MetLife’s Matus Says Higher Rates Can Help Retirees and Economy

(Bloomberg) -- MetLife Investment Management’s Drew Matus sees a silver lining in the higher rates the Federal Reserve will inevitably enact to tame inflation. 

“Zero rates at a policy level are incredibly distortive to economic activity,” MetLife’s chief market strategist said in an interview on Bloomberg TV’s Surveillance on Monday. “There has to be a price for risk. You have to get paid to save.”

He offered as an example the economic effect on U.S. baby boomers, the generation born right after World War II, now retired or heading toward retirement. In their case, low rates could actually be hurting economic growth. 

“If you have a large cohort of the population moving toward retirement, when interest rates go down in that environment, they actually have to save more and buy less, and it creates a downdraft on economic activity,” Matus said. 

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