Top mainstream tips to get a return on your savings:
I was just reading an article that caught my eye on how you can still get a return on your savings. The article was written because the European Central Bank has decided it might lower intrest rates or at least keep them at the record lows where they have been lingering for a while now.
for all those that can read dutch/flemish you can find the link here and for those that can not I will give the summary here anyway.
Option 1 the classical savings account.
Banks are on average giving out 0.11 % on a classical savings account. To counter that we have a 1.89% inflation. So that means people that keep their money there are losing a value of 1.78% per year. The maximum would be an account with Deutsche Bank for 0.6% and a loyalty fee of 0.3% which still makes you lose 0.99% per year. If you count all the extra costs and fees on top then most people are really losing a decent amount of monetary value per year. Good thing we trust the banks.
Option 2 Savings certificate.
These options were hugely popular in the past and people still mistakenly think this is a valid option. All revenues on them are taxed with 30% so they at least make the state happy. The Deutsche Bank is also the top contender here that gives return of 0.76% after tax and that locks your money away for 10 years.
Option 3: retirement savings
Most countries in Europe now have a version of this where they subsidise people that save up an amount for their retirement since the governements realise that they most likely will be getting into a lot of trouble soon when it comes to paying out retirements. So they are giving out a tax break on those that do succeed in saving a small amount per month/year.
These pay out between 1.7% and 2.3% per year so that is nothing to write home about but the true value is in the taxbreaks.
Option 4: stock funds
I really cannot believe this is named as an actual option. If you read only a little bit about the state of the economy in the world then you must realise that now is not really the time to start buying stocks.
They do state that there are profits in the last years of up to 20% but also losses of 10%. So they at least acknowledge risk.
So what about option 5??
Crypto should really be part of every modern portfolio but there is not peep from the mainstream yet.
All the big funds and endowments are investing quietly leaving the normal Joe on the street as usual.
I am parking my savings in Nexo and Celsius generating interest on my crypto and even compounding on my stablecoins.
These intersts start at 3% and go to 10%
And that is not counting the potential value rise there is in store for owning actual crypto in the first place.
In my opinion you are now better of buying bitcoin then putting your money in stocks or bonds. Gold might be a good option as well if you are a bit more a traditionalist of course.
I am constantly astounded by the willingness of people to cling to how things were and hope for the best.
Its strange if you dig a little deeper into the potential this technology has.