On a Brighter Note

As the world descends into financial oblivion and everyday my retirement gets pushed out an extra 2 years, I have found one bright spot. I can't quite explain it, but the US dollar is doing quite remarkably right now. Below is a chart showing the rise against the British Pound since I got here 6 months ago:



When I got here April 7 I was paying around $2 for £1. Today I'm paying $1.71 for the same number if pounds. Now, this is good and bad. It's great because when I transfer thousands of dollars every month to pay rent, my money is going much further. The downside is that my deposit was paid in pounds at the exchange rate 5 months ago, and unless something dramatic happens in a few months, I'm gonna get royally screwed when I get that back and convert it back to dollars.

And when we were in Spain this weekend my money went a lot further than my list trip to Europe (4 years ago). Back then it was just over 1.5, and after hovering around the 1.7 mark the past couple years it has dropped to a 15 month low:



The moral of the story is: even though your 401(k) makes you want to vomit every time you look at it and the economy is on life support, it's never been a better time to take a trip across the pond!