Five things we can learn about investing from Colonel Gaddafi

Libya's investments have been shockingly bad. Details emerged show the Libyan Investment Fund has been an easy target for the investment bankers and hedge-fund managers of the financial markets. Here are five things we can learn as Matthew Lynn reports.

There aren't many things we'd want to learn from Colonel Gaddafi. You wouldn't want tips on personal appearance, for certain. The Libyan ruler usually appears with hair that doesn't seem to have been combed since 1986.

Nor would we want many lessons on how to run a country, human rights, or indeed staying on good terms with your neighbours. There is one thing we could learn, however: how to avoid getting eaten alive by the sharks of the financial markets.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.