How long can the Federal Reserve continue to keep US interest rates at record lows?
This is the million dollar question.
Potential home buyers are waiting to see if they can wait just a little longer to score a cheaper interest rate. The mortgage industry is loving all the refinances, especially now that some people have refinanced once or even twice at low interest rates compared to previous home loans.
Investors now have access to all the financial markets they could ever want.
Even individual investors can now buy exchange-traded funds and other investments that allow them to move money from one nation to another within a matter of minutes. This opportunity allows individual investors to go overseas to chase investment yields that may be higher than they can find in the US, but such opportunities require you to know the importance of interest rate parity in an investment.
Ahh, memories. Those good ol’ savings bonds that made you a proper American. They were used to fund warfare, social programs, and government spending.
Buying a savings bond was like investing in the whole country all at one time. You were anti-American if you didn’t do it!
Today, though, savings bonds aren’t nearly as popular with investors as they were years ago. While grandparents are still buying them for their grandchildren as gifts, college savings plans, or just as a thoughtful way to give the gift of investing, there are still better investments out there than the savings bond.
