interest in mutual funds and compulsory membership of pension schemes mean that virtually all Bermudians are in some way "invested'' in the stock markets of the world.

This makes the recent gyrations of the world's stock markets a serious matter for the Island and there should be no doubt that people today are jittery over the state of their investments.

Falls in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and on the Nasdaq over the last two weeks, culminating in Friday's dramatic plunges, will have given many people large paper losses.

In the last couple of years, high technology stocks have been bid up and up in value in spite of the fact few "dot-coms'' have actually made any profits at all.

Thus it is not surprising that at some point, a "correction'' should take place in which the value of these stocks are priced at a more rational level.

The risk is that as these stocks decline, they will take the rest of their respective stock markets with them.

For the long term investor, the advice from most financial advisors is to sit tight; people who held onto their stocks in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash have done quite nicely since then.

Those people who chose to invest for quick, short term profits, and those who have borrowed to invest will be paying the price now. Bu they should have known -- and certainly know now -- that investing is a risky business in which stocks can go down as well as up.

Most of the developed world's economies are in fairly good shape. That means that investing for the long term remains a good, and possibly the best, strategy for having a good pension and being able to build on hard earned savings. Taking good investment advice, ignoring appeals to join get rich schemes and being prepared to ride out the bad times is still a sound strategy.

See Business, Page 21 for analysis and forecasts of this week's markets TRAINING PAYS OFF EDT Training pays off Training consultant Bill Freeman's call for Bermuda to get its house in order on hospitality training is timely.

Mr. Freeman, speaking at the national tourism conference, said plans for improving service standards in the hotel industry were being hampered by conflicts between the Bermuda College, the National Training Board and the hotels themselves.

The main conflict seems to be over who will pay for the scheme, even though Mr. Freeman says it will not cost that much.

But an investment in improving service should pay huge dividends. If Bermuda cannot afford to lower its costs by much, then improving service is key to giving visitors value for money.

There are always two sides to every story and doubtless all the parties involved will have their own versions of events.

But that does not mean that they cannot get together and figure out a way to fund this vital programme -- it is, as Mr. Freeman says, important to give hotel guests paying $350 for a room a $350 welcome.

Mr. Freeman said: "If everyone they come into contact with is pleasant, people will put up with it. You have got to get into the schools -- if you say Bermuda is fighting for business, I see it fighting for survival.'' He is right.