My, oh my — what has the world come to?
I never would have imagined we would experience so much history right in front of our faces!
The roller coaster ride of the last three to four years has been so emotionally and physically exhausting, not to mention our wallets, retirement, and paychecks all have been hit hard this past year. If you had a rocking 401k bet, you lost, and from what I am reading the market will still be unsteady to invest in anything later this year, so sit tight, sisters.
Rising inflation & home prices – what to do
If you were one of the lucky ones and bought at that sweet spot around 2019, you practically have free money with low interest on your mortgage. However, with rising inflation and inflated home values, are we seeing another 2008 market bubble? My network of mortgage lenders stood firm that we will not see a repeat of 2008 and that this is the new norm. What concerns me is the number of people taking out the equity in their homes to pay for their lifestyle and bills.
Eyes wide shut
I asked the nail tech at the salon I go to if they have noticed a difference and she said nothing. It’s like we haven’t changed our habits to fit the economic crunch. Are we spoiled? Could we possibly not be paying attention to the bigger picture? What I will say is for us Gen Xers who have been through it all and have a hustle like no tomorrow, what does our financial forecast look like for retirement?
What’s to be expected
With the rising inflation and our dollar being stretched to being worth nothing, that includes the overextension of our banking system. What will happen to our investments? I believe we are drifting into a new type of currency. I simply don’t have the financial knowledge on what that means for all who have tangible money invested in savings and retirement. Should we prepare and have cash on hand? I am so old school, but if the cash is worth nothing, what good will that do? So many questions. I can tell you the banking system is reassuring the customer that everything is fine; however, I am a bit of a skeptic.
Moving forward
We still buckle down and tighten our financial belts, AKA, trim the fat at home. Less DoorDash and eating out. Shop out of your closet and save. As for us parents with kids ready to shoot off to college, pray for a scholarship, right?! The wealth-building days that the boomers could benefit from I believe are gone for the moment, at least until we reset. We may work longer, so take care of your bodies and minds. Maybe the days of side jobs will be returning shortly. However, let’s not lose faith, right? There always needs to be turmoil and destruction before the good growth part comes in. Have faith; we are one resilient generation!
xo,
Felicity Nicole
