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HOW TO SAVE FOR YOUR TRIP

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You can save in the currency of the place you are visiting.
You can save in the currency of the place you are visiting.

BEING an adult means you get to make your own money and decide how to use it.

A big goal for many young Mzansi people in their 20s and 30s is to explore the world.

But the rand’s poor exchange rate makes an overseas trip a big financial burden that most can’t afford on their job’s salary.

Catharina Crous, Nedbank’s foreign exchange executive, told SunMoney that if you have dreams of seeing the world, start saving for that dream trip today.

And she said you can save up to the currency of the place you want to visit to benefit more.

She said anyone can save money in a foreign currency by opening a foreign currency account.

“While the South African Reserve Bank offers a generous R1 million offshore investment allowance, you certainly don’t need to be a millionaire to benefit from these types of offshore currency investments.”

“If you’re going to be making a trip to the USA, Europe or UK, you’ll be spending in its currency so it just makes good financial sense to use those same currencies to grow your savings before you travel.”

Crous points to the Nedbank Foreign Currency Account as an excellent example of how easy it is to take advantage of a weak rand to grow your overseas spending money.

The account allows you to invest funds in any of the three major foreign currencies – the US dollar, British pound sterling or euro – and thanks to a low minimum balance requirement and no account maintenance fees, it is an ideal way to get any short-term savings plan off the ground.

“Anyone over the age of 18 with a South African identity number can open a Nedbank Foreign Currency Account with an initial deposit of just 100 US dollars, UK pounds or euros they can start saving in that currency and add to their savings at any time, as often as they like.”

Local withdrawals from the fund require 48 hours’ notice and by law, these withdrawls have to be made in rands and into a Nedbank transactional account. However, Crouse said it is easy to transfer the funds in the foreign currency to an account held at an overseas bank if you have one. This means you have access to the local currency of your destination country when you arrive there.

“The potential to grow your money in line with local currency weakness makes the Nedbank Foreign Currency account an excellent way of saving towards any objective.”

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