One investing question you want the answer to

It would be nice to show appropriate rates of inflation adjusted returns by type of investment (bonds, REITs, stocks, savings). Most people don’t understand banks charge you to keep money with them, once adjusted for inflation.

It would be nice to show appropriate rates of inflation adjusted returns by type of investment (bonds, REITs, stocks, savings). Most people don’t understand banks charge you to keep money with them, once adjusted for inflation.

What? Who? How? Why? Huh... I just tried googling this with no success, I have no idea what these charges are and how I can avoid them. Please help. 

We actually kind of talk about this in our first lesson! Essentially the interest rate that you get from your bank account (checking or savings) is always less than the actual inflation rate (which is around 2% every year). So by holding your money in the bank, it actually loses value over time. This doesn't mean that you should take all of your money out of the bank, since you should have some cash put away for emergency situations. It's more about making sure to not think you are okay by just keeping your money in the bank.

In terms of inflation adjusted returns, I like that. I think I'll try to add that to our first week's lessons. Thanks!