How much did your investments lose to inflation this year and what about 2012?

Rising inflation and low interest rates are a toxic combination for investors. Around the world this has been a bad year for savers. The chart below shows UK savers came off worst.

Real interest rates in the UK stood at -4.5 per cent, that is to say interest paid adjusted for inflation. US investors were down 3.5 per cent and even the Chinese and Indians lost out...more