Monday, December 22, 2014

Is the Bank a Business?


How does the bank makes its money? Should the bank charge us for keeping our money safe from robbers and thieves? Should we charge the bank for giving them basically an interest free loan? Isn't it funny how your position on any given viewpoint might just depend on your vantage point?

A great post about how the bank makes money can be found at www.startrungrow.com.  Now, how far are we going to get in retirement if we spent our lives giving out interest free loans?  Do people need money as much now as they always have?

So the banks might do two basic things for you:
  • Lend you money
  • Borrow your money
That's right.  When you deposit money into a bank, they are borrowing your money.  If they tell you that you will benefit because they will keep your money safe or they can conveniently transfer your money to various places, they might convince you that they should be allowed to borrow that money for free.

They might lend you money.  They might charge you a high interest rate and give you a loan that lasts up to 30 years, with no intention to teach you how to pay off the debt faster.  They might convince you that borrowing from the bank is better than going to your father, mother, uncle, aunt, cousin, because you wouldn't want to ruin a good relationship.  Who wants to do business with family and friends?  Don't worry, the bank can take care of that for you, for a price.

This post was reposted from http://finlit.biz/business/is-the-bank-a-business/, originally written on January 25, 2013.

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