Which number to see when changing money?

A beginner's guide to we buy we sell in currency exchange

Confused when comparing currency rates? 

Not sure how to interpret the two column of numbers : we buy , we sell?

I have not travelled for a while and found myself asking this question when changing to Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) in my recent trip to Jakarta. I thought it will be useful to share this information since I believe this question will be encountered quite frequently by people like me who does not do currency exchange often.

Click here for the best place to change currency in Singapore

Here are the 2 tips to remember when you are exchanging currency.

• Always look under "we sell"

>We sell is the amount that the money changer will charge you for 1 unit (or could be 100/1000 units) of the foreign currency.

• Then find the lowest number among the shops you are comparing

>Think as it from this perspective

: you are looking at the currency selling price and the smaller, the better.

Now, an example

I wanted to change SGD to IDR (Singapore dollars to Indonesia Rupiah) , there were 2 banks at the airport (Why change at the airport? Reason here )

So i looked under the "we sell" column

1st bank offered 0.109 the other offered 0.112. Which one should i go for?

I should choose the one offering 0.109, which means I will receive 1000 IDR for $0.109 SGD

To exchange for 1,000,000 IDR, I will hence need $109. (It will cost $112 if I went for the other bank)

So remember

look under we sell, and 

the smaller the figure, 

The better rate you'll get

Hope this was useful for you

EUFASS

Changing large amount of SGD to JPY in Singapore

So far, especially taking into consideration my numerous trips to Japan, my conclusion is transferring at a local money exchanger hotspot into cash is still the best choice.

My best friend is going back to Japan and is closing his SG account. Now there are 2 ways to transfer his money back to japan.

1. Directly through interbank transfer

2. Transfer to cash and bring it back

Telegraphic transfer

We went to UOB to enquire about telegraphic transfer.

I must give some kudos to UOB service, great service and we did not had to wait long despite having 20 people in front of us.

The charges were as such:

############ 

The indicative rate is 1.245 (which means 100 yen/ for SG$1.245)

Cable fee: $20

Commission: 0.125% (min $10 charge)

############

Assume for every SG$10000, he would get 800600 yen.

The Cash Way

Now to transfer the cash, you can change at the bank / airport, or change at the money changer.

Having previously written about where best to change SGD to foreign currency, I brought him to the arcade where I am familiar enough to help him get the best rate.

We got a better rate of 0.1230 after negotiating with the owner. 

At this rate, assume for every SG$10000, he would get 813000 yen

It was a savings of 12400 yen, which translate to about 1.5% savings for an amount of 10k.

Other Tips:

• Check your local limit of cash that you can bring through customs.
• Give your cash a good count before leaving the money exchanger
• Go for convenience if it’s a small amount

In our case, I guess the time spent justifies the savings we’ve achieved from this trip to the money exchanger!

Learn tips, Share tips

EUFASS

What to do if you picked up a small bird

I picked up a cute little bird the other day. It was limping on the road side and fortunately, the road has little traffic passing through.

I had the immediate intention of nursing it back to health, but realise I did not know what to do. Thanks to google, I got some answers. Interestingly, the first responses were do not try to keep it.

Not wanting to endanger this cute little fledgling's life, I went back to the spot where I found it. True enough, on a nearby tree I could spot a nest and a bird nearby chirping ( I think it's the mom, as the fledgling chirped along as well.

It was a challenge trying to climb the tree, but as I climbed the little bird chirped more actively. The mother bird watched from a safe distance, but clearly she was keeping a watchful eye as I placed carefully the little bird back to the nest.
It was a heartwarming scene as I walked away and saw the fledgling reunited with the mother bird.

If it happens to you, this are the tips I gathered. Should you encounter a similar situation, hope that it will be useful for you.

Do

• Try to find its nest and put it back
• It will chirp and its parents should be able to hear and find it back.

Do not

• try to keep it
• feed it with food or water

You never know when you might need this.

This was a totally random and pleasant experience for me...

Learn tips, share tips

EUFASS