One client this tax season was asking me what I thought the economy was going to do in the near term, this gentleman is slightly older than me.
I started by reviewing that 2021 was a gangbuster year, that most of my accounts had hit their highs and that I was pleased where thing were going. Then 2022 hit and the economy hit the skids and that I stopped looking when one vendor valuation decreased $45,000. I watched as the market practically went into free fall.
Since we are both getting closer to the concept of being retired, this is a major concern to us both, he has a similar experience which is why the questions.
I told him that I expect inflation to increase along with costs for just about everything. I expect banks to reign in lending even though interest rates are increasing. I do not expect to see interest rates raise for saving at anywhere near the same rate. I expect that maybe CD’s and money markets will barely get above 1% if that high.
I expect that the current stabilization of the stock market to fade and prices to tumble a bit more. The Ukraine situation and Biden’s cavalier responses of removing Putin are not helping. This and the aftereffects of the pandemic.
I expect that the wave of manager and supervisors’ positions shed during the pandemic are gone for quite a while. The only real openings are those bottom tiered positions that no one really wants to do especially for minimum wage.
I am basically not optimistic about our current outlook of the country of my retirement accounts…