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Monday, August 3, 2009

Why Interest Rates Are So Low

By Stacy Tran

No matter how hard you search for the best money market rates, you are not going to find anything very high right now. This is a bad time for someone who lives off a fixed income and relies on interest income for his or her survival. Retired people usually are the first ones you think of in this category, as their only two potential income sources are Social Security and investment income.

With CD interest rates and money market interest rates so low, there is really no safe place for retirees to put their money and get a reasonable rate of return. This is why retirees are also having a tough time in this atrocious economy. They don't have to worry about losing a job like many folks do but their income has taken a big hit too.

Retirees usually have most of their money in CDs and government bonds. This is because those rates are historically higher than those you get with a money market account. Most money market accounts will let you make periodic withdrawals and you can also take your money out at any time. This means you get a lower interest rate in a money market in exchange for the ability to always have access to your money.

People use money market accounts in conjunction with stock portfolios as a place to park their money that is not invested in stocks. If you are one of the lucky ones that has money to invest, right now you will not be finding rates that give you much in return. No matter how long you search the Internet, you will not find rate that are anywhere near what they were 3 or 4 years ago.

There is something called social lending that will give you a higher rate of return but it does come with some risk. With social lending, you are lending money to another person rather than a banking institution. This is done through the Internet and you might be able to get a rate of return of 6% or higher. In exchange for this higher rate you will be exposed to more risk as the person you loan your money to could default on the loan. Even with the risk, if you absolutely need to find a place where you can get a higher interest rate, this type of social lending is worth looking into. - 23217

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