Generali AND Skandia ? Sorry, but you need to look into this a bit closer.

Please take a look on the P i ssedConsumer website and search for these companies and whomever it was conned you into buying them.
Look do a google on 'who calls me' and have a look around.

Also, read this : http://www.englishforum.ch/finance-b...ors-prowl.html

Then decide if you want to continue to fold.
Good luck !

Yes I don't understand what the fuss is about. The guy does not owe anyone anything. He said his piece and people can take it or leave it. I don't know what the media is going ga ga about. People getting shocked at anything that is not sugar coated is getting so boring.

He reminded me of the guy who plays the US version of the office manager in the UK series The Office

Rastani was honest with what he said, but I don’t think it’s not true that very few people believe in his vision. In fact, most of the people who trade are well aware that EUR is sliding and build their portfolios accordingly. The thing is, that when such a lot of people bet on one market scenario, it’s actually becoming less and less likely to happen. It’s like sharing a winning lottery ticket with 99% of the participants. In the end nobody wants it.

It’s also not true that big ones care for stability. It’s quite the contrary. Swinging markets bring biggest profits, as you can gain on the way up, or on the way down. In fact, the whole Greek debt is not that large. Investment banks could easily buy all of it. But why do that and get some lousy profits on low percentage bonds, while there are billions to be had when the Greece crashes. One mans loss is another mans (financial) profit. It’s like a 21st century type of war.

What could an average Joe do about it?

For example, one could trust in Switzerland. Keep your assets where you live.
Who knows, perhaps the things we are complaining about everyday, the protected market, subsidized agriculture etc, could become our biggest asset. In case paper money becomes worthless, everybody here knows where the nearest cow lives ;-).

Alternatively, one could diversify to as many markets and types of assets as possible. I’d say emerging markets are usually a good bet – they are just that, emerging, and will stay this way as long as the western markets need cheap workforce.

There are some well observed dependencies on the market – as an example: USD
goes strong, commodities get cheap. Not a bad bet if you aim to protect your assets
rather than make profit. Balance is the key.

@Clarence I have just discovered how gullible, foolish and idiotic I have been. (No wonder it took this long!) My lack wisdom and stupidity have been eye opening

[QUOTE=glinaa;1355930][QUOTE=glinaa;1355930]For example, one could trust in Switzerland. Keep your assets where you live.


Wow.... Thats very MBA-studentish

Incase you didnt know a low vol game is how banks and money managers make their money these days. We are a high vol investor, so I agree with what you are saying about "big swings", but thats not how systems work for 95% of the participants. They would have to fire 80% of the people at UBS under your "Big Swing" scenario. Also that would mean that money creation contracts (higher vol means debt growth slows or contracts). And that makes it harder to make money.

Greek debt is FUKING HUGE!!!! The issue is not the debt but the IOU's. Greece has been in bankruptcy for 90 out of the past 200 years. See the chart attached. They have promised so much money to pensioners they cant possibly pay it off. My broker at CS is always trying to hawk me some Greek bonds. If youre interested I can put you in contact with her.

Trust Switzerland? I hope youre right. But with $3Tr worth of savings I would hate to see what happens when UBS or CS goes bust (They have the most lop-sided capital structures of any banks in the world at this point). The SNB has a balance sheet of $20Bn. Thats enough to bail out Luzerner KB...... aaaaand thats about it. The US Fed will have to step in. Cant imagine that will be great for Swiss ideals.

Subsidize Agriculture????? You must be new here. Switzerland subsizes 100% of its agro sector already. Oh, and it still imports 30% of their veggies and fruit according to the USDA. They also import 48% of their grains. Most of that is used for the dairy sector (feed grain). If we look at high quality grains for bread Switzerland imports about 70% of their grains from Eastern Europe. Switzerland is far from self-sufficient. Its better to have a strong currency and import food from the rest of Europe.

Sorry, forgot to attach this.

Attached Files

greek pensions.pdf (97.6 KB, 150 views)

Maybe, maybe not.
Certainly you need to check the policy documents and do the maths.
Better late than never.

And probably move off this thread and over to http://www.englishforum.ch/finance-b...ors-prowl.html

Interesting chart. I know that Finland is in a bit of a bind since, though they have low debt, they have a demographic of low birth rate, low immigration (about 2% of total population) and a rapid swelling of the boomers reaching retirement age. Add a slumping economy with fewer jobs for those who are of working age and...it's easy to see how things aren't going to go very well. How did Greece wind up with that kind of pension debt as don't they have a slightly different demographic with a higher birthrate and immigration? How can any of these countries stay solvent in the next decade when the boomers everywhere really start retiring?

First job I had in college was investing money for a Greek family. They all moved from Greece 20 or 30 years prior. Came to the US and Canada and set up several very successful restaurants and building companies. They made lots of money and had a very large savings sitting in Cayman banks.

When they reached their "Greek Retirement Age" the mom and dad moved back to Corinth. They sent in their tax documents for the last 5 years with their stated US income. The government then put them into the pension system that pays them 75% of their previous US income!!!!!!!!!!!

They never paid in. But because the father did military service the family was entitled to move back to Greece and collect. I dont know if thats legal or not? But it works and everyone does it.

Lowerwages. Lower retirement age. Low or ficticious pension contributions. Pension accrual without matching contributions. Graft and corruption.

Shall I go on?

What do you expect from the country that invented the Dildo!

LOL...Seriously? Damn, gonna have to google that one...hope it doesn't show up in my cache if I'm ever arrested for something.

(The Oracle of Google suggests that actually dildoes existed in both ancient China and Egypt which pre-date anything in Greece. Given the Asian and Indian cultures, it would be consistent that they'd have been first with the technology. )

And, even without corrupt pension schemes...pensions all over are pretty well screwed.

Thanks Clarence. I have already checked the other thread after you had mentioned it earlier. I got sucked into Sakndia as an expat in the Middle East and then here in GVA for Generali.

I have been absolutely dumb and ignorant and above all, very trusting with my meager savings and have not heard enough about my stupidity from my son who is just starting out in Finance.

Well at my UBER liberal Bay-Area university we were taught that the Greeks invented the dildo.... They even showed us a movie on it!

Well hey! Now you have some fun trivia to play at the dinner table tonight with the family.

Maybe the Chinese or Egyptian ones were hollowed out and mice inserted to give the first 'Powered' ones?

Similar to the ZZ10000 my grandmother has that runs off three phase electricity...

I think this explains the situation:

So, whilst Germany is smack in the middle of a pretty heavyweight Bundestag debate today about Germany underwriting boosted bailout guarantees to the tune of €440billion...

...meanwhile, Greek public workers are busy blockading Ministries in Athens, just as inspectors managing the bailout are due back in Athens.


Ya couldn't make it up, could ya?!?!?

So, with all the recent promises about support for EURo zone, is the USD still the way to go?