{"id":79907,"date":"2023-08-19T01:15:36","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T08:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=79907"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:27:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T22:27:45","slug":"black-coffee-19-aug-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id79907-black-coffee-19-aug-2023.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Drivin’ and Cryin’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe<\/em> …<\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

Well … another busy week is behind us. So with that in mind, let’s get this party started …<\/p>\n

You’ve got to be very careful if you don\u2019t know where you are going, because you might not get there. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Yogi Berra<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? On average across the nation, apartments today are renting for less<\/a> than they did one year ago. This marks a major deceleration from recent years, when annual rent growth neared 18% nationally and soared to over 40% in a handful of popular cities. Hooray! Now for the bad news: While the annual rate of change did indeed turn negative last month, rents are on the rise again – and have been rising since January. Imagine that.<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> So inflation is clearly still a problem, despite the government CPI data. Those lower CPI prints are why seniors can expect a paltry 3%<\/a> Social Security (SS) cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year – that’s well below the 8.7% increase in benefits received this year. The latest 2024 estimate translates to an average monthly benefit check hike of less than $54. This year’s SS check payout – which was the biggest increase in four decades – raised the average retiree benefit by more than $140 per month. Meanwhile, younger people are more concerned about this<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, too many people remain unaware that when you deposit cash in a bank you’re no longer the legal owner of this money – in fact, you become a creditor to the bank. Now consider this: Thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act<\/a>, bail-ins have replaced bailouts for banks that get into financial trouble. Those bail-ins are used to cancel some – or all – of the distressed bank’s debt by reducing the value of its shares, bonds, and uninsured deposits. More specifically: your<\/strong><\/em> deposits. So the banks’ risk has been transferred to you<\/strong><\/em>. Yes; they’re all a bunch of thieves. It’s just that they’re not quite as obvious as these<\/strong><\/em> guys \u2026<\/p>\n