Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Anything to do with the traditional world of get a degree, get a job as well as its alternatives
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ertyu
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Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Post by ertyu »

And how does the current move in the exchange rates impact whether it makes sense for you to keep working?

The moves have been sharp lately and it's making me wonder what exchange rate I'll need to see before it'll make sense for me to quit.

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Ego
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Re: Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Post by Ego »

I sell a lot through ebay's global shipping program. Much of it to Japan. This time last year usdjpy was 110. Today it is 143. I am selling a lot less globally today. Consequently, I am less likely to buy or pay much for things that appeal to these markets. On the other hand, certain niche markets are booming within the US which has more than made up for the loss.

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unemployable
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Re: Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Post by unemployable »

Wouldn't the exchange rate matter only if you planned to move to a country that uses USD (Panama, Ecuador, ZImbabwe) or you already have a majority of your assets in USD-denominated things?

Here's how well things have worked out in dollarland YTD:

SPX —22.5% nominal —26% real
BND —15.1% nominal —19% real... yay safe haven!
USD 0% nominal —5.5% real
Real estate... Already down and Powell is explicitly coming for that too

My I-bonds and XOM are up nicely. Everything else is going Fukushima right now. This is OTTOMH but I think if the year ended right now it would be the second-worst year for the stonk market since the Nixon administration. [Edit: I'm right, even adding back dividends, although 2002 is close. ]

zbigi
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Re: Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Post by zbigi »

I'm earning in euros right now (after quiting in early Feb a job that paid in USD, sigh) and yeah, seeing how my earning are worth less and less every month, it somewhat kills my incentive to continue working. Especially, since given what's happening in the markets and with currencies right now, it looks like it's a good period to just become a full-time investor for a while and try to find some nice investments to put money in (or at least protect my capital better). So maybe, now is finally the time when it makes more sense for me to just spend time learning about investing instead of playing with other people's code for money. It would for sure be more interesting, and would be useful in the decades to come.

I think it's in the cards anyway, since my current place of employment already said they probably won't be extending my contract after end of year - they're a German firm and are obviously bracing for the coming recession, so contractors are first to be dumped.

ertyu
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Re: Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Post by ertyu »

unemployable wrote:
Sun Sep 25, 2022 10:53 pm
Wouldn't the exchange rate matter only if you planned to move to a country that uses USD (Panama, Ecuador, ZImbabwe) or you already have a majority of your assets in USD-denominated things?
I'd be very interested in a discussion of this but my immediate answer is that it would matter because if, say, the euro, is depreciating against the dollar, prices in euroland will be rising also. some of this will be because energy and other imports will be more expensive, and some of it will be due to the arbitrage inherent in free trade.

ETA: it might also matter if the exchange rate move has secondary economic effects, such as triggering insolvency in a heavily levered domestic sector or, in the case of the EU, the (hopefully unlikely) breakdown of the currency union -- which, in turn, would come with secondary economic effects of its own.

take2
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Re: Who else earns in a currency other than dollars

Post by take2 »

I earn in GBP but most of my assets are in USD. The recent dive in GBP has been OK for me in some ways, and bad in others. I’m in the process of buying a house in GBP but transferring USD for most of what I need - so that’s good. But I’ll need to renovate which is up in GBP terms due to inflation/import costs on a lower GBP - so that’s bad.

My salary and bonus are all GBP but I use USD as my unit of account - so that’s bad. However my cash in USD is now earning a more meaningful (nominal) return - so that’s good. But that (nominal) return is actually negative - so that’s bad. Investments in any kind of asset is down across the board - so that’s bad. Long term outlook on GBP is atrocious - so that’s bad.

Overall more bad than good I guess.

I won’t be quitting my job anytime soon but that’s due more to a lifestyle choice of buying a house that I now need to pay off - I’d say that’s fairly neutral and FX movements don’t really factor into it.

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