Now That The Dust Has Settled From The RBA S---storm, What Are You Doing With Your Money?

DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 00:40
Last edited 29/10/2019 - 16:12

After the RBA's actions recently, the dust seems to have settled and we'll discuss which bank should you be parking your funds at today. Let's go down the list…

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/145iM6uuFS9m-Rul65--e…

MyState Bonus Saver 2.50% (2.25% In November)
2.50% is the highest you can get but only up to 150k and there is still a chance they will drop their rates in the future.

Greater Bank Life Saver (<25yo) 2.35%
2.35% is the second highest but only if you're under 25.

UP Saver 2.25%
86400 Bank 2.25%
Both banks share 3rd place with 2.25% but their bonus rate limits are 50k and 100k so a waste of time and almost a waste of time.

ME Bank OSA + ETA 2.20%
Bonus up to 250k.

BOQ Fast Track Saver 2.15%
Bonus up to 250k.

UBank USaver + Ultra 2.10%
Bonus up to 200k.

Verdict: For most people, the best choices right now are ME Bank, BOQ and UBank. The banks with higher rates will depend on your situation and the rest that haven't been mentioned are basically a waste of time. Noticeable banks that have not been mentioned in the above list are ING and RAMS. Just goes to show that 1 minute they are top dogs, and the next, they're whimpering puppies.

Now that interest rates are at historic lows, I think we should start calling High Interest Savings Accounts LISAs (L for low). And now that interest rates are at historic lows, there has been a lot of talk about the feasibility of paying off your at inflation college loans instead of parking your funds in a LISA.

What are the alternatives to LISAs for cash heavy OzBargainers? Here are the usual suspects:

  • Invest in the share market
  • Invest in the FOREX market
  • Buy government bonds
  • Put more into super
  • Pay off college debt
  • Buy a house
  • Start a small business
  • Gamble in the casino
  • Store your money under a mattress

What are YOU doing with your money now?

Financial Bank Account Savings Account

Comments

  • AdamFury on 29/10/2019 - 00:49

    UBank USaver + Ultra 2.10%
    Bonus up to 100k.

    Actually 200k for that one.

  • Diji1 on 29/10/2019 - 01:17
    +3

    If you park(?) large amounts of money earning such low interest rates you are either losing or barely making anything after inflation so it's not a great strategy compared to other vehicles. It's useful for small amounts because it's cash.

    • Architectonic on 29/10/2019 - 01:27
      +5

      The problem is in an economic downturn, the value of most assets go down. The exceptions are counter-cyclical assets, eg gold, but these aren't exactly panaceas.

      • serpserpserp on 29/10/2019 - 09:25
        +1

        Learn to invest in defensive, counter-cyclical stocks and You'll earn more than 2% p.a over the short to medium term.

        People getting so flappable over their savings accounts returning little money. They have always returned lower than the market norm so it is inline with how it has always been. Even when returns were like 20% in the market and you could get 7% in a TD in 2007, people still complained that was too low.

  • Architectonic on 29/10/2019 - 01:27
    +2

    MyState are dropping to 2.25% on November 1st, according to their website.

    • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:12

      Welcome to the waste of time list, MyState.

  • xdigger on 29/10/2019 - 02:30
    +10

    By cutting interest rates, the RBA is forcing everyday moms and dads and pensioners into dumping their savings into riskier investments like the ASX and property where the bubbles are already forming. It is highly irresponsible of a central bank to indirectly use retirees savings to prop up ailing stocks with lopsided PEs and a precarious property market. Whats going to happen to these average Australians when the global recession hits and the bubble finally pops?

    • TheBooleanOne on 29/10/2019 - 08:02
      +9

      If you are to blame anyone, blame the government. The RBA has monetary policy as their tool they use, and are just responding to the current environment.

      Even they acknowledge the government needs to stimulate as monetary policy alone can't do much now.

      • kahn on 29/10/2019 - 08:12
        +1

        the government needs to stimulate

        We're all lubed up ready.

      • ThithLord on 29/10/2019 - 09:35
        +4

        Bb-but we have the best economic managers in government?!?!?!
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        /s

        • cwongtech on 30/10/2019 - 01:03
          +1

          Bb-but we have the best economic managers in government?!?!?!

          What other government assets are there to sell to bring the budget into surplus today? :)

      • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:14

        The RBA has monetary policy as their tool they use, and are just responding to the current environment.

        Responding to? Or creating? Or both?

    • Dont Care on 29/10/2019 - 11:42

      Sell their million dollar homes?

  • TheMindsetTraveller on 29/10/2019 - 07:14
    +1

    Neither, I am spending my money today, feeling abundant and living life.

    No one has ever taken their money to their graves. When was the last time you saw a trailer attached to a hearse?

    • EightImmortals on 29/10/2019 - 07:17
      +3

      That's OK when you're young, but when you're heading into retirement spending al the money you will need to buy food and pay rent is not a wise choice. :)

      • serpserpserp on 29/10/2019 - 09:26
        +1

        What have they done with the last 60-70 years to generate wealth for themselves?

        • EightImmortals on 29/10/2019 - 09:27
          +1

          Worked hard and invested I guess? Not sure what you mean though?

          • serpserpserp on 29/10/2019 - 09:29
            +1

            @EightImmortals: You shouldn't need to rent and rely on savings account interest in your retirement is what I am getting at.

            • EightImmortals on 29/10/2019 - 16:24

              @serpserpserp: No you shouldn't, but I did say 'heading in to retirement', so people in the 50's or so rather than those who were actually retired. :)

    • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 10:57
      +1

      I once attended a colleague's funeral overseas where the decease had requested to be incinerated with the engagement ring that he had given to his ex-wife. The ring was modelled after princess Diana/ Kate's ring. His ex-wife then got his ashes turned into a couple of diamonds using the money she had inherited from his estate. I thought it was macabrely ironic that he was so spiteful that he didn't want her to have a comparatively cheap ring that he had given her when he loved her and that she somehow managed to turn his ashes into several very expensive and sought after blue diamonds at his expense.

      • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:17

        spiteful

        WTF @ that story. Who's the spiteful one. The husband that didn't want to give his wife a cheap ring. Or the wife that used his corpse to make a shiny rock.

        • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 17:06

          to make a shiny rock.

          She made several - 8, if I remember correctly.

          If it's any consolation, human ashes don't normally turn into blue diamonds but his did. I was told they were as blue as his eyes. How freaky would that be to have your dead husband's eyes on you for the rest of your life? The diamonds were grown in a lab and not GCAL -certified afaik which would make them harder to sell too.

    • Elppa8 on 29/10/2019 - 23:11
      +1

      No one has ever taken their money to their graves.

      I’m planning to, with a cheque made out to myself in my pocket. Wife said she’d do that for me.

  • EightImmortals on 29/10/2019 - 07:15

    There's much more going on in the world financially as to make this question very hard. You all know about the bankster bail-in legislation which works in conjunction with the cash ban legislation (postponed until January, hopefully forever) so there's no need to cover that again.

    However, besides all that here's some info on the upcoming negative interest rates, including the RBA

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/central-banks-across…

    And the yanks have started QE4 (but changed the weasel words hoping nobody would notice) with the RBA talking about QA as well.

    https://www.minds.com/CorbettReport/blog/what-qe4-means-for-…

    So at 'some point' it looks like a deflation is on the cards followed by a hyper inflation. Could take many years, or less, who knows?

    • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:22
      +1

      There's also the possibility that the super withdrawal age will rise again as life spans increase, and there's no guarantee that the government won't just raid our super for their own benefit.

      In an extreme case, there might also be a Greece-style freeze on all bank accounts or our bank savings will be taxed.

      • EightImmortals on 29/10/2019 - 16:25

        Yeah I'm pretty sure that's what the 'bail in ' legislation is supposed to accomplish.

  • thepigs on 29/10/2019 - 07:48

    buy a cheap 5 bed house and list on flatmate.com. slums are the future.

  • brad1-8tsi on 29/10/2019 - 07:56

    I've been moving $10k out of my savings into super every month for a while. I can access it tax free in 23 months (can't happen soon enough) so it's not really locked in for that long.

    And despite everything telling me there will be a share market crash in the near future I've been buying some diversified ETFs to try and spread my risk… except for yesterday when I bought some Sims Metal after their share price fell off a cliff.

    And I've got money put aside for adding an extra room on my apartment that I have DA approval on but getting the tech spec together so it can go to tender is taking forever. So that will hopefully be a positive investment in the next 12 months.

    • serpserpserp on 29/10/2019 - 09:27

      diversified ETFs to try and spread my risk

      Hmm ok.

      except for yesterday when I bought some Sims Metal after their share price fell off a cliff.

      Who would buy these guys as a defensive stock?

      • brad1-8tsi on 29/10/2019 - 12:36

        Who would buy these guys as a defensive stock?

        Sorry
        Lack of explanation. I've had my eye on them for a while. Picked them up as a speculation @$9.32. Unfortunately missed the <$9.00 flurry. They are back to $9.70 and I think they will hover around there for a bit. Come january China is re-classifying the Zorba material to "New Metal" rather than waste so that pipeline will open again. A lot of their forward contracts at higher prices will rollover and adjust to the current norm.

        The drop was very similar to the reaction to Boral's last profit announcement. Unjustifiably huge.

        diversified ETFs to try and spread my risk
        My portfolio is heavy on financial sector equities. I added some property, S&P500, All USA and Asian ETFs. If it goes pear shaped I'll just have to readjust my spending habits.

  • orangetrain on 29/10/2019 - 08:28
    +1

    Send your money overseas. AUD going down. Aus market going down. I think even the rich are also sending money overseas.

    RBA knows this is going to happen which is why they keep asking the government to stimulate economy.

    LNP do not want to stimulate economy unless they can turn a private profit. See Serco, Indue, JSP,Paladin and more. Billions going to them on taxpayers dime.

    • ThithLord on 29/10/2019 - 09:39

      Preacching the truth, OrangeTrain

    • kahn on 29/10/2019 - 10:08

      "Overseas" is a very broad area :-)

    • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 10:42

      Thinking of doing that. We're planning on moving overseas in a couple of years anyway , might as well buy a property there now and rent it rather than leave the money in a 2% savings account.

    • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:28

      Send your money overseas.

      To where?

      I think even the rich are also sending money overseas.

      Which rich and where? The rich Chinese, Russians and Arabs are sending all their money to the world's cities and inflating the real estate market for the locals.

  • Skramit on 29/10/2019 - 08:32
    +3

    Seeing a discussion thread about OzBargainers parking money in 2% "savings" accounts, as some sort of investment, hurts my eyeballs.

    You need to think bigger & broader people, and generally be smarter with your hard earned money than parking it in a 2% savings account earning only inflation i.e. nothing.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 10:40

      It depends how much money you have in the savings account. I wouldn't park more than $2k - $3k in a 2% savings account.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 11:09

    More weed…

    … because I bought more land.

    Damn meadow flowers. They're just growing wild this time of the year.

    • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:30
      -3

      More weed…

      Today's kids love weed and anti-depressants. They're trying to run from the problems of reality and understandably so. It's too bad they are more mentally weak than past generations.

      • [Deactivated] on 29/10/2019 - 16:30
        +2

        I hate weed and love Round-Up and selective broadleaf herbicide.

      • Morgrath on 29/10/2019 - 20:31
        +3

        It's too bad they are more mentally weak than past generations.

        Did you mean mentally weaker? Seems my mental skills are stronger than yours, on the subject of grammar at least.

        Previous generations complaining about newer generations being inferior in some way is total crap. It's like people complaining that young people always have their eyes on their phones. Except you look at photos from 50 years ago and everyone has their head in a newspaper or magazine. Times change, people change, but not at a fundamental level.

        Please, rather than disparaging those younger than yourself, try and empathise with the unique problems that they're facing. In return, we'll respect you for the unique problems you faced at our age, and be thankful for some of the things you dealt with that we don't have to. Maybe you could try and be thankful for the things we have to deal with that you didn't without resorting to scorn and condescension.

  • onetwothreefour on 29/10/2019 - 12:38

    I know this is more for savings accounts but would putting all my money in my offset account be the best thing to do?

  • singlemalt72 on 29/10/2019 - 12:58
    -1

    Pumping it all into my mortgage plus some shares.

  • HardlyCharly on 29/10/2019 - 14:49
    -1

    What money? Unlike seemingly most ozbargainers I am not rich.

  • DeafMutePretender on 29/10/2019 - 16:31
    +1

    Okay, I'm going to follow OzBargain's and Whirlpool's advice and put my life savings on the share market.

    But if by any chance I lose all my money, can I ask OzBargain/Whirlpool for compensation?

    • vetopower on 18/11/2019 - 22:45

      You can ask for whatever you want.

  • lainey13 on 29/10/2019 - 20:49
    -1

    Just bought a house. Will try and continue putting in the max confessional contribution into super. Everything goes into the offset there's no point in even having a savings account anymore. I'm closing my CBA account of 29 years because it's worthless!

  • Pigey on 15/11/2019 - 10:32
    +1

    Me Bank down to 2.05% :(

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