2023-10-30 23:52:35
Innsbruck (OTS) – World Savings Day has become less important than it used to be, but today many children make pilgrimages to the banks, especially for gifts. The last few years have of course brought bitter losses to savers.
For years, as a result of the zero interest rate policy of the European Central Bank (ECB), which literally flooded the markets with money for the benefit and pleasure of the highly indebted European countries, savers had minimal interest costs. Anyone who had money and wanted to deposit it risk-free in savings accounts (and not invest in securities with higher opportunities but also higher risk) lost a lot of money. Year following year, savers have actually lost double-digit billions of dollars. A kind of silent expropriation. Unsurprisingly, the popularity of the savings accounts previously promoted by financial institutions, especially for children and smaller and quickly available investments, has suffered quite a bit as a result of this – and with this development also the appeal of the annual World Savings Day on October 31st.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, there was a wave of inflation that had not been seen for several decades. The ECB had previously downplayed and underestimated the already visible risk of inflation, before raising key interest rates ten times in a row since the summer of 2022, currently at 4.5 percent.
With this abrupt change in interest rates in the fight once morest inflation, interest is now available once more for savers following an extremely long dry spell. Of course, these are well below the inflation that is still above average in Austria. Despite very respectable interest rates, real savings remain in the billions.
Recent surveys of the population reveal a completely contradictory picture: consumption has become more expensive across the board, but many people still have the desire to buy, even though they are increasingly turning to cheaper products. And although inflation affects everyone and there are real losses, at least with low-risk investments, the savings rate is still a high 9 percent of average income.
World Savings Day has always been a lever for politicians and banks to convey to children and young people the meaning of saving and using money responsibly. Without interest, this has hardly been possible in recent years. At the same time, it’s not just debt advisors who are alarmed that more and more young people under 30 are heavily indebted. Too little financial education, but also social pressure and the desire for recognition through material status symbols have exacerbated this trend. And also the indirect message through the policies of governments and the ECB that money costs nothing and is ultimately available indefinitely.
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