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Young investment:
savers are increasingly buying shares using their smartphones instead of putting their money into savings accounts
Photo: Peter Gercke / dpa
"Sometimes miracles happen in politics just by doing nothing," says
Thorsten Schrieber
. Germany is becoming a "republic of pensioners", and more and more people are retired because of demographic change. But when it comes to old-age pensions, there is still a lot of trouble, according to the sales director of the asset manager DJE Kapital from Pullach near Munich. The penal interest that banks and savings banks have been charging for some time - often referred to as "custody money" by the institutes - come to the government's aid in this emergency rather unexpectedly, says Schrieber: Because people may turn away increasingly from unprofitable savings accounts and the stock market, where better returns can be achieved.
So negative interest rates as an educational tool to encourage savers to invest more profitably?
In view of the long-term low interest rate policy of the European Central Bank, the number of institutions that no longer offer interest on deposits, but instead demand money from their customers, has been increasing for months.
In the past six months alone, the number of credit institutions that charge penalty interest has almost doubled, according to an analysis by the comparison portal Verivox.
At the end of June, the portal counted 349 banks and savings banks across Germany that pursue this interest rate policy - 171 more than six months ago.
"The point has been reached at which consumers increasingly part with the savings book"
Thomas Schrieber
, CEO of the asset manager DJE Kapital
"Currently, more financial institutions are being added almost every day," says Verivox manager
Oliver Maier
.
At the same time, many institutes tightened their regulations.
In other words: The money houses lower the interest rates even further into the red or reduce the exemptions up to which the credit balance in the account remains exempt from negative interest.
The direct bank ING recently made such a step public after
Postbank and Commerzbank had
presented it
shortly before
.
The money houses are often criticized in public for this interest rate policy.
Investment professionals like DJE manager Schrieber also see good things in it.
"The point has been reached at which consumers are increasingly parting with savings accounts, time deposits and sight deposits in order to invest directly in equity and equity funds," he says.
This is also observed by
Markus Sievers
, managing partner of the Apano investment company in Dortmund.
"In fact, there are positive sides to the interest rate environment," he says.
"Ultimately, only those will be punished who do not act and do not adapt accordingly. In the words of the economist Schumpeter and his creative destruction, one could argue that the Germans' unproductive savings mania is now being destroyed in order to become a nation of investors . "
Creative destruction of the crazy economy
This would mean that the banks' penalty interest rates would be another piece of the mosaic in an overall picture in which many factors mean that investors in this country are increasingly saying goodbye to their traditional abstinence from shares and turning to the stock market.
Share prices, which have been booming for months, undoubtedly also contribute to this development.
All around the globe, stock exchanges have largely ignored the corona crisis - apart from an initial setback.
Or, to put it more precisely: You have "looked through it", as it is called in technical jargon.
And what they saw when they looked through, they obviously liked: The prospect of a strong comeback of the global economy after the Corona dip kept share prices on many important stock exchanges at record levels or just below.
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"That is sensational":
DAI boss
Christine Bortenlänger
Photo: imago stock / imago images / Sammy Minkoff
In addition, there are increasingly favorable conditions, for example from discount providers such as the Berlin online broker Trade Republic, at which investors can enter the stock market.
And social media platforms such as Reddit, on which private investors can exchange ideas about their investment ideas and share investment tips, contribute to the new desire of savers to buy shares.
The result can be expressed in numbers: As the Deutsche Aktieninstitut (DAI) recently announced, the number of people in Germany who are involved in the stock market via stocks, equity funds or equity ETFs rose by 2.7 million to 12 in the past year .4 million increased. "That is sensational," says
Christine Bortenlänger
, managing director of the DAI.
According to the institute, there were other driving forces behind the local share culture in the Corona year: Broken vacations, closed restaurants and fewer shopping trips resulted in people having more time and money, according to the DAI. According to the institute, they also used this time to deal with their finances and to invest money in stocks, funds or ETFs. In March and April 2020 in particular, many used the low stock market prices as an opportunity to enter the stock market.
Noteworthy: The group of under 30s in particular was very active on the stock exchange last year.
Almost 600,000 young adults ventured onto the trading floor, according to the results of the DAI analysis.
This is an increase of almost 70 percent compared to the previous year and thus by far the strongest increase of all age groups examined in the study.
"Nobody simply has to accept the devaluation of money through penalty interest"
Markus Sievers
, head of the Apano investment company
Many new shareholders are likely to have been inspired to go public because of the interest rates charged by banks and savings banks.
In any case, the principle applies among experts that stocks should be a fixture in any sensible investment and wealth planning.
Because the returns that can be achieved on the stock market in the long term with proper risk diversification are already well above what banks and savings banks have to offer in terms of interest rates.
This is all the more true in times of the zero interest rate line of central banks.
Finally, the rate of return, which has recently risen again, must also be taken into account - as a result, savers with fixed-rate offers are currently making a loss in many cases.
Basic rules of stock investment
An unnecessary loss, mind you, as Apano boss Sievers emphasizes.
"Nobody just has to accept the devaluation of money through penalty interest, but basically also through inflation," he says.
"Shares are basically a democratic form of investment and anyone can invest."
DJE board member Schrieber also says: "Investments with sustainable dividend orientation in particular promise good protection against inflation and protection against inflation-adjusted destruction of money on bank accounts with negative interest rates."
However, it is questionable whether it is a good idea to be frightened by measures such as those recently launched by ING Bank, Postbank or Commerzbank and, of all things, to buy a larger amount in one fell swoop, given the currently comparatively high price level on the stock market.
DAI boss Bortenlänger has another piece of advice: she thinks the best way to drive is if you trust the tried and tested basic rules of investing in shares.
"Long-term, continuous and broadly diversified saving leads to high returns with manageable risks. So you can confidently sit out an interim stock market low."
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