Wingate Asset Management director of investments Joel Beebe recently noted, not without some frustration, that many Australians regarded the near parity of the Australian dollar with the greenback as a good opportunity to buy big brand American sandshoes cheaply.
"Why not buy some cheap US shares instead?" Beebe said.
Shares will probably never become as sexy as the 1960s' invention of United States track athlete Philip Knight, but the question is a good one: With the strength of the Australian dollar, is now the time to capitalise and increase the exposure to international shares?
After all, the strength could be short-lived.
Beebe's colleague, Wingate Asset Management chief investment officer Chad Padowitz, said he believed the strength of the Australian currency would not last.
"The Aussie dollar average rate is around US$0.75; it is way off now. The chances that it will establish at a new height . well, it would be the first asset class to do so," Padowitz said.
However, AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver said the Australian currency was likely to rise to US$1.10 and stay there for the next few years.
Oliver said he believed the sub-parity of the Australian currency in the past 28 years was an aberration, as it had been worth more than its US counterpart in the 80 years to 1982.
Taking this view, it could be better to hold off until the local unit reaches US$1.10.
Another approach is to take the opportunity to offload some Australian-denominated investments, as some superannuation funds are planning to do, rather than buying international assets.
In the end, the best strategy was a disciplined one, Orbis Australia portfolio manager and managing director Simon Marais said.
"Currencies are more unpredictable than anything else," Marais said.
"You go back two years and the thing was US$0.60 - who would then have said it would reach parity again? People would have said that you're nuts.
"I think most people shouldn't bet on things like that.
"You should generally say: 'As the thing goes higher I will probably increase the investments I have overseas by the margin and be disciplined about it.'"
As an example, he said that for every 10-cent increase an investor should adjust their offshore holdings by a few percentage points and vice versa.
"That is the scientific way to do it, but it is not as exciting," he says.
"Your returns are not as great as if you could get it perfect, but you end up ahead over time."
