Remodeling house, time to move USD over to Europe? (I bonds)

[picturemebroken21]

Hi guys,

Me and my wife are starting a big remodeling project on our future home. This will hopefully start in the next 2-4 weeks and finish in 2-4 months. I'm not totally clear when we have to pay the builders but obviously some time in this time frame.

I have a decent amount of money in USD in series I bonds back home. I almost wish I had cashed out when the USD was sky-high at the end of the last year, but at that time our plans weren't totally clear. Anyway, things are still OK compared to historical averages, but it looks like the trend is predicted to continue going down (weaker USD). Given that we're basically ready to pull the trigger on this, I wonder if it's not a good idea just to bring stuff over now before Forex continues to eat away at it (presumably). FWIW, the current rate on the bonds is 6.48%, though I'm not sure that's enough to keep pace with a weaker USD.

Or maybe better to send half now, half later?

Despite living overseas for a few years this would be my first time moving over a large sum so I'm not really sure what the right way to play it is. Any tips are appreciated.

 

[pilgrim13]

@picturemebroken21 It sounds like the time to cash out into EUR is now given the considerations you listed. I moved a real estate down payment from USD to EUR recently, in two installments, and I asked myself the same questions. As for moving money from US to EUR, most US financial institutions simply don't allow international wires over a fairly low limit ($5-10K) outside of private banking type arrangements. The two exceptions that I found recently were PNC bank, which, if I remember correctly puts a 30-day hold on outgoing Wires for new accounts. Interactive Brokers also does large-sum international wires (to accounts owned by you) and you can probably also get you one of the best USD/EUR exchange rates there. I don't know about holds on new accounts, however. In any case, transferring $20K+ in a somewhat short time frame is likely to be a headache and you should make sure to get your ducks in a row as soon as possible.