Exploring alternatives to the Livret A savings account

Exploring Alternatives to the Livret A

In an economic environment where inflation remains present despite a clear slowdown, the Livret A—while appreciated for its security and liquidity—struggles to fully preserve savers’ purchasing power. Since August 1, 2025, its annual interest rate has been reduced to 1.7%. At the same time, inflation in France, as measured by INSEE, stabilized at around 1.0% year-on-year in July 2025. Although the Livret A still offers a positive “real” return (1.7% – 1.0% ≈ 0.7% real gain), the margin of protection against monetary erosion has narrowed significantly over recent months.

As a result, it becomes strategic to explore complementary solutions: responsible investments, more dynamic assets, or options geared toward the ecological transition.

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Why Look for an Alternative to the Livret A?

The Livret A remains one of the most popular savings products in France, valued for its total security (capital guaranteed by the State), immediate liquidity, and favorable tax treatment (exempt from income tax and social contributions). It is accessible to everyone, without income conditions, and is well suited for building a precautionary savings buffer.

However, despite its strengths, this product now shows several significant limitations in a changing economic environment.

• A return below inflation: set at 2.4% since February 2025, the Livret A rate was below inflation, which exceeded 2.7% in March 2025 (source: INSEE). The result? A negative real return. In other words, by keeping your money in a Livret A, you lose purchasing power over time.
• A limited deposit cap: you cannot deposit more than €22,950 per person in a Livret A. This ceiling restricts the role it can play in a medium- or long-term savings strategy.
• Lack of diversification: the Livret A does not allow exposure to different asset classes (equities, real estate, impact projects). Yet diversification is essential in a balanced wealth strategy to spread risk and optimize overall returns. Keeping too large a share of your savings in a single vehicle limits your capital’s performance potential.

What Should You Consider When Looking for an Alternative?

Moving beyond the Livret A is an important step in a diversification strategy. To choose among alternative solutions, it is essential to assess several key criteria: security, liquidity, return, and increasingly, the environmental and social impact of your investments.

• Security: for those who prioritize stability, products such as the Home Savings Plan (PEL) or the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Savings Account (LDDS) guarantee capital while sometimes offering higher returns than the Livret A. While not very dynamic, they can be a first step toward diversification with controlled risk.
• Liquidity: the ability to access your funds quickly is crucial. A term account may offer an attractive rate but locks funds for months or years. Conversely, vehicles such as SCPI (real estate investment trusts) can generate regular income, but resale may take time. Choices should be balanced according to short- and medium-term needs.
• Return: to improve performance, consider more dynamic investments such as private bonds, ETFs (index trackers), or projects offered via crowdfunding platforms. These options often offer annual returns between 4% and 7%, but require accepting higher risk.
• Social and environmental impact: many savers now want to align their investments with their values. Some alternatives finance mission-driven companies, local projects, or green infrastructure—particularly renewable energy crowdfunding, a rapidly growing sector.

Crowdfunding: An Accessible and Committed Alternative

Crowdfunding represents an innovative, accessible, and engaged investment solution. It allows you to directly finance projects in exchange for a return, while supporting strategic sectors such as real estate, SMEs, and renewable energy.

This type of investment checks several boxes: good return potential, portfolio diversification, and in some cases, a direct social or environmental impact.

Main Forms of Crowdfunding

• Crowdlending: you lend money to a company or local authority, which repays you with interest—supporting the real economy.
• Crowdequity: you become a shareholder in a startup or unlisted SME. Return potential is high, but so is risk.
• Real estate crowdfunding: you finance development or renovation projects, with returns often between 6% and 10% gross per year, over 12 to 36 months.
• Renewable energy crowdfunding: you invest in solar, wind, or biomethanization projects, actively contributing to the energy transition.

Crowdfunding is experiencing strong growth. In 2023, the sector raised more than €2.35 billion, a 30% increase compared to 2022.

This momentum reflects both growing saver confidence and the increasing rigor with which platforms select projects.

Why Invest in Renewable Energy?

Investing in renewable energy (RE) is not just a financial decision—it is an active contribution to a new energy model. RE lies at the heart of French and European climate policies, with the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. It already represents more than 20% of primary energy consumption in France, according to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.

Faced with the climate emergency and geopolitical tensions around fossil fuels, clean energy development is no longer optional—it is a strategic, environmental, and economic necessity. As a saver, you can contribute to this transition while benefiting from attractive return prospects.

What Are the Benefits?

Through crowdfunding, you can directly support local renewable energy projects—solar, wind, hydroelectric, or biomethanization—while earning income.

Many investors choose this model for the following reasons:

• Attractive returns: renewable energy projects offered via crowdfunding typically yield 4% to 7% gross per year, depending on risk level, project maturity, and investment duration (source: Enerfip). These rates are significantly higher than regulated savings accounts and are contractually defined.
• Concrete, tangible projects: unlike abstract investments, you know exactly what you are funding—a photovoltaic plant in Occitanie, a wind farm in Brittany, an agricultural biogas unit. Each project is detailed, localized, and monitored over time.
• Accessible diversification: from €10 to €100 per project, you can spread your savings across multiple operations and technologies, reducing risk through geographic, technological, and developer diversification.
• Measurable environmental impact: your investment is not only profitable—it is useful. According to ADEME, investing €1,000 in certain RE projects can avoid several hundred kilograms of CO₂ per year by replacing fossil energy with clean production.

Investing in renewable energy is also a civic act. By financing RE through specialized platforms like Enerfip, you become a full-fledged actor in the energy transition. You support a decentralized, locally anchored production model and help restore citizen power in energy governance.

It is a double dividend investment—for your portfolio and for the planet.

Why Enerfip?

Enerfip stands out among crowdfunding platforms thanks to its unique specialization: it is entirely dedicated to energy transition projects. Founded in 2014 in Montpellier by engineers from the renewable energy sector, Enerfip was designed to put citizens back at the center of ecological transformation by enabling them to invest directly in impactful projects.

A Vision: Putting Investment at the Service of the Common Good

Beyond the numbers, what sets Enerfip apart is its committed vision of finance. In contrast to anonymous or speculative investing, the platform seeks to reconcile financial performance with social utility. By supporting renewable energy projects—photovoltaic plants, wind farms, or biomethanization sites—you finance concrete, sustainable infrastructure, often rooted in local territories.

Enerfip promotes a model of citizen financing: each project comes with transparent information, easy access (from €10 or €100), and regular monitoring. The goal is to empower savers, enabling them to become actors, not mere spectators, in the energy transition.

Engaged, Local Savings

By investing on Enerfip, you do far more than seek returns. You take part in a collective dynamic, support committed local developers, and contribute concretely to building a resilient, independent, low-carbon energy model.

In short, Enerfip is not just an investment platform—it is a lever for positive transformation, a bridge between your savings and the major challenges of tomorrow.