Trust is a funny thing - you only realise how important it is when it's not there. The MPs expenses scandal shows that to perfection - I suspect many people were, up until a few months ago, happy to address a letter to their MP as "The Honorable .......", but not any more.
However, that's not really why I'm musing away this afternoon, rather some thoughts on how I've lost (or so it seems at the moment) a sizeable chunk of money invested for my retirement. Having managed to save some cash over the last few years I had a review with my financial advisors and decided that as I am approaching retirement I should become rather more cautious with any investments and was given an interesting leaflet from DRL (Defined Returns Limited) which offered a 100% guarantee that my capital was secure and would pay me a %'age of the rise in the Footsie over a period of years, but if the index fell would then just pay me back my original capital.
What could go wrong with that?
Everything as it turns out!
Despite the promises in the brochure that this investment was suitable for those who needed to protect their capital it turns out that DRL invested the money with Lehman Brother in the Netherlands. That seems to be significant because despite the brochure saying that DRL and Lehmans UK WERE protected under the financial services protection scheme, Lehmans bv weren't. So when Lehmans went down in the US and the rest of the empire followed there went my dosh.
All may not be lost - so many people have complained about this to the Financial Ombudsman Service that they are conducting a special investigation/review into the matter - an action group has been formed with a website and blog at http://missoldinvestments.co.uk/ and there is an early day motion laid before parliament - so maybe, just maybe all is not yet lost.
