All,

I haven't ever created a thread asking for advice, because i can usually find the information i need through the Search function, however, i am quite a novice at understanding the Global Meltdown situation. To be quite honest, the terms used are another language to me, terms like "futures and options markets" etc.

Anyway, to the point of the thread. My partners father owns his own business. He is quite "wealthy" and is an avid investor. He is french from birth but has lived in the UK for about 30 years. He does the majority of his investments in the French stock market but does have interests in other areas too. I don't know how much he has invested but if i had to hazard a guess I'd probably say he had about £100,000 currently in stock value (shares).

I have had discussions with him about the security of his money, i genuinely believe its all going to come crashing down soon, and i have urged him to consider removing his money. The problem is, like most "fathers", he is adamant that he knows what he's doing. He strongly believes that people will always buy things so his money is safe.

He doesn't believe a 3rd world war is coming and doesn't even entertain the idea that governments are purposefully hurting/killing their citizens. (i've added this part in to allow you to build a very vague character persona of him). He's what i would describe as one of the sheeple.

My questions are...

How do you approach someone when you genuinely want to help them not lose everything?
Is his money Safe? If not, how do i convince him of that?
How do i get through to him that even though i have little to no experience in stock markets that what i'm saying is reality?

I think you definately need to be in tune with what is going on in order to make money in the markets in the current situation.
The markets will crash and they will crash badly but if you're prepared and you know what you are doing then you can make a fortune by short selling at the right time and buying inverse stocks for example.
These are the toughest times to be in the markets because they are heavily driven by news, "hope" and fear.
Just when you think the markets will fall off a cliff something happens in the news like for example a huge bailout package for europe which reverses the markets in an instance.
Or on the other hand when you think the markets are going to rally on and then the Greek president calls a surprise refurendum only to cancel it a couple of days later. Then a couple days later news reports comes out about Italys borrowing levels being sky high.
These kind of situations create extreme volatility in the markets to the upside and downside and so trading is a nightmare.
If he is doing well during these times then he obviously knows what he is doing, but even then it is extremely risky. The current markets will make the best of traders sweat.
I dont know when the big crash or crashes are coming because there are things that can happen to temporarily avoid the crash such as european central bank interference or another round of quantitative easing in America, but the markets will crash eventually.
I cant even advise where to put your money because I just don't know whats going to happen, it seems like no currency is safe, so perhaps gold is a good idea but yesterday it crashed with the markets.
The dollar is very strong at the moment but only because of the eurozone crisis.
These are very uncertain and troubling times and only the most skilled and experienced traders with luck on their side will come out of this better off.

Btw I'm not an expert lol

Maybe i should clarify. My partners father owns his own Roofing company and buys/sells shares through Barclays Stockbroker software as a personal investment fund. He isn't a stock broker, and i doubt he has any real significant information on how to succeed in this climate effectively.

My concern is more about his blinding ability to NOT see what is happening, his opinion is simply that "people will always buy things...there is no way the stock markets will collapse". He is adamant that his money is perfectly safe and that this is just a blip that will be over soon.

Just tell him French banks have the biggest exposure to Greek debt.

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