The dollar keeps falling against every currency. My employer compensates me for the loss, but what about people who are traveling on their savings or are retired?

They're hurting, I guess. It's one of the risks you have to take if you are going to be living in another country.

It would be really bad for us if we were just getting by. Fortunately we have an adequate income to ride it out for a while. But at some point it may get so exhorbitantly expensive that we'll have to consider alternatives.

People don't pay much attention to currency fluctuations when they plan overseas moves, or even extended travel, especially if they are going someplace that is seen as stable. What gets publicity is things like the collapse of the Thai baht a few years ago, or the problems when Argentinians woke up one morning to find their money was worth 25% of its value the day before.

When I lived in Japan, the yen went from 134 to the dollar to 108. I made out well, because I was earning yen. When I left and took my yen savings to travel in South East Asia, I had a lot more money than I had expected.

A few years later, a young woman I knew went to Japan to look for work. When she arrived, the yen was at 89 to the dollar, so her expenses while she looked for a job and waited for her work permit were astronomical. Then the entire two years she was there, the yen fell against the dollar, making it harder and harder to take care of a few financial obligations in the US, and reducing her savings.

The yen is seen as a major currency, not one people worry about. Yet in those few years it went from 134 to 89, then back up to 126 or so. That's a fall of about 36% followed by a rise of 42%. Yet most people moving to Japan don't worry about the currency fluctuations at all.

$2.03 now. And the euro is worth $1.38.

It's a good reason to become an expat, isn't it? If you can find work in a country where the local currency is rising, and get paid enough to save money, you can accumulate a lot more than if you were back in the US. Sometimes overseas contracts specify pay in dollars, though, and that could be a problem.

And now the pound is at $2.05, a 2% drop in half a month!
The euro is $1.38.

I wonder how many Americans are going somewhere besides Europe this year? I saw this article in the New York Times on-line.

This is now beginning to make us a bit nervous. Our income is adequate, and fortunately the stock market is being very kind to us, so it really isn't a problem that is immediate. It's a little unsettling to comtemplate the future when you are depending on a currency that is tumbling.

And it continues to fall. That makes Panama seem more and more appealing to me. At least when I have a lease, my rent won't be going up relative to my income because of the falling dollar.

I just checked, and if you round, it's now $2.06!