Low interest rates leave savers with few good options
The covid-19 pandemic has only sharpened the dilemma
IN THE 1980S comedy, “Trading Places”, Jamie Lee Curtis plays a prostitute who has been saving for her future; she has $42,000 “in T-bills, earning interest”. If she followed the same strategy today, she would be disappointed with the return. The one-year Treasury bill yields 0.13%, so her annual interest income would be just $55. If she reinvested the income, it would take more than 530 years for her money to double.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The saver’s dilemma”
Finance & economics October 17th 2020
- The Nobel prize in economics rewards advances in auction theory
- Can China’s reported growth be trusted?
- Wall Street says it is braced for losses. Now what?
- Why securing debt forgiveness for poor countries is so hard
- Low interest rates leave savers with few good options
- The IMF predicts that the world economy will suffer from “long covid”
- The tale of Iran’s stockmarket bubble is familiar—but also strange
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