Already a reality in some European countries, and it sounds like the Canadian banks are prepping for the same thing; going to cost you to park your money in the bank.
So, if you are fully vested in cash, and strongly believe that the stock market is the equivalent of a pedophile staffed babby-sitting service, where do you go?
Commodities
Buy classic and sports cars and watch them appreciate.
Bigger mattresses. If a bank charged me for keeping money there, I would tell them to berkeley off right quick.
Couple of 55 gallon drums and a shovel
If you add up your interest and all your little transaction fees and compare the two, you'll probably find that it already costs you to park your money in the bank 
Serious answer: A good fireproof safe is a one-time cost...
That's weird. We just put our new house fund in a higher interest rate online bank. 1% For the Savings Account https://www.ally.com/bank/online-savings-account/
And if you're paying for transaction fees in this day and age, you're doing it wrong.
negative interest rates are a desperate act by central banks. Scary stuff. I think 'useful things' may be a good investment, but what those things are depends highly on how well you thing the overall economy is going to survive.
Shop around. If you can budget them out, CD's are pretty good and safe instruments. But you have to count on NOT using that money for the life of the term. I've seen them in different lengths, too.
Funny- I'm a member of a credit union here in the states- and get "rewards" for having money tied up with them. It actually lowers my home interest rate by a significant amount (as that's the account we have with them).
The other thing- as much as you hate wall street- there are some very low fee index funds that are ok.... Really good if you were stating a 401k.
Find yourself a local credit union and talk interest. I keep two credit union checking accounts, one pays 2.75% and the other pays 1.75% on up to 20k. Keeps the moola liquid with no fees and beats moneymarket accounts.
US banks are also prepping for this. They are also doing stress tests to simulate bank runs. Those other countries which already have negative rates tend to have restrictions on withdrawals, so you can only get your money out in small chunks.
Furious_E wrote: Couple of 55 gallon drums and a shovel
Way ahead of you.
My banking is basically "free" for both us and the bank. I make peanuts in interest on my liquid funds, and I get a safe place to park my money and make transactions for bill paying, etc. So it's a wash right now. If they start charging fees or negative interest I will drop them like a dead hooker and go to an online-only bank.
Seriously take as big a loan on something that should not depreciate as you can. Use the cash that you were investing in bonds to pay it down just like you would put it in the market. I have been living in mine for the last year, your market may vary though.
These are the types of problems that I don't have to worry about. Ah, the benefits of not having money. It's a simpler way of living really.
Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote: These are the types of problems that I don't have to worry about. Ah, the benefits of not having money. It's a simpler way of living really.
Same here. The only reason I have a bank account at all instead of a fireproof safe is the convenience of the ATM system. There are those transaction fees for using the ATM though, don't know how to avoid them, apparently I'm doing something wrong...
captdownshift wrote: Commodities
My, that's a nice crater you have over there .
More seriously, I'm assuming NOHOME is keeping his money in cash because he's worried about protecting principal. I don't think that stuffing the money into something as volatile as commodities is a good place to park anything but a small portion of it.
@NOHOME, cash is not an investment no matter how you look at it. If you're worried about losing principal and don't want to take any risk, you're pretty much stuck with the oil drum and shovel idea, although that won't protect against inflation, either.
Unfortunately pretty much every alternative investment idea (real estate, classic cars, art) would involve putting a lot or all of your eggs into a single basket so your potential downside is even bigger. Not to mention that from here, Canadian real estate looks much more overvalued than most, if not all stock markets...
Disclaimer - not a financial advisor, it's worth what you paid for this advice yadda yadda.
In reply to GameboyRMH:
I dunno how your little island works, Gameboy, but up here, you can have a bank account and access the ATM's run by that bank without charges. Also, purchases at major retailers provide a "cash back" option when using the debit card, so when you buy your motor oil at wally world, you can get cash back, effectively withdrawing money from your account as cash at the time of purchase with no additional charge. This avoids the ATM charge as well for small cash amounts.
The banking system is coming apart. You can't have an exponential function forever. It eventually goes vertical, which is just about where we are now. "They say" they lowered the interest rates to force us peons to spend our money instead of saving it, and to force us peons to think "hey, interest rates are low, I'll borrow another 30 large and get me a new car..." Problem is, peons without jobs or with sucky jobs waiting tables don't want to go 30 large into debt for a new car or spend what little money they have. So, if interest rates at 0 won't get the peons to spend money or borrow money to spend, they'll just set them at -1% and then they'll have to spend it or they lose it anyway. HA HA HA. That will teach them peons to work and save for their future.
apmex.com has products you all should have. I'm not saying dump everything you have in it, but having some in it is a good idea. You know what? The price of gasoline, bread, a bushel of wheat, bullets, a suit is virtually unchanged when priced in gold or silver. A couple thousand years ago, a bushel of wheat was worth about $5 today when price in silver. A nice suite (toga) was about $1200 (1 oz) in gold. In the 60's, 22LR ammo was about .18 oz of silver per box of 50. Today, it is .20-.25 oz of silver per box. In paper or electron bit terms? You do teh maths.
Bonds. If you believe in a continued collapse in interest rates, the value of the bond increases as the rate falls. There was a lot more upside potential when we were getting 6% or so on bonds, but fleeing to a safe haven before everyone else works out well.
While I fully understand that cash is not an investment, I can say that I have seen my savings grow every month since I went to 100% cash. That was not the case when it was in the market: I used to read about how great the market was, but never really saw it on a balance sheet once I dug down to the real return (not easy in Canada )
I asked, and was told that putting money in to a safety deposit box is illegal. Hard to get caught, but illegal.
Funny. when I started working, interest on a million in the bank was enough to live on comfortably. Now, it wont buy you three months of living expenses.
I got into this mess because I was once dead broke like Comstock and even after starting to earn a good wage continued to live as if I was still broke.
I am starting to consider micro-loans as a possible source of income.
Vote! Look for candidates that say stuff like "smaller government" and "financial responsibility" regardless of party affiliation. And oh yeah, maybe audit the Federal Reserve? Smoke and mirrors can only take you so far.
NOHOME wrote: I am starting to consider micro-loans as a possible source of income.
Better returns may be available if you move from micro-loans to loan-sharking! 
Guns, canned food, and a compound in Kansas?
1988RedT2 wrote: Vote! Look for candidates that say stuff like "smaller government" and "financial responsibility" regardless of party affiliation. And oh yeah, maybe audit the Federal Reserve? Smoke and mirrors can only take you so far.
That's just crazy talk. What we need is More Free E36 M3.
Karacticus wrote:NOHOME wrote: I am starting to consider micro-loans as a possible source of income.Better returns may be available if you move from micro-loans to loan-sharking!
Yeah, take the power back and become your own bank!
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