Even though there is more money in your pocket because of tax cuts, prices are going up on most everything you pay for.
Consumer prices were up 2.1% last month compared to April of 2017; car loans are getting more expensive, and even mortgage rates went up. Hank Lewis, an economist at Lone Star College, tells KTRH part of this has to do with the price of oil going up, because that impacts everything.
“Businesses have to spend money on the ingredients they need for goods and services. They need to spend money on the fuel needed to transport those goods and services,” Lewis explained.
Lewis says the other factor is the fact that simply put, we have a booming economy right now.
“It’s about 80% the fact that we are now in a flow and that the economy is doing better. But we should keep an eye on the price of oil. As long as that doesn’t rise too fast it won’t be a major supply shock,” Lewis said.
Right now oil is a little over 72 dollars a barrel.
Not saving your biggest financial regret
With prices on everything rising, it is making it more difficult to save these day. And not saving, according to new polling, is your biggest financial regret.
According to new polling 39% say their biggest regret is not saving enough. Financial planner Andy Smith, heard Saturdays on KTRH, says he hears that a lot, too.
“It’s only once you see your numbers in your plan how everything starts to break down,” Smith said. “This doesn’t surprise me, because I see it with a lot of different people. This is the biggest regret.”
So the question is will you do something about that? 25% say they have no plans to tackle the problem; 19% will try to within a year, and six percent say it will take more than a year. So why do we put it off?
“People would rather talk about death and their sex lives than talk about their money,” Smith stated.
Smith hosts ‘Investing Sense’ Saturdays at 10am on Newsradio 740 KTRH.