Investing in the Iraqi Dinar: Expert Opinions
There are a lot of “experts” out there telling people to buy Iraqi dinar. But often these experts are also the people selling dinar. It’s relatively easy to find websites selling dinar with their in-house expert painting a seemingly convincing picture as to why Iraqi dinar are a good investment.
But finding truly independent and clear advice from acknowledged personal finance experts is more difficult. Few of the best-known personal finance gurus have expressed clear opinion on this topic, but the few who have are decidedly negative on the idea:
Sandra Block - USA Today  |
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| Article (Date): | USA Today Talk Today Chat Room | ||
| Representative Quote: | "PARKERSBURG, WV: WHAT IS ALL THE HYPE ABOUT BUYING THE IRAQI-DINAR? DO YOU FORSEE A SUBSTANSIAL INCREASE OF THIS CURRENCY IN THE FUTURE. DO YOU BELIEVE IT TO BE A GOOD INVESTMENT? THANKS, BOB Sandra Block: Somehow I missed that hype, but maybe it's because I go to bed early and miss the late-night infomercials. Right now, it takes 1,471 dinars to equal $1. Dinars are suitable for framing, though." |
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| Bruce Williams - Radio Personality & Columnist |
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| Article (Date): | Smart Money with Bruce Williams (August 27, 2006) | ||
| Representative Quote: | "Currency speculation can be a very rewarding enterprise-but it is fraught with peril. The Iraqi dinar is extraordinarily speculative and has nothing behind it. While it can be observed that Iraq has lots of oil, with the huge amount of turmoil that is currently embroiling that nation and so many amateurs, military personnel and some civilians working there and getting involved in this, it is one of the last currencies I would speculate in just now. " | ||
| Chris Farrell - NPR/American Public Media Marketplace, Economics Editor |
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| Article (Date): | Markeplace Money Mailbag (November 6, 2004) | ||
| Representative Quote: | "Steer clear of this. Don't play this game. I mean, if you want to put $100.00 in and see what happens, you know, it's not the worst thing in the world. But this is a real flyer. Beyond a flyer. This has got nothing to do with rational speculation...A hundred dollars? You know, that's like uh, going to Atlantic city, so why not? But anything more than that, forget it. " | ||
| Walter Updegrave - MONEY Magazine |
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| Article (Date): | Stupid currency tricks: Iraqi dinar (August 10, 2004) | ||
| Representative Quote: | "My take is unequivocal. Given the difficulty of predicting currency movements, I'm not even a big proponent of investing in established currencies like the euro or the yen....And when it comes to buying and selling the fledgling currency of a fledgling government in one of the most chaotic parts of the world, that goes beyond mere speculation. I'd call it gambling. "
January 2006 Update:"In my mind, at least, nothing has changed since I first warned people about investing in the Iraqi dinar in a previous column -- except, perhaps, that individuals still seem willing to buy this currency despite any credible evidence that people who buy it as an investment have earned any sort of return. So my position today is the same as it was before: putting anything more than a few token bucks in dinars as an investment is a lousy idea. Indeed, I don't think you can call it investing at all, since investing implies having some knowledge of the actual value of what you're buying and some reasonable way of calculating an expected return." |
If you are aware of other experts expressed opinions, please leave a comment and we’ll include them. For now though, the scoreboard looks like this:
| Expert's Scoreboard | |
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| Popular finance experts' views on investing in Iraqi dinars | |
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| 0 | 4 |
Technorati Tags: Iraqi dinar, selling dinar
[…] Iraqi Dinars Alert is a website that will help you cut through the sales-hype and provide you the tools needed to make sensible decisions about Iraqi Dinar value based on the most accurate information available. Available tools include an Iraqi Dinar calculator to help you assess an investment in Iraqi dinar against other alternatives and scorecard of personal finance expert opinions on the Iraqi Dinar. […]
I was wondering what was expert opinions on the Kuwaiti Dinar during the kuwait war.
I can tell you this….. It is men with money to spend, and little leverage to be had that buy stocks. Unless you have a few hundred thousand to invest into top quality stocks and or managed accounts, you dont have any better chance of getting wealthy in the stock market than you do a devil getting into heaven! Its these very same EXPERTS that told folks to buy ENRON and other corporate DOG’S that ruined peoples lives. Do these EXPERTS know that the American dollar is slowly failing??? These EXPERTS went to college to learn how to trade the stock market and associated funds/bonds/IRA’s and the like. They are not FOREX specialists and I doubt they would recomend buying any foreign currency. Keep in mind that with all the oil that Iraq has… the DINAR is not going down. If it never makes you rich thats ok, just exchange your dinar for dollars and get most of your money back. Furthermore, you may be looking at selling all your dollars in years to come, as our greenbacks are looking for the bottom of the bucket.
I bought a couple hundred US dollars worth. I figure its like gambling. I’ve wasted a couple hundred on worse things. It either becomes worth something or either in 30 years I can show my grandchildren what the new Iraqi Dinars looked like. Heck, by them I’ll probably be able to sell it on ebay as a collector item for the couple hundred I paid for them.
I would say that what is $800 . A week in Vegas as if that is all you spend . Same odds as taking a mil home with you . So have at it and dream big . After all that what we got . Fear God not mens words .I never heard any one say that made it. (I would never Do that agian) But I have nothing to fear but fear it self.