When I was a kid in the 1970s our family – like many Americans – followed President Nixon’s ‘Project Independence’ national energy plan, which included lowering our thermostat to 68-degrees during the day. In 1977, new President Jimmy Carter went 3-degrees lower, asking Americans to cut the thermostat temperature down to 65-degrees. That was cold! We wore sweatshirts indoors, quilted “polar slippers” from the JCPenney … Continue reading Keeping Warm This Winter
With inflation (CPI) running a hot 8.3% for the twelve months ended in August, the Federal Government is busy adjusting numerous spending & tax parameters for the new year. Social Security is leading the way with a 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment for 2023. Here are some of the other changes due to inflation: IRS tax bracket “break points” are going up 7.0%, on average. The standard … Continue reading IRS Changes Don’t Keep Up With Inflation
We’ve had a new round of bad economic news, but I can’t get too excited about it, even though it seems like a pretty severe storm. I think I’ve fallen victim to “bad news fatigue” after two years of the pandemic, rising inflation & interest rates, and declining investments. Just in the last couple weeks … ⁃ The stock market erased all the gains since … Continue reading Weathering The Storm
I’ve been worrying about periods of high inflation since I started writing these posts over seven years ago. It wasn’t until these last 12 months that my worries were matched by reality. It doesn’t help that the politicians & media pundits keep trying to put a positive spin on things. The headlines have been ridiculous: Part of the challenge is I don’t know if the … Continue reading How Fast Is Inflation Really Rising?
If you are working, you might as well take off an hour early on Friday. As you can see from the chart, wage growth is now lagging price inflation. The 2.4 pt gap equals about an hour’s work against a 40 work week. I’m guessing millions of younger workers are coming to the hard realization that wages don’t generally keep up with rapid inflation. Employers … Continue reading Take Off Early On Friday
Prices are going up. Consumer price inflation ballooned to 6.8% in November as massive increases in government debt and supply-chain issues over the last year were reflected. The Fed & Biden believe they can get back to a 2% annual average target, but clearly that’s going to take some doing. Retirement plans are especially susceptible to rising prices as fixed investments, pensions, bonds, and social … Continue reading What’s The Impact Of Inflation On Your Retirement?
We went to Target the other day for groceries and the bill came to $150. As we walked out to the Jeep to bring things home, my wife said, “I don’t even know what things are supposed to cost any more. Was that a good deal or did we overpay by a lot?” I agreed that inflation – year after year after year – begins … Continue reading Cut Those Prices In Half!
It was soon after my first MegaCorp pension check arrived in the mailbox that the latest CPI report was released with the most price inflation we’ve seen in more than a decade. My new pension payment is fixed – no cost of living adjustment – so I immediately had visions of it being quickly consumed by this monetary beast that has been lying in wait … Continue reading Inflation On The Way?
Inflation is one of the assumptions that our FIRE financial model is the most sensitive to. Even a half percent change in inflation over a 40 year retirement plan is hugely significant. We use an assumption that our spending inflation will be between 2.5-3.0% a year, which is slightly higher than what the official US Consumer Price Index (CPI) has averaged. I’ve read articles in … Continue reading How Fast Are Prices Really Rising?
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving yesterday! We had turkey and watched some football at my brother & sister-in-law’s nearby house with our broader family. Wonderful day. When we were there, we got into the annual conversation about the Thanksgiving turkey, how much it weighed, and how much it cost this year. It got me thinking that most people do not probably realize what an … Continue reading Turkey Economics
MrFireStation 