The myth of the dollar as a safe haven | Personal Opinion

josevas217 (80)in PussFi 🐈 • 4 days ago

Hello PussFi community members, I hope you've had a good week. Today I'm bringing up a topic I consider important to discuss, because there are things we take for granted for a long time, almost as unshakeable truths, and one of them has been the idea that saving in dollars is synonymous with security.

For years, the dollar was sold to us as a safe haven, as a guarantee, as that strong currency that "never fails." And of course, viewed from certain Latin American perspectives, it made sense.

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But things change, even if many don't like to accept it, and what's happening with the dollar in 2025 is one of those signs that should be examined calmly, but without naiveté.

In 2025, the dollar fell by more than 14% against other currencies, something that can be clearly observed in the DXY index. This is not a minor detail, nor is it something that only interests economists or traders.

This has direct implications for our personal finances, especially for those who save in dollars thinking they are protecting their purchasing power. Because when a currency loses value like this, what really happens is that with those same dollars you can buy less today than before. And that, even if it's not immediately felt in your wallet, is a silent form of impoverishment.

Now, this decline isn't happening by chance or because "the market woke up in a bad mood." There's a clear intention behind it. The United States government benefits from a weaker dollar because it makes its productive sector more competitive. Exporting becomes more attractive, producing domestically generates more incentives, and it sets in motion mechanisms that benefit its internal economy. From its strategic point of view, it makes sense. The problem is that this logic doesn't necessarily work in favor of the average citizen, neither there nor, much less, here.

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Let's take a simple example. For a Colombian importer, if they can get more dollars with the same amount of pesos, then they can import more products with less financial effort. This translates into higher profit margins for large companies, distributors, and sectors that already have significant economic resources. But this advantage doesn't usually trickle down to the average citizen. Prices don't decrease proportionally, wages don't adjust, and the cost of living continues its own trajectory, generally upward.

Meanwhile, those who hold their savings in dollars watch as that capital quietly loses value. There's no alarmist headline, no immediate, visible crisis, but the deterioration is there. It's a slow, steady erosion that many ignore because they remain stuck on the idea that the dollar is always "the safest option." And this isn't about demonizing the dollar or saying it's useless, but about understanding that no currency is untouchable and that circumstances change.

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Perhaps the real problem isn't just the falling dollar, but the lack of financial literacy with which we usually face these situations. We continue to make decisions based on outdated paradigms, without questioning them, without adapting them to the current reality. And that, in the end, comes at a high price. Not everything that benefits large productive sectors ends up benefiting ordinary people, and believing otherwise is, at the very least, overly optimistic.

This isn't an invitation to panic or impulsive decisions, but rather to open our eyes. To understand that saving also involves strategy, context, and constant review. Because the world changes, currencies change, and clinging to past certainties can cost us much more than we think.

Anyway, it's just a thought; you may agree or disagree with me, and that's perfectly valid. Goodbye, take care.