Inflation is hurting the wallets of French women and men. Consumer prices are rising very significantly (in one year, from May to May, they jumped 5.2% according to INSEE) and this is not without consequences for everyone’s finances. Such a phenomenon is not content with trimming the purchasing power of those who have come, somehow, to fill their shopping cart with groceries. It also has a negative impact on their savings, explains 20 minutes after interviewing François Geerolf, professor of economics and investment specialist. According to him, such periods are always dangerous for the stockings of savers. And for good reason ! “Most interest rates are currently negative,” he recalls.
A simple question therefore arises: can we calmly continue to save in a period of inflation? Or is it better to be patient and no longer fund your contracts and accounts immediately?
To answer this first question, another one must be raised: is there a real difference between saving and investing? Yes, answers Nathalie Cariou, a financial intelligence coach who provides some of her advice to Planet. To find more, it is also possible to consult his site, The keys to success. “The saver and the investor do not have the same objectives, nor the same mentality. This is the first point of difference, which allows some to get by in times of inflation and to maintain the level of their capital when the others simply cannot,” she explains.
“Savers opt for regulated products, whose interest rates are generally between 0 and 3%. These are low values, which do not make it possible to fight against inflation. Therefore, in a comparable period, he loses the difference each month”, observes the specialist again. What to think, that it is better to invest? Maybe…
To maintain the level of its capital, resorting to savings alone is hardly sufficient. Nathalie Cariou’s advice? Opt for investment. “Changing from saver to investor means changing mentality. You have to train, accept to take risks because not accepting to lose is also never winning. Unlike the saver, the investor does not play only not to lose”, she underlines.
But concretely, how do you go from one to the other? Should we review the products on which we choose to deposit our money? Yes, in particular. “You have to go through the stock market rather than through the Livret A, consider active and profitable real estate investments, such as short-term rentals for example”, quotes the specialist, who also mentions, with more reserve, crypto-currencies.
It remains to know how to minimize the risk…
Despite inflation, several reflexes make it possible to considerably minimize the risks taken by investors. If this is in no way the assurance of recovering your bet, it is still a way to lose less in the event of a hard blow.
“By training, you also learn to avoid certain obvious problems”, testifies from the outset Nathalie Cariou, who also evokes the relevance of a strategy of diversification of heritage. This indeed “balances the risk”.
And she also recommends investing in “hard” assets. “In times of inflation, money loses value. The intrinsic value of a good does not fall. So now is a good time to buy real estate or a forest, for example,” she explains.