Taylor Swift

Another real-life hedge...this one with Taylor Swift tickets.

I have two young kids so naturally I am now a huge Taylor Swift fan, or a "Swifty" as I believe the term is.

Two years ago when the inevitable enquiry came about tickets to her Eras Tour, I went on the local ticket exchange and then promptly contacted my bank to discuss a second mortgage after seeing the prices.

Tickets for New York dates were starting around $3,000 and going as high as $20,000 per ticket.

Having some knowledge of foreign exchange, I started looking at other countries to see if tickets were any cheaper in local currency. That's when I stumbled upon her concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Prices were listed between 18,000-86,000 in Argentine peso, roughly $75 to $300 USD at the time (and even less using the informal "Blue Dollar" rate).

After a quick look at airfare and realizing you could get a decent hotel for 50,000-100,000 pesos a night, a decision was made to take a short two-day trip. All in, paying in pesos saved us thousands of dollars, even after flights, food, and accommodation.

This was a simple hedge - changing the currency of exposure dramatically reduced the total cost.

Some might say we took advantage of the system...but then again, haters gonna hate hate hate.