Toitjie Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 (edited) I still hope this is wrong, maybe it's just pessimistic. I'm not a financial guru so I was not able to predict the rand/AUD exchange rate, I merely watched it since I have to buy dollars very soon for our validation trip in 2 weeks.But now I am getting very seriously nervous. Not just about now but about the money we want to take over. Suddenly all our calculations are out the window.I read the below the morning:Over the last two months, the South African Rand has plummeted, losing nearly 20% of its value against the US Dollar en route to a five-year low. It seems the currency has become the latest victim of the credit crisis and the resulting widespread risk aversion. The sudden exodus away from the carry trade, for example, has affected the Rand disproportionately, as many foreign investors had come to South Africa over the last few years to take advantage of the countrys 12% interest rate. Now, the country is facing a horrible crisis, and is worrying about its ability to finance its current account deficit, which already exceeds 7% of GDP. Accordingly, analysts predict the Rand will continue to drop. Bloomberg News reports:"The portfolio flows we have seen over the past couple of years are going to dry up and we will not be able to fund the deficit with the portfolio flows." The rand may slide to 9.20 rand by the end of the year…Here is the link.. http://www.forexblog.org/category/australian-dollarR9.20.... eish.Yesterday it was R 8.18, today R 8.24 Edited October 20, 2011 by Toitjie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermaaks Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heymanse Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Eish indeed! My poor mum is coming to visit in 3 weeks' time. The money she saved up for so long will not be worth much by the time she arrives here I'm afraid Maybe the best for her now is to transfer whatever money she has available into my bank account while she can still get at a reasonably "low" rate of around R8.2/R8.3 per AUD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 I'm in the same boat. Scary. One minute we can afford a new cheapish car with our savings, next minute,think again. Argh, I'm really negative now:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toitjie Posted October 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 geez...Im such a clutz....I got such a fright this morning that I googled the rand etc, and came across that article....heart palpitations were so strong that I did not see the date...the article above is from 2008... Although that still doesn't change the fact that the rand is losing value now, and fast...I am just wondering what the reason is for this drop now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Who knows? Not me.A few weeks ago the same happened and I quickly opened a bank account in oz to get my money there before it gets worse but the chap at the bank told me not to transfer until my visa was approved as if there was a problem with the visa I would have to go to oz just to get my money back. Then the Rand got abit stronger and I stopped worrying. But now..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion25 Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Toitjie, We are in the same boat, we move over at the end of the year but need our house money to send to Oz, we calculated 3 weeks ago we lost R15000.00 in one week due to the exchange rate and our money might only be through in 2 weeks. But I have decided I have no control over this and have left it all in the Lord's hands.I cannot cope with all this stress. RegardsT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanne Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Hi allI really can't presume to know anything about this, but you're right T, it's out of your control. I can say this though, all of our friends that we visited in Australia are all perfectly financially comfortable and relatively stress free (compared to when they were here) and they all arrived with nothing at all, most of them with kids. Within 2 - 4 years they were all far better off than here. You will battle at first but if you're ok with doing with the bare minimum to start out, you'll be surprised at how soon you can look back with relief at what you've accomplished. Once you're working and earning dollars it wil be different.That's what I keep telling myself anyway and I'm sticking to that As Chris' cousin keeps telling us, his only regret is that he didn't make the move 10 years earlier... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cramer Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 I agree with Deanne, you cannot worry about what is out of your control. We did not have a lot of money when we came over. But I would leave it all for the life I have here. It is a Julius free zone. But it is easy for me to say because I got a job 4 days after landing. I reckon without that I would have needed money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Short&Tall Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 This is a good site to check the exchange rates rather than googlinghttp://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=ZAR&view=1WPlus remember banks have a worse exchange rate than the foreign exchange companies - you can save a lot using them. When we were looking at it just so I knew one day I compared an example of a transfer of R100,000 if I was to do it via the bank (I went in and got the rate and the transfer fees and asked them to calculate it) with one of the companies (we used exchange4free) and there was a big difference - the banks use a worse rate plus charge you as well. We considered leaving our monies until things picked up but in the end just went for it and wished we had done it earlier. As with the above once you get here and start earning dollars and are in a Julius free zone it no longer matters as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynnie Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Thanks for all the postings..."Julius free zone" - LMGA!!!I agree - we have NO control over the exchange rate, just have to make peace with it I suppose and be thankful for the opportunity to live a safe and wonderful life in Oz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toitjie Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 This is a good site to check the exchange rates rather than googlinghttp://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=ZAR&view=1WPlus remember banks have a worse exchange rate than the foreign exchange companies - you can save a lot using them. When we were looking at it just so I knew one day I compared an example of a transfer of R100,000 if I was to do it via the bank (I went in and got the rate and the transfer fees and asked them to calculate it) with one of the companies (we used exchange4free) and there was a big difference - the banks use a worse rate plus charge you as well. We considered leaving our monies until things picked up but in the end just went for it and wished we had done it earlier. As with the above once you get here and start earning dollars and are in a Julius free zone it no longer matters as much.I have a nice website where I check the currency daily. The googling was in search of articles explaining why this is happening, and maybe a positive forecast or two... have to be optimistic.But we've made peace....will get those dollars this weekend! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAAZR Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Interesting article on the topic.http://www.fin24.com/Markets/Currencies/Shaky-rand-falls-against-dollar-20111021A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosvelder Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Where does all the money disappear to....???:(due to currency's going up and down all the time.....!!!I .As a kapitalist I've been asking myself that question all the time.........That's the main concern I think that the people have, occupying the Wall streets of the world ......!! If somebody looses money it's somebody's elses gain isn't it....???.....NOT TRUE in this case......Money keep disappearing into thin air and showing up all the time at strange times and places...Maybe I should keep my mouth shut......I've been painting myself into a corner now...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gweilo Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion25 Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Gweilo,That is excellent, exactly how I feel.T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toitjie Posted March 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 And on R 9.58 this morning we are moving steadily closer to the R 10 mark. My pension fund is going to be worth next to nothing in a couple of months! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donovan83 Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 I worked out this morning that I would have had to have worked for two extra months to make up how much I would have lost (in AUD) if I had left my savings in ZAR. These are not small movements... the ZAR is unfortunately dying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyV Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Hectic.. we're hemorrhaging AUD's here. Got get the cash out ASAP. Silver lining: coming on visits to South Africa is going to be cheap! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zamunda Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) Almost 10 to the AUD today. FNB Foreign currency unit per rand Description Code Bank Selling Rate Bank Buying TT Bank Buying TCs Bank Buying Notes AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS AUD 0.1010 0.1084 0.1088 0.1082 BOTSWANA PULA BWP 0.8464 0.9387 0.9428 0.9376 CANADIAN DOLLARS CAD 0.1069 0.1157 0.1162 0.1155 SWISS FRANCS CHF 0.0995 0.1072 0.1076 0.1070 DANISH KRONE DKK 0.5967 0.6508 0.6534 0.6497 GHANAIAN CEDI GHS 0.1934 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 HONG KONG DOLLARS HKD 0.8026 0.8824 0.8860 0.8809 INDIAN RUPEES INR 5.5969 6.1518 6.1765 6.1412 JAPANESE YEN JPY 10.0372 10.8418 10.8826 10.8194 KENYAN SCHILLINGS KES 8.6104 9.9408 0.0000 9.9241 LESOTHO LOTI LSL 1.0000 1.0000 0.0000 1.0000 MAURITIUS RUPEES MUR 3.0062 3.6233 3.6374 3.6165 MALAWI KWACHA MWK 28.2324 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 MOZAMBIQUE METICAL MZN 3.0200 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 NAMIBIAN DOLLAR NAD 1.0000 1.0000 0.0000 1.0000 NIGERIAN NAIRA NGN 14.8973 18.9252 18.9975 18.8876 NORWEGIAN KRONER NOK 0.5948 0.6596 0.6622 0.6584 NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS NZD 0.1270 0.1376 0.1382 0.1374 PAKISTAN RUPEES PKR 9.7124 11.0374 0.0000 11.0180 SWEDISH KRONER SEK 0.6650 0.7311 0.7341 0.7300 SINGAPORE DOLLARS SGD 0.1302 0.1406 0.1412 0.1404 SWAZILAND LILANGENI SZL 1.0000 1.0000 0.0000 1.0000 TANZANIAN SHILLINGS TZS 157.2681 190.8800 0.0000 190.5103 UGANDAN SHILLINGS UGX 261.5340 311.0946 0.0000 310.5372 ZAMBIAN KWACHA ZMW 0.5355 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 Edited March 14, 2013 by zamunda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizM Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 And on R 9.58 this morning we are moving steadily closer to the R 10 mark. My pension fund is going to be worth next to nothing in a couple of months!Crap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GideonVD Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 I'm getting a headache Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyV Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 Oh well, at least it makes converting AUD to ZAR while shopping very easy..."Oh look, dishwashing liquid... AUD3.50 cool R35... ... 35bucks! Whaaaat?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GideonVD Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) My b***s would sink to the bottom of my shoes PG13 Warning Edited March 27, 2013 by GideonVD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdelaideGal Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 My head hurts! My big bag of savings is starting to fell like a very small rucksack.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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