[kwlug-disc] consulting fees

[Kyle Spaans]

I've used it to send money from my in-Canada CAD account to my in-USA USD
account, using my account and transit numbers for direct deposits. I
haven't tried using it between two accounts located in Canada, but I think
it should work.

On Thu, 1 Mar 2018 at 10:53 Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:

> 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
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>>>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
>>>> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
>>> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
>> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
> 2bits.com, Inc.
> Fast Reliable Drupal
> Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
> Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger W.Dijkstra
> Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -- anonymous
>
> _______________________________________________
> kwlug-disc mailing list
> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kwlug.org/pipermail/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org/attachments/20180301/78ee2cc7/attachment.htm>