Smart Financial Planning

A recent poll in Michigan asked people for their thoughts on the state of the nation’s economy today.

Only 35% of those polled described the economy as excellent (6%) or good (29%), while 65% described it as either not so good (28%) or poor (37%).

However, when asked how they would describe their PERSONAL financial situation these days, a majority of people (61%) described their circumstances as excellent (9%) or good (52%), while 38% described them as either not so good (25%) or poor (13%).

So the prevailing sentiment of this group is: I’m doing just fine, thank you very much, but the economy stinks.

There's a huge disconnect, right?

Michigan is not unique in its conflicted feelings. A national Gallup poll shows that Americans are five times as satisfied with their own lives as they are with the economic direction of the country as a whole.

I'd be in this camp for sure. How about you?

The good news is inflation is falling pretty quickly.

After peaking at more than 9% in June last year, the latest inflation reading was a bit under 3%.

It took 16 months for the inflation rate to go from under 3% to over 9%. It’s taken just 12 months to go from over 9% to under 3%.

However, the bad news is inflation has been higher than wage growth for some time now.