"How much interest?"
"Point-zero-one percent APY currently." He said it quickly, and then, because she was still looking at him, he added, "Now, that's not a lot, I'll be honest. But that's not really the point of a savings account, is it? The point is that it's there. It's safe. Nobody can touch it. You're not going to wake up one morning and find out it's gone because the market did something funny."
"What about real investments?"
He smiled at her the way you smile at a child who has asked if the moon is made of cheese.
"Well, we do have some investment products," he said. "Through our wealth management partners. But honestly, Mrs. Arceneaux, I'd steer you away from those. They're complicated. There are fees, there's risk, there's a lot of paperwork. They're really designed for — well, for a different kind of client. Somebody with a large portfolio, a financial advisor, that kind of thing. I've seen folks get in over their heads." He leaned forward confidentially. "I had a gentleman, very nice man, retired from the refinery, came in here wanting to put his whole pension in some tech fund his nephew told him about. I said, sir, I'm going to stop you right there. You don't want to be gambling with your grocery money. And you know what? He thanked me."
"Hm," said Odessa.
"Now, we could look at a CD," Grant went on, warming to it. "Certificate of deposit. Slightly better rate — I can do two-point-one for twelve months. But you lock up the money, and if you need it for something, a medical bill, a car repair, then you're paying a penalty to get to your own money, and I just hate to see that happen to people on a fixed income. So my honest recommendation, and I say this to my own mother —" he laid a hand flat on his chest — "is keep it simple. Starter Savings. Put in what you're comfortable with. You can always come back and see me later if you want to talk about something else."
"I see."
"Is there — " he glanced at the screen again, at the words large deposit and account structuring, and she watched him decide they had been a mistake, someone at the call center overstating things — "is there a son or a daughter, maybe, who helps you with your finances? Sometimes it's nice to have a family member sit in on these conversations. Just so everybody's on the same page."
"I have a son in Atlanta," Odessa said. "He's a pharmacist. He does not help me with my finances. I helped him with his, through four years of pharmacy school."