Is 3% on Savings a Good Return? What You Really Keep
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 rest of this page is the mechanism, the euros, and what has changed since.
Why is a savings rate a gross number?
After a decade of nearly nothing, 3% on your banking app feels like the grown-ups are back in charge. Several of my clients said it that summer, with the same undertone: maybe I don't need to do anything with my money after all.
But the rate is what the bank pays before two things take their share. Inflation first: the pace at which your euros buy less. Box 3 second: the Dutch tax on what you own, charged on savings above an allowance whether or not the interest covers it.
Written as one sum, for August 2026:
Best Dutch savings rate: +3.0%
Dutch inflation, CBS, July 2026: −3.2%
Box 3 on savings above the allowance: −0.5%
What you keep, the real return: −0.7% a year
What does it look like in euros?
Take €10,000 above your allowance at the best rate. In a year it earns €300 of interest. Inflation at 3.2% removes €320 of what it can buy. Box 3 takes about €46; the mechanism is below. You end the year with more euros and about €66 less to spend. Nobody writes you a letter about the €66.
Below the allowance the tax line disappears and the sum ends at minus 0.2%. Still not above zero.
What is the real return at a major bank?
The 3% headlines belonged to a few challenger banks. At the major banks the standard rate I found that month was about 1.25%. DNB's dashboard says the same thing in one number: the average rate on freely withdrawable savings in the Netherlands is about 1.3% in 2026.
Where your savings sit, August 2026 | Gross rate | Real return per year |
Best challenger rate | 3.0% | about −0.7% |
A major bank | about 1.25% | about −2.5% |
There is no version of this that ends above zero.
How does box 3 tax savings?
Box 3 is the part of the Dutch income tax return that covers what you own outside your home and your pension, measured on 1 January. The state does not tax the interest you earned. It taxes a return it assumes you earned, on the part above the tax-free allowance.
For 2026, according to the Belastingdienst, the allowance is €59,357 per person, €118,714 with a fiscal partner. The assumed return on savings is 1.28%, a provisional figure fixed in early 2027 from what banks actually paid; on investments it is 6.00%. The tax on that assumed return is 36%. So 36% of 1.28% is about 0.46% a year: the 0.5% in the sum above. If your real return on your whole box 3 estate was lower than the assumed one, the counter-evidence rule, the tegenbewijsregeling, lets you declare the actual figure.
I ran the full mechanism, with a worked example on €100,000, in Do You Actually Understand Box 3?.
Has anything changed since August 2026?
Not in the direction you would want. CBS's flash estimate for September 2026 put inflation at 3.4%, up from 3.2% in July. The average savings rate, per DNB, is still about 1.3%. The gap is about 2% a year, and it is on no statement. In How Much Cash Is Enough? I used that gap to show what cash above your buffer costs.
What do you do with this number?
Nothing dramatic. First, a confession.
I will tell you something I don't say often. I'm the banker and the founder: two decades inside one of Europe's largest banks, markets on my screens all day. And in July 2026, when markets rotated, I still felt it: the pull to open my own app at ten in the evening and just check. Not because I needed information. Because I wanted reassurance. Those are different purchases, and the second one is never in stock. I closed the app.
A savings account sells the same reassurance. The balance never drops. That is exactly why the loss is so easy to live with.
So meet your money on your schedule instead of the market's: the monthly Money Date my course students know. Twenty minutes, on payday, accounts open, no headlines. When you don't lead your money, it quietly takes the lead.
One agenda item. Write down your savings balance. Next to it, write what it must earn to hold its value. In August 2026 that was about 3.7% above the allowance: 3.2% inflation plus 0.46% tax. No savings account pays that. The gap between those two numbers is the real decision in front of you. Not which fund. How much of your money sits in the one place that is guaranteed to shrink.
It always depends on your personal situation. But in general, this is quite a rule: three to six months of expenses stay in cash, as your buffer. Everything above that floor needs a job.
A note: this is education, not financial advice. I don't know your personal situation, so I can't advise you on it. Use these numbers as a starting point for your own thinking, and if you need advice for your own situation, talk to an independent, licensed financial adviser.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Is 3% on savings a good return in 2026? A. Gross, it was the best rate on offer in the Netherlands in August 2026. Real, after 3.2% inflation (CBS, July 2026) and box 3, it came to about minus 0.7% a year above the allowance and minus 0.2% below it.
Q. Do I pay box 3 tax on my savings? A. Only on what you own above the allowance on 1 January: €59,357 per person in 2026, €118,714 with a fiscal partner. Above it, 36% of an assumed 1.28%, about 0.46% a year. Check the current figures on the Belastingdienst website.
Q. Should I move everything out of my savings account? A. No. Three to six months of expenses belong in cash, as your buffer. The question in this post is only about the money above that floor.
About the author
Céline Pujdak is the Founder of Cello Wealth. She spent two decades inside one of Europe's largest banks, managing billions. Cello Wealth turns that experience into financial education for women who earn well but do not yet own enough.
Originally shared with Cello Notes readers on 15 August 2026. Get the Sunday letter: Cello Notes on Substack.
Read next: How Much Cash Is Enough?, Do You Actually Understand Box 3?, Pension Compensation Under the New Dutch Rules: Who Gets It, and How You Can Lose It.
About Cello Wealth
Cello Notes is published by Cello Wealth, founded by Céline Pujdak. Cello Wealth helps women understand their money, build investment portfolios and take control of their long-term wealth.
Educational purposes only. Not financial advice and not tax advice. I don't know your personal situation and cannot advise on it. The savings rates, inflation figures and box 3 parameters are described as published for 2026 and may change; the €10,000 example is an illustration, not a calculation of your own position. The value of investments can fall as well as rise; past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. For your personal situation, use the Belastingdienst tools or talk to an independent, licensed financial adviser.
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