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Yeah, but a savings account? Interest rates for savings are abysmal, and auto-loans are themselves frequently near (or at) zero these days, so it's losing advic

Yeah, but a savings account? Interest rates for savings are abysmal, and auto-loans are themselves frequently near (or at) zero these days, so it's losing advice as-given. Better advice: put the money in the market or other higher-yielding investment, then take a low or no interest loan on the vehicle when the time comes so those investments can continue to grow at the much higher clip. Money's just too cheap to give away your own cash. Obviously, if the interest rate environment changes, this should be re-evaluated.

Larrikin 5y ago
What percentage are you talking about as being abysmal. 0.1% offered at some shitty brick and mortar bank is terrible but nearly all the online first banks offer (or offered before covid) what I thought was a decent 1-3%
- X-Istence 5y ago
  Highest these days is like 0.5%. If you are really lucky you can find 0.8%
- unclebucknasty 5y ago
  I'm not seeing anything like that. Here's the latest roundup of "the best rates" over at Bankrate [0], which includes some online-only banks. Highest I see there is 0.57%, with most at 0.4% and 0.5%. You might be able to scrounge up a few basis points somewhere if you're really determined and/or willing to meet some requirements. Still, even with our low-inflation these days [1], you're actually losing money in these savings accounts. Main point though is that it's more of a relative game vs your ROI elsewhere. Even indexes and ETFs that are reasonably "low-risk" are routinely returning much more these days, and of course over the long haul equity markets still beat this handily, even when smoothed for downturns. [0] https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/ https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/ [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/244983/projected-inflation-rate-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/244983/projected-inflati...
  - Larrikin 5y ago
    TMobile Money is 4% for the first $3000 and 1% after that for customers and 1% flat for everyone else. Ally used to be pretty good but I've moved all my savings over for now
    - unclebucknasty 5y ago
      Yeah, obviously not scalable, but cool for a risk-averse T-Mobile wireless customer who wants a guaranteed 4% on $3K. It is funny though that they give the example that at $5,000 saved your effective APY is around 2.79%. I mean, the bottom line is that as soon as you get above $3K, any additional savings drops to a lowly 1%, which doesn't keep pace with inflation (i.e. you're losing money). But they're presenting it like 2.79% is some kind of average that matters, thus implying it's a good idea to keep pouring money in. The reality is that the offer is not an average, but two discrete terms of 4% and 1%. And, on the latter, you're trading whatever other returns you could've made elsewhere for that miserly 1%. Much better to put it elsewhere, even for those who bite on the initial $3K for 4%.

Larrikin 5y ago

What percentage are you talking about as being abysmal. 0.1% offered at some shitty brick and mortar bank is terrible but nearly all the online first banks offer (or offered before covid) what I thought was a decent 1-3%

X-Istence 5y ago
Highest these days is like 0.5%. If you are really lucky you can find 0.8%
unclebucknasty 5y ago
I'm not seeing anything like that. Here's the latest roundup of "the best rates" over at Bankrate [0], which includes some online-only banks. Highest I see there is 0.57%, with most at 0.4% and 0.5%. You might be able to scrounge up a few basis points somewhere if you're really determined and/or willing to meet some requirements. Still, even with our low-inflation these days [1], you're actually losing money in these savings accounts. Main point though is that it's more of a relative game vs your ROI elsewhere. Even indexes and ETFs that are reasonably "low-risk" are routinely returning much more these days, and of course over the long haul equity markets still beat this handily, even when smoothed for downturns. [0] https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/ https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/ [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/244983/projected-inflation-rate-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/244983/projected-inflati...
- Larrikin 5y ago
  TMobile Money is 4% for the first $3000 and 1% after that for customers and 1% flat for everyone else. Ally used to be pretty good but I've moved all my savings over for now
  - unclebucknasty 5y ago
    Yeah, obviously not scalable, but cool for a risk-averse T-Mobile wireless customer who wants a guaranteed 4% on $3K. It is funny though that they give the example that at $5,000 saved your effective APY is around 2.79%. I mean, the bottom line is that as soon as you get above $3K, any additional savings drops to a lowly 1%, which doesn't keep pace with inflation (i.e. you're losing money). But they're presenting it like 2.79% is some kind of average that matters, thus implying it's a good idea to keep pouring money in. The reality is that the offer is not an average, but two discrete terms of 4% and 1%. And, on the latter, you're trading whatever other returns you could've made elsewhere for that miserly 1%. Much better to put it elsewhere, even for those who bite on the initial $3K for 4%.