Cash returns £42 vs £5,000 from top equity funds since 2009

The Bank of England moved interest rates to ‘emergency levels' in March 2009, with six cuts in six months taking the base rate down from 5% to 0.5% - its lowest level since the central bank was founded in 1694. Nine years later and base rates remain at 0.5%, having at one point fallen to 0.25% last year. As a result, £1,000 cash placed in an account paying the base rate in 2009 would be worth £1,042.60 today, according to Chelsea Financial Services. These historically low rates coincided with the start of the bull market, which the firm said meant anyone in cash in this period misse...