One for the road

One More Thing: One corporate financier attending the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards last week recalled during…

One More Thing:One corporate financier attending the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards last week recalled during a conversation on the state of the economy how a Dublin taxi driver had recently offered him advice on investing in overseas property, particularly in eastern Europe.

The financier said he was reminded of the tale of Irish-American businessman Joe Kennedy, JFK's father, who decided to sell all his stock two weeks before the 1929 Wall Street crash when his shoeshine boy started giving him stock market tips.

Financial advice appears to come from the most unlikely of quarters nowadays, to the point where it's hard to know what's good advice any more.

You would wonder if the 2007 Dublin taxi driver has replaced the 1929 Wall Street shoeshine boy.

Simon Carswell

Simon Carswell

Simon Carswell is News Editor of The Irish Times