
Ask HN: What does the rising value of the US dollar mean for me? - joshtgreenwood
I&#x27;m wondering how the value of the US dollar affects both my personal wealth as well as the US economy as a whole.  EDIT: I live in the US.
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chollida1
Do you live in the US, because that fact is going to change the answer
substantially!

Let's assume you live in the US. First, its important to note that when we say
the US dollar is rising, its always in reference to something else, usually
another currency, or basket of goods.

A rising dollar against another currency means that good from that country
become cheaper to you. This means its cheaper for you to travel abroad and to
buy imported goods from other countries.

But, it also means that its more expensive for you to sell your goods abroad
as the foreign buyers will have to pay more to buy your goods. it also makes
it more expensive for foreign investment in your country.

Now as to your personal wealth, it might not matter at all. You still have the
same amount of US dollars.

If the goods you consume are produced locally with no foreign involvement then
you may end up net neutral.

~~~
atmosx
In order for these changes to affect you in a perceivable way, you one need
the following things to happen:

\- devastating changes in income in your country (e.g. Greece)

\- at least 20 orders of magnitude bigger fluctuations against another
currency (a-la bitcoin)

\- you need to work a FOREX

\- you need to have someone investing at FOREX for you (which means that your
grand-children and their grand-children will not have to get a real job no
matter what).

So the real answer here since the OP lives in the US (so the first two options
are off and last one is highly unlikely) and doesn't work on FOREX _probably
nothing_.

~~~
NetStrikeForce
Hey,

I live in a country with currency A and my parents in a country with currency
B. I send them every month the same amount of money from my salary, but they
get 20% more than two years ago. Also, I'm saving in currency A to buy
property in currency B. A few years ago the difference with the current
exchange rates was 40% of what's now... 40% of a few thousand is actually a
lot of money for me, so I have to pay attention to the forecasts (should I
move my money to currency B before A loses its current power?).

So yeah, it does make a difference for a person with average earnings that
doesn't play with Forex.

~~~
kspaans
You may want to investigate currency hedging if you have obligations in
currency B while you earn currency A. If you are only saving to buy later, I
recommend settling for "average" rather than playing the fool's game of trying
to time the market. Periodically convert A to B (how often depends on what
kind of fees you pay to convert and/or transfer: e.g. if there is a fixed cost
like a wire transfer fee, try to make that fee take up no more than 1% of your
transfer amount). This can loosely be called Dollar Cost Averaging.

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ivan_gammel
You can have a nice vacation in Russia for less money.

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fuj
Maybe not to you that much unless you plan on travelling abroad... but it is
for me. I live in the eurozone and get paid mostly in USD. I'm a freelancer
and most of my clients are in the US

~~~
huac
To clarify - things abroad become relatively cheaper to Americans (or USD
holders). This also applies if you purchase things imported from other
countries.

