Barclays needs central bank loan too

From the BBC Business News, 31 August 2007:

Barclays says that a "technical breakdown" in the UK's clearing system forced it to borrow £1.6bn from the Bank of England.

It is the second time this month that the bank has tapped into the central bank's emergency credit line, sparking fears it is facing a cash crisis.
...
On 20 August, Barclays was forced to take out a £314m loan from the Bank of England after HSBC was unable to process a last-minute request for the money.

No bank run for Barclays, though.

My Dilbert Financial Test

1. Make a will - @TODO
   
2. Pay off your credit cards - DONE, never had debt.
   
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support - @TODO
   
4. Fund your 401k Pension to the maximum - DONE
   
5. Fund your IRA ISA's to the maximum - @TODO, I'm about 60% done.
   
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it - @TODO
   
7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account - @TODO, only have 2 months.
   
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement - DONE
   
9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio - NO NEED
   

3 out of 8 is not particularly impressive...

Dilbert's 'Unified Theory of Everything Financial'