Also increases in rents may affect young people.
“ Rents continue to climb across the country, with prices up by 14% this April compared to last year. According to data firm Corelogic’s Single-Family Rent Index, which analyzes rent prices nationwide, April marked the 13th consecutive month that rents increased at a record-breaking pace.
Rental prices in April 2022 were more than six times higher than they were in 2020, when rents stagnated at the height of the pandemic, and more than double year over year. Low rental unit inventory and a strong job market are two of the biggest contributing factors to sky-high rents right now.”
[/quote]Unless you own a real estate company that is focused mainly on rentals or Airbnb, you have less than you did 2 years ago. [/quote]
Actually, nope on this one, too. AirBnB just released a new search method, theoretically in response to all the big cities finding ways to ban vacation rentals. That new search has not helped any hosts posting on the forums I frequent. People across the county have shifted from jumping on the “easy money” bandwagon with bidding wars for houses to whining about low bookings. Low bookings is the case across much of the country, though hosts abroad are complaining, too. If I were one of those ‘hot stuff’ arbitrage AirBnB hosts or someone with a high LTV ratio, I’d be concerned.
I took a somewhat novel approach to inflation. I can’t stop prices from going up, but I can get rewards points for a card I payoff every month. We do 85% of our shopping on Amazon, so I bought an Amazon Prime rewards card and use it in lieu of a debit card. With 5% cash back, the points build up FAST. There’s lots of cards to choose from. Some offer 2% back on every purchase, which actually averages to around the same as the card I have. Wells Fargo offers such a card. Even Apple offers a rewards Mastercard if you use Apple Pay. It certainly pays to shop around, plus it has the added advantage of having variable spending separate from your bank account, which makes it much easier to keep track of.
I have the Fidelity 529 rewards card. Gives us an extra $100-150 a month in our youngest’s 529 account. We spend a lot, but we never carry a balance and never have late fees, so this is free money. Unlimited 2% cash back rewards.
Interesting,I don’t even shop at Amazon. I do have 2% cash rewards from PenFed. I have Costco Citicard, 3-4% back on gas but I don’t buy a lot of gas anymore, we get around with my husband’s small car which is very gas efficient.
Selective numbers. Energy has gone through the roof. Gas was recently (three years ago) under $2.00 now around $5.30 by me. Food has gone up by my local shopping about 25% (some things even more). Don’t recall exact prices but I think you could get chicken around $4.99/5.99/lb now $7-12.99. Mayo used to be $4.99 now $6.99. Everything else combined 6%? Yep, not by me or any state I’ve visited. Well they must be living in a different country but it’s not even close to 6%. All my bills have gone up a lot.
Property taxes are some of the worst as housing prices have also gone through the roof.
One can post whatever numbers are published. But the reality is where you live and what you normally buy. Conservatively, I’d guess prices have gone up locally 20-25%. Hotel prices have doubled. Car rentals have gone up about 70%. Other examples abound around extremes prices on all types of goods.
Yep, me too. I have most of what I need. And I buy things on sale. For people who live week to week, it’s a huge issue. I have a large pantry with everything in it. I keep it stocked. I have noticed that the few things I have delivered via Amazon on schedule have shot through the roof (one more than doubled and I canceled it).
I am mostly retired. My wife is past normal retirement age and will retire soon. With the stock market in a bubble most retired people should have quite a bit of their/our retirement funds (definitely not all) in bonds. The stock market looks like it is also being impacted. Inflation is quite bad for retired people, or most likely for anyone who is not very employable.
It was pretty obvious for a while that this was likely. That does not make it okay.
I have been wondering for a while what impact this might have on the cost of university. In our case the cost of graduate programs (DVM now, master’s in the likely future) is part of what might impact us directly.
Sadly, bonds aren’t a good investment during inflation. Inflation erodes the future purchasing power of future cash flows if bond rates are fixed which they usually are. Bond payments remain the same and your money is worth less. I’m upset I left anything at all in bonds.
Best hedge against inflation is rental property or anything that pays a “dividend” /or prices that can adjust up. Stocks that pay dividends can be good. Anyone/anything that can raise prices is in a better seat than anything which is fixed at a low rate ( if you’re on the receiving end of the low rate and inflation).
Most people don’t have rental homes. Or, other investments with rising prices tied to inflation. Some wages can increase and that can be helpful for those still working. IMO, stocks are wobbly and not stable and the market feels very shaky at least to me ( and I generally just adjust as I go). Might just be that we are on the verge of retiring next few years and don’t want to see volatility, inflation and shortages long term.
Until the price of diesel fuel goes down, food prices are not going to decrease. You almost need to view food as a separate category. It is directly influenced by energy prices. There is not a single food item that can be purchased that doesn’t rely on diesel fuel in some way. In the agriculture sector, our prices are skyrocketing. Those prices will have to touch consumers at some point. The only thing holding prices back right now is that anything in the grocery store that isn’t fresh (meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables) was probably produced and manufactured prior to the major price hikes that have taken place in the last months. To put it in perspective, the price I’m receiving for the milk produced on my farm is the highest I’ve ever been paid. HOWEVER, what it costs me to run my farm and feed and care for my animals has increased as much or more than what I’m being paid. For food prices to decrease, all the costs to produce food need to decrease. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
We are feeling the impact of gas prices. My husband has a caregiver, paid by his long term care insurance with a cap of $150/day. We use an agency, and the $150 equals about a 4 hour shift. The agency can’t find people to take the shorter shifts because the cost of gas makes the income not worth it. That means I have to take time off work or pay for more time out of pocket.
We have heard from others that they have a similar problem with getting babysitters.
Yep, a huge hurdle for my Dad on a fixed income. Might have to help him out and pay the bill this year. Last Winter I paid to have the tank filled (once 1K, second time 800). Price was $5.50/gallon. He hated for us to pay. What about the people who don’t have kids to help?
I REALLY feel for those at risk.
We did partial geothermal. Can’t complete it. Parts are not available. Will reduce costs our but not eliminate them. Our home is well insulated. But what about the folks with old systems. It gets cold here in the Winter. Firewood went through the roof duri.ng covid. Almost tripled. Not 6% but 300%. We locked in for this year.
Our neighbors bought a new vehicle, their 20 year old Accord finally hit the bucket, and they bought a Nissan Leaf. The guy commutes an hour to work each day and sits in traffic. They are excited about how much they’ll save not buying gas. Might be worth looking into an electric or hybrid vehicle…they are a bit more expensive though.
I buy parts, fertilizers ahead too. For example, we just recently bought a grill and I went ahead ordering the grill plates, I don’t need them now, but from our last experience with my previous grill, that’s the part that caused us to throw a perfectly good grill away. This way I will extend the usage of this grill.
Same with fertilizers, I Googled for the cheapest price and then ordered enough that the shipping cost makes it the same or better than ordering from our local Walmart with free shipment for one bag.
But I have been through the 70s inflation, I don’t remember it was that bad. The misery index is like an all time high now, that’s unemployment rate plus inflation rate.
Housing is even worse. I tried getting a home in a better school district sometime last year. Costs almost doubled. It didn’t matter how much equity I had, I was paying much more for less house when the “new” tax rates, lumber costs, etc. were figured into the price. It was too cost prohibitive, especially when my new commute would have been 45 min to work. Currently it’s 15 min…YEAH…glad we didn’t buy THAT house. I’ll just let the realtors drool over my renovated home!
It really is hard. Everyone I know says they’re feeling the crunch from the cost of gas and food. We have a neighbor who now carpools with her husband to work so they can drive their sedan instead of their pickup truck…
My stepfather has a cleaning lady who also helps with household tasks and he just raised her pay, she was feeling the pinch of higher gas prices.