Not worth the paper ...

... it's printed on.

I worked for Irish Life Assurance Company for over twenty years and took early retirement back in 1994. The company went public during that time, and each staff member got a number of shares free with options to buy more at a discounted rate. Anyway, I own shares in what up until today was Irish Life & Permanent plc, and this is the pretty gold stamp thingamabob that's emblazoned on my share certificate. Maybe if I carefully scraped off the glitter I'd get a bit of money for it, because the shares themselves aren't exactly a gold mine.

IL&P suspended share trading in advance of the announcement of the results of the banking stress tests carried out by the Central Bank of Ireland, shares reportedly lost 60% of their value when trading resumed, the company needs 4 billion euro to safeguard it against potential loan losses, and it will now effectively be taken over by the Government, with its life assurance business to be sold off. So this once thriving flagship of Irish business life ends up as another victim of the disgraceful banking shenanigans which have bankrupted our poor little country (another 24 billion euro went into the banks yesterday, bringing the total bailout to 70 billion).

The ins and outs of it all are way beyond my ken. What I do know is that my shares which were meant to be a rainy-day nest egg would now probably be best used upstairs in the smallest room in the house.