Just analyising bank rates of 4% and wondering if an ssia can actually increase in size over say 5 years when you add in inflation @3% pa and dirt tax,is there any real gain to be had or are we just being fooled
Nobody's fooling anybody as far as I can see but the returns from deposits will be marginal if any after inflation and tax are taken into account as you point out. This is why having an emergency fund available in liquid form such as in a demand deposit account or short term notice account is OK but you should not stick large sums on deposit unless you will be using them in the forseeable future for something specific.