In America, land of the "risk asset down your throat", I mean land of the free, we are lucky to get 1.25% on a 3 year fixed rate. So the brits got it pretty good, methinks.
Some other options for Americans are taking B rated unsecured bonds on coal companies, still being sold over 100, in a reach to get 8% return with a 3 year commitment, AND the company can buy the bonds back and "knock you out of the position" in less than 3 years if they so choose (net effect your rate of return is reduced).
Right now I got other things on my plate, so further investigation into positions other than hard assets remains a future task.
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The Telegraph lamants the Brits low rates on saving cash.
Why would banks pay good rate to "Joe Citizen" when the government hands them money nearly for nothing? Gov wants to make sure there isn't another housing debacle, so provides cheap money to "get people into homes". Low rates mean real estate activity, and the ability to "bid up" property prices or at least keep them from tanking.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/9589426/The-Government-clobbers-savers-again.html
7:30AM BST 06 Oct 2012
Savings rates have fallen by 10pc in just two months – and the Government is
responsible.
High street lenders have admitted that there is no incentive to offer
competitive rates to savers while they can get cheap loans through the
official Funding for Lending scheme, designed to help get first-time buyers
on the property ladder.
In recent negotiations to decide the interest rate that would be offered to
savers via a fund platform, one bank said it expected fixed-rate saving
bonds to fall by up to half a percentage point in the near future.
"The Bank of England base rate has not moved, there have not been more
stringent banking regulations introduced, yet rates have fallen
significantly in recent months," said a spokesman for the fund
platform. "The only difference is the Funding for Lending scheme. Cash
savers should expect to see further reductions in the future."
The average return on a one-year fixed-rate account has fallen by almost 8pc
over the past two months, from 2.77pc to 2.57pc, while the rate on a typical
two-year fix has dropped by 8.5pc from 3.29pc to 3.01pc, according to Moneyfacts.co.uk.
A string of providers have made reductions to their savings rates recently,
including West Bromwich Building Society, Halifax, Santander, Sainsbury's
Bank and Principality Building Society.
Meanwhile, the most competitive rate on a five-year fixed-rate bond has fallen to 3.98pc, compared with 6.56pc five years ago, with many market-leading deals being withdrawn soon after launch.
Analysts predicted that returns on savings could edge lower now that cheap money is available to banks via the Funding for Lending scheme.
