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BUSINESS                 Wednesday 13 March 2019
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            Millennial Money: Paying debt back home vexes expats



            By KELSEY SHEEHY                                                                                                    America, which at the time
            Associated Press                                                                                                    was an hours-long affair.
            A close friend recently told                                                                                        LOCATION, LOCATION, LO-
            me: "If I'd waited two years,                                                                                       CATION
            my education would have                                                                                             The ability to easily (and af-
            cost half as much."                                                                                                 fordably)  transfer  money
            Not  because  she  would                                                                                            to U.S. bank accounts can
            have  chosen  a  differ-                                                                                            vary from country to coun-
            ent  graduate  program  or                                                                                          try.  "In  Philippines,  every-
            qualified  for  more  schol-                                                                                        thing  was  paper,"  McCoy
            arships.  But  because  the                                                                                         says.  You  had  to  "take  a
            value of the local currency                                                                                         number, have a seat, wait
            dropped.                                                                                                            for the maybe one person
            She's  an  American  expat                                                                                          in  the  whole  bank  who
            who  works  in  Cape  Town,                                                                                         deals  with  these  sorts  of
            South Africa, and is paid in                                                                                        transactions."  Now,  in  Sin-
            rand.  The  exchange  rate                                                                                          gapore, "I don't even have
            was  7  rand  to  1  U.S.  dol-                                                                                     to leave my house."
            lar when she took out fed-                                                                                          The  value  and  stability  of
            eral  student  loans  to  pay                                                                                       the currency can also vary.
            for  a  master's  program,                                                                                          Currencies  in  countries  like
            but  it  later  fell  to  14  rand                                                                                  Singapore,  Canada  and
            to the dollar. So, now that   In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo people walk by a mural displaying world currency symbols on dis-  Australia  have  remained
            she's repaying those loans,   play outside a bank in Beijing.                                                       relatively  stable  over  the
            her money is worth half as                                                                         Associated Press  past 10 years.
            much.                                                                                                               That makes it easier for ex-
            An  estimated  9  million  just  one  obstacle  you'll  debt.                          she  earned  half  her  salary  pats  earning  in  the  local
            Americans  live  abroad,  have  to  navigate.  Wire  DOLLAR,         DOLLAR    BILLS,  in  Philippine  pesos,  depos-  currency. Their money is al-
            not  counting  military  ser-  transfers,  time  differences  Y'ALL                    ited into her local bank ac-  ways more or less worth the
            vice  members,  according  and  limited  access  to  fi-  Maya  McCoy  has  lived  count. The other half was in  same,  so  there's  less  need
            to  the  State  Department.  nancial services in the U.S.  abroad  for  nine  years,  first  U.S.  dollars,  deposited  into  to  obsess  over  exchange
            If you dream of being one  can  also  make  it  a  pain  in  the  Philippines  and  now  a bank account she kept in  rates.  That's  not  the  case
            of  them,  debt  obligations  to  pay  debt  as  an  expat.  in  Singapore.  In  that  time,  the States, which she used  in  places  like  South  Africa,
            back  home  don't  have  And where you move, how  the Los Angeles native has  to pay U.S. creditors.                Norway  or  Brazil,  where
            to  stop  you,  but  they  can  you're  paid  and  to  whom  paid off roughly $70,000 in  This payment arrangement  the value of local currency
            make  things  more  compli-  you owe money can have  student loans and handled  meant McCoy could large-            against  the  U.S.  dollar  has
            cated.                       a big impact on how con-     two U.S. mortgages.          ly  avoid  the  arduous  task  dropped considerably over
            Currency  fluctuations  are  venient  it  is  to  deal  with  Her first job split her pay, so  of sending money back to  the past decade.q
            US consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in February




            By JOSH BOAK                 off on further increases to a  for 2019.                  increased  3  percent  over  prices slipped 0.2 percent.
            Associated Press             key short-term interest rate,  Still,  even  with  modest  in-  the  past  12  months.  Food  Excluding  the  volatile  en-
            WASHINGTON  (AP)  —  U.S.  enabling  the  U.S.  central  flation,  many  Americans  prices  jumped  0.4  percent  ergy  and  food  categories,
            consumer     prices    rose  bank to provide support for  are  already  facing  higher  in February.                core  prices  increased  0.1
            0.2  percent  in  February,  economic growth.             prices for basic necessities.  Gasoline  prices  surged  1.5  percent in February and 2.1
            pushed up slightly by higher  Some  economists  expect  Housing  costs  continue  to  percent  in  February,  but  percent from a year ago.q
            gasoline and housing costs  inflation  to  pick  up  as  the
            even as the prices for autos  benefits  of  higher  wages
            and clothing slumped.        flow through the economy.
            The Labor Department said  "Although      inflation   has
            Tuesday that the consumer  slowed  in  recent  months,
            price  index  rose  a  modest  it  should  move  gradually
            1.5 percent last month from  higher  in  the  spring  and
            a year ago.                  summer," said Gus Faucher,
            Inflation  has  been  mut-   chief economist at PNC Fi-
            ed  despite  the  solid  job  nancial  Services.  "Higher
            market,  causing  average  energy  prices  will  push  up
            hourly earnings — after be-  overall  inflation,  and  rising
            ing  adjusted  for  consumer  wages  will  lead  businesses
            prices  —  to  climb  1.9  per-  to raise prices in an effort to
            cent  in  the  past  year.  This  maintain profit margins."
            marks  the  strongest  infla-  Ian   Shepherdson,   chief   This Nov. 16, 2018, file photo shows gas prices at a pump in West
            tion-adjusted wage growth  economist  at  Pantheon        Mifflin, Pa. On Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
            since  November  2015,  an  Macroeconomics,         said                                           Associated Press
            increase  that  would  likely  the  consumer  price  index
            help  consumer  spending  could  breach  2.5  percent
            and economic growth.         by  the  end  of  the  year,  outpace  overall  inflation,  they're  9.1  percent  lower
            The low level of inflation also  which  could  create  a  rising  3.4  percent  from  a  from  last  year.  Clothing
            gives  the  Federal  Reserve  problem for the Fed if holds  year  ago.  School  tuition  prices plunged 1 percent in
            more  flexibility  in  holding  rates  at  their  current  level  and child care costs have  February,  while  new-auto
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