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> There was a time when you put your money in a savings account and the bank will pay a reasonable interest to cover inflation and give you some extra.

Around 15 years ago, I was getting something like 8% interest from my UK-based ISA account (an ISA is a kind of tax-free saving account in the UK). Now typical rates are more like 0.5%.

What was inflation and central rates at that time? Is the real return similar?

Bank of England interest rates at the time were between 5% and 5.75%, and inflation rates were between 2.5% and 3.5%.

> the bank will pay a reasonable interest to cover inflation and give you some extra. > all investment vehicles. 0% interest means that any investment with yield will carry risk.

A consumer can offload all of the risk to the bank (and the underlying guarantee, usually state), in return for most of the reward. Example: I can open a savings account with some restrictions (minimum balance, or restricted withdrawals) and since the bank is now in a better position to invest my money, they can offer me an interest rate despite central rates being 0%.

For example, a $50 minimum balance but free withdrawals gives me 0.6% interest rate, with state deposit insurance. That's not "risk free" since there are other risks than that the of the bank (currency risk, not least) but it's the exact same risk as any savings account.

> A consumer can offload all of the risk to the bank

There is a pattern/trend, and the banks started with a certain amount and now lowered it. If the trend carries on, it's a matter of time before what you suggest is no longer possible.

> Funny world. Negative interest rates would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Yet, here we are about to normalize that savings in a bank account are not okay.

Going from receiving interest to paying interest is psychologically shocking, but not financially. We have always paid the bank to hold our money, it's just called inflation.

We still have inflation. It's actually worse now since we don't know the actual inflation rate, or how much potential inflation there is given the money printing going on.