Weathering the Storm

Posted: 5/12/2022 3:22:12 PM
Retirees and near-term retirees have taken a financial hit since the start of the year. From the end of 2021 to the present, equity index funds are down 16% and bond index funds are down almost 13%. In addition, traditional defined benefit pension plans – especially those that do not have cost of living provisions – are worth less as...

Inflation, Rising Wages, and Declining Real Wages: The Situation through April

Posted: 5/11/2022 10:04:06 AM
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just released the Consumer Price Index for April 2022 and the price level has now increased 10.1% from January 2021 to April 2022 and 8.2% from April of last year.  This year-over-year inflation rate in April was slightly lower than the March year-over-year inflation rate of 8.6%.  For all of 2021, ...

A Tale of Seven Inflation Measures

Posted: 4/29/2022 2:27:00 PM
We have many measures of inflation rates as they impact consumers and households.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces several versions of the Consumer Price Index.  Perhaps the most widely cited is the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).  For Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, the inflation prote...