Inflation Had You Up All Night Too?

Damn.

I really didn't get much sleep last night, although when I got into bed everything was fine. I listened to my IPOD - how do these things hold 250, 500 and 7500+ songs and podcasts? - and thought that this would chill me out a little, but it didn't. (While I am posting this, I now realize that what may have also kept me up may have been the bowl of chocolate ice cream! )

The rule of thumb for me is that, if I am not asleep within a certain time frame, then I should probably get up and read or watch television rather than disturb my wife who was exhausted and needed to be up early for this Bar Mitzvah. My problem was anxiety. I had a draft of an article on inflation that I needed to finish for a publication, but everytime I thought about it, something else came to mind and I wanted to change the article! This rarely happens, but with this North Korea thing, oil and so much geopolitical uncertainty, well, it's all banged up. There was also another matter that was plaguing me, but I don't want to talk about it.

Earlier, my wife volunteered to edit (destroy) my final draft which will work out perfectly. She has emerged as the home "inflation hawk". You may hear more about her in another post.

Now that we know Starbucks had a "slight miss in its June sales performance" to quote the WallStreet Journal, it would appear to me that inflation has finally taken a toll on some of us. I guess people (especially me) are making choices; "the $3 latte' or the $3 gallon of gas today". The Federal Reserve is betting that oil prices will be enough to slow down inflation, so that more rate increases are not necessary. I believe that the Fed has gone too far with rate increases.

So far this year, the S&P 500 is up a paltry 1.4%. The 10 year Treasury is yielding around 5.18%. Pick your spot. Inflation is never good for the stock market. My wife and I have decided to park a little money into some really nice CDs that would get us north of 5%. I prefer dividend payers, but it is a democracy in our home and I don't want to force my views down her throat, you know. She might start testin' them rockets!

I really think that women should play more of a role in making investment decisions. From my experience with working with clients, I have found that men tend to be more of gamblers with investments and women seemed to be more deliberate. It is not to suggest that one is always better than the other. I just think that women may be the missing puzzle part when it comes to risk management here.

Today I have to keep the sunglasses on to hide the bags from under my eyes. Inflation worries will do that to you, you know.