consumer prices

Pump Up the Prices: Putting Inflation in Perspective
graphic shows a dollar bill inflated

We’ve been hearing plenty out of the Federal Reserve Board from the business news outlets in recent weeks. Every wiggle of the Consumer Price Index has been dutifully tracked and reported, for those on inflation-watch. With recent inflation measures above the FRB’s 2% target, the finger-pointing becomes bigger news than the numbers themselves.

While we have fingers that are capable of pointing, we know they have better uses. One such use is preparing your portfolio to account for inflation. And this may actually take less energy than pointing and wagging our fingers after all!

When inflation dominates headlines, straight-line thinking starts taking over: how will we afford to buy groceries when gas is $300 a gallon? (I’m going to guess that we would find cuts elsewhere, like our cable bill, well before we starved.) And investors sometimes hop out of the market because the cost of doing business gets higher.

And those high-growth, pre-profit darlings will take a hit because a rise in interest rates—nominally to combat inflation—means these companies will pay more for the money to continue their pre-profitable journey.

When we invest in individual companies, we’re able to spot those holdings that benefit from a position of strength, whose business gives them the pricing power to ride out inflationary pressures. We’re excited about these holdings, and since we’re investing for the long haul, we’re expecting to ride along through multiple periods of rising and falling rates.

When we stretch out our time horizon, these major events look more like occasional bumps on the road to wealth.

So, in a way, we’re already investing for times of higher inflation. We make no guarantees that our way is better than any other, but we recommend caution when anyone acts like they have a crystal ball for this topic.

Let’s zoom out even more. At its core, asking about “when to get out” means that an investor will also have to ask “when to get back in”: success would require the investor to be lucky twice. We don’t prefer any scenario that slashes our odds so unnecessarily.

Clients, when you have questions or concerns, please reach out.

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Pump Up the Prices: Putting Inflation in Perspective – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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Bumps on the Road to Wealth: How to Invest for Times of Higher Inflation

When inflation dominates the headlines, it can feel like prices are headed up and up and up forever! But it’s never really a straight line, is it? Putting inflation in perspective.

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That ’70s Post
photo shows a close-up of the 1970s LOVE postage stamp for 8 cents

A TV sitcom from the turn of the millennium, That ‘70s Show was the story of teenage friends in the late 1970s. A period piece, the trappings of the show remind me how dramatically the life of the American consumer has changed—and yet the ’70s might come around again.

No, we are not going back to a time when the great new retail products included patented suitcases with wheels, Mr. Coffee automatic coffee makers, and Pong games. But for certain economic trends, That ’70s Show might seem more relevant once again.

Back then, inflation and interest rates were at multidecade peaks, up in the teens. Commodity prices were roaring higher, and shortages emerged. For forty years now, interest rates and inflation have been sliding: rates for each have been near zero for years.

Perhaps, finally, the trend is changing. Inflation rates and interest rates may rise again—perhaps persistently, for a period of years. No one knows for certain.

Inflation means rising prices. Just consider the changes you might have noticed recently with houses and cars and lumber, even our groceries and gasoline. Seems prices are on their way up, quickly in some places.

These things have major effects on the investment markets. Bonds and other fixed income investments may struggle if interest rates move higher; commodity producers may benefit from rising prices. Keep in mind that winners and losers emerge when things change.

We may be getting that ’70s feeling in some ways, but it’s a good reminder that history has provided a solid foundation for our work here with you.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this (or simply reminisce about the ’70s), email us or call.

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That ‘70s Post – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services