So the Bank of England raises interest rates, telling us in the same Governor’s breath that we may be heading for recession: ‘The car looks like it’s going to crash, so let’s go faster, you never know, it might get us out of trouble’. Or, everything is getting more expensive, there’s a cost of living crisis, why not make mortgages and loans more expensive too? The problem is, it’s not the 1980s or even the 1970s, and prices aren’t going up because we’re all spending more. China’s closed down, oil and gas prices, as we know, have gone through the proverbial and a posh pub I went to the other day was charging £20 for a glass of rosé. Both the world and our rulers/policymakers have gone slightly mad, it seems to me. Or maybe I’m just getting old.
“The true impact of inflation on cash savings and pensions”
Leaving your money in the bank or building society has always meant that its ‘real value’ after inflation will go down. Although rates go up to, supposedly, control inflation, any chart you look at will show that, apart from a few very short-term blips (N Lamont, I’m looking at you) they are never more than inflation.
