It’s parity talk time again.
Almost two years since the Australian dollar touched generation-high levels against the US dollar at almost 98 US cents, debate over whether and when the Aussie will exceed the greenback in value is back.
The Reserve Bank’s move this week to raise its cash rate again sparked fresh impetus to the Aussie dollar’s rise. The central bank’s signal that more rate rises are ahead also added to the currency’s relative allure.
And economists are dusting off the history books to assess the currency’s rise against other currencies, particularly those in Europe. The Aussie dollar remains at record levels versus the euro, where it’s trading just below 70 euro cents, while it hasn’t bought this many UK pence (currently about 61) in 25 years.
AMP Investor chief economist Shane Oliver believes the relative strength of Australia’s resource-based economy will push the Aussie dollar, currently buying 92.9 US cents, to parity against the greenback before the year is out.
Indeed, Mr Oliver says the local dollar’s recent rise is bringing it back into line with its longer-term averages.
So, how do you decide where to invest the little money you have. Traditional thinking points towards advertising and other ways to make the phone ring, get more traffic to the site, but I say there are lots of low cost and next to free ways to do that and the real payoff is in conversion. It’s amazing how much money is wasted generating leads that go nowhere. If you are generating a decent amount of leads, but only converting 5% to customers, ask yourself what it would take to get that conversion number to 10%. It might not take much at all and you would double your business. Wouldn’t that be worth your time, money and energy.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr.