Remember that your banker's and your broker's best interest may differ significantly from your own. As the old adage puts it, to be forewarned is to be forearmed.
The good news is that adversity is the handmaiden of opportunity, or as the depression era writer Napoleon Hill expressed it:
Every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.
Most people sense that something has gone wrong with the global economy, but they still haven't discovered the seed of any equivalent benefit. They remain trapped in the spiderweb of debt and deceit that has been woven by the banking system. In the video clip below listen to the former chair of the Fed as he spins that web.
When you understand the problem, the solution becomes obvious.