Navigating Inflation: Strategies for Savings and Investments

While inflation is slowing, consumers are still grappling with price hikes from the past two years, which have outpaced earnings and left many Americans falling behind. During the last two years, prices overall have risen by 13%, while earnings have risen by just 10%. The cost of many necessities has risen by more than overall inflation during the last two years. Housing, the biggest portion of consumer spending, is up 14% during the last two years. Groceries are up 18%. As the inflation rate slows, the pain of rising prices diminishes. But a slowing rate of inflation is not the same as prices that are actually falling, allowing consumers to regain lost purchasing power.