My dad has an amount of money that he plans on keeping in CDs for the next couple of years. My feeling is CDs have no upside potential and a pretty big downside potential over the next few years (in terms of real wealth). I'm thinking he'd be better off in something like FXF Currencyshares Swiss Franc (NYSE) ETF. Any input or other ideas?
Depends on his situatuation. If he's retired and just looking for capital preservation with a slight return with this portion of his portfolio (which probably should be 60-80% minimum if he's retired) then it's probably fine. My Dad is in a similar situation and he scoured the balance sheets of banks around the country to find reasonably safe ones who were offering a decent rate of return. He then laddered a bunch of CD's at no more than 100k per bank. Of course if FDIC fails, then we're all f***ed.
I was just looking through the prospectus and it looks like the FXF fund would have some exposure to JP Morgan Chase instability. Is there a better way for an individual investor to get out of dollars and into Swiss francs?
CDs are the worst investment in the world. You have a 100% risk (above insured amounts) if the bank goes bust, and you only earn a pittance in extra yield. Bank deposit insurance can easily be suspended in an emergency.