DOLLAR TO EURO:

Is this a good exchange rate, or has it been declining over the past few months? I'm going to Europe in Apr and just started looking at these things.

Dave

In early July I paid $1.58 US to Euro - now I am wondering if I should buy up some Euros at $1.26 for France in May 2009 - but, who knows where the dollar is going. I do know where I am going tho.

No one knows whether it will be up or down. It is called currency trading and most people lose at that game. Charlie, IF you could buy Euro locally at $1.26 then I might hedge a couple hundred but mostly likely your local rate would be closer to $1.32 to $1.38. Unlikely you could recover the difference in that short of a time period.

In October 2007 there was a discussion about dollar vs euro. I pointed out to those saying the dollar was going down that the value of currency is best not bet on by amateurs. the dollar took a big dump but has more than recovered since.

Currency conversion losses cost one Chinese bank billions. If the big guys can't get it right, it is foolish to think you can. Pay off revolving credit card and other high cost debt instead of buying euros now for future trips. You'll find you save more in interest than you will lose on exchange rate changes by betting on the dollar or euro.

I traveled to Europe in Oct/Nov 2007 and paid around $1.45 = 1 Euro. I just bought tickets for my next trip in April/May 2009 only after seeing the dollar finally gain some value. For those of us who've traveled on a crappier dollar, the $1.26 looks somewhat good now. I agree with the last post though--it's nearly impossible for a non-professional to speculate on the dollar.

It was $1.68 to a euro this July when I was in France, so that is freaking golden my friend!