Bank or Post? Here is the Guide

Where should you keep your money to make them fruitful? Where to put the savings? Is the time of the post office really over and do we need to move in the (not very reassuring) banking world?

In today’s guide I will help you choose the destination of yours savings, on the one hand with the aim of protecting the money that, with a thousand sacrifices, you have set aside, on the other to make this capital that you have available bear a minimum profit.

The watchword is zero risk: deposit the money, protect it from economic turbulence and maybe earn something in the meantime.

Now let’s see together what the safest place to keep money and what are the options that, in summary, we have available.

A premise: the distinction between saving, investing and making money

Before starting, I want to make this premise, because there is often a lot of confusion between these terms: many people want to invest to make money, others want save thinking about invest (perhaps with a savings account), and thus make money…

In short, make money seems like everyone’s main goal! And I agree on the fact that it is a noble goal, in view of protecting one’s future and (why not?) for the possibility of enjoying a more serene present and perhaps indulging in some whim.

However, these are three different concepts. I want to start from the first assumption: to make money you have to work.

One cannot think of increasing one’s assets by investing those few savings that one has set aside, thinking of solving one’s economic problems once and for all: investments are used to protect one’s savings from inflation (and this is the second concept that I want to explain to you).

Of course, with investments you can too increase your capital, without limiting yourself to simply protecting it fromerosion of inflationbut this is not the path you need to take to increase savings.

Many people painstakingly put small (respectable, but still small) figures, such as 5000 o 10000 euro aside, and then they throw themselves into the complicated world of investments, perhaps choosing very risky tools and being duped by those who promise easy earn with trading.

And suddenly they tied up the whole sum in operations that they don’t know how to manage and control. They often lose everything, but if this doesn’t happen, the risk that the car breaks down, that a tooth becomes decayed or that the boiler has a fault brings you before the bitter reality… You no longer have a emergency buffer.

So here’s a quick summary:

• work to make money (study and formats to improve your skills, thus earning you a salary increase);
• accumulate and save to have a sum to lean on in case ofemergency and to increase your assets. Only then will I tell you…
• invest to protect and enhance your assets.

Why did I want to make this premise? Simply to explain to you that in this guide we will discover the most common and advantageous (or not) ways to keep the money in the savings phaseor to store liquid digits that could serve you as a cushion for your teeth, the boiler, the car or even for a nice vacation.

If you share what I just said and you’ve decided you want to train and improve yourself, I’ll leave you the link for the section dedicated to personal growth.

If, on the other hand, you are curious about the world of investments, here is a quiz that could help you.

You will find the rest of the advice in the next paragraphs. And now let’s start: where should you keep the money?

---

The money under the mattress? The risks are many

---

Where to put your savings without risk? Yes, many of our grandparents kept their savings, at least in part, under the proverbial and metaphorical mattress. A choice that betrayed one lack of trust in banks which has always or almost always been an integral part of our national culture.

Even if sometimes banks are more than legitimately feared, keeping money at home, in a safe or otherwise, is always a huge risk. There are basically two issues:

1. in case of theft at home we would risk losing everything;
2. the responsibility of the capital is ours, while once entrusted to the bank or the post office, the risk connected with the custody passes to them: in this case, to be clear, even in the event of a robbery, the bank will still have to return our capital to us.

In addition, the money kept at home yields nothing. Better look elsewhere. But… Is it better to put the money in the bank or in the post office?

---

Keeping money at the post office: pros and cons

---

The Later for years they represented the only financial institution with which small Italian savers had to deal.

The tools offered by the Post Office (Libretto e Postal account) were for years more than sufficient for the needs of those who had the sole interest of protecting capital and making it grow over time.

Today the offer of the Post Office has expanded dramatically and offers:

• the dear old man Postal Bookmeant for keep savings more than for operation. He recently acquired a card and continues to offer returns, however low. It is no longer a very convenient instrument, given that rates are now close to zero and unable to offer a path to capital growth, even if we were to take compound interest into account. Find the full review here of all types of postal book;
• I count BancoPosta: today it is in all respects a current account. It offers full functionality, both at the counter and online. It offers no returns;
• various cards prepaid with IBAN, which can also act as a deposit, while not paying interest of any kind; beyond PostePay today we also have PostePay Evolutionequipped with IBAN and the typical operation of complete banking instruments.

Postal savings books are not covered by the Interbank Guarantee Fund

It is worth mentioning, since we are also dealing with the security of the instrument we will choose to deposit our money.

The postal passbook offered by Poste Italiane is not covered by the protection of the Interbank Guarantee Fund, a fund that guarantees total coverage of up to 100,000 euros per account and current account holder.

This means that in the event of group difficulties (yes, they are decidedly unlikely, but never say never!) the protection in question will not operate.

Postal savings books are in any case covered by the guarantees offered by the Italian Republic, through the Deposits and Loans Fund. A protection that can be considered as at least equivalent to that offered by the Guarantee Fund.

They also operate for passbook savings books and other postal products of the Guarantee Funds within Poste Italiane, which have around 1 billion euro in their endowment. A sum which, however, is not adequate to cover the bulk of deposits at the Post Office, deposits which in total amount to more than 255 billion euros.

Postal savings bonds

There is also this other solution much loved by savers, or postal savings bonds. However, be careful: it is an instrument which, in order to make the most of it, requires a bond, and cannot be compared to a deposit account.

It is a theme that needs a separate parenthesis, so I advise you to read the dedicated guide and choose the best one for you, provided that it is right for you as a tool.

---

Keeping money in the bank: pros and cons

---

The alternative to the products offered by Poste Italiane is in the bank, where we basically have two types of opportunities:

• classic current account: guarantees full operations, even if it does not bear interest. We will have the opportunity to return to security later, speaking in general of the protections that are offered by banks on our deposits. Find the best guide here;
• deposit account: the best alternative where to keep our money. Deposit accounts have no operations, except for the deposit and withdrawal of money on expiry. The deposit account offers you the opportunity to earn relatively high interestespecially when compared to what is offered by other proposals from banks and post offices. Read the ranking of the best deposit account.

Banks are completely safe up to €100,000

All banks operating in Italy must necessarily join the Interbank Guarantee Funda fund that covers all accounts and deposits up to €100,000 per current account holder and per account.

This means that even in the event of difficulty with the banking group that we have chosen for our deposit, we will receive the sums deposited back, thanks to this fund.

If you are looking for a solution to deposit a sum of less than 100,000 euros, what is offered by banks can be considered more than safe.

Best deposit account: which one is it? Is it worth it?

Where to put money aside, Therefore? Il deposit account is the best opportunity to put your savings you have today. On the one hand you have the possibility to invest without any type of risk up to 100,000 euros, and on the other the possibility of taking home interests which, however minimal, are still better than nothing.

They are My business find the best deposit accounts you can that are currently available in Italy. Read on to find out more!

How much money can you keep in your checking account?