{"id":83206,"date":"2024-05-18T01:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=83206"},"modified":"2024-05-25T10:46:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T17:46:40","slug":"black-coffee-18-may-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id83206-black-coffee-18-may-2024.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: French Toast, Waffles & Nest Eggs"},"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

Room service? Send up a larger room.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Groucho Marx<\/strong><\/p>\n

I once went out with this wild girl. She made French toast and got her tongue caught in the toaster.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Rodney Dangerfield<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? Bloomberg<\/em> is reporting that 42% of American households with an income of more than $100,000 report being behind or delinquent<\/a> on so-called \u201cbuy now, pay later” (BNPL) payments. So it’s not just the poor who are being negatively affected financially – the upper-middle-class is also clearly suffering. Come to think of it … if X (nee Twitter) is any indication, the economy is even forcing some American millionaires<\/strong><\/em> to start pinching their wallets. Or so they say …<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, it\u2019s not just working households that are feeling the pinch. A new survey has found that just 4% of today\u2019s retirees said they’re \u201cliving the dream<\/a>\u201d – and the same percentage they’re \u201cliving the nightmare.\u201d The top concern – cited by 89% of respondents – is inflation lessening the value of their assets. Imagine that.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Americans believe they need around $1.46 million to retire comfortably. That\u2019s probably a good thing when one considers that only 1 in 1000 American retirees achieve a $5 million nest egg<\/a>. Unfortunately, only 3.2% of all American retirees were able to amass over $1 million. In fact, the median retirement savings account balance of the average American paints a much grimmer picture, standing at only $87,000, which obviously<\/strong><\/em> leads to only one conclusion: Most retirees failed to make the correct career decision when they were younger …<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Not surprisingly, the inability of Americans to save for retirement during their productive working careers is the reason why 91% of American retirees admit to being dependent on their Social Security<\/a> checks to help make ends meet. Never mind that those Social Security checks are also losing ground to inflation, as the annual adjustments are tied to the CPI, which severely understates the true inflation rate.<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Meanwhile, the Fed is clearly losing its fight against higher consumer prices as the latest data shows that it doesn\u2019t have inflation under control<\/a>. How bad is the war going? Well \u2026 for starters, US producer prices are now accelerating at the fastest pace since March 2023. In a normal world, the Fed immediately would raise interest rates to tamp down the fire \u2026 but the US absurd debt situation puts the kibosh on that. For now, at least. Ah, who are we kidding? Probably forever. Besides, it’s pretty obvious that at least one<\/strong><\/em> Federal Reserve general – not to mention central bankers everywhere<\/strong><\/em> –\u00a0are still completely discombobulated by the fog of war anyways:<\/p>\n

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(h\/t: @BTCryptoMedium)<\/p><\/div>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Needless to say, inflation is pinching the wallets of everyone in the middle class . However, some places are worse than others. For instance, when comparing large US cities, a new government report says Houston is experiencing the highest grocery price inflation<\/a> in the nation; in 2023 prices increased 7.8%. If you’re wondering about the inflation sweepstakes runner-up, it’s Boston (7%). Compare those figures to the national average of 5%. Frankly, we think all three of those numbers are wildly understated. We know the survey failed to check grocery prices in our neighborhood, where grocery prices increased by double digits in the past year. And that’s before<\/i><\/b> any “delivery” fees are applied:<\/p>\n