However, consumers might funnel those returns to living expenses like rent, food, transportation and health insurance if they swell in price, she said. Indeed, some companies have raised prices recently for household items like toilet paper, peanut butter and soft drinks. "All of those things obviously have a major impact," said Lassus, a certified financial planner and accountant. Historical perspective There are a few times in history when savers derived a negative net return after accounting for inflation. In 1980, for example, a benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yielded an average 11.43% — among its highest-ever. (That return beats out the roughly 10% average annualized return for stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 index.)