Will Obama’s Chained CPI Help Keep Inflation from Eating into Your Savings?

Posted on April 19, 2013 by MN Gordon

Will Obama’s Chained CPI Help Keep Inflation from Eating into Your Savings?
By Dennis Miller, Editor, Money Forever

This week we examine ways in which inflation nibbles away at your retirement income, especially in light of the President’s proposal for Chained CPI adjustments to Social Security.  The formal title is Chain-weighted Consumer Price Index and it’s a variation of how the government figures out what is what we would call “inflation.”  Either way, with the low rates on offer from CDs and other “safe” investments, investors who don’t take action fall behind every year.

Unfortunately, the numbers show what most people don’t want to face: the days of relying on Social Security plus a few stable bonds and CDs are long over.  To earn decent and sustainable returns, investors must search beyond traditional safe havens.

Adjustments to benefits are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) CPI-W Index, measuring prices for urban wage earners and clerical workers.  The idea behind the CPI-W adjustment is that since urban wage earners and clerical workers have constrained incomes, they will shop in a thrifty manner, similar to retirees. Continue reading →

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Get On the Road to Riches Today

Posted on April 16, 2013 by MN Gordon

It was bound to happen.  Yesterday’s selloff, that is.

Gold most notably laid a gigantic egg – in addition to the one it laid Friday – falling below $1,330.  The stock market took one look at the bullion market and then decided to take an enormous swan dive…the S&P 500 finished the day down 36 points and the DOW down 265 points.

On top of that, it was the 100-year anniversary of the income tax – what any thinking man will conclude is nothing short of government mandated property confiscation.  But then, just when it seemed the day couldn’t possibly get worse…it did.  A giant explosion went off at the Boston Marathon.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.

Certainly, we’ll continue to peer through our economic prism at the world around us as we connect the dots of apparent chaos…starting with today’s ruminations…

Have you ever heard of the spring swoon?

We never had…until last Friday.  From what we gather, it’s a name for what happens when, following a strong first quarter, the economy slumps over in the second quarter like a half empty flour sack on a bakery floor. Continue reading →

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Just a Few Nuts a Day Makes All the Difference

Posted on April 12, 2013 by MN Gordon

Did you know that one in six Americans age 65 and older lives in poverty?

We discovered this while doing research for a new publication we’re working on about how to retire rich.  Quite frankly, we find this figure to be a shocking disgrace.  But what’s more, President Obama’s proposing to Mickey Mouse down the Social Security inflation adjustment.

The crux of the new adjustment is some academic hogwash called “chained-CPI.”  The whole premise of chained-CPI is that when the price of one thing goes up you can offset it by buying more of something else.  For example, when apples go up people can buy oranges, when Coke goes up they can buy Pepsi, and when tuna goes up…there’s always cat food.

No doubt, Obama’s being forced to do this by powers well beyond his control.  You see, the Social Security System was doomed to fail from the get go. Continue reading →

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Clogging Up the Economy

Posted on April 9, 2013 by MN Gordon

By most accounts, as the season turned from winter to spring in 2013, economic recovery was ready to bloom.  The economy’s fields had been tilled and planted with care…housing was finally on the upswing.  Plus, the Federal Reserve was sprinkling its monetary fertigation at an EZ flow rate of $85 billion per month.

Everyone just knew the next big economic growth would appear at any moment.  In fact, if you skipped a blink, you could already see it.  What’s more, you could almost taste the forthcoming fruits of an abundant and bountiful summer harvest.

The stock market, that forward looking animal, was already investing borrowed capital and counting the unearned returns that would surely be generated by future profits.  New highs were being hit nearly every day.  Suckers were even buying stocks again.

How couldn’t they?  Suckers always buy high and sell low.  New all-time highs were the perfect carrot to bait them back in at just the imperfect moment.

Then, just when everyone least expected it, something rather displeasing happened.  Economic wheat rust appeared last Friday like grade school head lice. Continue reading →

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