A new report shows that the amount of money on deposit in banks and credit unions is closing in on $10 trillion at a time when banks don’t want your money! But I have a solution to that conundrum.
The Los Angeles Times reports that in just the last 90 days, deposit dollars are up by half a trillion dollars across the nation. That’s a sure sign that we have been freaked out by the nervous breakdown in Washington and the uncertainty surrounding the world financial system. People are looking for safety.
Some banks charge you to hold your money
But as I said, you’re putting money on deposit at time when banks don’t want your money. I recall some years ago when I went on air with a report from Japan about Japanese banks that started charging their own customers money to hold their money in an account!
Now the same is happening in the United States. Bank of New York Mellon is making big money depositors pay a fee to have money on deposit in the bank. There are many reasons why this is happening right now. Chief among them is the fact that banks are too scared to lend money. They just give it to the Federal Reserve, which in turn pays them a quarter of a percent to have the money.
It’s my belief that when people are afraid, that’s when the greatest money is made over time. I want to give one concrete example.
When the Mountain States had a real estate depression in the late 1980s and nobody could sell anything, the people who bought real estate made a fortune. I don’t mean they made a little bit of money. I mean they made a fortune. I know because I was one of them.
Likewise, people who invest in stocks when everybody else is afraid and hold on to their positions make substantial money over time.
The Clark Smart solution for idle cash
But if you don’t want any risk at all, put your idle cash in Series I savings bonds, available through SavingsBonds.gov. Just know that’s a fallback position. I’d much rather you think about the value of taking a risk in capitalism.
I don’t sit on cash in any market; it’s just not what I’m about. I am through and through 100% entrepreneurial and I continue to put my money at risk on the world capitalist stage.
