BofA Securities’ Savita Subramanian warns investors that cash is quietly losing them money

Savita Subramanian, who runs US equity and quantitative strategy at BofA Securities, has a blunt message for anyone sitting on a pile of cash: you’re falling behind. With inflation still chewing into nominal returns, she argues that parking money in cash equivalents is one of the worst moves an investor can make right now. Her preferred alternative? Large-cap value stocks, which she called a “beautiful story” during a recent appearance. It’s the kind of endorsement that carries weight when it comes from someone whose team has ranked large-cap value as either the No. 1 or No. 2 pick across size and style categories from 2023 through 2025. The case against cash In her July 2026 mid-year outlook, she laid out the case for equities over cash in explicit terms. The core argument: stocks, particularly value-oriented ones, have historically done a better job of keeping pace with inflation than money market funds or short-term treasuries. It’s worth noting an interesting tension in BofA’s own data. The bank’s September 2025 fund manager survey showed cash allocations sitting at 3.3%, near record lows. That means most institutional investors have already moved money out of cash and into ris...