Last week, the US dollar reached the same value as the Euro for the first time in 20 years. While this may not be the best news for Europeans, who just 18 months ago enjoyed favorable rates of $1.23 to the euro, this is good news for Americans looking to come to or invest in Europe.

Especially if you are from the US and planning to move to the EU, such as through investment migration programs like the Portuguese Golden Visa, now may be a good time to transfer your dollars into euros.

There are several good ways of moving money from the US to a European bank account. The one that perhaps best balances ease and speed with costs is Wise. While commonly used for smaller transfers, they are perfectly safe and trustworthy for larger transfers as well.

Their fees get progressively smaller depending on how much money you are sending. For example, $10,000 has a 0.43% variable fee, however $500,000 has a 0.34% fee. If you would like to know how much Wise would charge you in fees for the amount you want to send, click here to see for yourself.

Alternatively, you could use Interactive Brokers, a low-cost broker that allows you to trade stocks, bonds, and currencies among other things. It’s a favorite for traders and investors, however, it is also a low-cost way to transfer money to a foreign bank account in the local currency.

The process involves a few more steps, but you can get the conversion costs down to about 0.02% for large conversions. For more details on how to do this, our community members have already been discussing the process on our forum.

Bear in mind though, that no matter what option you choose, if you are sending a significant amount of money, you will most certainly be asked some additional AML (anti-money laundering) questions, such as showing proof of where the funds came from, among other things. So be ready for that!

For more options and recommendations from our community, particularly related to transferring for the Portuguese Golden Visa, visit the relevant thread on moving money from the US to Portugal.

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