Cyprus & Europe

[zeldaguy]

Hi,

I had 300K in Bank of Cyprus and I am going to get a 40% haircut of the unsecured balance, this means that those 300K will go down to 220K. You might be of the people to say that this is fair enough but me and my wife were working day and night for the last 10 years to make that kind of money and they are properly taxed and absolutely legal. I am desperate on this because we were planning to buy a house with that money and we are now in a position that even if everything goes well it is under question when, how and if I am going to have access to my money again.

Hoping that everything will go well I would like to ask you where should I place my money so that they are secure considering that I am absolutely not willing to make any kind of short or long term investment. I am thinking of breaking the amount in smaller amounts of 40-50 thousands and place them in different banks of different countries outside Europe. Does this sound reasonable? What would you do in my position to secure your money?

Thanks in advance!

[97guns]

i am of the opinion that all banking systems are fragile at this moment and i would not feel safe with funds in any bank in any country, YOU having lost 1/3 of your wealth should be even more shaken by the system.


the US system remains the cleanest shirt in the dirt laundry basket but that aint sayin much

[seen]

I'm very sorry to hear about that. It sucks that you stand to lose $80k, but having said that why would you park an amount like that (ie. large enough to be over the insured limit, but small enough that it can easily be split) into one bank to begin with?

Surely you must have known before this Cyprus debacle that banks sometimes can and do fail? Under any normal circumstances if your bank failed, you would only have $100k to show for your savings (Granted the bank is insured). So why take that risk in the first place?

[bjl584]

I'm wondering if this post is real or not. I don't think that it is. But, if it is, then I feel sorry for OP to a point. As pointed out, there was a huge and long drawn out build up to this. Plenty of time and opportunity to shift your assets around into other investments or accounts. It just doesn't make sense to sit idly by with that much cash in a bank given the circumstances.

[humandraydel]

I'm wondering if this post is real or not.

My guess is that zeldaguy = 97guns

[snafu]

zelda: what led you to put savings in a bank in Cypress? Did they pay larger interest compared to the paltry sum that doesn't even keep up with inflation? You had to know about the ongoing issues in Greece and the Greek Cypriot connection. The Cypriot banks needed a bailout in June 2012.

[KTP]

I can give you the contact info for this guy in Nigeria that needs some sort of help transfering a large sum of money. I was going to pass on it myself but you may be interested. He just emailed me out of the blue, go figure. Lucky I guess.

[GrimJack]

My guess is that zeldaguy = 97guns

Heh, heh - sounds right. I can't imagine why someone would put that amount of money in a banking system that is known world-wide as the go-to location for Russian mobsters to launder their money.

[~bs]

I'm wondering if this post is real or not. I don't think that it is. But, if it is, then I feel sorry for OP to a point. As pointed out, there was a huge and long drawn out build up to this. Plenty of time and opportunity to shift your assets around into other investments or accounts. It just doesn't make sense to sit idly by with that much cash in a bank given the circumstances.

There's some pretty strange posts and requests for advice that get posted during the night. I've noticed that sometimes you guys clean them up, but others not. This topic is an example.

[PSF]

Regardless of this post being genuine or not, I think that it is important for everyone to see what can happen and what will happen again. The global banking system is essentially insolvent, only supported by central banks and government, and if these banks and governments for whatever reason decide to pull that support you'll be in big trouble, like those in Cyprus.

This support can not be counted on to continue forever anyway, for the simple reason that it is unsustainable without creating further problems. Therefore, everybody should have some kind of plan about what to do with their money if these problems come to your country (eg. Spain, Italy). I would personally look into precious metals, cash, specific foreign bank accounts, and perhaps even bitcoins (if you feel comfortable enough about it, I don't yet).

[zeldaguy]

Thank you for the replies. You can call me a moron, retard, stupid whatever you like but I am an ordinary guy with an ordinary family working and saving money. I have absolutely no idea on how the banks work or how economical directives taken by EU or US can affect a monetary system. To be honest I wasn't even aware what an insured deposit is until a few days ago. I feel like a great victim of the system. I am very sad

Besides that I had my money there in a savings account the interest was like 0.5%. I didn't want a fixed term (3.5% - 4%) because I was looking for a house to buy and I wanted to have all my money available just in case I find the deal. My huge mistake was to have all my money into one account without a second or third person on it but I never thought that I will get in that situation. I am a workaholic working for 10-12 hours a day and literally I have no time to follow all those economical changes, even if I wanted to, I don't have the expertise to evaluate them.

I will be moving the rest of my money outside EU countries, I have read a lot the last 10 days and I feel like the whole European banking system is like a bomb to explode. The question is what the hell I am going to do with those money.

How do rich people secure their money? Which are the safest countries to deposit money? What would you do in my position?

Thank you

[97guns]

do some research but i understand austrian banks are well respected. like i said earlier i dont trust any banks, my savings is in physical gold and silver and i am my own bank.

[snafu]

Zelda: Sorry to sound harsh but it's your money and your responsibility to look after it, You need to watch the TV news each day so you know the economic danger spots. Various Banks have been in big trouble shown by the Great Depression, Saving & Loan scandal in the 1980's fleeced Americans of $1.4 trillion and the total cost for the 2008 debacle isn't yet defined. Royal Bank of Scotland was racked with scandal, Iceland's Banks went belly up. All these are in the news or facts /details available on line.

[zeldaguy]

Snafu. Yes it is... you are right. However...

Property should be respected no matter what and democratic societies should keep that safe. Otherwise banks or whatever behind a bank is will take us everything. Taking someones money out of a bank just because a bank failed is not my problem it is the government's problem for allowing the stock holders of the banks to be greedy.

This is say for example Ford needs money and what does it do? Gets all sold cars back and gives nothing to customers.

This was happening in USSR not Europe!!! What type of capitalism are we living in anyway... I am confused.

[gambler2075]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-30/bank-of-cyprus-s-customers-may-lose-as-much-as-60-on-deposits.html

Oy vey.

g