nflation Stings Most If You Earn Less Than $300K. Here’s How to Deal.
More Americans than ever expect their finances to worsen as inflation hits a 40-year high. Do you really need that extra car?
March 13, 2022 at 12:00 PM UTC
By Teresa Ghilarducci
Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She’s the co-author of “Rescuing Retirement” and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.
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Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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If your income is more than $289,000 a year, the run-up in gas prices may be alarming — but it’s unlikely to hammer your overall finances. After all, Americans at that level spend no more than 1% of their take-home pay on gas and oil, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For those earning much less, it’s a different story. Those at the median, with income of about $50,000, spend more than 3% of it on gas and motor oil. Low-income households making between $7,000 and $19,000 spend about 9%. The latest inflation numbers show gas prices jumped 6.6% in February from a month earlier — even before President Joe Biden banned U.S. imports of Russian oil.
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Economists say the overall share of income spent on gas is lower than it used to be, and despite the increases, prices are still relatively low by historical standards. That’s true, but it offers little consolation these days for someone on the lower end of the income distribution who drives to work.
Food prices are also up, posting their biggest monthly increase since April 2020. There, too, those making less than $19,000 spend much more of their income — almost 15% — compared with higher earners, whose total food spending is just 4% of their income. Households with income of about $50,000 spend 8.5% of it on food.
The most recent barometer of consumer sentiment showed the highest-ever share of Americans expecting their finances to worsen in the coming year. About 54% think their incomes will lag behind inflation in the year ahead — a pretty high percentage historically.
I expect those most affected will adjust to inflation in the classic way by shifting away from relatively expensive items toward close substitutes. Here are some ideas on how to reconfigure consumption and lessen the blow. But again, adjustment is hard for people without savings or choices.
First, you have to know your budget to control your budget. Budgeting takes effort, but it gives you power. And that power is even more important in inflationary times.
To deal with gas prices, it’s worth reconsidering public transportation if it’s an option where you live. Fares are up about 8% compared with 38% for gasoline. Now may even be the time to sell your car. It certainly isn’t the time to buy a new or used one. Prices have stabilized a bit, but used-car prices are still up more than 40% from a year ago, and new ones are up 12%.
When it comes to food, don’t be afraid to explore. Prices for animal-based food products will certainly increase. Ukraine and Russia supply a significant amount of corn and barley to the world market, mainly to feed livestock for human food. Meat prices have increased about 14% from February 2021 and will go up even more. Though your palate may not be used to it, tasty meat substitutes include vegetables (where prices are up a little over 4%, or lentils and beans, which are up about 9%). Plan to cut out the middle creature and consume plants directly. It’s a more efficient, healthier and cheaper way to get calories.
And stay away from buying in bulk — you usually don’t save any money by buying more. Sure, there may be great deals, but most consumers wind up falling for the tricks that entice them to spend more — things like offering free samples, which often leads to impulse buying, or placing discounted big-ticket items near the entrance. If you absolutely must buy in bulk, try to do it with a friend, so you can split some of the costs and ensure everything gets eaten or used.
Aside from being more thoughtful about purchases, it’s also prudent to think about unnecessary charges. So review your credit card to make sure there aren’t any unwanted recurring ones.
If you’re one of the many Americans who became a new pet owner during the pandemic, you might want to rethink those costly pet medical needs. It may sound harsh, but researchers actually don’t recommend pet chemotherapy — which can cost up to $10,000 — for ethical reasons.
Coping with inflation could mean drastic actions or small ones. There are lots of ways people can duck and dance around relative price changes. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found people in recessions hold off on buying cars, furniture and appliances. Though they don’t cut back on travel, they do cut back on restaurants.
Try to be as flexible and creative as possible. Scientists tell us our brain plasticity will improve by trying novel things. There’s an advantage to mixing up what you consume to cope with unusual price spikes: You become more resilient as you create a locus of control and interrogate your habits.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
If you’re one of the many Americans who became a new pet owner during the pandemic, you might want to rethink those costly pet medical needs. It may sound harsh, but researchers actually don’t recommend pet chemotherapy — which can cost up to $10,000 — for ethical reasons.
Who are these researchers, lady? What makes it unethical to cure a dog’s illness?
It’s absolutely ridiculous to even talk about this in the context of inflation and family budgeting. Fucking boomer bullshit is what it is.
However, to answer your question, there is a gray area for when to treat pets’ illnesses. Dogs can’t tell you how much it hurts, or ask for pain killers, or understand why this is happening. Chemo fucking sucks, can make your dogs lose their appetite, and won’t necessarily extend the life of your pet.
Whether you treat your pet or not depends on how old they are, where the cancer is, how big they are, and another 20 or so factors your vet will discuss with you. It may or may not be in their best interest, and it may or may not be economically feasible to treat it. Those are two different questions.
Shit man, cancer drugs in general fucking suck. My wife was on tamoxifen for a year and she didn’t even have breast cancer, she’s just at very high risk. It’s played utter havoc with her hormones, causing all sorts of side effects in a systemic manner. To make matters worse, she metabolizes drugs very slowly, so it’s only now finally out of her system, months after ceasing treatment.
Now she’s saying fuck it, gonna get ‘em lopped off and replaced with fakes; as much as we both love what she has, the constant fear and agita she’s been getting from them is terrible.
This is with full knowledge and agency over what’s going on, so yeah, I get it, it’s [unintentionally] cruel to do to a pet.
Chemo is fucking awful. Had a gf survive breast cancer (before we met) and the thing traumatized her so much it came up in conversation several times a day, years after the fact. Mom just died of breast cancer. All chemo did was steal the last 2-months of her life.
Want to put your pet through that? For what will likely mean them dying miserably anyway?
Here’s some more info, too fucking depressing to really read top to bottom:
Seriously weird thing to bring up in an article regarding inflation and spending. Tacky at best. The author must have suffered something to have put that in there. The editor should have yanked it for sounding callous.
tl;dr: I see it as an ethical decision, not a financial one.
Chemotherapy is very well tolerated in most dogs and cats. Most patients experience no side effects. Around 15% will have mild side effects that will last for a few days and many will improve on their own. About 5% of patients can experience more moderate side effects and less than 1% can have more severe/fatal side effects. Cats tend to tolerate chemotherapy even better than dogs, and both tend to handle chemotherapy better than people.
How do they assess how a pet tolerates chemo? Not like they express themselves as we do, let alone fill out quality-of-life questionnaires. Can’t speak to dogs, but cats tend to hide their suffering until it’s too late.
Actually, I stopped to think it over. I might have to agree, depending on how much the dog would feel like shit vs the likelihood of a full recovery and also depending on the age.
The dog doesn’t have a say in the treatment, nor an explanation of what’s happening. If the vet and I discussed and determined that the outcome might be cruel for not much hope of gain, I’d make a plan with the vet to let my pal suffer the least amount possible.
This is far from a blanket endorsement to euthanize dogs with cancer, which should go without sayin.
If you’re going to say something that out of pocket in an article you have to follow up more thoroughly than that with an explanation and sources, what a fucking stupid thing to include in an article like this with so little info.
nflation Stings Most If You Earn Less Than $300K. Here’s How to Deal.
More Americans than ever expect their finances to worsen as inflation hits a 40-year high. Do you really need that extra car? March 13, 2022 at 12:00 PM UTC By Teresa Ghilarducci Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She’s the co-author of “Rescuing Retirement” and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.
Time for the bus?
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg In this Article Crude Oil 81.69USD/bbl. +0.09% Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal LEARN MORE This article is for subscribers only.
If your income is more than $289,000 a year, the run-up in gas prices may be alarming — but it’s unlikely to hammer your overall finances. After all, Americans at that level spend no more than 1% of their take-home pay on gas and oil, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For those earning much less, it’s a different story. Those at the median, with income of about $50,000, spend more than 3% of it on gas and motor oil. Low-income households making between $7,000 and $19,000 spend about 9%. The latest inflation numbers show gas prices jumped 6.6% in February from a month earlier — even before President Joe Biden banned U.S. imports of Russian oil. BloombergOpinion Vladimir Putin’s Biggest Weapon Is Western Fear E-Bikes Aren’t Making New York Any Deadlier If You’re Walking Supreme Court Scoffs at Flimsy Abortion Pill Argument Stop Applying My Recession Rule to Individual States
Economists say the overall share of income spent on gas is lower than it used to be, and despite the increases, prices are still relatively low by historical standards. That’s true, but it offers little consolation these days for someone on the lower end of the income distribution who drives to work.
Food prices are also up, posting their biggest monthly increase since April 2020. There, too, those making less than $19,000 spend much more of their income — almost 15% — compared with higher earners, whose total food spending is just 4% of their income. Households with income of about $50,000 spend 8.5% of it on food.
The most recent barometer of consumer sentiment showed the highest-ever share of Americans expecting their finances to worsen in the coming year. About 54% think their incomes will lag behind inflation in the year ahead — a pretty high percentage historically.
I expect those most affected will adjust to inflation in the classic way by shifting away from relatively expensive items toward close substitutes. Here are some ideas on how to reconfigure consumption and lessen the blow. But again, adjustment is hard for people without savings or choices.
First, you have to know your budget to control your budget. Budgeting takes effort, but it gives you power. And that power is even more important in inflationary times.
To deal with gas prices, it’s worth reconsidering public transportation if it’s an option where you live. Fares are up about 8% compared with 38% for gasoline. Now may even be the time to sell your car. It certainly isn’t the time to buy a new or used one. Prices have stabilized a bit, but used-car prices are still up more than 40% from a year ago, and new ones are up 12%.
When it comes to food, don’t be afraid to explore. Prices for animal-based food products will certainly increase. Ukraine and Russia supply a significant amount of corn and barley to the world market, mainly to feed livestock for human food. Meat prices have increased about 14% from February 2021 and will go up even more. Though your palate may not be used to it, tasty meat substitutes include vegetables (where prices are up a little over 4%, or lentils and beans, which are up about 9%). Plan to cut out the middle creature and consume plants directly. It’s a more efficient, healthier and cheaper way to get calories.
And stay away from buying in bulk — you usually don’t save any money by buying more. Sure, there may be great deals, but most consumers wind up falling for the tricks that entice them to spend more — things like offering free samples, which often leads to impulse buying, or placing discounted big-ticket items near the entrance. If you absolutely must buy in bulk, try to do it with a friend, so you can split some of the costs and ensure everything gets eaten or used.
Aside from being more thoughtful about purchases, it’s also prudent to think about unnecessary charges. So review your credit card to make sure there aren’t any unwanted recurring ones.
If you’re one of the many Americans who became a new pet owner during the pandemic, you might want to rethink those costly pet medical needs. It may sound harsh, but researchers actually don’t recommend pet chemotherapy — which can cost up to $10,000 — for ethical reasons.
Coping with inflation could mean drastic actions or small ones. There are lots of ways people can duck and dance around relative price changes. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found people in recessions hold off on buying cars, furniture and appliances. Though they don’t cut back on travel, they do cut back on restaurants.
Try to be as flexible and creative as possible. Scientists tell us our brain plasticity will improve by trying novel things. There’s an advantage to mixing up what you consume to cope with unusual price spikes: You become more resilient as you create a locus of control and interrogate your habits.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story: Teresa Ghilarducci at tghilarducci@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexis Leondis at aleondis@bloomberg.net
Who are these researchers, lady? What makes it unethical to cure a dog’s illness?
It’s absolutely ridiculous to even talk about this in the context of inflation and family budgeting. Fucking boomer bullshit is what it is.
However, to answer your question, there is a gray area for when to treat pets’ illnesses. Dogs can’t tell you how much it hurts, or ask for pain killers, or understand why this is happening. Chemo fucking sucks, can make your dogs lose their appetite, and won’t necessarily extend the life of your pet.
Whether you treat your pet or not depends on how old they are, where the cancer is, how big they are, and another 20 or so factors your vet will discuss with you. It may or may not be in their best interest, and it may or may not be economically feasible to treat it. Those are two different questions.
Shit man, cancer drugs in general fucking suck. My wife was on tamoxifen for a year and she didn’t even have breast cancer, she’s just at very high risk. It’s played utter havoc with her hormones, causing all sorts of side effects in a systemic manner. To make matters worse, she metabolizes drugs very slowly, so it’s only now finally out of her system, months after ceasing treatment.
Now she’s saying fuck it, gonna get ‘em lopped off and replaced with fakes; as much as we both love what she has, the constant fear and agita she’s been getting from them is terrible.
This is with full knowledge and agency over what’s going on, so yeah, I get it, it’s [unintentionally] cruel to do to a pet.
Chemo is fucking awful. Had a gf survive breast cancer (before we met) and the thing traumatized her so much it came up in conversation several times a day, years after the fact. Mom just died of breast cancer. All chemo did was steal the last 2-months of her life.
Want to put your pet through that? For what will likely mean them dying miserably anyway?
Here’s some more info, too fucking depressing to really read top to bottom:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6681408
Seriously weird thing to bring up in an article regarding inflation and spending. Tacky at best. The author must have suffered something to have put that in there. The editor should have yanked it for sounding callous.
tl;dr: I see it as an ethical decision, not a financial one.
Your link didn’t work.
Also:
https://www.advetcc.com/cancer-care/frequently-asked-questions-about-chemotherapy/
How do they assess how a pet tolerates chemo? Not like they express themselves as we do, let alone fill out quality-of-life questionnaires. Can’t speak to dogs, but cats tend to hide their suffering until it’s too late.
Actually, I stopped to think it over. I might have to agree, depending on how much the dog would feel like shit vs the likelihood of a full recovery and also depending on the age.
The dog doesn’t have a say in the treatment, nor an explanation of what’s happening. If the vet and I discussed and determined that the outcome might be cruel for not much hope of gain, I’d make a plan with the vet to let my pal suffer the least amount possible.
This is far from a blanket endorsement to euthanize dogs with cancer, which should go without sayin.
If you’re going to say something that out of pocket in an article you have to follow up more thoroughly than that with an explanation and sources, what a fucking stupid thing to include in an article like this with so little info.
I forgot I did this and I’m like Excuse me??? What did I do?