When I first arrived in Japan, I used to compare the prices with those in Singapore, as I have been in the Lion City for such a long time.. Singapore dollar was my base currency.. Then, the exchange rate was around 1.32, meaning ¥100 would get you SGD$1.33, and now the rate is hovering around 1.52.. While most of my Malaysian friends tend to see everything in terms of Ringgit.. To them, the yen is of "higher" value, with the current rate being around 3.75 (¥100 gets you MYR$3.75). Thus, the monthly allowance from the scholarship was in fact a pay raise of sort for them, while I actually took a 40% pay cut by accepting the scholarship to go study..
After more than 2.5years in Japan, everything in Malaysia and Singapore seemed cheaper in comparison as I became "acclimatized" to Yen.. Think it will take me a while to get use to the prices in Malaysia..
Until I find a job, I will be living on my savings for a while and since I don't have any in Ringgit, I will need to master the act of getting the most out of the foreign currency fluctuation.. So monitoring the currency market shall be part of my daily routine.. :x
2 comments:
teach me how to "master the act of getting the most out of foreign currency fluctuation" too! can you imagine i had to pinjam $ from my parents when i first came back?
Lucky you.. At least you still get to pinjam from your parents.. I need to give them $$$ instead.. :x :x Will be footing my sis's car installment for the next 3 months (at least) and my parent's China trip next year... :x :x
Ok, here is how I go about doing it..
1. Go around your neighborhood/area/city and check out the money changers.
2. Compare the rates that they are offering. Take note of the currency that you wanna change, bcos some offer better rates for certain currencies only..
3. Keep in mind which are the one(s) that give(s) the best rates.
4. Monitor the exchange rate online. Then compare against the rate given by the money changer.
Usually, the difference between the online rate and the money changer's rate would be around 0.03 (for Yen, at least). Thus, I would change some (not all) of my Yen when the rate is about 3.85.
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