Interest rate remains low until unemployment picks up.
Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke keeps the short-term interest rate near zero until unemployment is below 6.5 percent.
"Still high unemployment in combination with relatively low inflation underscores the need for policies that will support progress toward maximum employment in a context of price stability," Bernanke told reporters Wednesday.
So, what does that mean for you?
Analysts like Allen Lewis at Houston's Woodway Financial Advisors say low interest rates are somewhat of a double-edged sword, forcing us into buying risky stocks instead of bonds.
"It really hurts people who save, the elderly and people who don't have a lot of money who rely on getting interest from their bank accounts and CDs, because interest rates are going to remain low for a very long time," Allen tells KTRH News.
Jack Swanda at PM Financial of Omaha agrees.
"Things are not getting any better for savers," says Swanda. "Right now the market is addicted to the Fed stimulus, it looks like rates are going to be staying low for borrowers, though that will continue to be a positive for the stock market."
Insurance companies will be hurt as well.
"Especially those that offer variable annuity with living benefits, because they have to hedge for their risk to exposure," says Swanda.
The Fed predicts unemployment won't fall to its threshold until late 2015, roughly eight years after the economy first tanked.
