A friend, who lives in a country without a stable currency, asks me where to park his money for the next 6-12 months. He is uncertain about the currency choice. I am pretty confident that he will park the money under his mattress since he does not trust the banks.
Yes, but does he trust his mattress? If the fear is about paper currency then why not purchase hard assets (i.e. guns, food, porno, water, etc.)? ...and just saw the Gold option, so that's the choice.
it has to be sufficiently liquid. even with Gold he would lose quite a bit on the spread. he used keep Eur and USD but now he sounds very worried and confused.
I like the Indonesian currency, but I do not know where to buy it. Could someone do a research on brokers that have it on their list?
my friend needs something practical that he can get, but feel free to discuss any currency here. Indonesia? are you from over there and have some reliable first-hand info?
No I am not from there, and I have never set foot in that country. I just happen to have analyzed world currencies lately, and I have noticed it. Do you read the economist (there is a currencies column in one of their summary pages)?
Here you go: http://etfdb.com/etf/EIDO/ As to the ccy, you can't trade IDR onshore directly (since 2001 Bank Indonesia rule). You can trade IDR NDFs offshore, but my guess that only Asian banks would offer such a capability. So maybe if you had an acount at UOB or OCBC in Singapore or smth like that, you could do it. Otherwise, SOL.
Other than the domestic unstable currency, what's the main alternative ccy in circulation in your friend's country? That's the one your friend should stuff under the mattress...