What to do when cash returns disappear?

As monetary authorities keep interest rates lower for longer, income-based investors are losing out.

- Simon Brown

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Just over a year ago I wrote about negative yields after having been scratching my head about the concept for some time. My conclusion was that a negative yield wasn’t that uncommon. Gold, for example, had an effective negative yield due to storage and insurance expenses. But I did conclude that negative yields were ultimately nonsensical and would, surely, in time revert to normal.

I haven’t changed my mind on the first point, but the reverting to normal part has at best been delayed for many years. US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell has said the bank will be keeping rates at zero until at least 2023, while the Bank of England said in its latest rate announcement it is exploring negative interest rates.