Interest Rates dropped from this month!

I just noticed from DBS (link) and POSB (link) websites that they decided to cut down the interest rates with effect from 1 July 2009. The starting interest rate had been cut by half!

Whoever still thinks they can make money from the measly interest rates banks offer to people are plainly not using their brain. I do not treat my bank account as a place for me to make money. I only treat it as a “safe-deposit box” to keep my money inside. It’s safer that keeping all the money in my house, and also provides the convenience of card-based payment such as NETS and Debit Card.

But it simply is a folly to think that saving money in a bank account would make you money. A $3000 deposit would give you $3.75 interest per year! I would rather do something with the money than to “save it” as the banks always love to advertise! In fact, the last time I went to the bank, the person servicing me suggested of opening something in which I would “save” $100 every month. No way! I just told him a big “No, thank you very much.”

Even if I have a job and an income I would definitely not sign up for those “saving” schemes where you put aside money for the future. It’s all a waste, because no matter how much you put aside, it’s still nothing compared to what you will actually need in the future. It’s much better to create pipelines such as a business or an investment than to save up a little water from the buckets you carry everyday into a small water tank labeled “For the Future.”