Skip to main content

Waiting on the Bubble to Burst

I sold at the wrong time. TWICE.

In the early days of 2020, I was joint owner on two properties. Well, my life experienced a couple of changes, and I sold both of those properties. The property sales took place about six months apart, and I put my equity (which was in the form of cash) into a low-risk mutual fund. And, while that fund has done pretty well over the last two years, it hasn’t kept up with the rate of inflation.

Let me be dramatic. If I could buy one of said properties for what I paid for it ten years ago, I could buy two of them. Now I’d be lucky to buy two-thirds. Don’t worry, I do have a plan. Everybody mail just $10 to…just kidding.

But I digress. Today, we are talking about inflation. Let Google define it for you:  in·fla·tion; /inˈflāSH(ə)n/; a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money. Mmaaaaann, have we seen a huge amount of inflation in the last year! And experts don’t anticipate it getting any better any time soon. Who’s at fault? Well, I have my opinions, and they might not agree with yours. But, because this is NOT a political blog but a financial one let’s talk about what we can do to combat it instead of playing the blame game.

Allow me to share some ideas with you from one of the wealthiest men in the country, Warren Buffet. In this summary are a few ideas that might be over your head; I would certainly have to talk to my financial-guru friends to understand all of them! But, there was one tip that we can all get behind–“Limit your wants.”

We all know the difference between wants and needs. Now is NOT the time to be extravagant and make large purchases. Instead, get creative with your budget. Trim costs. Discontinue some subscriptions. Try new hobbies that have very little or no cost.

Hey, it’s spring, and talking a walk or hike won’t cost you a thing. There’s free yoga on YouTube. The exercise will do you good, and the mindfulness practice will help reduce the stress that certainly comes with higher prices.

I can’t be the only one feeling it, can I? Didn’t think so.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One More–Christmas Experiences Part II

Christmas is just a week away. Hopefully you’ve checked everything off your to-do list and can spend some quality time “experiencing” Christmas gifts with your family. Because, after all, your loved ones will be far more touched by how you made them feel than they will be with what you gave them. This week, I want to share with you my sister, Carey’s, family Christmas experience. “One Christmas, when my boys, now 18, 23 and 28, were little, we gave them an experience that is still talked about now. And it’s something so easily replicated that any family can do it, and it’s not too late to do it for Christmas (even ON Christmas) this year. We drove around our neighborhood and looked at all the homes decorated for the holiday. We took note of the addresses as we numbered them. We talked about what made each ornamented yards stand out. And at the end of the night, we voted for our favorite. I had my sons help me make some of our favorite holiday desserts and, in addition to taking p...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Financial Help

As part of the Discovery Family Coalition, we work with many agencies whose purposes are to help families in a myriad of areas. One of those areas is finances (that I get to chat with you about every week–yay!). And right now, families need all the financial help they can get, mine included. One of our fellow coalition partners, the Utah Department of Health & Human Services Child & Family Services, also does what it can to get help, including financial help, to families who need it. I happen to be on an email list, and this week I got an email with this information: “The Connect toCollect(C2C) program is focused on increasing low-income Utahans' receipt of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by educating individuals about this federal program and linking them to high quality, free tax preparation." What is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)? It's a tax credit that  helps low- to moderate-income workers and families get a tax break. If you qualify, you can us...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Marshmallow Experiment

In 1972, Stanford did a study about delayed gratification with children. It involved giant marshmallows and testing their patience.  You can see a short YouTube video about the study here . Basically, the kids who could sit alone with a giant marshmallow without eating it for a certain length of time were rewarded with a second giant marshmallow. Fun, huh? Some kids could be patient and reap the rewards; some could not. I was a small child when the study was conducted, and I wonder which side I might have been on. I HAVE learned to be pretty patient as an adult. One of the areas in which I’ve seen improvement is in finances. I have become a good money manager–I could be paid once annually and budget so that I won’t run out before year’s end, including having enough money to pay my own quarterly taxes–self-employed people do that. Speaking of taxes, I try not to overpay so that I qualify for a “refund,” because the government does not practice The Marshmallow Experiment. Huh? ...
Post a Comment
Read more