where to put savings in doomsday senario

pharmacist

i would like to start a definative thread for those who are worried about their savings in the event of Ireland defaulting or the euro collapsing as to where is the best place to invest their savings.
whether that be investing in german government bonds like michael noonan our finance minster (very comforting!!) or transfering to a uk or european bank account etc.
could we please leave out the will we/won't we default debate and just focus on the best place to invest savings in a worst case senario?

i am transfering my savings to a bank account i had in belfast a few years ago and never closed. my worry about this is that sterling is very dependant on the euro and could also be in trouble in the event of the euro collapsing. even so, it can't be any worse than leaving it in our junk banks.

peasant

Seed potatos, tinned food and a shotgun

Seriously ...if the Euro were to collapse, no matter where you put your savings (other than hard, tangible assets) you could expect them to vanish.
They'd either disappear altogether or be converted into a new, useless currency and/or become "frozen" for a few decades.

The Euro is by now so big and interwoven that its collapse would be the end of the financial system as we know it, particularly as the dollar is just as weak and would topple right after it.

Equally, I think that Ireland defaulting is in the same category of "it must not happen" -event. Greece defaulting nearly brought the Euro down, I don't think the stack of dominos will stand another one falling (be that Ireland, Portugal or Spain)

So ..IMO ...as an Irish default will lead to a Euro default and in consequence to total chaos anyway ...you might as well leave your savings right where they are and thus help to prevent the Irish collapse in the first place.

femur61

A lot of people are opening non redidential bank accounts up north. Am considering that option myself.

keithclancy

If history is something to go by

GOLD

pharmacist

peasant wrote: »

So ..IMO ...as an Irish default will lead to a Euro default and in consequence to total chaos anyway ...you might as well leave your savings right where they are and thus help to prevent the Irish collapse in the first place.

thats why i didn't want this to turn into a will we won't we default debate because you will keep getting the "patriotic" calls to leave your money here even though the same people have probably moved their money themselves!

later12

keithclancy wrote: »

If history is something to go by

GOLD

History has a longer memory than gold bugs!

RichardAnd

keithclancy wrote: »

If history is something to go by

GOLD

You can't eat gold.

D1stant

RichardAnd wrote: »

You can't eat gold.

Are you inferring that he puts it into Spuds?

later12

D1stant wrote: »

Are you inferring that he puts it into Spuds?

As the saying goes in some economic circles, "potato chips, computer chips, what's the difference? they're all chips"

Investing in food corporations is generally more lucrative than gold and certainly more interesting.

cml387

History seems to suggest Swiss Francs.

RichardAnd

D1stant wrote: »

Are you inferring that he puts it into Spuds?

Nope, I'm simply pointing out that in economic collapse, gold might not be of much use.

pharmacist

was hoping more for a debate whether to transfer saving to uk, german, dutch bank accounts or invest in extremely low risk shares etc
not whether to buy chips or patotes!!! :-)

Black Swan

pharmacist wrote: »

... could we please leave out the will we/won't we default debate and just focus on the best place to invest savings in a worst case senario?

MOD COMMENT: This thread will be moved from Irish Economy to the Investment forum.

irishh_bob

RichardAnd wrote: »

Nope, I'm simply pointing out that in economic collapse, gold might not be of much use.

in an economic collapse , gold would soar ,gold loves bad news , paper money on the other hand

pharmacist

cml387 wrote: »

History seems to suggest Swiss Francs.

why swiss francs cml?

pharmacist

any opinions as to which would be a safer place to put your money in the event of irish default, uk bank account or german bank account?

touts

pharmacist wrote: »

any opinions as to which would be a safer place to put your money in the event of irish default, uk bank account or german bank account?

If the Euro goes down then the European union will go right down after it. I wouldnt fancy dealing with nationalistic German banks to get access to my money in that case. At least we share a border and a language with the UK.

Jim2007

touts wrote: »

If the Euro goes down then the European union will go right down after it. I wouldnt fancy dealing with nationalistic German banks to get access to my money in that case. At least we share a border and a language with the UK.

A couple of other risks to cover since we're going for the moon!

- What if Scotland exits the UK in two years time and takes it's North Sea oil with it, where will the UK be then....

- Or how about Belgium, they've not been able to form a government in over a year... where is the wisdom of use KeyTade then....

Oh and if you are going to Germany at least avoid the Landesbanken as they have a very iffy situation to say the least...

And then of course there is the question of Deutsche Banks over reliance on investment banking and the associated risks....

Me thinks a bit of common sense and proper risk management would be a much better approach!

Jim.

Tech3

German Bonds is a fairly secure place to put your savings. Only issue is that you have to go to Germany to show you passport in order to open an account. Either that or pay commission to a stockbroker to sort it out.

Other options are throwing it into banks up in the UK. Or even better under you matress. I'm looking into german bonds and gold currently to spread some risk.

FlashD

Hi,

Any thoughts on moving savings to a bank account in Australia.

Good or bad idea?

Regards.