[kwlug-disc] consulting fees

[Dave Cramer]

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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