Tuesday September 30
 
17:57
 
B&B&Bust

From the BBC:

Mr Cable said depositors should not panic because their money would be guaranteed by the government under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The first £35,000 of savers’ money in each banking group is protected under the scheme.

I never thought of myself as a good saver, but I have a heck more than that in my high interest bank account (paid tax free since I don’t live in the UK). I never had much concern before that a bank could fail and take my money with it but having so much in the one place is now beginning to look a little scary. Should I spread it into 35,000 chunks with different banks?

Friday September 5
 
15:20
 
What Is Going On?

187.918

No doubt it will be back up again before I can take advantage of it with my next pay check!

Monday September 1
 
17:32
 
Double Damn It

194.348

Friday August 29
 
13:57
 
Damn It

Just after I transfer 3,000,000 yen into British quid, the rate falls from 204 to 200. Three hundred squid. Bet it falls further also.

Damn fiends. (Don’t know who is a damn fiend, but someone is.)

At least 204 is better than the 210-215 rates of the past few months and I’ll get a decent interest rate back in the UK – 5.5% compared to 1% in Japan.

Tuesday March 18
 
10:33
 
Crazy Money

The dollar/yen, pound/yen rates are dropping like crazy at the moment.

On a purely selfish point, I’m gutted. I transferred a huge wod of dosh to pounds a few weeks ago when the rate hit 208. The rate had only been below that level once in the past three months, so it was a pretty good deal.

Transferring the same amount today, I’ve have got about 7% more money.

The only saving graces are (1) at least the rate wasn’t as bad as the 230’s, 240’s of last August, (2) if the rate stays low for the moment, I’ll be able to transfer more at pay day, (3) I’m receiving interest (although not 7% a month!) on the money I transferred over.

Whether the rate should stay at this level is a double edged sword. If it returns back to the 230~240’s, I can feel happy I transferred at a good rate – but if it remains at this level, I’ll get more pounds.

I bet the rate shoots back up again just before pay day. It always does.

You’d think that working in finance, I’d have a greater interest and knowledge on why the rate has dropped like this. I don’t. Probably should though.