Inflation is back for those who have been somehow living a quiet life entirely off the grid. Inflation is the rising of the: Cost of Living, Consumer Price Index or daily life essentials.
What caused this? It depends on who you ask, but we are in an interesting situation. We have inflation, near full employment, and now rising interest rates. The interest rates are a reaction to the rising prices. No matter what caused it, we are living in interesting times once again. Can the fragile economy that needed historically low-interest rates to withstand this onslaught survive? Will the Real Estate markets implode? I’ll tell you in 6 months.
Lovely graphics from Stats Canada help us understand where the price explosions are coming from.
When did this all start? Have a look at this graphic, which is very helpful.
We had a good run with low inflation, but looks like we are going to have to live with it now, but for how long?
What Shall We Do?
There are plenty of things that can be done if you have the financial ability to do so:
- Lower your debt now, while interest rates are low. If you are unable to do that, maybe it is time to talk to a bankruptcy trustee or registered financial planner about what you can do about this. Things are not going to get better very soon.
- Time to think about a budget again. Yes, budgets are very old-fashioned, but so was Inflation until a few months ago. If you have no budget, how do you know how Inflation is affecting you. If you have the ability to reign in your spending habits, now is the time.
Previous Rants About Inflation
- Food Inflation at 5.4% for October 2023, better but still rising
- Grocery Inflation in Canada at 8.5% in July in 2023, doesn’t look like things are getting much better.
- June 2023 Inflation was at 2.8% but Groceries were at an astronomical 9.1%.
- In 2022 Inflation at 7.7% May 2022 in Canada was near the high point of things.
- Inflation at 6.7% March 2022 in Canada goodness that was a bit of a jump?
- Inflation 4.4% September 2021 shows that this started a while ago.
- Looks like COVID leads to Inflation in August 2021 ?
- I talked about this in April of 2021, didn’t think it was going to get this bad, this fast.
- Inflation at 2011 levels ? OK, so I have even written this title before? Yes, I need more imagination.
- Bank in 2017 Inflation Still Under 2 Pct (for now) so things were OK back then too.
- Previously I have written a lot about inflation, here is a small taste. Note the snappy titles.
- The year was 2016
- Shocking Electricity Price in August (CPI Canada)
- Electricity Prices Continue to Sizzle in July
- Zap! Electricity Prices Pushes Inflation in June
- Expensive Food and Shelter in April in Canada
- Good Food Still Is Not Cheap in Canada (Inflation for March)
- Food Prices Continue to Rise for February
- Veggies up 18.2 pct in Canada
- Now for 2015
- The year was 2016
And that is just scratching the surface.
