[kwlug-disc] consulting fees

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

I started out with converting cheques or transfers received from US and
international clients to CAD on the day I deposit it. That was volatile.
The bank then said: since you are getting lots of these it is best to open
a USD account, so you can do the conversion when you want, not on the day
of. (Canadian clients were/are a rare thing for my business). So I did, and
I don't transfer from USD to CAD unless I really need to, or when the rate
is favourable. So there is less of a need for using other forex providers.

I explored two other forex providers. One was a small office in Toronto and
they did say their rates are favourable. The other was in the media. I
chickened in both cases: with fraud and con tricks rampant, I did not feel
like transferring a few thousand dollars to someone who may take them and
disappear.

Can Transferwise be used from your own US account to your own CAD account?
Or only when a real transfer is happening?

On Thu, Mar 1, 2018 at 1:42 AM, Chamunks <chamunks at gmail.com> wrote:

> @Khalid https://transferwise.com for god's sake just use that.  It's
> basically free and it skips losing a pile of money in hidden exchange rate
> bank fees.
>
> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 11:57 PM Dave Cramer <davecramer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Dave Cramer
>>
>> On 23 February 2018 at 18:37, Kyle Spaans <3lucid at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 11:47 AM Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 11:41 AM, Dave Cramer <davecramer at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 23 February 2018 at 11:34, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> The majority of my clients are outside Canada, so I get wire
>>>>>> transfers often.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Incoming wire fees will be around $37.50 or less. Some countries are
>>>>>> higher.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Also, the USD is higher than the CAD for the time being. But if it
>>>>>> shifts the other way (and it did for many years) you eat up the difference.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Banks offer different US chequing accounts. Some give you lower fees
>>>>>> or flat per-transaction fee, others have preferred transfer rates. You can
>>>>>> get your bank to open a US chequing account, and change the type when you
>>>>>> want to transfer funds, then change it back. This works only if you have a
>>>>>> buffer of CAD to weather the USD/CAD fluctuations. I strongly advise that
>>>>>> though, since you can make up 5% more in currency difference if you wait
>>>>>> for 8 or 10 months rather than do it monthly at whatever rate is in effect.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I use a currency exchange that will sell futures on the dollar.  This
>>>>> means you can lock in a rate. There of course is a downside. If you sell
>>>>> 50k of futures you have to use it. FWIW, all the currency traders I talk to
>>>>> expect the USD to be stronger for the foreseeable future. If you are
>>>>> interested in the currency exchange contact me off list. Either way they
>>>>> have significantly better rates than the banks.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> When it comes to money, I am a conservative (not much in other spheres).
>>>>
>>>> That means I don't do options or futures or any of that.
>>>>
>>>> In good years when I had an excess in USD, I bought (through my bank)
>>>> mutual funds that are in USD. If the market is down when you need the
>>>> money, the difference in currency can make up for the bear market when you
>>>> sell the mutual funds and sell the USD in CAD.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Another thing you can do to save on conversion rates if you’re
>>> converting large amounts (around $10k or so at a time) is called Norbert’s
>>> Gambit. Basically you use a brokerage to buy a special fund that trades in
>>> both USD and CAD: buy with one and sell with the other. The spread between
>>> the two funds will be kept close to the live exchange rate by traders. You
>>> need to ask for a special account with the brokerage though.
>>>
>>> http://www.moneysense.ca/magazine-archive/norberts-
>>> gambit-a-better-way-to-buy-u-s-dollars/
>>>
>>
>> Interesting.
>>
>> As a data point the last exchange I did was 10k CAD on Feb 1 it cost me
>> 8195, the bank of Canada rate for that day was .8138 so it cost me $57 in
>> exchange fees
>>
>>>
>>>
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-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
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