So you know about interest rates and the Federal Funds Rate, but why exactly do they matter?

For one, interest rates can impact your stocks.

Companies you invest in, like Meta and Walmart are influenced by interest rates.

Higher interest rates = lower profits for them because it costs more to pay back their loans 📉

We'll talk more about this in the next lesson 👀

For governments, interest rates affect the cost of public debt.

Low rates = lower borrowing costs for infrastructure, education, and other projects! 🏛️

Interest rates also affect how much YOU pay for loans, like mortgages or car loans.

Higher rates = higher monthly payments for you when you borrow money to buy stuff 😢

But, high interest rates can also mean more profits from your savings. 🌳

When you store your money in a bank account, you're lending your money to the bank, so they pay you interest! 🥳

Because so much money is borrowed in our economy, interest rates are part of everything we do 🤯

Investments, car loans, mortgages, savings and so much more 🚘

Now that we understand more about how interest rates are related to what we do, next we can get into the juicy stuff! 🍏