Published 2026-10-26 No. A savings rate is a gross number, and you do not get to keep gross numbers. In August 2026, when I first wrote this, the best savings rate in the Netherlands was 3.0%. Dutch inflation was 3.2%, according to CBS, and box 3 tax took about 0.5% off savings above the tax-free allowance. What you kept: about minus 0.7% a year. At the major banks, where most of us actually keep our money, the same sum ended near minus 2.5%. That is the whole answer. The res