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It seems the strong consumer demand born out of a stay-at-home stimulus-laden pandemic environment is continuing into the end of 2022, and probably 2023 as Federal Reserve data issued Tuesday shows a sharp rise in household debt during the third quarter. What happened: Due to significant increases in credit card usage and mortgage balances, American households increased their debt at the fastest rate in 15 years. Total debt increased by $351 billion for the period of July to September, the largest nominal quarterly increase in 2007, suggesting that the "excess savings" the Fed believed Americans possess has already been spent....

How bad is inflation under Biden? Consumer credit outstanding soared by 8.1% YoY in August as the inflation rate soared to 8.2%. Meanwhile, the personal savings rate YoY cratered to -59.3%. Of course, Biden is his tone-deaf manner told Americans to buy a cheaper brand of bran cereal. What a complete and utter mess under Inflation Joe and Foul Powell (on the prowl).

In addition to the 54% of survey respondents who say they’ve cut back putting money toward their nest egg, 43% have dipped into their retirement savings due to high inflation.

The pro-Biden yahoos at The Hill are flailing over Americans blaming President Joe Biden for the obliteration of trillions of dollars from the embattled U.S. stock market. The Hill whipped out the exhausted “Republicans pounce” angle to harangue Biden’s critics in a story headlined: “Republicans pounce on ailing markets to criticize Biden.” The liberal outlet mourned that “[w]hile Biden has so far been able to dodge blame for the recent stock market declines in the wake of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, Republicans are increasingly tying the faltering markets to the White House.” Perhaps the outlet is trying...

More than a third of Americans have drawn on their savings accounts to handle rising prices, taking out hundreds of dollars on average, according to a recent survey by New York Life Insurance Company. Since January, 36 percent of Americans have drawn an average of $617 from their savings to pay their bills, the company found. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed expressed anxiety that a recession is approaching, and roughly a third reported being "uncertain" or "anxious" about their personal finances. Respondents cited monthly bills, health care costs, grocery prices, and gas prices as their areas of greatest financial...

Americans’ Savings Rate Drops to Lowest Since 2008 as Inflation Bites. Yes, inflation really bites. In fact, as US inflation is near the 40-year high, US personal savings declined -65% YoY as consumers try to cope with rising prices. Its not only that personal savings is crashing in the face of inflation, revolving debt has soared as consumers try to cope with rising prices. I call this chart “The Biden Bowl.” Soaring consumer credit card debt with crashing personal savings.

Both incomes and spending were expected to rise MoM in March and they did with spending rising 1.1% MoM (almost double the 0.6% rise expected) and outpacing the 0.5% MoM rise in incomes. This is the 6th straight month of rising incomes and 3rd straight month of rising spending… For the 3rd straight month, the increases in spending outpaced the rise in incomes pushing the savings rate to its lowest since Dec 2013 Source: BloombergFinally, The Fed’s favorite inflation rate – the PCE Deflator – rose by 6.6% YoY (slightly less than the 6.7% YoY expected) but still the highest...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said the American people stand to benefit from having more electric vehicles on the road but failed to elaborate on how they could become more affordable.

“From a macroeconomic perspective, it would certainly be helpful if consumer demand were to cool off,” said Michael R. Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “Rooting for low-income households to have less savings is not great, but I think it’s important to remember low-income households are the ones who are hurt the most by inflation. It doesn’t sit well thinking, ‘Boy, it’d be great if households burned through their excess savings.’ But we’re not in a normal period.” A Bank of America report in November noted that price increases for some goods, especially in...

I have a friend who has $150,000 in a CHECKING account. He basically has no bills, house and car paid for, makes good money so bank account is growing significantly each month, and current age is 64

A mere 44% of Americans have enough savings to cover an unplanned expense of $1,000, according to a Bankrate.com survey. The number means that the majority of Americans would need to use other methods, aside from their personal savings, to pay for an emergency expense. While the findings may be surprising to some, they represent an improvement compared to last year, when 39% said they have enough money saved for a $1,000 emergency expense. Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com, says, “While the ability to cover an unplanned $1,000 expense from savings is the best we’ve seen over the...

The snowball effect of cumulative inflation is going to be on display tomorrow when the BLS inflation data from December is released. We have previously discussed the unavoidable price increases as noted within the November data Here, and within the producer price data Here. While the data being released tomorrow is backward looking, we are in the eye of the inflation storm right now. The consumer prices at end of January and through February are all reflecting new purchase order prices and contract prices to wholesalers, buyers and retailers. As a result, the December reports will be the precursor to...

The Federal Reserve’s zero-interest rate policies (ZIRP) has The Fed Funds Target Rate at a measly 25 basis points or 0.25%. While this is great for some, it is disastrous for savers. Once we subtract off the inflation rate (CPI YoY), we find that the REAL 90-day Certificate of Deposit (CD) rate is a horrifying -6.74%. I don’t think that Congress or the Biden Administration really think about how their spending may contribute to inflation and crush savers. Or the American worker who is seeing NEGATIVE real average hourly earnings growth (yes, Biden said that Americans have more money this...

NEWS: The initial interest rate on new Series I savings bonds is 7.12 percent. You can buy I bonds at that rate through April 2022.

With inflation running at over 6 percent and interest rates on savings near zero, the Federal Reserve is delivering a negative 6 percent real (inflation-adjusted) return on trillions of dollars in savings. This is effectively expropriating American savers’ nest eggs at the rate of 6 percent a year. It is not only a problem in 2021, however, but an ongoing monetary policy problem of long standing. The Fed has been delivering negative real returns on savings for more than a decade. It should be discussing with the legislature what it thinks about this outcome and its impacts on savers. The...

The average American needs their retirement savings to last them 14 to 17 years. With this in mind, Visual Capitalist's Carmen Ang asks (and answers below), is $1 million in savings enough for the average retiree?Ultimately, it depends on where you live, since the average cost of living varies across the country. This graphic, using data compiled by GOBankingRates.com shows how many years $1 million in retirement savings lasts in the top 50 most populated U.S. cities.Editor’s note: As one user rightly pointed out, this analysis doesn’t take into account interest earned on the $1 million. With that in consideration,...

Asset managers like BlackRock are pushing to create ESG 401(k) funds in part because they can charge higher fees. According to Morningstar, the asset-weighted average expense ratio of U.S. "sustainable" funds was 0.61% in 2020 compared to 0.41% for all open-ended mutual and exchange-traded funds and 0.12% for passive funds. This difference can reduce retirement savings by tens of thousands of dollars over a few decades. (snip) All of this amounts to a backdoor rewrite of Erisa, one of the better laws of the last 50 years. Progressives are moving across the Biden administration to steer private capital to implement...

Democrats on Capitol Hill are proving their socialist stripes: They’ve reportedly considered raiding the “super-sized retirement savings accounts” of the wealthy to pay for their $3.5 trillion progressive spending fiasco. On Tuesday, Politico reported that congressional Democrats are “aghast that hundreds of Americans have IRAs worth more than $25 million, and nearly 30,000 have accounts with balances topping $5 million.” (The nerve of them, no?) On the other hand, they observe, some folks “have little to no retirement savings” — also surely the fault of those who work hard and save their money over the course of their lives. Meanwhile,...

U.S.—America is celebrating today after the Biden administration announced that people will save a full 16 cents on their cookouts this year. While this has been welcome news for most, it has also exposed the dark underbelly of America's continuing struggle against gender inequality. This is because for every 16 cents a man saves on his cookout, the average woman will only save 12 cents. "I wish I could say I was surprised by this," said Senator and equality expert Elizabeth Warren. "I'm actually not surprised in the least since we live in an evil, sexist country. Please donate to...

Many Americans don’t save enough for retirement, but it’s entirely possible to save too much — at least according to the IRS. Tax laws limit how much you’re allowed to contribute to retirement accounts, and excess contributions can be penalized. Uncle Sam doesn’t want you to leave the money in the account too long, either. Those who fail to take enough out of their retirement accounts also face heavy penalties. Here’s what you need to know to stay on the right side of the IRS’ rules. Overstuffing your retirement accounts Not everyone is allowed to contribute to retirement accounts. Contributions...