US Savings Plans

[ccarcher]

Anyone know of any US Savings plans I could take advantage of prior to our trip this summer

so that if I was to invest a proportion of the cash in pounds on a monthly basis we plan to take with us, it would be available to me to withdraw in dollars

[Snapper]

Sadly Colin it isn't quite that easy.

If you want to be able to withdraw in dollars you really need a dollar denominated account. Most banks will provide you with one, along with a US$ debit card or similar, however they will charge for it. For holiday spending money the charges are likely to be way more than you would ever save.

The second issue you hit is that if you want to deposit sterling and then withdraw in dollars, at some point you have to convert that sterling into dollars. You yourself have to determine when this happens. You can deposit sterling into a sterling account, and then immediately flip it into dollars and move it to a dollar account; or you can deposit sterling into a sterling account, let it sit there for a few months, and then flip it into dollars and drop it into a dollar account.

Another way to approach this is to make sure you your UK cashcard is Maestro/Cirrus (most of them are) and just use it to withdraw dollars while out in the US. The rate you get will be whatever your bank gives (which isn't usually going to be leading edge) and there might be handling charges. Overall though it is likely going to save you time and expense. If you want to hedge your bets (as per your other thread) buy some dollars now and keep them in a safe place until you travel.