By Kevin M. Hedley

Looking back on 2022, for much of the year inflation was a major topic. 

Inflation peaked at 9.1 percent in June of 2022 which was the highest rate since 1980. Inflation is measured by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics which calculates CPI inflation by taking an average weighted cost of a basket of goods and dividing it by the same basket of goods from the previous month. 

So, a lot of the inflation numbers reported are based in comparison to the previous month and not since the beginning of the year. Some of the root causes of inflation included higher commodity prices due to supply issues which was exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, higher prices due to increased demand of consumers who spent less in the pandemic while saving more and supply struggling to keep up, and tight labor markets leading to increases in employee wages.

In order to combat inflation, the Fed has tightened its monetary policy by continuing to raise interest rates at it’s most aggressive pace since the 1970s. It appears the Fed has made combatting inflation a top priority, understanding the risk of being so aggressive may cool the economy to the point of triggering a recession.

By Joseph Vedarte, CRPC

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. These four steps can help you figure out the amount that’s right for you. 

Ask three retirement experts how much you need to save for retirement, and you’ll likely get three different answers. 

One might respond with a specific number, say $3 million; another might suggest you save enough to let you draw down 80 percent to 90 percent of your annual pre-retirement income every year; and a third may say you should strive for 12 times your pre-retirement salary. So what’s right for you? And how do you know if you’re on track?

As you seek answers to those questions, the following steps can help you identify a sustainable savings target, one designed to support your desired lifestyle over a retirement that could last 30 years or more. Knowing that can be useful in figuring out whether you need to adjust your current savings and investment plan.  

Ask yourself: How long could my retirement last?

“There are multiple personal variables to weigh when starting to think about how much you’ll need to save for retirement,” says David H. Koh, managing director and senior investment strategist, chief investment office, Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank. 

By Stephen Kyne

The year 2022 was an incredibly difficult year for the economy and the markets. In fact, it was the worst year for U.S. stock markets since 2008. Rapidly rising interest rates meant that there were few places to hide as an investor, since even fixed income funds sank due to interest rate pressure. 

The S&P 500, the most broadly used US index, ended the year down 20 percent, while the NASDAQ suffered a 33 percent loss, according to FactSet. You’ll be in good company if you open your December statement and find that your balance dropped in 2022.

Down years happen, and it’s something that every investor must accept. The question is: Where do we go from here?

We think that the economy and markets will be impacted by several factors. The first of which will be the continued raising of interest rates by the Fed.

Caught flat-footed in early 2022, the Fed began a rapid series of interest rate increases in a desperate attempt to rein in rampant inflation, which resulted from the wanton subsidies and stimulus of the government’s pandemic response. Since interest rates are essentially the price of money, raising them should slow down economic activity, although it can be a messy and very imprecise process.