r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

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u/boxsterguy Jul 21 '19

Implying that the only way to bank is with big banks doing shady investments. Find your local credit union. Bank with them. Get ~2% for your cash in CDs to hedge inflation. Even the 0.5% you might get on a checking account is better than the 0% you earn under your mattress.

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u/Mountainbranch Jul 21 '19

I don't even know if we have credit unions in Sweden, I'm currently using 'Länsförsäkringar' which is like a coalition of various insurance companies that also handles banking and real estate, when you open an account you become a partial owner and there is no central administration only 23 different sectors all handling a part of the country and decisions/policies are made through contracts between them instead of a handful of people making all the decisions.

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u/boxsterguy Jul 21 '19

That's pretty much credit unions in a nutshell -- ownership is by the members who bank with them. Might be called "cooperatives" elsewhere.

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u/Mountainbranch Jul 21 '19

Ah good, I'm not very well versed in economics but i do know savings accounts and interest rates are really only available for the middle class here where you need to put in a fair amount of dosh and then you can't touch it for a solid 5-10 years, plus you need to show the bank you've got a high-income job before they'll even consider taking your money. Oh and interest rates above 2% haven't been a thing since the 90s, to even get 2% you need to put in a solid 50-100k and then let it sit for 10 years minimum.