Money makes the world go round

Next week we are completing on our purchase and with the money to pay for it in a bank account in the UK, I've had the challenge of juggling it over to make the most of what is a very poor exchange rate. What I hadn't realised is that when I looked at the current exchange rate, it was not what I would be getting from my bank and these rates are for 'corporates' only.

I found a service however, called Currencyfair, which matches changers of one currency with another and allows them to pitch for the best rate. You can either take the current rate offered, or put in your order and wait for someone to match it. I did mine in dribs and drabs, partly because of the exchange rate and partly due to fear but next time I would do in one hit. In the future, I would also put my money in way ahead of time to get the best possible offer. Even so, I saved myself about $13000, which is a new kitchen.

There is a tiny bit of hassle at the beginning as you need to prove who you are, but as they allow you to take a picture of a bill and email it across, it was hardly a hardship, but you should allow a couple of days for the process.

Thanks to Tobin Black for the image.