Economy & Banks

It's glib in places; yes. But there are some sound and under aired arguments in there.

"The competitiveness agenda is a billionaire-friendly hoax. Most competent economists know this already. “If we can teach undergraduates to wince when they hear someone talk about competitiveness, we will have done our nation a great service,” the US economist Paul Krugman explained in a 1993 paper."

It is like reading about the EU in the Telegraph, some elements are true but the overwhelming bias against it or lack of understanding does not help solve the problems that exist. Seems like screaming rather than discussing.

many inaccuracies, highly misleading statements and weak arguments

Aha! Any examples (if you can be bothered)?

this picks up on the same piece of research and reports on the findings more objectively in my view
https://www.economist.com/buttonwoods-notebook/2015/02/18/warning-too-much-finance-is-bad-for-the-economy

The Economist piece is rather lightweight.

I've taken to reading the FT; the journalism is surprisingly good and also encompasses a broader spectrum of views than might be expected.

Recomendations for interesting economics trends forecasts blogs / websites?
@stonehedge ?

oil negative. wow.

water positive. crazy times.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/09/uk-city-of-london-exempt-g7-tax-plan-chancellor-financial-services-global-corporation

A blueprint published in October by the OECD, the organisation steering the negotiations, included a carve-out for banks, insurance companies and investment funds as well as extractive industries, including mining and oil and gas companies, from pillar one. It did include plans to target digital firms and consumer-facing businesses.

Dafuq? How is that fair?

5/7 lol

What happened to GBP? Fell off a cliff again. Did they "elect" yet another idiot?

People gonna get shafted by a triple whammy of increased mortgage costs, fuel bills, food and everything else bills. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63977963

I've been using Revolut to alert me when currency hits a certain point (trying to buy travel money when the GBP is high for example). What do people use to alert for currency swings? Tried XE and it was shit - never alerted properly. Revolut works but when an alert value is hit, it removes the alert, so I have to keep re-adding alerts for certain currencies at certain levels.

Is there something smarter that will ping me when an exchange is good for a certain amount of time or ping once and then not ping again for x days?

can't tell if this will cancel when sent or keep you subscribed, but
https://wise.com/tools/exchange-rate-alerts/subscribe

That looks useful, thanks. They also do Auto Conversions so if you have a balance in GBP and it hits a certain rate of AUD, you can set it up to convert automatically.

What are Auto Conversions?

Auto Conversions allow you to pick your desired exchange rate and a specified amount to convert between two eligible currencies. We’ll watch the rate, and convert your money automatically when your desired rate - or an even better rate - is met in the market.
How do Auto Conversions work?

You choose the currencies: Tell us which currencies you want to convert between.

You control the rate: Tell us the desired exchange rate at which you’d like to convert.

You pick the amount: Choose your amount of money to convert.

Set it and forget it: We’ll keep watch and when your desired rate - or one that is better than your desired rate - is met in the market, we’ll convert your money. We’ll also send you a notification when your money converts, or if it fails for any reason.

Where can I set up an Auto Conversion?

When you’re logged into your Wise account, there are two places that you can create an Auto Conversion. The feature looks similar on both the web and the mobile app.

When converting from an eligible currency.

Click on the balance of the currency you'd like to convert from.

Select Convert

Enter an amount of money to convert

Select the option Auto Convert. Once you toggle Auto Convert on, you can then choose your desired FX rate and the amount of money you’d like to send between two currencies when your desired rate - or a better one - is met.

On the ‘Manage’ page when you’re logged in to Wise.

Click on Manage

Select Auto Conversions.

Click Create Auto Conversion to create a new Auto Conversion. You can also manage your Auto Convesions from this page.

Do I need a Wise account to create an Auto Conversion?

Yes, you need to have a Wise account as well as money on the Wise balance you'd like to convert money from.
Can I send money to someone else or an account I own outside of Wise based on a desired exchange rate?

No. Today the Auto Conversion feature is only available to convert between different currencies’ you hold within your Wise balance.
Can I delete/ cancel an existing Auto Conversion?

Yes, you can delete any of your existing Auto Conversions and/or create a new one if you’d like. You can do this on the Manage page of your Wise account, under Auto Conversions.
Can I edit/ modify an existing Auto Conversion?

You cannot edit, change or modify an existing Auto Conversion, however you can delete any of your existing Auto Conversions and/or create a new one if you’d like. You can do this on the Manage page of your Wise account, under Auto Conversions.
Where can I see my pending, successful and cancelled Auto Conversions history?

You can see a history of all Auto Conversion transactions, including pending, successful and cancelled Auto Conversions on the Manage page of your Wise account, under Auto Conversions You will also see all successfully executed Auto Conversion transactions in the Activities page of the relevant currency in your Wise account.
How can I get access to Auto Conversions?

The Auto Conversion feature is only available to a limited number of customers who are testing the product and giving us feedback in its beta version. We look forward to sharing this feature with all customers soon.
Which currencies can I create an Auto Conversion for?

Today we support Auto Conversions to/from any pairing of the following 24 currencies: USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY,CHF, NZD, SGD, MXN, HUF, NOK, SEK, DKK, PLN, CZK, RON, BGN, INR, BRL, THB, PKR, PHP, IDR.

If you don’t see a currency on this list, it means we do not support Auto Conversions for these currencies but you can make a live-rate conversion at any time between those other currencies.
How do I tell Wise how much money I want to convert?

Once you toggle Auto Convert on, you can then choose your desired exchange rate and the amount of money you’d like to send between two currencies when your desired rate - or a better one - is met.

Just like a normal live conversion, you decide the amount of money you’d like to convert based on the currency you’re sending from, or the currency you’re sending to.
What happens if I don’t have enough money in my balance when my desired rate is met in the market?

If you don’t have enough money in your Wise account for the currency you are converting from, then your Auto Conversion will fail and we will cancel the order. We will send you an email, and/or a mobile push notification if you have notifications turned on for your Wise account. You can then decide to create a new order and add money to your account, or create a new conversion at the live rate, if you so choose.
Can I set an Auto Conversion request to convert money when a rate falls below a specific rate?

No, we only offer the ability for customers to select a foreign exchange rate higher than the live rate at the point of creating the request.
What if the live FX rate goes above my desired rate? Will you still convert my money?

Yes. Your desired rate is the minimum FX rate at which we'll convert your money. If the FX rate goes from below your desired rate to above your desired rate, we'll convert it at whatever the rate is above your desired rate. This means you might get a rate that is even better than the desired rate you specified.
How long does my desired rate have to be live in the market in order for Wise to complete my order?

We will convert your order as long as your desired rate is live in the market for 1 minute.

We may need to extend this window from time to time to account for any fluctuations and volatility in the FX market.

Please remember: We will always do our best to ensure we execute your order but in case of times of extreme volatility or unforeseen issues we may run into, as explained per our Terms and Conditions, we cannot guarantee we’ll execute your order.
Are there any limitations / blackout periods in which you will not execute my order?

Yes, every Sunday for the time period between 20:00 UTC and 21:30 UTC, we will not execute any auto conversion orders, even if your rate is met during that time.
Are there any limits to the number of Auto Conversions you can have open / pending?

You can only have up to 15 pending Auto Conversions open at any time.
Are there any limits to the amount of money you can convert to or from a specific currency?

Yes, some currencies have a maximum amount of money you can convert to or from. Those limitations are explained inside of the product and you will see a message if you attempt to make an Auto Conversion for an amount greater than the current limits. These limits are the same as the limits in place today for normal live-rate conversions.

You can use the yahoo finance app to send a notifications at lots of different levels if you like. Not as fancy as wise, but probably saves you a bit on the spread.

Revolut also does auto exchange at a desired rate if you werent aware

I've kinda seen it but never really used it. I find Revolut UI very clunky so avoid it as much as possible. I might have a look at that too though.

Yeh there UI isn't helped by the fact they enjoy moving things as well making hard to find features even harder to relocate

Help me make sense of this...

The government wants goods and services to become more affordable for its citizens. To achieve that, it needs to reduce inflation and slow down a "hot" economy. The lever they are pulling is reducing the disposable income of citizens by increasing tax revenues.

🤔

• If they do slow inflation in this way, surely things are still going to be unaffordable, since consumers have less disposable income?
  
• Perhaps the idea is that they can, at some later time, make changes to the tax system to 'give people the money back in their pockets'?
  
• Since nothing fundamental has changed, why would that not take us straight back to the current situation?
  
• Could someone explain the causal relationship between economic activity and inflation?
  
  

Everybody on the morning news just nodding their heads as though this makes perfect sense. It must just be me being thick.

To me it looks like, rather than fixing any problems, the gov are focusing on just a single metric (inflation), trying to game it and play for time so the bad news goes away.

wasn't it more to do with the pandemic closing everything down and the sudden bounce after restrictions being removed. wasn't that the trigger for inflation. with so many thing being closed during the pandemic people saving money then spending 18 months worth of cash on stuff they didn't really need pushed inflation up
plus oil and gas price rises due to the war in ukraine

lots of factors around the pandemic which aren't effecting the economy in the same way now

and is it tax revenues being increased or society seeing a good return on their investments due to higher interest rates saving money or taking cash out of circulation ( i.e not spending ) , and future prices seen as being cheaper that is slowing spending. if you think you can get a washing machine cheaper in 6 months you'll possibly delay the unnecessary upgrade to your washing machine for 6 months in the hope you'll get it cheaper.

the pandemic was a sudden sharp shock. economists can do things more slowly and thoughtfully now gradually slowing the economy rather than having a knee jerk reaction to things that were happening in pandemic times.

Is there any analysis that attributes inflation movements across different causal factors e.g. pandemic demand vs. food and energy supply vs. British workers demanding higher pay because it's now harder for their employers to hire from the EU?

I figured maybe pandemic demand has washed through the system by now?