If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs....

There is one word that sums up the markets over the last week and that word is "panic". But as hard as it may be in the current climate, this is the time to keep a cool head.

1. The stock market, like the housing market has reached unrealistically high levels but it is now dropping to unrealistically low levels. The current situation has been triggered by too many who bought when the market was at its peak and who are now panic selling as the market hits rock bottom. But now is the perfect time to buy (if you can get a loan from your bank manager). Much is made of the fact that it took over two decades for the stock market to recover from 1929, but there is little mention made of the fact that half the losses were recovered in just five years.
2. The price of oil is falling which is weakening rogue states such as Russia, Venezuela and Iran, much of whose wealth depends on it.
3. The falling price of oil means cheaper petrol, and the end of fuel surcharges on flights.
4. The credit crunch has resulted in fewer car journeys, less traffic, less pollution and fewer road accidents.
5. House prices are started to return to realistic levels and people will start buying houses to live in rather than using them for an investment. Millions of first time buyers might have a chance of getting their foot on the housing ladder.
6. The credit crunch should make obsolete the discredited ideal that everyone should have a right to own their own property regardless of their credit status or salary level.
7. As the government and local councils are more and more strapped for cash, we should hopefully see realistic pay levels returning to the public sector.
8. Fewer Estate Agents should hopefully see Foxtons purged from our high streets!
9. Tighter credit will ensure that we live within our means, spending less and saving more.
10. Finally, banks will be a little more careful about who they lend to.