The market's going to crash and we must all be prepared - what does this mean to the likes of us?

[bintofbohemia]

Anyone see

What do you make of it? Should we all start stockpiling tins and arms?

Have you also seen this article. Seems he's not quite as much of an expert as the BBC had us believe.

Is the sky going to fall in? Unlikely. Probably a good time to put money in your pension though if you've got nerves of steel.

Hmmm - I just started paying into a pension for the first time a couple of months ago. Reckon I should bother?

(I could be £80 per month better off if I binned the pension and it wouldn't go amiss right now either!)

The market is cyclical and goes through crashes and peaks fairly frequently. Assuming it'll be a few years before you hit retirement age, the smart way to approach financial planning for your dotage is to spread the risk with a combination of pension, savings, investments, assets and so forth. Eggs and baskets, etc. A pension is just one way of investing money for the long-term and has the advantage of tax relief (free money). A really nice product available until very recently was a National Savings index-linked bond... guaranteed to out perform inflation for a 5 year period and deposits backed by HM Gov.

From Popbitch:

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The tell-all "trader" who appeared on BBC
News claiming he prays for another recession?
His nickname, apparently, is "Ratfuck". Nice.
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Slightly embarrassed about having taken him seriously now...

I think he was plausible because he wasn't all that far from the kind of view of reality we suspect is shared over a few too many beers in the bars of the Square Mile.... :) People do make money out of recessions, after all.

What is more worrying is the BBC News 24 screening system for guests. Remember this poor bloke that turned up for a job interview and ended up being asked his opinion on the Apple court case?