That'll be Martin (put all your money in an Icelandic bank) Lewis.

At the time it was a good idea.

Imagine how rich he would be if he got everything 100% right all of the time!

That's why financial advisers advise, rather than risk their own cash.

They're always certain of finding some gullible punters who will pay through the nose and risk their life savings for a few fine "words of wisdom".

Maybe, but he has given some damn good advice over the years.

The way things are going with inflation, the day of the £10,000 note won’t be too far away. They can’t call it a Reichspound, I suppose a Conpound would be more appropriate. I wonder how many we’ll need to buy a Euro?

Currency needs revising, but not like that.

Can anyone tell me what the frig point there is in a 2 cent or 2 euro coin.

Seriously. What is the point?. We only need 5 coins.

1 cent, 5 cents, 20 cents, 1 euro and 5 euro.

these days you could even remove the 1 cent!

No, because it is absolutely needed. Without a 1cent it would leave the gates open to 5 cent rises on small things.

With the current situstion regarding the European central bank, will there be a Euro in a few years?..

Martin Lewis www.moneysavingexpert.com

I'm a regular on the forum under another name.

I hang around on Pensions and Benefits, so to speak.

He said that on GMTV about a week before they all went under. That and the way I was laughed at when I asked what would happen if the endowment I was sold wouldn't be enough to pay my mortgage has helped me form my opinion of financial advisers - I never listen to them because they don't know what they are talking about. At least they should be honest and call themselves Financial Products Salesmen which is what they are.

Well, that's precisely my point. I said "Imagine how rich he would be if he got everything 100% right all of the time! "

Financial advisors can only make best guesses, and as we have seen, the market can make fools out of the best of us.

So what do you do? Keep it all under the mattress? We have to just do the best we can with the information we have at the time.

ML has given some damn good basic advice to people about organising their debts, being careful to pay off the highest interest ones first, and so on, as well as exposing tricks that lenders use to rip off borrowers.

As I said if financial advisers were as smart as they would have us believe, they'd be coining it so fast, they wouldn't need to be financial advisers.

Regarding keeping it under the mattress, it seems that is what many Spanish do, judging by the amount of Bin Ladens that seem to have mysteriously disappeared from circulation.

Financial advisors have a place in our society – to advise the peasants not to leave their money under the mattress. Their advice is based on normal things happening under normal circumstances – with interest rates at the normal, historical 10%, it would make sense to leave a large chunk on deposit with the banks.

It would have made perfect sense to invest in BP, until they polluted the Gulf of Mexico; it would have made perfect sense to invest in Lehmans, the most respected investment bank in the US; RBS was flying along, buying everything in their path; Icelandic banks were lending money at silly rates; and every street sweeper in the US was buying mansions with Fanny money.

So we’ve all lost a few quid by listening to financial advisors. I could have lost even more if I had listened my Spanish financial advisor who urged me to buy another property in 2007, as an investment. It was a beautiful seafront apartment, but it never even got built and 60 people lost their deposit. 59 people are looking for the financial advisor in Bulgaria, I think he’s in Madrid.

Sometimes the peasants are wiser than the advisers, especially in these abnormal times,when there is little advantage leaving money in the bank at easy access rates as low as one tenth of one percent and longer term rates little better after tax.
Your 10% norm is just pie in the sky now, and for the forseeable future.
As discussed elsewhere many ppl.quite understandably stay outside the system and prefer to keep their funds that way.
Apart from avoiding tax, many have good reason not to trust the banks and as long as they are confident of security, they have no great worries.
In addition they can pass it on quite easily to whoever they wish when their time is up, without the taxman, lawyers,advisors,uncle tom cobley and all thieving a major slice.
If they do wish to invest, why not just use basic common sense, instead of feathering the nest of all these hangers on who are little more than petty thieves and are always keen to grab their commision and share the profits, but never ever the losses.
Let the buggers get out and work for a living like every bugger else.
In my experience, it doesn't need Sherlock Holmes to tell when the property, land and other markets have bottomed out and recovery has begun.