How to change the currency mix of a portfolio
· beginner
Automated material · TradeAlmanac editorial deskDraft prepared by a language model from our stored data; not reviewed by an editor.
The task is not "buy foreign currency" but "bring the portfolio's currency mix to where it should be". The difference is that the second task has a checkable answer.
The sizing principle
The currency share should match the share of future spending in that currency — travel, education, purchases. Not a forecast of the exchange rate.
Framed that way, exchange rate swings stop being a risk: they change the value of the position and the cost of the future spending equally.
The instruments
Currency on the exchange: direct and simple, but the balance earns nothing and demands attention to infrastructure.
Substitute bonds: foreign-currency economics with rouble settlement and coupon income — Substitute bonds: foreign-currency income inside a rouble contour.
Exporters' shares: indirect currency exposure with business risk added — Exporters and the exchange rate: who gains from a weak rouble.
Gold: a currency component plus behaviour of its own — Gold: an asset with no income and a particular role.
What to account for in tax
Currency revaluation creates income and it is taxable. That reduces the efficiency of a currency position compared with a back-of-envelope calculation — Investor income tax: what is taxed and when it is withheld.
How often to revisit
Rarely. A currency mix changes with life plans, not with the exchange rate.
Related: Currency exposure: you have it even if you never opened it.
Related instruments
Draft prepared by a language model from our stored data; not reviewed by an editor.
Model: claude-opus-5
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