Icesave/Kaupthing - is Martin to blame?

JohnnyW_3

31May2008 wrote: »

This is an excellent site with many helpful ideas but it has really come a cropper after recommending the deposit of savings in Iceland banks kaupthing and icesave.

Huh? How exactly has it come a cropper? You clearly don't even have money in either of these banks, so why are you even stirring up trouble?

I DO have money in IceSave. I have ALL my savings in IceSave, in fact.

How, exactly, do you think that MSE or Martin himself could be in ANY way blamed? Blamed for WHAT? WHAT is he blamed for? Please explain.

Is he being blamed for the economic crisis? Of course not.

Is he being blamed for Kaupthing or IceSave having difficulties? See the previous answer, the two are connected, afterall.

Is he being blamed for people losing money? NOBODY has lost a SINGLE PENNY.

Is he being blamed for recommending their rates? There were disclaimers and warnings. LARGE disclaimers and LARGE warnings. (As someone who took his advice, I can attest to that.)

So given that I haven't the faintest idea what you're blaming him of... WHAT EXACTLY do you think he could have done to NOT be "blamed"?

As someone who invested in IceSave with ALL of their savings. As someone who is currently LIVING OFF these very same savings and is planning to for the next year, I don't, for even a nanosecond, see how ANYONE, let alone someone who doesn't even have money in IceSave, could possibly blame this excellent website or Martin.

If you haven't invested your money in IceSave then kindly BE QUIET.

bartsimpson

With very few exceptions, this saying is very true:

"If something is cheap, there is always a price to be paid somewhere"

Eg

Easyjet might do cheap flights, but they cancel them more often than BA.

Buy cheap gold jewellery from a black man on marbella beach, and it is likely to turn green

Buy adsa value sausages at 2p each, and you're eating s***

Drink cheap wine, and it will give you a worse hangover than ordinary wine

Put your money in a high interest foreign account, then cry when you lose it all

So yes martin is partially to blame for recommemding the icelandic banks, but then you can apply this reasoning to pretty much everything on this site, and life in general.

It's a fact of life - in 99% of cases you get what you pay for, and there is no such thing as a free lunch

JohnnyW_3

bartsimpson wrote: »

Put your money in a high interest foreign account, then cry when you lose it all

WHO is crying that they've "LOST IT ALL"?

Keep your glib "wisdom" to yourself or send it to Reader's Digest.

altocumulus

bartsimpson wrote: »

With very few exceptions, this saying is very true:

"If something is cheap, there is always a price to be paid somewhere"

Eg

Easyjet might do cheap flights, but they cancel them more often than BA.

Buy cheap gold jewellery from a black man on marbella beach, and it is likely to turn green

Buy adsa value sausages at 2p each, and you're eating s***

Drink cheap wine, and it will give you a worse hangover than ordinary wine

Put your money in a high interest foreign account, then cry when you lose it all

So yes martin is partially to blame for recommemding the icelandic banks, but then you can apply this reasoning to pretty much everything on this site, and life in general.

It's a fact of life - in 99% of cases you get what you pay for, and there is no such thing as a free lunch

All recommendations in the articles on this site come with suitable caveats....all very clear for all to read, digest and act upon according to ones own judgement....

posh*spice

fatpig wrote: »

Blame everyone except yourself you muppets! If you hadn't tried to withdraw your savings en masse like the bunch of headless chickens they may not have had to put the bank into administration,.You with your continual scaremongering and hasty actions caused the run on the bank,not Martin, if I were him I'd ban the lot of you muppets! :T

It's that sort of comment that has let this board down.:mad: How can a few hundred people on a website cause the collapse of the whole of the Icelandic banking system. Theses banks had too high leverage and were over dependent on whole sale markets to raise money. They were also bigger than their government and were always going to find it difficult to get a bail out. Calling posters muppets for thinking about moving there money from a risky situation has let this board down.:rolleyes:

eyesy

JohnnyW wrote: »

How, exactly, do you think that MSE or Martin himself could be in ANY way blamed? Blamed for WHAT? WHAT is he blamed for? Please explain.

Just my two cents on this - as someone who has saved money in an IceSave ISA and is currently fretting about what will happen to their money - of course it's not Martin's fault that this has happened. He offers a free (ads aside) no-promise service of his opinion of financial advice. Obviously I'm gutted, but I chose to put the money in there.

I suspect that Martin might be even more cautious in future when choosing what to recommend as his "best buy" though.

posh*spice

Rafter wrote: »

Martin is NOT to blame, but he has made money as a result of click throughs from this site.

The problem is the culture of some of this sites users who go for the very cheapest deal or the highest rate without any personal accountablilty for that decision.

R.

The problem is that people were not allowed to put a message on here that did not conform with this mantra. Personally, I learned more about the best savings accounts from the House Price Crash board....;)

Caudle

I suspect that Martin might be even more cautious in future when choosing what to recommend as his "best buy" though.

Kaupthing Edge is still Martin's best buy - albeit with a warning put on today... which probably nobody will read!!

posh*spice

moocowone wrote: »

Right. Icelandic banks may have offered the highest rate of interest, but they have not been an attractive option for a long time now. I think all would agree: They're not a best buy - high interest or not.

In fact, since before last week, traders have been pricing in a roughly one in 10 chance of a blow up. Even prior to that, Icelandic banks have been in the spotlight - for a long time (although it is only in the last couple of weeks that things have got really bad.)

And so many posters tried to get this message through on this board and were abused in the process by the regulars:mad:

posh*spice

moocowone wrote: »

I agree, but is that culture not encouraged by sites that label the high interest accounts from unstable banks as 'best buys'?

True - but lets be honest most banks are unstable now.:rolleyes: