Five Ways to “Deflate” Your Budget
For most people, inflation is a scary word. It means the money you earn today won’t be worth as much tomorrow and that you’ll have to pay more for the same products and services down the line. In the United States, policymakers try to keep inflation right around 2% per year, keeping pace with the economy’s growth. What costs a dollar to buy this year will (generally speaking) cost $1.02 next year, and a person who was paid $12 an hour this year might earn $12.25 an hour next year. Problems start to arise when inflation overshoots that benchmark – as it has this summer. In July of 2021, consumer prices were up 5.4%. Most economists agree that this unusually … Read more