The last global pandemic was 104 years ago. The last time a sovereign European nation was attacked unprovoked was during WWII, about 83 years ago. The last time inflation was this high was 40-plus years ago. The last time inflation was this much higher than interest rates was over 70 years ago.
This just in: life and families are messy. “Messy” not only describes in many cases the relationships but also the finances of even some of the most successful families.
Without question this is the biggest monetary and fiscal mess I’ve experienced in my twenty-seven years as a financial advisor…
Despite the ubiquity of recent mentions of inflation in the press our generation has relatively little experience with it. Our current public policy makers who are mostly in their 50’s and 60’s were teenagers at the oldest when the last serious bouts of inflation were dealt with in the early 80’s have no personal experience dealing with inflation as policy makers.
There are plenty of scary and negative headlines referencing multiple economic and geopolitical challenges around the globe and at home.
I don’t know about you but it sure seems the world’s inhabitants are living through an almost endless cycle of “bad stuff” - since March of 2020 when Covid-19 first changed things. It’s way too reminiscent of the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray played a newspaper reporter covering Punxsutawney Phil’s annual ascent from his hole – in an endless loop of repeating days. In the words of my favorite accidental philosopher (Yogi Berra) – “it’s like deja-vu all over again”.
