We are all feeling it, inflation. Food prices have risen 8% over the past year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics gasoline prices have risen 41% in the past year due to the vast decrease in U.S. production and limited release of supplies from gas producing nations.
Inflation for other items, furniture, appliances, clothing, computers, etc. is up 5.4%. All of this means if you got a 10% raise last year it is wiped out. Things are only going to get worse. How are you preparing for that?
Now we hear home heating prices are going to soar this winter. According to the Wall Street Journal:
"According to the Energy Information Administration, nearly half of U.S. households that warm their homes with mainly natural gas can expect to spend an average of 30% more on their bills compared with last year. The agency added that bills would be 50% higher if the winter is 10% colder than average and 22% higher if the winter is 10% warmer than average.*"
If you depend mostly on electricity to heat your home your costs may be going up. In many states they are not but electricity costs vary widely. The most expensive state, Hawaii at 30.55 cents/KWH to Oklahoma at 8.92 cents/KWH. Check out your state here for price increases or decreases this year. https://www.electricrate.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
Again according to a Wall Street Journal report:
"Households have a cushion of savings from federal stimulus checks and unemployment insurance. “With American households sitting on greater than $2 trillion in excess savings compared with pre-pandemic levels, the U.S. is in a much better position to absorb whatever energy-induced shock that lies ahead compared with our European and Asian trade partners,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at consultant RSM US LLP.)**
Are you kidding me? Do they really believe we are sitting on a pile of money from stimulus checks? I don't know anyone who has that money sitting in an account somewhere. People I know have used that money to pay bills, pay off debt, and replace items they had been saving up to replace. If you have had extra due to the stimulus checks what have you done with it? I ask again, how are you preparing for the inflation to come?
**https://www.wsj.com/articles/soaring-energy-prices-raise-concerns-about-u-s-inflation-economy-11633870800?mod=article_inline