to think savings will be worthless?

[HopelessLayout]

So governments are printing money hand over fist to cover all the Covid bailouts. Isn't this going to cause hyperinflation when it is all over?
I have modest savings put away for my retirement in a few years' time, but perhaps I should just blow the lot now.

Please tell me if I am misunderstanding the situation.

My savings rate is plummeting. Think it's going to 0.05%

I'm not just worried about the lack of interest though pixie—I'm envsiaging having to take a wheelbarrow full of money to Tesco's to pay for a loaf of bread. Okay, slightly exaggerated perhaps, but this has happened in history.

What is different now?

I wouldn't go as far as hyperinflation, but I think we can expect policies that continue to disadvantage savers. If you thought the 2010s were bad in that respect...

PubsClubs well we're all used to that! I'm just wondering if something far more extreme is in the works. Should I ditch my savings for some other kind of investment ?

Where did you hear they were printing money? I’ve not read this

My savings rate is currently 0.01% with nationwide.... safer under my mattress lmao

They're certainly going to encourage people to invest over save. So there'll be very low interest rates (they weren't great anyway). The German government bonds now have negative yield so that tells you something! Inflation will probably increase but I don't think we'll get hyperinflation.

This is from Forbes wonder
Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve has aimed a $4 trillion dollar bazooka at the U.S. economy, pumping over $1 trillion to the system in recent weeks with its chair, Jerome Powell, promising never-before-seen levels of money printing and so-called "quantitative easing to infinity" through an unlimited bond-buying program.

I remember them saying something about quantitive easing in one of the early press conferences.

This is from Sky NewsThe coronavirus represents an unprecedented economic "emergency" and the Bank of England will do anything it takes - even radical money printing operations - if it needs to, the new governor has said.

In an interview with Sky News, Andrew Bailey, who took over from Mark Carney at the beginning of this week, said "nothing is off the table" and hinted that there could still be radical monetary moves yet to come, insisting: "The Bank of England's not done."

Governments are not “printing money” which today is called quantitative easing. They are taking on public debt instead. Very different and it’s how countries get through crises like wars and economic crashes.

Savings rates are infinitesimal. Put then, you should not have pension savings in a savings account. You should be saving the money in an investment vehicle of some sort that will have much higher returns. Now is actually a good time to put more money into pensions because the Covid market crash has already happened and is in recovery.

You should be saving the money in an investment vehicle of some sort that will have much higher returns.

Any suggestions?

Thank you for news updates. Sounds like they are looking at QE.
Not a good idea. Maybe they’re being sarcastic like Trump and his inject disinfectant idea.....one can only hope.

We're not printing money, we're borrowing it. Printing money (quantitative easing) can be a good way of getting the economy moving, and then you must take it out once it's moving.

So A owes B £100, B owes C £100, C owes D £100 and D owes A £100. None of them can afford to pay and are all at each other's throats. Along comes E and gives A £100. A pays B, who pays C, who pays D, who pays A, who pays back E, who buggers off, leaving A,B C & D all clear of debt, talking to each other and doing business with each other again. And there's no more money in the ABCD economy than there was to start with.

We had a letter from our bank yesterday saying the rate had gone down to 0.01%! Since we rely on the income from investments it’s pretty grim. I can remember getting over 5% once upon a time. If only!

No, I don’t have any suggestions because my pensions not in the UK.
But it’s a rule of thumb that you never put long term savings into a regular savings account at a High Street bank. The interest is far too low, it’s so low now you’d lose money compared to inflation.

If you start a thread, there are many smart investors in the U.K. on mumsnet

I think a way forward would be "negative interest" - money in savings accounts actually decreases, to encourage spending and boost the economy when things can reopen.

The growth on my investments over the past 5 years was almost wiped out but they have, surprisingly, started to grow again already. I imagine markets will pick up with each successive ease of lockdown restrictions. Then if there is a down turn things may start to slide again.

Even with my losses I have made 6% over the last 5 years. So over 1% Gross interest per year which is about the same as a lot of cash accounts

Put then, you should not have pension savings in a savings account. You should be saving the money in an investment vehicle of some sort that will have much higher returns. Now is actually a good time to put more money into pensions because the Covid market crash has already happened and is in recovery. This is dangerous advice. WE don't know whether we're in recovery yet and most people assume that recovery will take a U-shape form anyway. If you're retiring fairly soon you shouldn't start investing - especially in a period of unprecedented uncertainly. My husband works in finance and even prior to covid everyone was keeping their money in cash. The bull market was always going to come crashing down (and many think the levels of quantitive easing had left it artifically high in any case). All anyone can say is we don't know exactly what will happen and what form the recovery will take.

Grumpy it doesn't sound overly lucrative.
The only posts I can find on MN are saying to invest in property, but I don't have enough for that.

The UK government has started printing the beginning of a £300 bn bailout. The ECB is beginning a €750 bn bailout. I thought the USA was $2 tn, but I could well see it going to 4tn.

Yes inflation is coming. No I don't think it will be hyperinflation, but yes your savings will lose value. Oh the plus side, so will any debts

I have never had savings in my life

And another one saying to buy into crypto-currencies.

I think that its a very sensible idea to have some bitcoin for emergencies.

If you are going to do this tho, make sure you have them in a wallet that you control the private keys to, and read up on how to store them properly. In crypto, you are your own bank.