Is this the outset of a large world recession?

[Ferrus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6918570.stm

Global stock exchanges are wobbling.

[mancroft]

We're doomed, Captain Mainwaring.

[Ferrus]

We're doomed, Captain Mainwaring.
Er... you're the one whose livelihood depends on the the private sector. :)

[djm]

Hope not - nearly all my cash is tied up in the LSE until 2009, cant get rid before then.

[Ferrus]

Hope not - nearly all my cash is tied up in the LSE until 2009, cant get rid before then.
Isn't being tied up in the stock market with no ability to sell early and cut your losses rather... imprudent?

[djm]

Isn't being tied up in the stock market with no ability to sell early and cut your losses rather... imprudent?

No option really, I started my business up four years ago and floated it last year. It would be fucked without me so I had to accept lock-ins for both ordinary shares and options. This is normal practice in any floatation, I did not have any better alternative for funding my research so imprudent? Maybe, but best option available to me.

I could in theory dump my ordinary shares this October, but if I did this the share price would collapse. I have nearly 1m options that I do not get untill October 08 though, it's how they think they motivate me.

When I get free of city slavery, I will have enough cash to self fund my next venture - a crash would not exactly help this plan though!

[Ferrus]

Why didn't you go into a sensible career like people and drugs trafficking?

[djm]

I can't complain about my work, I enjoy it. The way you get financially raped in the UK when you need funding (and start from a working class background) is not funny though. You can see it coming a mile off, but there is no real alternative.

[Dark Razor]

Why didn't you go into a sensible career like people and drugs trafficking?

Do you have any specific information about how to get into those types of careers?
I'd also be interested in master-thief and assassin career-wise :) .

[Ferrus]

Do you have any specific information about how to get into those types of careers?
I'd also be interested in master-thief and assassin career-wise :) .
I think at career fairs the Russian mafia has a stall. Just go and ask them about it.

The way you get financially raped in the UK when you need funding (and start from a working class background) is not funny though. You can see it coming a mile off, but there is no real alternative.
In what way do you get raped and why is it particularly bad if you come from a working class background?

[Larkin]

All my money is tied up in cash and even that's not safe

[garak]

I've been meaning to turn the majority of my savings into gold, but haven't because the bastards are only open while I'm working. But a little over a week from now I'm taking a day off and doing it.

[euterpenc]

Do you have any specific information about how to get into those types of careers?
I'd also be interested in master-thief and assassin career-wise :) .

By an ounce of weed. Sell it. Buy twice as much. Sell it. Repeat til you are rich.

[Anonymous]

I've been meaning to turn the majority of my savings into gold, but haven't because the bastards are only open while I'm working. But a little over a week from now I'm taking a day off and doing it.

I'm interested in this as well. I just went through the hellishly long process of opening a Charles Schwab account, and now the market crashes. Fortunately, no money has been invested yet. Is there any particular place that you'd suggest to buy gold from? And once gold is bought, how easy is it to convert it back to money?

[garak]

I'm interested in this as well. I just went through the hellishly long process of opening a Charles Schwab account, and now the market crashes. Fortunately, no money has been invested yet. Is there any particular place that you'd suggest to buy gold from? And once gold is bought, how easy is it to convert it back to money?

Your local gold dealer guy is probably the best, as long as their prices aren't crap.

Krugerrands are the best coins if you're strictly interested in the value of the gold, not the design of the coin. They are the cheapest of any gold coin but contain just as much gold of just as high of quality as an American Eagle or Canadian Maple Leaf or whatever else.

The cost of gold is of course constantly changing, and dealers basically sell you coins based on current market price plus some certain amount for their profit. Right now gold is around $660 (the "spot" price), so a Krugerrand (one ounce) will go for a little more than that. Some advice I read was that anything more than $20 above spot price for a 1oz coin is too much.

I'm still learning, myself.

edit: hm, mail order might be viable after all. Read this, for example: http://www.blanchardonline.com/customerservice/shipping_information.php

see also: http://www.blanchardonline.com/blanchard_products/bullion_krugerrand.php

Oh and converting gold coins back into money is as easy as going down to your local gold dealer. And if the apocalypse comes, they'll still be worth something. ;)

[Anonymous]

Ah I see, thanks. At that rate, though, it probably isn't worth investing, as I only have enough to buy about 13 ounces. I was thinking that another safe investment for smaller amounts of money could be oil, but even that's going down. Both Exxon Mobile and Chevron have dropped $7 so far.

[garak]

Ah I see, thanks. At that rate, though, it probably isn't worth investing, as I only have enough to buy about 13 ounces. I was thinking that another safe investment for smaller amounts of money could be oil, but even that's going down. Both Exxon Mobile and Chevron have dropped $7 so far.

Something I read while doing some "research" (googling) was that an ounce of gold has been able to buy about 400 loaves of bread pretty consistently for thousands of years.

If we hit another great depression, even a modest gold stash could be immensely helpful over nothing.

Also remember that if you put it in a safety deposit box at a bank, and the government ever decides to do another gold "call in" (I think that's what it's called), then you won't have any way to get your gold without it being taken from you.

[Ellipsis]

Also remember that if you put it in a safety deposit box at a bank, and the government ever decides to do another gold "call in" (I think that's what it's called), then you won't have any way to get your gold without it being taken from you.

That is somewhat scary....hide it under the matteress?

[garak]

That is somewhat scary....hide it under the matteress?

Might want to find a slightly better hiding spot.. :p

[Anonymous]

Oh man, INTPs trying to hide gold. I can see it all now. I'd probably either hide it too well, and forget where I hid it, or forget to take it with me when I move to a different location.

[Ellipsis]

Might want to find a slightly better hiding spot.. :p

Why not build it into your PC...an INTP will never leave his PC behind!!!

I am thinking about a plated gold keyboard.....