Dollar has more value vs Colombian Peso

[Calipro]

FT I suppose locally grown food costs could be affected by costs of imported fertilizers etc. but imported foods would be most affected. If you want a lot of stuff from back home you can go to Pricesmart. Never been myself but supposed to have good prices on imported North American food products. Anyway I thought you were a gardener. As I said elsewhere you should come on down and if to the Cali area buy yourself a nice finca one hectaria or so at between 1400 and 1900 meters where you'll be able to grow fruits and vegetables to your heart's content.  Cali, Medellin and Pereira would be good choices. I don't think Barranquilla where I believe your wife is from has much to offer in the way of fincas and anyway you'd have to like really hot weather. Time to start wrapping things up up there.

I have been to places in Cali that have "almuerzo ejecutivo" specials that are so cheap that I couldn't make it at home for the price they are selling it.


I have drove by the open air markets in Cali where they have truckloads of potatoes and onions along with freshly slaughtered cattle and wondered just how much more inexpensive in might be to buy food in a place like that.


Have you ever bought food there?

[benjio]

There are dirt cheap places I found in Neiva.  They serve "almuerzos corrientes" starting at 4000 pesos.   However the food is really bad.  Chef Ramsay would go nuclear if he ate at one of those places.     

Hey James,


You've been to Neiva recently? What's it like these days? It's been a while since I've visited and I was thinking about going to see some old friends the next time I'm in Colombia. I'm asking because that's always a relatively volatile region of the country.

[Awesome]

In el centro medellin I used to to eat breakfast at this little place ran by a chinese looking guy.  3500 pesos for scrambled eggs, pan con queso, and hot chocolate.  That's $1.35 usd at today's exchange rate.

[JamesDonut]

Benji, I was there about a month ago actually.   Neiva itself is just hot and mostly boring.  You will find some attractive ladies but not in bunches.  The best places to spot them are at the Malls, Plaza San Pedro or the new Plaza San Juan.   Surprisingly nice malls to be honest.

Overall quite safe.  Although the locals tell me of a Strata 1 barrio (forgot the name) that even they don't want to go into.  In jest they call it a strata 0 because it is so bad.   As long as you stay close to the centro and the malls you shouldn't be running into it.

Locals also advise caution during the June festival, also called San Pedro and around the holiday season.  Apparently the crime rate goes way up during those times.   One of my amigas told me about an incident she experienced during Navidad.  She almost got her bag snatched by a pair on a motorcycle.  They dragged her a couple of feet but thankfully she was ok.  The motorcycle thefts are the local variety of pickpockets.

If you have friends here, I would say go for it.  Although not worth going out of your way to visit it.  The bus ride isn't bad from Bogota.  Nice ones with AC.

[buencamino]

CP I have bought food at the Galería Santa Elena. That's about as cheap as it gets in Cali but those mercados moviles you've passed can be pretty cheap too. Unless you're feeding a huge crowd though I don't see why any gringo would need to shop at those places. Agree on the almuerzos ejecutivos. They can be super cheap like two bucks some places.

[JamesDonut]

Weird double post.

[fathertime]

FT I suppose locally grown food costs could be affected by costs of imported fertilizers etc. but imported foods would be most affected. If you want a lot of stuff from back home you can go to Pricesmart. Never been myself but supposed to have good prices on imported North American food products. Anyway I thought you were a gardener. As I said elsewhere you should come on down and if to the Cali area buy yourself a nice finca one hectaria or so at between 1400 and 1900 meters where you'll be able to grow fruits and vegetables to your heart's content.  Cali, Medellin and Pereira would be good choices. I don't think Barranquilla where I believe your wife is from has much to offer in the way of fincas and anyway you'd have to like really hot weather. Time to start wrapping things up up there.

yup I have had some very good gardens....I think the heat would be too much in barranquilla for my tastes...I have a few more years here before I can seriously consider moving..but it is coming up quick.




btw  the dollar hit high water again today..up to 2625-1


Fathertime!   

[fathertime]

yup I have had some very good gardens....I think the heat would be too much in barranquilla for my tastes...I have a few more years here before I can seriously consider moving..but it is coming up quick.




btw  the dollar hit high water again today..up to 2625-1


Fathertime!

After hitting high water around 2700-1 earlier this week, the dollar has dropped a lot, especially today.  The fed statement on Wednesday has had an affect.  If/when interest rates go up the dollar may go back up also, meanwhile we are no longer at highwater. 

Fathertime!

[fathertime]

Since some of the last posts, the dollar has dropped to around 2385 pesos per dollar.   Not bad, but well off the highwater marks.   I'm very curious to see what happens if indeed the fed does raise interest rates in September or before, I think if they do, the exchange rate has a good chance of rising further.




In the same vein, people may not feel wealthy here in the states, but relative to the world we are extremely wealthy.  I have a neighbor that is a recently retired teacher.  At 62 years old he gets roughly a combined 7500 a month between pension and SS payments, until he dies.  He also has 2 paid off houses.   If he were to live in Colombia (or another S. American country) he could likely  live pretty high on the hog for the rest of his good years. 


Fathertime! 

[robert angel]

Since some of the last posts, the dollar has dropped to around 2385 pesos per dollar.   Not bad, but well off the highwater marks.   I'm very curious to see what happens if indeed the fed does raise interest rates in September or before, I think if they do, the exchange rate has a good chance of rising further.




In the same vein, people may not feel wealthy here in the states, but relative to the world we are extremely wealthy.  I have a neighbor that is a recently retired teacher.  At 62 years old he gets roughly a combined 7500 a month between pension and SS payments, until he dies.  He also has 2 paid off houses.   If he were to live in Colombia (or another S. American country) he could likely  live pretty high on the hog for the rest of his good years. 


Fathertime!

Yea, globally overall,  the dollars lost some of it's gains recently in terms of exchange rate, but most folks expect with just the mere suggestion that the fed will raise interest rates down the line, that the dollar to foreign currency exchange rates will remain favorable to US travelers.

The last six months or so have been a good time for us to get things done overseas with our US dollars and we're hoping for a little rebound to the little drop in the last week (the COP was down to around 2340 yesterday) so we can get some more stuff done while the rate's pretty good.

But with economics, you never know. It's almost like they put numbers in a yahtzee cup, throw them on a ouiji board and the global economy reacts to how the 'experts' interpret it.

[Elexpatriado]

For a guy thats never been to Colombia you sure write a lot about it..

Yea, globally overall,  the dollars lost some of it's gains recently in terms of exchange rate, but most folks expect with just the mere suggestion that the fed will raise interest rates down the line, that the dollar to foreign currency exchange rates will remain favorable to US travelers.

The last six months or so have been a good time for us to get things done overseas with our US dollars and we're hoping for a little rebound to the little drop in the last week (the COP was down to around 2340 yesterday) so we can get some more stuff done while the rate's pretty good.

But with economics, you never know. It's almost like they put numbers in a yahtzee cup, throw them on a ouiji board and the global economy reacts to how the 'experts' interpret it.

[robert angel]

For a guy thats never been to Colombia you sure write a lot about it..

Yea, globally overall,  the dollars lost some of it's gains recently in terms of exchange rate, but most folks expect with just the mere suggestion that the fed will raise interest rates down the line, that the dollar to foreign currency exchange rates will remain favorable to US travelers.

The last six months or so have been a good time for us to get things done overseas with our US dollars and we're hoping for a little rebound to the little drop in the last week (the COP was down to around 2340 yesterday) so we can get some more stuff done while the rate's pretty good.

But with economics, you never know. It's almost like they put numbers in a yahtzee cup, throw them on a ouiji board and the global economy reacts to how the 'experts' interpret it.

>>""Yea, Globally""<< --Elex--if you read the three paragraphs in the post, you might notice that just seven words--in parenthesis at that, reference Colombia, and even at that, it was touching upon how Colombia  was following most of the global pattern as of late.

[fathertime]

The dollar is once again rising fast against the colombian peso...around 2550-1 today.  This is likely based on the market's belief of a US interest rate hike late this year. 


I got to thinking about what posters such as Buencamino said about when the peso was around 3000 or so to the dollar  in around  around 2003, if we factor in Colombia's higher inflation rate, especially 10-15 years ago, if we were to hit 3000 again, the purchasing power would still not be nearly what it was in years past.  We may need to hit 4000-1 in order to get that same purchasing power.  This is just me thinking aloud, but I'd like to hear from long time Colombian residents.  In today's dollars what would it take to come close to that high water marks from the halcyon era circa 2003?




Thanks,


Fathertime!   

[fathertime]

For those keeping track, the dollar is still pretty strong vs the Colombian Peso...2604-1 today....There are a few big events coming up, so perhaps the dollar will move dramatically one way or another soon...or perhaps it has found a stable point for the moment...


Fathertime!   

[robert angel]

For those keeping track, the dollar is still pretty strong vs the Colombian Peso...2604-1 today....There are a few big events coming up, so perhaps the dollar will move dramatically one way or another soon...or perhaps it has found a stable point for the moment...


Fathertime!   

Five year USD to COP

 http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=COP&view=5Y 

Ten year USD to COP

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=COP&view=10Y

Sometimes what looks like a trend or high point for five years looks a lot different seen from a ten year viewpoint.

I do our investing by throwing letter and number cubes in a yahtzee cup, throwing them on a ouiji board and divining the results from that. (That and Valic GFs, LOL) A while back, an actual study showed that when a group of school kids threw darts at the Dow Jones and NASDAQ charts, then divvied up their money and invested where the dart points landed, they did considerably better than the so called 'expert economists' and leading 'investment' firms did during the same period.

"Stable" is a relative term and couching the word with 'for the moment' as you did, is wise. Four years ago, silver was just under $48 an ounce. (albeit not for very long) Today it was $15.75 an ounce. Its been a couple years since it was around $30 an ounce. Currency, commodities --almost everything, is subject to change and predicting direction is increasingly difficult. But silver is interesting lately. I have to remind my wife not to toss out the silver eagles when she's 'decluttering' the house of boxes of 'this and that'.

Precious metals are a good hedge--good as a portion of your savings, but if the dollar ever really crashed--if the world's reserve currency was no longer the US dollar and just the Asian nations called to collect their T Bond debts, even precious metals might not be of much value. Who around here would want a bar of silver or a silver eagle then? As with almost everything in life, you have to know when to get in and when to get out. Who knows? Weapons, powder and ammo might be a more valuable commodity at that point. Barter - trade, as well as a marketable skill using one's hands, might be the way to go.

[fathertime]

I stumbled across this fact when I was reading about the Asian stock crash, that is in motion right now. 


In 2015, Colombian ranks 74 out of 74 in the stock market gains/losses, at -13%...Surprisingly Argentina's stock market has faired best and is up over 37%


For those living there, are things noticeably worse in recent months or is it not even noticeable?




Here is the link:
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/investing/best-performing-global-markets/


Fathertime! 

[Elexpatriado]

-13% is nothing. The North American Stock Market hasnt done much better lately...in 2015..espescially Canada
No difference here ..most
colombians make less than $1000 a month..so they dont have money for the stock market..average Colombian had all kinds of economic problems before and stilll do now. And the rich still have the cushion of old "laundered" money..

Dont know about real estate prices..have to ask the other guys..but if its like Canadá..the are probably still going up despite the country technically being in a recesión. Reason: average person is extremely greedy and will Go deeper and deeper into debt until everything crashes..and the banks are all so stupid and never learn and keep lending these losers money..because they expect the Government or IMF to bail them out..

I stumbled across this fact when I was reading about the Asian stock crash, that is in motion right now. 


In 2015, Colombian ranks 74 out of 74 in the stock market gains/losses, at -13%...Surprisingly Argentina's stock market has faired best and is up over 37%


For those living there, are things noticeably worse in recent months or is it not even noticeable?




Here is the link:
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/investing/best-performing-global-markets/


Fathertime!

[fathertime]

Peso has dipped downward to around 2725-1 now.  Big move today, and new highwater for dollar holders.


Fathertime!   

[robert angel]

Peso has dipped downward to around 2725-1 now.  Big move today, and new highwater for dollar holders. 


Fathertime!

Interesting to see how precious metals sometimes follow the dollar's highs and lows.  Just remember, you inevitably pay more than the market 'spot' price when you buy and get a bit less than the 'spot' price when you go to sell. Usually, we're just the middlemen holding the stuff. But with silver at a third of what is was about 5 years ago, it's still interesting.

[fathertime]

Peso moving downwards in a great big hurry lately...Now the exchange busted through 2800-1, all the way to 2830-1.   Started this thread around 9 months ago when the rate was topping out at 2100-1 on a hunch something was odd going on.     Now we got a real chance to hit all time highwater of around 3000. 


 Any new price increases or is the dollar just enabling the expats to go hog wild for less?


Fathertime!   

[utopiacowboy]

Peso moving downwards in a great big hurry lately...Now the exchange busted through 2800-1, all the way to 2830-1.   Started this thread around 9 months ago when the rate was topping out at 2100-1 on a hunch something was odd going on.     Now we got a real chance to hit all time highwater of around 3000. 


 Any new price increases or is the dollar just enabling the expats to go hog wild for less?


Fathertime!

The US dollar is kicking ass on all the currencies. We are going to Canada in a couple of weeks where the puny Canadian peso is worth 77 US cents. Only a couple of years ago it traded at par. Of course what goes around comes around and eventually our Charmin toilet paper currency will revert to its true value, i.e. NOTHING!

[benjio]

Of course what goes around comes around and eventually our Charmin toilet paper currency will revert to its true value, i.e. NOTHING!

    Kind of gives me a chuckle when people say things like this. What more is money these days than an idea we all choose to accept. Even when countries strictly adhered to the gold standard ultimately, if the $hit ever really hit the fan, who'd be interested in gold? The only things with real value are fresh drinking water, livestock, the seeds of fruits and vegetables. Things like that. Things the United States has more of than most other countries on the planet per capita. As long as the dollar's current value upholds its "popularity" on the market this will continue to happen. I will definitely agree with you on the fact that in the end everything is cyclical anyway. I for one am loving this 3.25/1 Brazilian Real to USD!!!   

[robert angel]

    Kind of gives me a chuckle when people say things like this. What more is money these days than an idea we all choose to accept. Even when countries strictly adhered to the gold standard ultimately, if the $hit ever really hit the fan, who'd be interested in gold? The only things with real value are fresh drinking water, livestock, the seeds of fruits and vegetables. Things like that. Things the United States has more of than most other countries on the planet per capita. As long as the dollar's current value upholds its "popularity" on the market this will continue to happen. I will definitely agree with you on the fact that in the end everything is cyclical anyway. I for one am loving this 3.25/1 Brazilian Real to USD!!! 

The theory that when the sh!t finally hits the fan and money as a 'currency' is no longer viable that gold and silver won't do you any good, may well be true. But historically, over thousands of years, all over the world, that hasn't been the case.

The USD is a "fiat currency"--that is a currency not backed up by gold, silver-- really not backed up by anything 'real' besides hope and history.

 Historically when there have been situations, scenarios similar to what we have in the USA, for instance a debt that 'they tell' us is 17 or 18 trillion dollars, the end result is hyperinflation. It tends to happen to one country or another every few years, but I don't think it's ever happened in the truest sense to the nation with what's regarded as the holder of the World's  'Reserve Currency'--which is what the USA has been for quite some time. If it did, basically the global economy as a whole would be in a very bad place.

There have been dozens of examples of severe hyperinflation, from Europe to Asia, from Africa to the Americas. Perhaps some of us have seen pictures of Germans loading their stoves with some of the lower denomination Deutchmarks to boil water, as it was cheaper to do so than to use them as currency to buy 'proper' wood instead. The mark was also a fiat currency.

In virtually all the hyperinflation cases, gold and silver's value increased at a pace that exceeded the inflation rate.

That said, the question remains: Even if gold's worth a million dollars an ounce, if no one has that amount or wants your gold--what good is it? Well, whether we know it or not, we all tend to hedge our bets, so to speak. As the song goes: "I swear there ain't no heaven, but I pray there ain't no hell---only my dying will tell."----or if you prefer: "You've got to know when to hold em,  know when to fold em"....

Most of us know the economy has changed in ways never seen before and we probably can't predict the future based on the past 100%, but we can still learn some lessons from it. It's all about timing. Try to get in cheap and sell close to what you hope is somewhat close to peak. If you see a crash as being impending---like soon, and especially if you've made a decent return on gold and silver, sell it off. And don't expect to get the 'spot price' you read--after all you had to pay more than 'spot' to buy it to start with.

But by that point, things like long lasting foodstuffs, seeds to grow foods and fuel to cook or otherwise use may well become very valuable.Water and purification systems too. Hopefully by then, monetary gains from precious metals will still buy those in abundance--'timing' once again. Fix it skills, bartering and trade will all be very useful. But sadly, in a worse case economy scenario, the ultimate 'currency' may be guns, ammunition and gunpowder to protect what you have.

Life, and economic cycles like just about everything else, are cylical in nature. Really bad times, be they health, weather or economic, will come and go. If the dollar crashes (and it might not even 'truly' do so in our lifetimes), I feel it only makes sense to hedge our bets, hope for the best and live day  by day. There are some dark clouds out there for sure, but I'm not Chicken Little and I don't see the sky falling ---yet.

[utopiacowboy]

    Kind of gives me a chuckle when people say things like this. What more is money these days than an idea we all choose to accept. Even when countries strictly adhered to the gold standard ultimately, if the $hit ever really hit the fan, who'd be interested in gold? The only things with real value are fresh drinking water, livestock, the seeds of fruits and vegetables. Things like that. Things the United States has more of than most other countries on the planet per capita. As long as the dollar's current value upholds its "popularity" on the market this will continue to happen. I will definitely agree with you on the fact that in the end everything is cyclical anyway. I for one am loving this 3.25/1 Brazilian Real to USD!!! 

No fiat currency has ever survived. Gold and silver have been money, i.e. a means of exchange for thousands of years. The Chinese are buying as much as they can with plans for a gold-backed currency that will replace the US dollar. Remember Zimbabwe - that is the future for the US and its toilet paper. BTW, ask California how much fresh water they have!

[Ray]

BTW, ask California how much fresh water they have!

You should have been here last weekend...


https://youtu.be/3NBZ9wK2ASw