CNBC's Make It is an enigma.
Like Shepherd Smith saying onnnnn Wall Street as if he's speaking to a group of 1950s milk men in Maybury on his IMPORTANT NIGHTLY NEWSCAST*, CNBC occasionally forgets that its audience is compromised of, largely, people who are at least tacitly aware of the day-to-day workings of the business and financial space.
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*I like Shep.
Make It is one of those misfits. It comes across as, at best, a patronizing Good Morning America segment for soccer moms whose husbands allow them custodial access of the main checking account, and, at worst, like someone had to check a box because the media strategy guy said WE NEED TO GET YOUNGER, YO.
Anyway, today, the Make It crew - presumably two people and a union engineer who turns the camera on remotely - decided to speak to the YOUTHS about the importance of """"""high yield"""""" savings accounts.
Behold, compounding greatness... or something like that:
Your emergency fund could earn 8 times as much interest in a high-yield savings account. 💸 https://t.co/aPr9GwLMCS (via @CNBCMakeIt) pic.twitter.com/xOIvDgkyNO
— CNBC (@CNBC) October 27, 2021
Quick, what's 8 times 0?
Noted. Thanks.
This is, quantifiably, bad advice. It's made only slightly worse by the fact that the host seems to be encountering these acronyms for the first time and can't say liquidity ("LIQUID-Y," as if her your cash came coated with a viscous substance).
There are high school Economics classes that teach more advanced topics than this or, at least, can pronounce the second "I" in a four-clap word, like, STU-PID-IT-Y.
Although it’s not as much as they have previously earned, it’s still better than nothing.
OK, girl, let's talk about inflation.
The current inflation rate is - GASP - 5.4%, which means your $1 savings will be worth .94 next year this time if it keeps up.
But let's be SUPER GENEROUS and take the Fed's target of 2% annual inflation.
Care to wager how liquid-y you'll have a year from now with $1 invested in the bank at .05%?
$1.005.
And do you know how much goods you'll be able to buy with that? About .98 worth.
Low savings rates are problematic, to be sure, but it doesn't change the fact that having a lot of money in savings is for sureshies not the way to get rich. In fact, spinning a "high-yield" account rate as being 8x better than the standard account does a real disservice to intelligent beings. They both suck.
Sure, we should all set aside some cash for emergencies, and the more yield the better. But this is JV level content that misses the bigger point: this account will cost you money, so you should probably keep most of your money elsewhere. Like, literally, anywhere else.
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