Searching for Investments In an Era of Uncertainty: Evaluate Your Needs, Risk Tolerance, Advisers
ÐÊ	Interest rates continue to slump: Rates on 30-year Treasury bonds dipped bdow 7 percent last week; Treasury bills are threatening to go below 3 percent</br></br>ÐÊ	Interest rates continue to slump: Rates on 30-year Treasury bonds dipped bdow 7 percent last week; Treasury bills are threatening to go below 3 percent ÐÊ	Housing prices are just keeping pace with inflation, while commercial real estate isn't even doing that.</br></br>"That's about the hardest question there is." said H. Lynn Hopewell of the Monitor Group, an investment consulting firm in Falls Church.</br></br>During the runaway inflation of the 1970s. real estate and other tangibles dimbed briskly, while, thanks to banking regulation, it was sometimes possible to borrow money at negative real rates (rates less than the rate of inflation). Thus, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that buying a house or a rental property probably would pay off.</br></br>In the early 19S0s. the ultra-high interest rates paid by banks on certificates of deposit meant that Americans could earn double-digit returns while getting government protection against loss. (Economists like to note that those CD rates weren't much above inflation, so real rates of return were not as good as they looked, but having one's money double in six or seven years still felt mighty good.)