Chris Hofmann is Head of Intermediated Wholesale Germany & Austria at financial services provider Vanguard. Getty Images / peterschreiber.media, BlackJack3D Assembly: Dominik Schmitt
An evaluation by the Deutsches Aktieninstitut shows that more people in Germany have never invested in shares than in the past year. According to this, 12.9 million Germans were share savers – and thus almost one in five.
It is not surprising that the number of people investing in stocks has increased in recent years. After all, there was less and less interest on fixed deposits, call money and savings accounts.
With and without interest: Germans rely on the good old savings book
Nevertheless, the Germans remained loyal to the savings book, according to a survey by the banking association in April last year. According to this, 38 percent of those surveyed continue to invest their money in the classic way as fixed-term deposits or overnight money. 45 percent, and thus almost every second respondent, parked their money in their savings account.
So Germans swear by their savings accounts, even if the interest rates are low or non-existent. So the question is how many people will still invest in stocks when interest rates rise. After all, some banks are now charging interest rates of 4.5 percent again.
In addition, the current market environment is characterized by volatility – and some analysts are predicting stock market crashes. But due to rising interest rates and fluctuating markets, is it now more worth parking money in a savings account than investing in stocks?