side, everything has a silver lining etc. I need to buy a new TV and an inflatable tender for my boat, a couple of VHF handsets and some other bits a pieces and they are much cheaper now for me to buy in the UK even with the cost of shipping them over. I even bought my anti-fowling from the UK, much cheaper than in France.

I guess all we can hope for IF the 'experts' are right is that things will change after the May elections but based on their previous performance I wouldn't hold your breath or place any bets. I am sure if it does not change they will come out with yet another theory or excuse.

 

 

[Bugsy]

Q, I have to say that your last post sums up the situation perfectly.

A bit of a reality kick for me who has just sat down with a coffee to have a look whats going on. Its bloody depressing.

I have no shame in admitting, that we have considered the move back to the UK, like, I dare say, many, many others. An ever-reducing pension and a limited savings pot that seems to get attacked by us ever more regularly.

Do we sit it out, well yes, for now.

.

[just john]

I have to say that despite the current situation I still believe the Euro is vastly overvalued, and perhaps only because it is being used as a hedge by investors against the pound and dollar, what goes up must come down, so crystal ball tell me when for gawd's sake!

[Benjamin]

Why not look on it as an opportunity?  [:D]

If you were to sell here (hopefully you haven't got an old pile that the French wouldn't touch with a bargepole) you'd get some 35% more pounds than you would have got, say, October 2007. You'd then be buying in a depressed UK housing market.

How many times have you heard it said that people can't afford to go back because of the cost of housing?

Edit; this is aimed at Bugsy

[bigears]

hi

many people who came to france cos it was cheap and they could lead the life.  Now its not cheap and many cannot now afford the good life, so we see an exidus back.  Good luck to you.  I prefer to look for a good quality of life not just cheap places to live.  Where we have a house in the uk the prices are still high, similar houses to ours are selling for 15% more than we paid 4 years ago.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Benjamin"]Why not look on it as an opportunity?  [:D]

If you were to sell here (hopefully you haven't got an old pile that the French wouldn't touch with a bargepole) you'd get some 35% more pounds than you would have got, say, October 2007. You'd then be buying in a depressed UK housing market.

How many times have you heard it said that people can't afford to go back because of the cost of housing?

Edit; this is aimed at Bugsy [/quote]

And my rifle is now aimed at you [:P][:D]

You are right in what you say but for us, its the life we have created here that we love that is far more important than any brief monetary gain.

The only time we would go is, as Q said, when we have no other option.

.

[just john]

I have what is euphemistically called a Projet de restauration, translation Money Pit  complete with numerous bargepoles, but it is not for sale and is all that keeps me sane[:-))]; like many I'm here for the lifestyle and gave up money a while ago, nonetheless others keep asking me for it, since mine comes from the UK the exchange rate still has a significant relevance![:)]

 

[Chancer]

Quillan

I may have money problems but to hear of someone having chickens sticking to the bottom of their boat makes me realise how lucky I am in fact! [;-)]

[Boscoe]

Sorry, but I don't understand why people don't hedge against the exchange rate???

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Quillan

I may have money problems but to hear of someone having chickens sticking to the bottom of their boat makes me realise how lucky I am in fact! [;-)]

[/quote]

Thats a 'fowl' thing to say.

I had to look [:D][:D][:D]

.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Quillan

I may have money problems but to hear of someone having chickens sticking to the bottom of their boat makes me realise how lucky I am in fact! [;-)]

[/quote]

Ooops sorry for that. I wish sometimes that somebody would make a spell checker with context sense or whatever you want to call it. [:$]

[Quillan]

[quote user="just john "]

I have what is euphemistically called a Projet de restauration, translation Money Pit  complete with numerous bargepoles, but it is not for sale and is all that keeps me sane[:-))]; like many I'm here for the lifestyle and gave up money a while ago, nonetheless others keep asking me for it, since mine comes from the UK the exchange rate still has a significant relevance![:)]

[/quote]

You should try a boat or more to the point a yacht. As somebody once said sailing is like standing in a high pressure shower pushing wet £50 notes down the plughole with your big toe.