Unless you’ve spent the last couple years under a rock or without turning on a TV or logging onto the internet, you’re aware that 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗸𝘆𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. Things have started to regress back to the mean thus far in 2023, but upon closer inspection, one will find that the risks posed by 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 are ever present. The year-over-year inflation rate in 2022 was 8.5%. In 2023, it came down to 4.9%. Thus, since 2021, we’ve seen a 𝟭𝟯.𝟰% 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 in our cost for goods. But how can you tell the degree to which inflation is impacting or hurting you? Two tests to look at would be to first ask yourself if your 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴. The next would be to see if your 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴. The way things are structured, because you can spend money you may not have or it may be backfilled from your reserves, 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 of retirement plans if you don’t pay attention!