Microsoft Announces Major Downsizing - 60,000 Affected

[Meengla]

You may better off investing in investment incomes products to protect against the rate of inflation for a year or two and then invest ( imho ). I really do feel like it is the calm before the storm. The storms are becoming more frequent it seems from 2008 credit crisis, to Covid, to the Iran war to the Ai boom/bust. Right now - it feels like any decision is the same as trying to catch a falling knife - so good luck.

Good observation! Add the Ukraine war to the mix. Indeed, there is widespread sinking feelings and, other than some Scandinavian countries, it seems global. Yesterday Reuters had an article which said 42% of Americans have thought of emigration. Americans!! There is global angst. Inexplicable. My theory is that the Covid pandemic changed the humanity on psychological level.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Yeah agree, never felt this much uncertainty in the market and for the future, its almost like living under Covid again.

That is a good tip ref protecting against inflation and then going out to buy, my issue is I really need to make my money grow quickly, I am appraiching end of my career so dont have the luxury of a 20-25 year timeline. Envy those that do

My guess is depending on backing the right horse of course, a £5k or £10k bet on a AI company by someone in their mid-20s now will enable them to retire in their 40s off the back of it.

Much like those luck people who bought Apple stock 20 years ago at $3

I work in the financial services industry in London and I spend a lot of time talking with various front office market markers/desk heads and also traders of various financial exchange traded and OTC products as i build electronic trading IT platforms for them. They all tell me to stash the cash - and these blokes take long term positions and hedge based on where they think the market will go.

( And while i am at it, another pro-tip. No matter how tempted you are by perceived rate of returns, never ever ever trade leveraged derivatives products with anyone anywhere, no matter how smart you think you are, you will always be on the losing side )..

That all I am gonna say on this front for now. Good luck sir.

 

[Yasser76]

Good observation! Add the Ukraine war to the mix. Indeed, there is widespread sinking feelings and, other than some Scandinavian countries, it seems global. Yesterday Reuters had an article which said 42% of Americans have thought of emigration. Americans!! There is global angst. Inexplicable. My theory is that the Covid pandemic changed the humanity on psychological level.

"Covid pandemic changed the humanity on psychological level."

Very astute observation

 

[Yasser76]

I work in the financial services industry in London and I spend a lot of time talking with various front office markers/desk heads and also traders of various financial exchange traded and OTC products as i build electronic trading IT platforms for them. They all tell me to stash the cash - and these blokes take long term positions and hedge based on where they think the market will go.

( And while i am at it, another pro-tip. No matter how tempted you are by perceived rate of returns, never ever ever trade leveraged derivatives products with anyone anywhere, no matter how smart you think you are, you will always be on the losing side )..

That all I am gonna say on this front for now. Good luck sir.

Nice tips, thanks bro

 

[Meengla]

They all tell me to stash the cash - and these blokes take long term positions and hedge based on where they think the market will go.

Just yesterday wife and I were talking about the impact of Ai. She is a Medical Coder working from home. She said even her job could be outsourced. I said likely but due to existing 'regulations', she has some time. Then we talked about how to protect our assets. I told her I am worried about our cash in the bank to be stolen--wiped off. She said to withdraw all the money and put under the proverbial mattress! I said that would be dumb because would make the multiple payments on monthly basis for utilities etc very hard to manage. I said we should change our passwords to important sites and change them regularly and maybe even write down the passwords on paper--like her 81 year old dad does!

Sounds drastic? Well, once someone (from India!) defrauded me with a chunk of money using my Western Union account. I caught the guy doing that and immediately called WU and put a hold on my account, which they did. They asked me to go to a police station and file an official report there. The guy filing my report said he had his bank account was once wiped cleaned through fraud; he got his money back though.

 

[PakFactor]

I work in the financial services industry in London and I spend a lot of time talking with various front office market markers/desk heads and also traders of various financial exchange traded and OTC products as i build electronic trading IT platforms for them. They all tell me to stash the cash - and these blokes take long term positions and hedge based on where they think the market will go.

( And while i am at it, another pro-tip. No matter how tempted you are by perceived rate of returns, never ever ever trade leveraged derivatives products with anyone anywhere, no matter how smart you think you are, you will always be on the losing side )..

That all I am gonna say on this front for now. Good luck sir.

Have the trading houses in Europe started scripting and API trading?

 

[PakFactor]

Just yesterday wife and I were talking about the impact of Ai. She is a Medical Coder working from home. She said even her job could be outsourced. I said likely but due to existing 'regulations', she has some time. Then we talked about how to protect our assets. I told her I am worried about our cash in the bank to be stolen--wiped off. She said to withdraw all the money and put under the proverbial mattress! I said that would be dumb because would make the multiple payments on monthly basis for utilities etc very hard to manage. I said we should change our passwords to important sites and change them regularly and maybe even write down the passwords on paper--like her 81 year old dad does!

Sounds drastic? Well, once someone (from India!) defrauded me with a chunk of money using my Western Union account. I caught the guy doing that and immediately called WU and put a hold on my account, which they did. They asked me to go to a police station and file an official report there. The guy filing my report said he had his bank account was once wiped cleaned through fraud; he got his money back though.

I have a friend whose wife does similar work in medical billing, and she's on her way out.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Have the trading houses in Europe started scripting and API trading?

API trading? You can trade with these organisations via an API yes, but the counterparties for these houses tend to be other corporates, finanical institutions or brokers.

Not sure what you mean by scripting? Algorithmic trading is automated trading of products via trading models etc.

As a retail person, you would have to go via a broker.

 

[PakFactor]

API trading? You can trade with these organisations via an API yes, but the counterparties for these houses tend to be other corporates, finanical institutions or brokers.

Not sure what you mean by scripting? Algorithmic trading is automated trading of products via trading models etc.

As a retail person, you would have to go via a broker.

In the States, we call it scripting, which you call algorithmic trading. In Forex, they write the script for which actions to take based on RSI, volume, etc., and MT5 and other broker software do the rest without user input.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Just yesterday wife and I were talking about the impact of Ai. She is a Medical Coder working from home. She said even her job could be outsourced. I said likely but due to existing 'regulations', she has some time. Then we talked about how to protect our assets. I told her I am worried about our cash in the bank to be stolen--wiped off. She said to withdraw all the money and put under the proverbial mattress! I said that would be dumb because would make the multiple payments on monthly basis for utilities etc very hard to manage. I said we should change our passwords to important sites and change them regularly and maybe even write down the passwords on paper--like her 81 year old dad does!

Sounds drastic? Well, once someone (from India!) defrauded me with a chunk of money using my Western Union account. I caught the guy doing that and immediately called WU and put a hold on my account, which they did. They asked me to go to a police station and file an official report there. The guy filing my report said he had his bank account was once wiped cleaned through fraud; he got his money back though.

The best thing is to make sure to setup 2FA on all your accounts be it text messaging or an app and have your mobile number set correctly on your banking account so that they can alert you. If you have an app, then use face id lock recognition on your phone and using the feature to "hide the app" on the phone too.

Also ( this is what i do on top ) I have a dedicated laptop for banking only, that is encrypted with bit locker, and another encryption software to store my passwords in an encrypted file on it - so there are two layers of encryption to get through through and those passwords i have never written down anywhere ever. I make backups to another portable drive that is also bit locker encrypted with the password file copied onto it in case the laptop dies( and I have copies at 2 different locations!). The worst think you can do is write down your passwords on paper!

That laptop It only has antivirus on it and chrome and "nothing else at all" and I ONLY EVER USE IT access my banks and investments on it. I never visit any other site on it ever. Ever. Ever.

Also, the email address i use for "main" banking apps, i never use anywhere else for anything, so there is no risk of leakage of that email address. I create one for banking, and another different one for your bills, websites, amazon etc ... Obfuscation is part of the plan to protect yourself. That also means, social engineering is more difficult as they won't be able to get some of your core credentials. And of course, don't share your information on social media etc.

I even have a separate "burner bank account" for bills and everything else and my private one for the large cash flows and it is get restricted on who knows its details etc.

Here in the UK, the safest place to put your money is https://www.nsandi.com/ if you are worried about your bank going down(though savings are protected at each bank up to £120,000 per financial institution).

I also have an identity protection service that i paid for, which alerts me straight away if my details have become compromised in any way, or if people try to do anything with my credit record or try and take out a loan in my name etc...

And - yes - I have that crazy setup.

As Fox Mulder says... "Trust no one" ..

 

[Ali_Baba]

In the States, we call it scripting, which you call algorithmic trading. In Forex, they write the script for which actions to take based on RSI, volume, etc., and MT5 and other broker software do the rest without user input.

In the professional area even in the USA it is called still called automated algorithmic trading. The term is universal globally in the industry itself.

You may be referring to some "local retail lingo" I guess.

 

[PK781]

OMG - what kind of breakfast is that - you can feed several from her plate !!!

they have a habit of posting this to make others feel bad and left out.
Hard to have sympathy when such people are laid off.....bcaz people start questioning as to the value these employees are bringing, work not enough to keep busy that u have time to use gym, eat all day on company time? yeah time to go!

 

[Yasser76]

The best thing is to make sure to setup 2FA on all your accounts be it text messaging or an app and have your mobile number set correctly on your banking account so that they can alert you. If you have an app, then use face id lock recognition on your phone and using the feature to "hide the app" on the phone too.

Also ( this is what i do on top ) I have a dedicated laptop for banking only, that is encrypted with bit locker, and another encryption software to store my passwords in an encrypted file on it - so there are two layers of encryption to get through through and those passwords i have never written down anywhere ever. I make backups to another portable drive that is also bit locker encrypted with the password file copied onto it in case the laptop dies( and I have copies at 2 different locations!). The worst think you can do is write down your passwords on paper!

That laptop It only has antivirus on it and chrome and "nothing else at all" and I ONLY EVER USE IT access my banks and investments on it. I never visit any other site on it ever. Ever. Ever.

Also, the email address i use for "main" banking apps, i never use anywhere else for anything, so there is no risk of leakage of that email address. I create one for banking, and another different one for your bills, websites, amazon etc ... Obfuscation is part of the plan to protect yourself. That also means, social engineering is more difficult as they won't be able to get some of your core credentials. And of course, don't share your information on social media etc.

I even have a separate "burner bank account" for bills and everything else and my private one for the large cash flows is get restricted on who knows its details etc.

Here in the UK, the safest place to put your money is https://www.nsandi.com/ if you are worried about your bank going down(though savings are protected at each bank up to £120,000 per financial institution).

I also have an identity protection service that i paid for, which alerts me straight away if my details have become compromised in any way, or if people try to do anything with my credit record or try and take out a loan in my name etc...

And - yes - I have that crazy setup.

As Fox Mulder says... "Trust no one" ..

Next level cyber security yaar! Easier to break into CENTCOM then your current account!

 

[Yasser76]

they have a habit of posting this to make others feel bad and left out.
Hard to have sympathy when such people are laid off.....bcaz people start questioning as to the value these employees are bringing, work not enough to keep busy that u have time to use gym, eat all day on company time? yeah time to go!

So true, how Indians in my company relate to others here in te UK or back in India who do not have such jobs is so cringe. They enoy floating that they have "made it" for those back home it is like winning the lottery. Sadly really lowered my opinion of them. 1 or 2 good eggs but that is it

 

[Meengla]

they have a habit of posting this to make others feel bad and left out.
Hard to have sympathy when such people are laid off.....bcaz people start questioning as to the value these employees are bringing, work not enough to keep busy that u have time to use gym, eat all day on company time? yeah time to go!

Wait until you see some State/Govt job employees.
As I said, I worked at a State job and saw plenty of such lazies. There was one lady--in her early 60s--who was notorious for maybe working 30 minutes each week; would remind you of what 'Peter' in 'Office Space' said! Haha! That lady was asked to learn some real skills--like PHP programming--and she just never bothered to learn. What could the organization do? Fire her? She had the legal recourse to challenge that. And no one wanted to deal with that.
Govt jobs are the best and so I often wonder if I had made the right choice 10 years ago by leaving my job; I posted about that several pages ago. But honestly--and no sour grapes here--to experience the 'real life' despite adding to your stress and despite losing guaranteed money was worth it.
In the end we all die--but not all have lived.