#1,474 Why education is key to your financial future

Wednesday morning, we had the inflation report, uh, that showed consumer prices rising three point seven percent over the past year, up from three point four, which was in August.

Core inflation, basically, it, it excludes food and energy.

Um, that also accelerated, uh, reaching two point six annually.

Stocks edged a little bit lower after that report, uh, while the Treasury yield, that actually jumped.

So why does this matter? Your account balances can stay the same while the amount it buys actually gets smaller.

Now think about that.

If your money is worth less or worthless, you may have to work more hours, more, more time, do different things, and we're gonna discuss different strategies and techniques to help, help guide you through those decisions.

I mean, think about your groceries, uh, insurance, travel, um, and, and really the lifestyle that most people probably want in retirement.

Those expenses, uh, belong in your financial plan as well.

Um, cash also serves an important pur- purpose.

You need accessibility to your money for whatever, you know, emergencies, uh, different upcoming expenses, but you also need to understand what inflation actually means for your money.

You know, and you gotta know what it means for the next ten, twenty years.

Um, learning to invest starts with understanding your goals, um, your time horizon.

I mean, is it short term or is it long term? And the amount of uncertainty you can handle.

I mean, there's a lot, let's qui- let's be quite frank here.

There's a lot of uncertainty in the, in the world right now, so you have to be-- understand what's going on with that as well.

Inflation also changes the market ex- expectations for interest rates.

Those expectations affect your, I mean, almost everyday things that are going on, the, the stocks that you buy, um, bonds, your borrowing costs.

If you're looking to purchase a home, we know those interest rates have gone up or borrow money for something, so you have to understand how that works.

You don't have to predict every economic report though, but you need to understand how changing conditions could affect what you actually own.

Um, tha- and that's the knowledge part of it, is it can help you respond, uh, through the different headlines, um, that, that can make you nervous.

So it's not only the knowledge though.

You have to have the skill and take action so those challenges that we discuss e- each and every week don't continue to be those challenges.

Uh, it's earnings seasons ob- obviously this week.

Uh, you know, good companies can still have falling stocks.