The pound..............

[Quillan]

Or to put it another way and even though the UK plc has kept its credit rating nobody wants to invest money there because either the interest rate is too low or they think their money would be at risk.

[mint]

Here's another view

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/8097188/Doomsayers-are-selling-Britain-short-says-top-fund-manager-Tom-Dobell.html

[mint]

And yet another:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/kamal-ahmed/8082782/Rebuilding-Confidence-its-time-for-Britain-to-embark-on-a-new-chapter-called-Growth.html

Notice I don't say whether I agree or not.  I don't pretend to understand these things!

[cooperlola]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Notice I don't say whether I agree or not.  I don't pretend to understand these things!

[/quote]Rarely has a lack of understanding of a subject prevented a person from commenting upon it, SW17.[Www]  I applaud you![:)]

(I am aware that I owe you a pm, btw, Sweets.)

[Gluestick]

Making money from investment, particularly when one has the awesome might and financial clout of M&G at one's disposal is fine.

The sting's in the tail of the story:

"That raises an important point about exposure to international growth

opportunities which can be obtained from shrewd selection of shares traded

in London. Mr Dobell explained: “In 1969, when Recovery was set up, 5pc of

earnings came from overseas and, when I took over in 2000, about 50pc of

earnings came from overseas.

“Today, it’s about 75pc to 80pc but that’s not to say British companies have

given up investing in the UK. I believe that this country is still a centre

of excellence in many industries and we have the advantage of a peaceful,

democratic economy with an important element of shareholder power and

performance disclosure rules."

Anyone working in investment should be able to advise the same: a vast majority of the stock value of the London market is now foreign.

Another aspect this icon of excellence fails to explain, is how and why pension pots are still so far down in value, when the market has moved so far in recovery. Jan 1^st 2004 the FTSE sat at circa 4,500: by Sept

2008, it had zoomed to over 5,500: then by Feb 2009, it slumped to just 3,500.

However, by October 2010 it was again over 5,500.

 However, commencing in about 2003, the financial press was

chocked full of stories about corporate and personal Pension “Black Holes”!

 And the gross estimate has zoomed and zoomed ever since:

from a modest £50 Billion, to now probably, £500 billion.

And as for personal investments...........

In any case, all this whilst fine for City wheeler dealers is not much cop for Joe Blow on Main Street, seeking a reasonably remunerated job!

[Richard51]

Our local restaurant mis-keyed our dinner bill on Monday (which typically had to be the £'s low point!)  Instead of inputting €155 they input €1.555,00!!  They did give us a (€) cheque refund...claiming they couldn't recredit our card.  As our credit card is a sterling account, this means we transferred €1.400,00 euros to our French account at the worst possible time - making for one very expensive dinner!

Mrs R51

[crossy67]

[quote user="Richard51"]Our local restaurant mis-keyed our dinner bill on Monday (which typically had to be the £'s low point!)  Instead of inputting €155 they input €1.555,00!!  They did give us a (€) cheque refund...claiming they couldn't recredit our card.  In effect, this means we transferred €1.400,00 euros to our French account at the worst possible time - making for one very expensive dinner!

Mrs R51

[/quote]

Oh my god, I would have screamed the place down.

[Richard51]

I have to admit I did feel a tad faint when she told me!  I only found out because my brother went to the attached bar / tabac the following night and she recognised him.  He came home with a vague message that the owner had accosted him and, from what he could fathom, she wanted to speak to me...

Mrs R51

[Gluestick]

Actually, Mrs Dick, you have a classic case for compensation under either Visa's or Mastercard's terms and conditions.

The cardholder ought not to suffer for errors made by a vendor.

Pursue them with vim and vigour!

[Richard51]

I will call them on Monday Gluestick....though not sure what rate I should ask for to calculate my loss...I have very faint recollections of €1.48 : £1......[;-)]

[Chancer]

The same thinh happened to me in a builders merchant but not to the same scale, the guy kept cocking things up with the terminal and insisted that I key in my pin for a second transaction, I argued to no avail that the first had indeed gone through and that the paper roll was stuck but eventually lost the will to live and complied as they were refusing to let me take the material or to give me back my card.

Having done that I grabbed the machine against his protests, whipped off the cover and pulled out the confirmlation slips for the two debits on my card, he claimed it was impossible to refund my card (and he really did believe it, his boss had told him so it must be true) and I would get a cherque at the end of the month.

I stuck my ground and it took a further 45 minutes to finaly do a visa refund, he had to call first visa and then the boss who was on sick leave to find out where the authorisation card was and what the passcode was.

The pound was dropping drastically that day, it was around €1.03 and I lost a couple of quid on a forty euro transaction during the 45 minutes IIRC, dependant on what the rate does and when you get refunded you ma gain or lose but the amount will be much higher than my loss was.

I would be shrewd and eithere accept a cheque in Euros or insist on a Visa refund according to how the rate has moved at the time.

Good luck.

Editted, it shows just how much the French refuse stubbornly to give refunds that many retailers dont  know how to do a credit card refund.

[Jay]

[quote user="Richard51"]Our local restaurant mis-keyed our dinner bill on Monday (which typically had to be the £'s low point!)  Instead of inputting €155 they input €1.555,00!!  They did give us a (€) cheque refund...claiming they couldn't recredit our card.  As our credit card is a sterling account, this means we transferred €1.400,00 euros to our French account at the worst possible time - making for one very expensive dinner!

Mrs R51

[/quote]

Lucky you - it would no doubt have rejected my card for that amount  (that's if I had a credit card!).

[Gluestick]

[quote user="Richard51"]...I have very faint recollections of €1.48 : £1......[;-)]

[/quote]

In your (And my!) dreams!

[:D]

[tonyv]

Yes, this makes you feel a bit sick...

[NickP]

Of course it's not necessarily bad news to those who bought holiday homes when the rate was  around 1.50 [:D]

[mint]

Even better news for those who are now selling those same holiday homes in euros to convert back to pounds.

Assuming they are getting no more than the euro amount they paid for them, they're still..............IN THE MONEY!

[mint]

And here's the reason why the pound has taken a nosedive today, losing all of the gains it made towards the end of last week:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8102785/Bank-of-England-must-use-QE-to-buy-bad-mortgages-warns-Fathom-Consulting.html

[Quillan]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

And here's the reason why the pound has taken a nosedive today, losing all of the gains it made towards the end of last week:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8102785/Bank-of-England-must-use-QE-to-buy-bad-mortgages-warns-Fathom-Consulting.html

[/quote]

I doubt it's them that's caused the problem. You should visit their website and see who their clients are, want to guess, well most are banks and financial institutions who have a very vested interest in the current economy.

What is causing the concern for them is that in basic terms house prices are decreasing and the value of the mortgages are now greater than the actual value of the houses. This means that if people don't pay their mortgage and the house is repossessed the banks won't get all of their money back. There is also an issue about banks lending money to people who clearly could not afford to pay it back, one bank in particular is under investigation for this practice (no names but they have a name similar to a certain sports/Gym owner who's first name is Christopher). I have listened to some of the tapes of them selling loans and its a disgrace how they 'bend' things to enable the person to get a loan when they are already over extended and clearly can't afford to pay any of it back. This is what happens when people are employed on a commission only basis. Now its all about to go 'ti*s up' they are looking for somebody to pick up the tab and they want the tax payer to all be it indirectly. What with the bank bailouts it seems these people don't just want their cake, they want a cherry on top and then be able to eat it.

The reason for this article now, well the BOE has just said it will no longer print money for which QE is a new name for. The experts will no doubt say this is either a very simplistic view or total rubbish but just look around and think about, sometimes the answer is simple and it's right in front of you.

[Bugsy]

Up and down like a fiddlers elbow.

.

[mint]

Oh, Bugs, I haven't heard that expression before but it describes the position accurately and vividly!

[Gluestick]

Well the other one, Sweets, rather vulgar, though  is:

Up and down like a whore's drawers in Pompey when the Fleet just sailed in!

[mint]

Oh, Gluey, I'd no idea a gentleman like yourself would know such expressions!

And, I suppose you'd no idea a lady like me would understand them![:P]

[brianagain]

http://www.investmentu.com/latest-research/euro.php?code=X300L6081

Tighten your seat belts folks; here come more (so called) experts, Personally, I take everything they say with a large pinch of salt.

Brian (again)

[mint]

Thank you for that, Brian.  I need to buy a stash of euros in the next couple of weeks so I hope the crash comes sooner rather than later.

Strange thing is, I do believe that rumours about the demise of the euro are premature........

[Jay]

If you subscribe to that site they will send you a link to read that article fully - it was written in May of this year. Euro crash? don't hold your breath!