Westministenders: Talks Walk Out?

[RedToothBrush]

We are now on the countdown to whether we get a backstop Withdrawal Deal. May is hoping to get the EU to backdown on this saying that we will stay in the customs union until a deal is agreed on NI. That would mean come 29th March, we'd have no transistion period, but we'd still have a hard border in NI because we were out of the single market. And if the EU don't agree to it we are into the chances of accidental Brexit being sky high. The only way out would be revoking a50. May has hinted that if Tory MPs don't give her support we could end up with no brexit at all - whether she means revoking a50 or Beano isn't clear.

So onward to 18th October...

How much of our savings should we be changing into euros?

Keep two months' expenses in £ and change the rest. The pound may go up slightly if there's a deal but it will presumably fall very dramatically if there isn't. Whoever said we use sterling in the UK isn't factoring in the inflationary effect of a massive devaluation, and you should be able to change your money back into sterling when you want to.

You can take a day trip to Dublin and open a € bank account there.

Except that Corbyn wouldn't mind a hard Brexit so much...

How easy is it for a UK resident to open a € account? I must give it some thought.

Peregrina

How easy is it for a UK resident to open a € account? I must give it some thought

Dead easy. When we were in Germany a few weeks ago, we just walked into the local branch of Deutsche Bank with our passports and it took about half an hour to open an account. We didn't even have to pay anything in, just came home and made an electronic transfer. Had debit cards, online PIN and electronic security scanner within a few days.

We go to Germany a lot and would consider moving back there at some point, so it's good security for us. I used the account for the first time to pay a huge speeding fine I rashly incurred during the trip!

Could I do all this from the UK? DH is a closet Leaver, (i.e. he says he voted Remain, but I know he didn't really believe it), so it might have to be done a bit surreptitiously!

I am really keen to open a euro account. I've looked at TransferWise but I don't really understand it

MrsR8 Very difficult decision for you:

Look at the difference in the Euros you can buy for 1000 GBP and what you would obtain in GBP if you changed them right back again.
This is the transaction cost

This need to be considered when deciding - if you remain in the UK - whether to change to Euros
If you think you might emigrate, that is a very different matter

Pure currency speculation should only be done by those who know what they are doing and can afford to get back fewer pounds than they started with - because you will be buying groceries etc in Sterling.

imo a deal looks to have slightly more than 50:50 chance
However, that's still a big risk of no deal and if the deal is judged bad for trade, it could crash Sterling anyway

On balance, if I weren't living in Germany, I wouldn't change more than I needed for any planned EU trip, but that's just me.
You might choose differently and find you were absolutely right

You could also compromise and convert a certain amount, to keep as Euro savings

Just try to separate your emotions - anger, loss and disgust over Brexit - from financial decisions and do what you think best.

I'll have another look Mrs

Seeing the speed at which currency rates change and a major 'unknown' being what issues from Theresa's mouth it is very difficult to know what to do.
The afternoon of the speech after Salzburg, the Pound dropped quite dramatically and the exchange rate you would have got in the morning was quite different to teatime.

I went to France last month, so purchased some Euros. The lady at the counter told me that the £ had had a bit of a bounce, so I would have got more than if I had gone a couple of days earlier. It was still a lot less than I would have got 2 1/2 years earlier mind you.

Due to the low interest rates we currently have most of our savings in premium bonds. I’m thinking this is probably A Very Bad Thing?

Does anyone know what tax etc issues arise if you open an EU bank account so that you can accept payments from EU customers in Euros? Or is it better to accept payments in Euros into your UK bank account ( which would automatically covert them into Sterling)? Pondering business ideas.

@Mother
I don't suppose there is anything to suggest they won't be, at least not more or less than a load of other financial services. They may well come under the heading of 'unknowns' but you could try googling and terms and conditions.

Currency speculation is a mug's game.

Open a Euro account if there is a reason to do so - eg business or buying a property.

If you are worried about sterling, and bullish about euros, buy assets that provide a natural hedge eg a European equity fund. The sterling value will rise if the pound tanks.

@Thomasinaa can your UK bank open you a euro account? My DH received most of his income in US dollars and has a dollar account at our regular bank. It's associated with his business account and he transfers money from dollars to euros whenever the exchange rate is favourable. Obviously there is a cost to all this so it depends on how much business you do in euros.

Has anyone seen any detailed discussion on what other countries have agreed to do in the case that a withdrawal agreement and transition do get agreed? That's the figure of 759 agreement that gets bandied around isn't it? How many of those continue?

Apparently the EU now expects a deal by the end of the year. Hmm, I don't know what to make of that. Other agreements like the NI backstop which were supposedly agreed, now seem to be up in the air again.

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1027714/brexit-news-theresa-may-eu-super-charged-deal-free-trade-jean-claude-juncker
EU to offer UK 'SUPER-CHARGED' Brexit deal in major breakthrough for May
THE European Union is planning to offer the UK a “super-charged” free-trade Brexit deal, Brussels diplomats have said.

Nick Gutteridge @ nick_gutteridge
This is quite literally the EU’s original trade guidelines (first published in March) with the word ‘supercharged’ bolted on to the front and ‘as frictionless as possible’ added in to sweeten the pill. As the PM would say, nothing has changed.

Not wasting my time with currency speculation. I used to live in a country where there was a daily need to check the dollar rate to get more or sell more local currency just to get by. It did my head in.
I'm going on a European holiday in May/June next year. I plan to buy bits of Euros to top up my cash spend fund over the next few months but, tbh, I'd probably do that anyway.