How to invest so that your money does not stay under the mattress

Having the money "under the mattress" or leave it still in a bank account is not the best option if it is intended to save or generate capital.According to personal finance experts consulted by this newspaper, it is important to define goals, purposes and times to invest resources and thus choose the appropriate alternative.

According to Kantar, a brand consulting company and data analysis, in Colombia one in ten people saves.However, 12 % of them do not know what their saved resources will allocate, while 11 % use this money for travel or leisure, 14 % for education and 23 % for housing.

Por su parte, la encuesta Pulso Social, realizada por el Dane en mayo de este año, evidenció una situación preocupante frente al ahorro y los ingresos en el país: el 78 % de los y las jefes de hogar y sus cónyuges, de las 23 ciudades y áreas metropolitanas, manifestó que no tenía posibilidades de ahorrar parte de sus ingresos, y el 15,2 % dijo que no tenía ingresos.

“Savings is one of those factors that are very difficult for Colombian homes.Having options to save, not only to capitalize and gain interest, but also to cushion shock impacts on situations, is very important and pandemic has been a sample of that. Cuando esta llegó, muchos hogares dejaron de recibir ingresos y muchos de ellos no tenían ahorros que les pudieran permitir solventar las necesidades”, explicó Andrés García Suaza, profesor de economía de la Universidad del Rosario.

CDT and cooperatives

Among the savings options for an average income home, that is, it generates income of 1 to 1.5 minimum wages, García recommended the CDT - term deposit certified, that is, a title that generates profitability within an agreed periodWith the bank -.

This is possible to open it with less than $ 100.000 and the variation of the fee, which is the equivalent of the profitability of the ecertified, depends on the financial entity where the money saved is left.

CDTs can be opened mainly in banks and cooperatives and as they are products to capture money from people only supervised entities can offer them.

“It is an interesting option when it is required to have long -term liquidity, where fast money is not needed because, in general, banks offer relatively low rates. Para que haya una mayor capitalización debería pensarse en unas inversiones más de mediano plazo, por ejemplo, las microfinancieras suelen ofrecer mejores tasas de ahorro y productos mucho más acorde a hogares de bajos ingresos”, indicó García.

For his part, Andrés Flórez, a professor of administration and finance at CES University, pointed out that it should be taken into account that a CDT is not an account that offers a very high profitability.

"What would most recommend are specific savings accounts.For example, cooperatives have some products that allow people to save month by month and this is even reventing on the CDT, ”said Flórez.

Y advirtió que, aunque considera que las cooperativas son mejores que los bancos en cuestiones de rentabilidad, en estas también “existe un mayor riesgo, ya que el dinero es directamente de los asociados y los niveles de regulación no son iguales a los del sector bancario”.

The fiducias

Among the other savings and investment alternatives are fiducias, which consists of a contract through which a person named trust enters one or several goods to a fiduciary society, according to Flórez, are recommended when the country's economic levels are stable:"At this time there is a lot.

In this regard, Garcia said that this alternative usually has a better profitability as long as the amounts are high: “The administration of these portfolios that the fiducias have have administrative costs that at the time of withdrawing the money must be assumed.In addition to profitability depending on the economy does not suffer strong shocks ”.

According to this, Sergio Olarte, main economist from Scotiabank Colpatria, said that fiducias, the purchase of securities or purchase of shares, can generate more profitability, but also have more risks, since, as can generate money, money,You can also lose if the investment goes wrong.