wii4miinow wrote:
Right now I've got a decent sized 6 figure sum of cash savings sitting with Northern Rock.
Reading all of the above and every day I get scared of being stripped of my hard earned savings.
Any suggestions on what to do with the funds?
This issue has come up before. I think it goes like this:
1) the country survives - money in NR is safe
2) the Irish banks go to the wall - money in NR is safe
3) the Irish government defaults - money in NR is safe
4) we leave the Euro - chance money in NR is converted into new currency
5) the UK gov defaults - money in NR is not safe
6) everywhere defaults - no money is safe anymore.
So as far as I can see, the biggest risk with NR is if we leave the Euro. Although some people suggest that this will happen overnight, I believe that there will be a few days or hours between announcement and the bill being passed. During this time the government might be able to freeze Irish bank accounts, but I don't think they can freeze NR. So NR is a good deal safer than Irish banks, but if you are convinced that the irish state will completely collapse, open an account in a german bank, buy gold, spend like there's no tomorrow or (heaven forbid) buy property.