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Investors expected the Federal Reserve Bank to raise interest rates throughout 2016 after years of unprecedented quantitative easing. As of March 2016 the Fed has reversed course following a small increase in December and it continues to support low interest rates. In 1990 confidence in the banking system and in federal insurance and regulation was high FDIC-insured bank deposits were generating as much as 8 percent in yield essentially risk-free. Now yields are 1 percent or less and confidence is much lower. Investors and savers are looking for risk-free returns on their cash. At such low interest rates every penny counts. Negative Interest Rates This year the Bank of Japan followed the ECB and other European central banks by lowering interest rates to below zero on excess reserves. As this has hap- pened the market for sovereign bonds has gone to negative interest with ap- proximately 8 to 10 trillion of Euro- pean and Japanese sovereign bonds and bills trading at negative interest rates. Investors in the Americas and Asia want to know how to protect themselves if negative interest rates come their way. Currency Values As central banks around the globe have engaged in quantitative easing in combi- nation with affiliated government deficit borrowing and spending programs cit- izens have experienced a debasement in currency and sovereign credit. In short purchasing power is falling for funds held in cash with no return. The losses from debasement of currencies have been significant in many areas. When savers or investors maintain cash at low to no yield they run the risk of losing purchasing power unless their currency is rising relative to other cur- rencies or if the price of commodities and hard assets falls in a deflation. The US dollar has risen since 2014 while commodities have fallen. This means that holding dollars has been relatively more attractive than holding currencies of countries that depend on commodity revenues such as Norway or Canada. The value of a currency is dynamic whether it is relative to other fiat curren- cies precious metals or local purchasing power. Liquidity When an asset is liquid we can access and use it immediately with no ques- tions asked or conditions imposed. And we can do so without losing value or paying high transaction fees. One of the reasons we hold cash is that we want liquidity. We need cash to pay ongoing expenses and overhead. With increased government intervention banks and financial institutions have be- come much more sticky about 8 I. Options For Stashing Cash