Changing your Pounds into Dollars
 No matter how much cash you have at your disposal to start your new life, you'll end up with more New Zealand Dollars in your pocket if you use a specialist foreign exchange broker to transfer your money rather than a high-street bank.
We can show you how to use their services to get the best possible rate, whether the Dollar is high or low against the Pound - this could save you thousands.
Tip 1: Use a specialist foreign exchange broker
Changing your Pounds into Dollars: get the best currency exchange rate
When you're planning to exchange
sizeable sums of money it is wise to consider alternatives to using a
bank, as they seldom offer the most competitive rates on currency
exchange.
A good alternative is to use a reputable foreign
exchange broker for your currency transactions. The best brokers will
offer you better rates than the banks, and will also be able to give
you expert advice on how to get the best possible rate.
We recommend Halewood International Foreign Exchange (HIFX) to our clients because we have been
consistently impressed with the service we have received both in
terms of securing great rates and efficient administration. Their
market views are recognised worldwide with their analysts appearing
regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg business television and the Reuters
Forex Poll confirms HiFX's foreign exchange predictions to be
consistently within the top three most accurate in the world.
For example: The Jenkins family was planning to transfer the £120,000 proceeds from their house sale via their UK bank. They needed the money immediately to complete a house purchase in New Zealand. The rate they were offered at the time was 2.7878, which would have left them with $334,536 to start their new life in New Zealand. Through HiFX, we were able to secure them a rate of 2.8043 on the same day, giving them $336,516 - a difference of $1,980.
Changing your Pounds into Dollars: get the best currency exchange rate
If
you are looking at exchanging smaller sums of money or you are just
looking for some excellent, easy to understand currency exchange
information and resources, we highly recommend another member of the
HiFX group of companies, Currency Online.
Currency
Online offers a "self-service" approach to currency exchange, and
gives
you the ability to change your money outside HiFX's office hours -
you can trade online 24 hours of the day, five and a half days of the
week. One of our favourite parts of the Currency Online
website is the ability to "test drive" an account - literally
to place dummy transactions and see how they turn out. Very good fun,
and a great way to get to grips with how currency exchange works.
Currency Online is great for smaller transactions
and perfect of course if you see a great exchange rate outside office
hours. We would still advise you to take advice from the dealers at
HiFX for larger transactions. We expect Currency Online and HiFX to
merge their systems more in the future, but in the meantime you'll
need to open an account with each company separately.
Tip 2: Think ahead
Changing your Pounds into Dollars: get the best currency exchange rate
You'll
probably start keeping an eye on the exchange rate once you have
decided to emigrate to New Zealand. It is good to open an account
with HiFX and/or Currency Online at this stage - it will cost you
nothing, and only takes a couple of hours to process. Opening an
account with a broker puts you under no obligation to trade with
them, but
it does give you the opportunity to utilise their resources and
expertise.
A
good way to monitor the exchange rate is to sign up for the Currency
Online's excellent daily "Market Commentary" email for the GBP or
Great British Pound, which has specific details on variations in the
Pound to Dollar exchange rate.
Another
point that is worth mentioning is that you do not have to exchange
all of your funds at once - you could change what you need for your
first few weeks in New Zealand if the rate is not where you would
ideally like it to be, then change the rest when the rate has
improved.
Tip 3: Have a currency purchasing strategy
The timing of your currency transfer is typically dictated by practical
considerations, such as the availability of liquid funds or the need
for them. The sooner you talk to HiFX, the more flexibility you will
have within these constraints.
An example of the specialised service they provide is a Market Order,
whereby you can specify a target exchange rate. When (and if) the
market reaches your target, you will automatically buy the New Zealand Dollars.
You can cancel or change the market order at any time until your order
is fulfilled, and it costs you nothing to put a market order into
place. The beauty of this is that you don't have to constantly monitor
the market.
Another example of their specialised services is Forward Contracts;
if exchange rates are favourable now but you do not have liquid funds
quite yet, you can use forward contracts to “lock in” the current rate.
A forward contract means that you can buy the currency now and pay for
it later (when, for example you receive funds from a house sale or an
investment maturity). You will be required to pay a 20% deposit
straight away and the 80% balance upon the maturity of the contract.
Currency Online allows you to set up and change Market Orders and Forward Contracts online – which is handy if you are confident with currency exchange transactions, but for larger transactions we do advise that you get personalised advice from HiFX.
In Conclusion
We cannot stress enough the value of using the services of a
specialised foreign exchange broker. It really is a simple way of
maximising the money you’ll have available to you in New Zealand. More
information about HiFX can be found at www.hifx.co.nz or you can contact the team of experts at HiFX directly at info@hifx.co.nz
or on +0800 394439 (NZ freephone) – mention Broadbase International when you contact HiFX and they will take extra special care of you.
To contact Currency Online, check their website.
For more information on currency exchange, please also see our articles on:
At Broadbase International we specialise in helping British migrants make a confident start to their new lives. Please contact us if you have any questions about the financial side of life in New Zealand, and don't forget to order your free copy of our comprehensive New Zealand Guide.
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