Why Euros? Why not Swiss francs? I think the latter has a much better likelihood of maintaining purchasing power than the Euro, which is after all a currency without a single issuer. The Swiss government is far from perfect, but it seems less inclined to do really idiotic things than most of the others, including the ones in the Euro bloc.

I’m not sure exactly what you are asking. Would I invest in them? Yes.

There are a number of possible investment vehicles for Swiss francs (abbreviation: CHF). My favorite, assuming you don’t need absolute instant liquidity, is the CHF annuity. It has a number of advantages over other ways of investing in the CHF, including:

1. Better interest rates
2. Good liquidity
3. No maintenance fees
4. Asset protection

The minimum to start with is about $20,000, but you can add smaller amounts later if you want to.

If you want contact information for the company I’ve used, you can email me at my hotmail account: stheller at hotmail dot com. I usually get only junk mail there, so post here first to let me know that I need to look for your email there.

I am also waiting for gold to drop, to take a 5-10% position. It is NOT speculative. Think about it this way: when critical mass starts thinking as we do that the dollar is a risky holding (include foreign central banks in this group), what will they buy? Like us, they have only a few choices: gold, euros, swiss francs, Canadian dollars. Those will be further increasing in value as more people buy them.

The dollar is risky to me, and I am concerned holding it. It is the currency of my country, but its value is falling relative to other currencies. That means imported goods will keep rising in price (inflation). Wouldn’t it be great to convert your euros back to dollar in 5 years, when the dollar has lost another 20% of its value?

I am investigating how to buy euros, from my cousin who works for a large German bank. I will post my findings about the German laws, whether they have FDIC insurance, and if anyone can open an account in Germany.

Please post your info about the Swiss annuities, and a website if you have one. I am sure many people are interested, and that would keep you from getting hundreds of e-mails.

Diversification is my best bet. Again, my discomfort with the dollar is a feeling I will act on. I would hate to be one of those people in line at my bank when they run out of money after the next banking crisis.

Both Zeal Intelligence and Chris Johnston, to whom I pay membership fees, recommend waiting to buy gold. Zeal’s newsletters in particular go into great detail on gold – this last rally will fall back too, just as the othes. They are waiting for gold to go back down to $560, which should be in the fall. Patience is key in investing, as Chris mentioned before. Although I am nervous not owning any gold, I am going to be patient and take the advice of these people whom I trust. The rally in gold is not sustainable; it will climb, but the slow gradual climb lasts; the quick rallies end up falling back and I don’t want to buy on one of those temporary rallies. Zeal explains it all so well, and I am convinced now to wait.

I think oil is more valuable than gold though. Our economy is so dependent on cheap oil. High oil prices, or no oil would cause a depression. We need oil as badly as food and water. gold is secondary to gold, that’s for sure. I am going to buy more oil and natural gas stocks, as recommended by Zeal,but this is going off topic.

the main point is to diversify, since we don’t know the future.

Transaction or exchange rate fees? How do we make withdrawals, and what are the wiring fees? Interest rates? Downside risk of euros (he should be able to give you a couple). Will you start a new thread when you get the info together? Oh, and does he know why the Bank of Italy would buy sterling instead of euros? What does he think of Swiss francs and of the US dollar?

Not sure what amount you are talking about investing here but, most US based Private Banks offer F/X denominated CDs, etc. I can do all the popular ones (currencies) but this is more or less just a service I provide my clients that have a full relationship with us. You may want to check around though, all Private Banks have different minimum qualifiers to work with them and most offer this service.