One of the hot global economy stories right now is whether or not Greece will be forced to leave the Euro under their huge debts.  Their financial crisis will have a significant impact on the global economy and will affect savers, spenders and speculators in all the countries that have lent Greece money.

The total lent to Greece is $167.7bn and banks will suffer through direct money losses, or having to be cautious about where to lend their money in future.  This knock on effect will make it more expensive for banks to fund loans to their customers - both consumer and business.

How would this impact UK savings?

In the UK, the Bank of England will most likely keep the base rate at 0.5% for the foreseeable future.  When it comes to savings rates though, these might actually increase.

The reason for banks increasing their savings rate would be to encourage and attract deposits to stabilize the economy.

A similar impact will be seen across Europe and, to a lesser extent, the U.S.

What about your investments?

The impact on European investments, at least in the short term, would be catastropic.  The FTSE 100 index fell by 3.1% in just three days and will probably fall further.

The long term affects may not be as bad for the rest of the world's stock markets though.  When Japan had a financial crisis, the worldwide exchanges continued to make good progress.  In fact, the weakened Japan may have lowered commodity price inflation that allowed the rest of the world to grow quicker.

Yes, Europe has problems at the moment, but investors still have opportunies elsewhere.

Making money from the crisis

You could take advantage of the weak euro right now by investing in currency and waiting for the euro to strength against sterling and the dollar again.

So what is next for Europe?  Greece are still likely to leave the EU.  Will Spain be next?  And how will that impact the global economy and your investments?  

Only time will tell.  That said, if you're looking for a cheap vacation, Greece is most definitely the place to go.  It's going to be ridiculously cheap! ;)