LOSER: Like it or lump it

NATALIE SLADE/The Dominion

LOSING INTEREST: Jonathan Holmes is now investing in company bonds, rather than keeping his money in the bank.

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Options are scarce for people wanting a return on their savings in the current climate, but watching interest rates shrink still hurts for Jonathan Holmes.

The 23-year-old public servant put his money into a high-interest National Bank online account last year, giving him a "reasonable return".

"I didn't lock down any of the good interest rates though," he said.

By the end of last year, when Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard announced a record cut to the official cash rate, Mr Holmes was starting to pull his money out.

"As it reduced, I started looking at other ways to get a higher return."

Now he has invested in company bonds but keeps some money in the bank for security. He admits his options are limited.

"I guess in the next year or so it will be good to invest in equities, but probably not yet."

Dr Bollard announced a 1.5 percentage-point cut to the OCR this morning.

Before the announcement Mr Holmes had said he had hoped the bank would keep interest rates unchanged, "but that's not likely . . . I'm just going to have to lump it, I guess."

Still, he managed to find a bright side. "Other countries have it a lot lower . . . some are near zero. At least we're not there yet."

- © Fairfax NZ News