Potter wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 3:26 am
Investment banking, financial markets and corporate accounting is a heartless theoretical exercise of balancing numbers.
I think a very significant portion of all this stuff is dishonest and often moral fraud even if it's not criminal fraud, it relies on a lack of understanding from the people feeding it.
Plenty to support that.
Was it 'Equitable Life' that went down the pan, taking many pension pots with it? And the recent Norton example of serious fraud. Then, of course, the under-funding of pensions because those in charge somehow overlooked the rise in age that pensioners were achieving.
Potter wrote: ↑Wed Aug 16, 2023 3:26 am
I'm not being condescending, I'm writing this because I know some people really do think that their money is safely tucked away in a vault, they don't know what actually happens to it after they hand it over.
....
Only ever gamble with money that you are fully prepared to lose, I mean properly, not just ticking the box.
Putting it into investments and then being emotional when you lose it means that the part of your brain that cares didn't get the memo.
FWIW, i have a final salary scheme, two other pension savings schemes, and an independent AVC. All with different providers. (Separate from any other savings and investments) Filly has her own, different, provision.
I had hoped and expected that a spread would be sufficient. However, see my reply to Ant earlier.
Of course, after some of the earlier episodes, there is now some government protection of investments. But your principle applies to every situation where you hand over money to someone else, be it a loan to a mate (done that, many 10s thousands, got it back), peer-to-peer lending, shares purchases, or more reliable
destinations like banks.
But your final line is really only partly correct. I don't think that even all well-informed and 'open-eyed' people would be totally dispassionate when presented with a substantial loss in money that they will need for their future.
As it happens, even if the current losses are maintained, we're not going to be badly affected. It would just remove a bit of comfort and buffer.
Also AIH, and coincidentally, I'm likely to be going back to work part-time for a while. Won't earn enough to replace the lost
imaginary money, but will help.