The key to empowerment in our foreign affairs was in making the acquaintance of XEtrade (www.xetrade.com), the on-line discount foreign exchange service of XE.com, a site we were already using to look up exchange rates. XEtrade is an alliance partner of Custom House Currency Exchange, North America's first true discount foreign exchange brokerage -- with over ten billion dollars in annual transactions. As a transaction aggregator they are able to give us the service, the focus, and the competitive rates that only the largest companies enjoy with their banks.

Next month I'll report on an interview with Steven Dengler, CEO of XEtrade. We'll demystify some of the language used in currency exchanges and look at how to initiate purchases in foreign countries using this service. At the same time we will compare the costs (dollar and otherwise) of using XEtrade with the more common ways of sending funds overseas.

Renee Magriel Roberts can be reached at renee@roses-books.com.