June 22, 2011

Timing is everything, in love and war

Surely you have been at a dinner party, when one starts a rant along the lines of "Just when I had bought the Euros then the rates improved again" or being more positive "Glad I transferred my salary last week, the exchange rate now is rubbish". 

Maybe even you have thought, let's hold on with my exchange for a little more now - the rates have recently dropped, surely they will bounce back a little bit.

Indeed a valid conversation topic as long as you are using the right tools for changing money. However in most cases people are worring about a 0.5% change in the exchange rate, while still handing out 3% to their bank or the broker.

Let's have a look at the facts! Below is the 30 days historical view of EUR/GBP exchange rate, plotted against the rates you would get from your bank today (the straight dotted lines). Mind you, thanks to our friends in Greece the rates have not been particularly stable recently and you would think that timing is more important than ever.

Not bad, huh? Although the Sterling rate has dropped, TransferWise would have been better every day in the last month (and more) not only compared to your bank then, but even your bank today.

In fact if you play with the numbers you will see, that if you had been the extremely lucky to pick the best day in last 30 days and transferred through your bank - you would have still been worse off than your friend, who transferred on the worst day of the month through TransferWise.

Let not the sands of time get into your lunch!

 

transferwise