Talk about stress. I have a smallish amount of savings – from the sale of a flat and many years of hard work – in Icesave. I was gutted/stunned when I heard the bank went bust yesterday – especially when I couldn't access my 'easy access' cash. I have even developed a stress-related dry skin condition (nice, huh?) But this morning, as I sat glued to the computer listening to Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, panic lifted.
Thank God they're going to cover savings. I'm finding work hard to come by as it is, and losing hard-earned savings would have been too horrible to boot. I spend time looking for good deals when supermarket shopping and have reined in my unnecessary expenditure where possible, so losing a huge amount of my money would have hurt. Badly. Oh, and any plans I had to visit Iceland are no more. I won't be spending any cash in a country that stuck two fingers up to me and other UK investors when it came to the question of compensation. Bastards.
Regardless of Icesave, I've been avidly watching or listening to the financial news (is there any other, beyond the US elections?!). It's addictive. God knows what will happen next. Is this really all the result of the US money men being complete morons?! The tectonic plates that have seemingly kept the economy going are sliding all over the place, giraffe-on-ice style. I'm half scared, half intrigued and overall, very pleased we didn't buy a new place last year.
I've spent most of the day glued to Sky News (vested interests and all that) - I thought Brown and Darling handled the media briefing very well - all one can do now though is sit and wait and hope that it smooths out. But I suspect it's going to be along ride yet.
ReplyDeleteThis is we've all believed in some kind of dream - a dream built on a facade of smoke and mirrors aka derivatives. The mad money men with their fat bonuses - who are in the US and the UK and elsewhere - with their multi million pound and dollar bonuses are not the only ones to blame - we also have to cop some of the flack - we've allowed ourselves to be swept along by the appeal of easy credit as though tomorrow would never come. Now tomorrow is here.
It's all very worrying but panicking is not going to help, I guess.
Hope you get all your savings out of the iciness.
I agree, Vanilla. I think this may go into next year and beyond before people feel a great deal more stable. Yes, B&D did handle the media really well – I was surprised.
ReplyDeleteYep, I think people who borrow beyond their means and don't even question the possibility that credit is not a magic spell are extremely naive and irresponsible. But why did the banks give these fools such an obscene amount of cash? It's remarkable. A wake up call for the world...
My money is in Iceland, goodness knows where (!) but I have faith that the UK government will come good, whereas the Icelandic equivalent, IMO, are a bunch of criminals!