Inflation is a hidden tax that impacts everyone and especially the less fortunate among us. Unless you own your home, drive an electric car, don’t eat out much and grow your own food, the recent big spike in inflation likely impacted you. The 20 year CPI chart below shows the unusual nature of the current inflationary period.
Last week in our What’s Your Number article, we discussed how figuring out the amount of money you need for retirement is a multi-faceted problem that is unique to each of us. When playing with the inputs that go into our What’s Your Number tool, I was struck by just how big of an impact two of those inputs had on the results. Just a small change could switch the eventual outcome from leaving millions of dollars for your heirs/charity to being without money in the later years of your retirement.