Banky team Reviewed editorial answerThis is the question of the 'real return': will your money buy more or less after the term? Simply put, if prices rise over the same period by more than the return, the money buys less at the end; if they rise by less, it buys more.
The catch is that you know the return when you place the money (or how it is computed, if it is variable), but nobody can know future price rises in advance. So there is no certain yes or no for any product, and any future 'real return' figure would rest on a guess.
What is in your hands within savings products: a fixed rate gives you a figure agreed from the start for the whole term, and a variable rate moves with a reference rate, up if the reference goes up and down if it goes down. That is a trade-off between certainty and following the reference, not protection against rising prices in either direction. The term matters too: a longer term locks your money longer, and breaking early has a cost.
Check the key-facts statement for the rate type, how it is computed if variable, the lock-in term and the break terms, and choose according to your needs.