Inflation

[NW-Bound]

I know that’s right. I’m willing to occupy the rest of 2022 with things around my area with some long distance motorcycle trips thrown in. But 2023 we are back to international travel our normal lives.

Damm the torpedos full speed ahead!

After more than 2 years of being locked up, I have recently mapped out my next European trek. Same as you, I don't give a darn about paying more for travel. I am getting old, and my time is running out.

Besides, all that stock gain has to bring me some pleasure, even if I am not the "blow dough" type.

 

[NW-Bound]

Wages are going up, according to my family anecdotes.

My son, a mechanical engineer, told me of a salary increase out-of-cycle that he received a couple of months ago. He got 27%, if my memory serves. His company acted preemptively to avoid losing him with this surprise raise.

My niece works for Amazon Web Services. She recently got a promotion and 40%.

But just today, I learned that the husband of another niece changed his IT job, and picked up 70% raise.

 

[NW-Bound]

Sure but that's a short term thing. $82 doesn't buy what $30 did two years ago except in very narrow instances like this. Im wondering if long term inflation would create general share prices rising based on the devaluation of the dollar itself.

Well, keeping up with inflation and not having a real gain is a lot better than not being able to.

That applies to stock prices as well as salaries.

If you don't, you drown.

 

[kgtest]

Wages are going up, according to my family anecdotes.

My son, a mechanical engineer, told me of a salary increase out-of-cycle that he received a couple of months ago. He got 27%, if my memory serves. His company acted preemptively to avoid losing him with this surprise raise.

My niece works for Amazon Web Services. She recently got a promotion and 40%.

But just today, I learned that the husband of another niece changed his IT job, and picked up 70% raise.

I recently got a 37% raise. Well it was about 6 months ago but I'll take it. I probably should have asked for more.

 

[aja8888]

Wages are going up, according to my family anecdotes.

My son, a mechanical engineer, told me of a salary increase out-of-cycle that he received a couple of months ago. He got 27%, if my memory serves. His company acted preemptively to avoid losing him with this surprise raise.

My niece works for Amazon Web Services. She recently got a promotion and 40%.

But just today, I learned that the husband of another niece changed his IT job, and picked up 70% raise.

Looks like your family won't need your big stash when you leave this earth! START SPENDING!

Our 5.9% SS raise (less, of course the increased Medicare premium) will keep us flush (LOL).

 

[brett]

After more than 2 years of being locked up, I have recently mapped out my next European trek. Same as you, I don't give a darn about paying more for travel. I am getting old, and my time is running out.

Besides, all that stock gain has to bring me some pleasure, even if I am not the "blow dough" type.

THAT is exactly where we are. Do not care about cost. Planning Greek Islands in the spring, Morocco in the fall, and hopefully a winter in Thailand. WIth an Xmas AI in Mexico with daughter and family.

We are 70 and in good health. Who knows....we could be dead in three years. No time like the present to do what we want...inflation or not.

We have had about 22/25 percent inflation over the past 1o years. Our equities have doubled in value over that period.

 

[RobbieB]

You think this stuff is bad...

I'm on a few boating forums, yeah go figure eh?, and life in the marine world is worse. Like you order a new boat from a builder, lead time around a year. And every quarter they send you a notice of price increase (even though you already agreed on a price) and it's accept or cancel, we'll sell the boat to someone else.

 

[tmm99]

I do calculate the inflation-adjusted WR every year. I've been doing this since I retired in 2015. I don't do anything with that information, however. I figure it's a good exercise to find out how much I could be spending now (vs past years) and find out if my NW has increased faster than the inflation. (It has been increasing faster.)

 

[NW-Bound]

Looks like your family won't need your big stash when you leave this earth! START SPENDING!

Our 5.9% SS raise (less, of course the increased Medicare premium) will keep us flush (LOL).

I never intend to leave my children anything. Even if we spend down our investable accounts to 0, we still leave each of them a home, and that's a lot more than most people get from their parents.

I just don't want to spend money without being sure that it will bring me pleasure in return.

About travel, I checked out a short-term lease of a spanking new mid-size car in Europe for 6 weeks. It ran $2755 with all-inclusive no-deductible insurance.

Back in 2017, I did the same for 5 weeks and Quicken's record shows the cost at $1577.

Inflation! Does not bother me one bit.

 

[NW-Bound]

We are 70 and in good health. Who knows....we could be dead in three years. No time like the present to do what we want...inflation or not.

My wife just heard the news about an old acquaintance via another common friend. This woman is 69 now. After retiring, she could not travel anywhere because of Covid. In November last year, she was able to go to Europe with her friends. And it was during the trip that she developed stomach pain and had to go to the hospital there.

Diagnosis: Liver cancer!

She made it back to the US, and I suspect that she's in hospice now. It's so sad.

 

[NW-Bound]

You think this stuff is bad...

I'm on a few boating forums, yeah go figure eh?, and life in the marine world is worse. Like you order a new boat from a builder, lead time around a year. And every quarter they send you a notice of price increase (even though you already agreed on a price) and it's accept or cancel, we'll sell the boat to someone else.

We know the air is knocked out of the economy when the boat builder calls and tells you he will sue if you don't come to accept the boat.

 

[NW-Bound]

Rich retirees and professionals with high income may not care that much about inflation as long as their investment accounts keep growing.

However, the average household does not feel so carefree.

“Having inflation at 7.5% on a year-ago basis, compared with the 2.1% average growth in 2018 and 2019, is costing the average household $276 per month,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Rich retirees and professionals with high income may not care that much about inflation as long as their investment accounts keep growing.

However, the average household does not feel so carefree.

We modeled high inflation in our spreadsheets before we retired and we should come out ahead with higher inflation. Our TIPS income, Social Security and home value should go up, the low interest mortgage is fixed, and property taxes won't go up much due to Prop 13. We have fairly low overhead on other recurring annual costs there just isn't that much subject to inflation. I keep a price spreadsheet for groceries and prices at the local discount stores and sales flyers for the supermarkets haven't changed too much here.

I think most of our new neighbors and neighborhood potential home buyers are tech workers with young families moving out of the city to the suburbs, so their incomes, and what they can pay for housing, should keep up with inflation.

 

[racy]

You think this stuff is bad...

I'm on a few boating forums, yeah go figure eh?, and life in the marine world is worse. Like you order a new boat from a builder, lead time around a year. And every quarter they send you a notice of price increase (even though you already agreed on a price) and it's accept or cancel, we'll sell the boat to someone else.

Well, as you know, BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand

 

[Surewhitey]

We currently spend a whopping 2.5% of NW (3% of IA). Spending last year was a whopping $50 over the year before with more travel (go figure).

My personal experience is that we try different things in our diet based on prices of certain foods available. Bacon, steak and proteins in general are always negotiable. Food is our largest expense that is variable. We also try to evaluate & optimize any service we use. Phone service and car insurance were last year's optimized items.

We enjoy travel a lot, so we work on keeping it under control too.

We are still w*rking, so it doesn't matter much, but I'm ready to move when DW is...

 

[marko]

We know the air is knocked out of the economy when the boat builder calls and tells you he will sue if you don't come to accept the boat.

I took Robbie's comment the other way; that there is so much demand that "if you don't agree to the higher price, someone is right behind you wanting the boat you ordered."

I know at my marina they're trying to flush out a lot of old timers who don't spend enough money on repairs etc to make room for owners with bigger boats and higher maintenance revenue; seems there's a huge up-tick in bigger boats with a long wait-list for slip space.

 

[Gumby]

I live literally right next door to the boatyard, and I have noticed over the past 30 years that the boats are getting larger. Although most of them still spend the entire season tied up to the dock. It's sometimes hard to imagine all that idle money.

So, Robbie, please use the heck out of the Dream Catcher.

 

[tmm99]

I don't know about you guys, but with the high inflation and the market being down, I don't feel like splurging too much.

 

[meleana]

We spend what our bills are. Pay attention to our budget. Concerned about the cost of things. One thing we’re not traveling so I look at it as we have that money we would have spent on travel. Though I do hope to travel at some point once we can do so freely. Seem to be donating a lot more. Everywhere we turn we are asked for donations. Also eating out more now that we are retired.- even simple brewery or lunch food costs a lot of money. We rarely ate out when we worked all our lives.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Also eating out more now that we are retired.- even simple brewery or lunch food costs a lot of money. We rarely ate out when we worked all our lives.

In our area the price of restaurant food has gone up most places, but live events tickets are still pretty reasonable, like concerts and plays. I would rather spend $40 dollars on two tickets for a community play or college symphony than spend that on burgers and fries, and that is what it cost us the last time we went to a burger place.

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's one way I fought inflation today.

Earlier this week I bought a box of cereal at the local Kroger owned supermarket - $5.

I found it on Amazon today for $3.50 - delivered. After my 5% discount, it comes to 1/3 less. Hmmm...... Mr. Kroger, I may not be shopping at your stores quite as much as before.

Normally I am down on Amazon which has been raising prices and is no longer competitive on many items. Recently, I paid 40% less than Amazon from a seller on Ebay for an item. The lesson: In these inflationary times it pays to shop around.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Here's one way I fought inflation today.

Earlier this week I bought a box of cereal at the local Kroger owned supermarket - $5.

I found it on Amazon today for $3.50 - delivered. After my 5% discount, it comes to 1/3 less. Hmmm...... Mr. Kroger, I may not be shopping at your stores quite as much as before.

Normally I am down on Amazon which has been raising prices and is no longer competitive on many items. Recently, I paid 40% less than Amazon from a seller on Ebay for an item. The lesson: In these inflationary times it pays to shop around.

It does pay to shop around. I price shopped around online for the best price on Seventh Generation dish detergent this week and the cheapest place was actually Whole Foods, cheaper than Amazon online, Target and Walmart. Go figure. Even cheaper with the 5% back Amazon card, plus free pickup. I often buy WF's 365 house brand products but was surprised WF had the lowest price on a name brand item.

 

[Sojourner]

Here's one way I fought inflation today.

Earlier this week I bought a box of cereal at the local Kroger owned supermarket - $5.

I found it on Amazon today for $3.50 - delivered. After my 5% discount, it comes to 1/3 less. Hmmm...... Mr. Kroger, I may not be shopping at your stores quite as much as before.

+1

Here in metro Atlanta, it's been my observation for many years that Kroger rarely has good deals on name-brand cereals. They don't even have good store coupons for cereals I like very often. Compared to Publix, the cereal selection and pricing at Kroger is pretty bad. But I'm not going to make a special trip to Publix (four miles farther) just for that. It's probably better for me to eat less breakfast cereal anyway.

 

[W2R]

According to several sources like cnet.com, Amazon is adding an extra fee due to fuel and inflation:

Amazon to Start Charging Sellers 5% 'Fuel and Inflation' Fee, Reports Say
The e-commerce giant is facing increased logistics costs, and said the surcharge is in lieu of a "permanent fee change."

Amazon has announced a new 5% "fuel and inflation surcharge" for sellers starting April 28.

In response to rising costs, Amazon will begin levying a 5% "fuel and inflation surcharge" on third-party merchants who use its fulfillment services, according to media reports. The fee, a first for the e-commerce giant, will start being charged April 28.

According to a notice to sellers, the fee will apply to all product types, including "non-apparel, apparel, dangerous goods and Small and Light items.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-...sellers-5-fuel-and-inflation-fee-reports-say/

That's pretty hefty! Inflation must be hitting them hard. All the more reason to choose items that aren't third party. I guess Amazon Basics stuff maybe?

 

[karen1972]

Inflation may be going up on almost everything, but I did notice appliance prices are finally coming down from the pandemic pricing. The stove I've been looking at since 2019 is finally just $100 more than it was pre-pandemic.. I stopped looking at it for awhile as they jumped $500+ in price and I just wasn't willing to pay up. As an added bonus Lowe's has 10% of their gift card at one the rebate sites I frequent which wipes that $100 out.