financial
If your accounts aren't earning interest you should shop around. In the US Credit Unions seem better than banks for this. My checking gets a 2.5% return. It's not a lot, but it's not nothing.
financial
@cryptoxic tiny amounts of interest is a bad thing. Any interest at all requires reporting.. the bank must report your account to the feds, and you must then declare it on your taxes. It also means they must send you a bank statement every month even if zero other txns. The cost of postage and then your effort to deal w/it.. not worth it.
financial
@cryptoxic I'd rather tell banks just keep the interest, or redirect to charity and don't even tell me.
financial
@cryptoxic in some countries there is a tax on the mere act of /calculating/ interest, and that tax can exceed the full amount of the interest.
financial
@resist1984
I guess it depends on the country then. In the US accumulated interest is counted, and taxed at year end, as income. The bank/FCU will supply a 1099-INT form. While I always claim it, I don't think the IRS would notice if I didn't.
I think the maximum amount of return from my particular FCU is ~$500/yr. It's spread out over the 12 months, but even an extra $40/mo is not nothing. It's several orders of magnitude more than a major bank like Wells Fargo.
financial
@resist1984
Stocks, however are high risk. I treat the FCU thing as my safety net. The return rate insulates it against recent levels of inflation without the volatility of market corrections damaging it's worth.
If I already had 1yr salary in my safety net I might start looking at riskier investments.
financial
@cryptoxic when interest is low, it's better to put the money into a stock that pays dividends. Often the dividend payout is higher than interest.