" Surely the stockmarket can't go any lower" Alot of people have been asking this question recently and wondering if its time to step in to the markets! After five days or so of heavy losses in the global stockmarkets finally we had a big bounce. But is this any different to red coming five times in a row on the roulette table and betting on the next spin coming up black!

Warren Buffet answers that question quite well by stating "As far as I'm concerned the stockmarket doesn't exist." By this I think he means that following or trading short/medium term fluctuations in the markets is a mugs game which will only enrich the intermediaries.

The Financial industry wants us to believe that we can get rich, or at least increase our wealth, by investing in the financial markets. They are afterall financial intermediaries and profit from our transactions.

People are waking up to the fact that if they don't fully understand what is being done with their savings, be it in a pension or otherwise, the chances are that they will end up with less money than they put in.

We need eduaction on a grand scale to stop this happening again. The financial industry has got away with making alot of money by offering a mediocre service because of the lack of financial literacy of the investing public.

The internet is bringing more transparency and empowering people through knowledge, which is going to dramatically change the financial industry.

 The Spread-betting and CFD industry has seen a huge increase in activity in the last few years, which is a step in the right direction because, when you put some money in your spread betting account, you should at least realise that this is just gambling.