When you hold a checking or current account in your bank at a zero interest rate – as most people do in advanced economies – the real return is negative (the nominal zero return minus inflation): a year from now, your cash balances buy you less goods than they do today. And if you consider the fees that many banks impose on these accounts, the effective nominal return was already negative even before central banks went for negative nominal rates.
事实上，投资者早就接受了实际（经通胀调整的）负回报。当你以零利率开立银行账户时——许多发达经济体的人民都这样做——实际回报就是负的（名义零回报减去通胀）：一年后，你的现金余额所能买到的商品不如现在多。而如果考虑许多银行对账户所收取的费用，有效名义回报早在央行实施负名义利率前便已经是负数了。