Rupiah Plummets: What Should People Do With Their Savings?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - People can take advantage of the weakening Rupiah against the US dollar to start saving or investing in foreign currency.

Financial planner and founder of Finante.id, Rista Zwestika, said that people should not panic or rush into making extreme decisions when the US dollar rises.

“The main focus should remain on individual financial goals and needs,” she told Kompas.com on Friday (15/5/2026).

According to Bloomberg data, the Rupiah exchange rate in the spot market today closed at 15,595 per US dollar.

Rista explained that when daily needs and emergency funds are secure, the rise of the US dollar can be a momentum to start diversifying assets.

“Including considering US dollar-based instruments gradually,” she added.

In a situation where the Rupiah weakens, people often think about starting to accumulate investment instruments such as US dollar-based mutual funds.

Rista said that for investments such as US dollar-based mutual funds, a wiser strategy is to invest periodically or use the dollar-cost averaging (DCA) method.

“Rather than buying a large amount at once in the hope that the exchange rate will continue to rise,” she said.

By doing it gradually, Rista said, the risk of buying at the peak price can be reduced.

On the other hand, a wait-and-see approach can be taken, especially for people with a conservative risk profile.

However, waiting too long can also cause someone to miss the opportunity to build assets in foreign currency.

People are also expected not to fall into the common mistakes that occur in financial planning in the midst of the trend of the Rupiah weakening against the US dollar.

Rista explained that the most common financial mistake is panic buying of US dollars simply because they are afraid that the Rupiah will continue to weaken.