“Ten or 15 years ago you could get ahead with a term deposit but now that is not the case,” Tennent-Brown said. “It is a tough environment for conservative savers. The longer-term rates have lifted a bit but they are still nowhere near our inflation forecasts. That is the bind.” Between 2012 and 2020, interest rates had been low but inflation was virtually non-existent, leaving investors better off overall. Jan Mika/123RF Inflation is coming to eat your savings. “Now we are looking at pressure on supply chains, we could have 3 per cent or 4 per cent inflation for a couple of quarters, term deposits are definitely behind now.”