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F E A T U R E D A R T I C L E

Inflation in America: Track where Prices are Rising

After having rocked U.S. consumers at levels not experienced in more than 40 years, inflation is starting to moderate.

In May, consumer prices were 4.0% higher than the year before, down from a peak of 9% in summer 2022 and the lowest level in two years.

NBC News is tracking inflation levels across a variety of consumer metrics. The chart below shows how prices each month compare to the same time a year earlier.

For most of 2021 and 2022, broad swaths of the economy dealt with supply chain disruptions that affected the availability of wine and video game consoles to cars and eggs. For cars and consumer electronics, even if manufacturers wanted to build more items, they didn't have enough computer chips or raw materials to do so for more than a year. Car prices finally began falling in early 2023.

Many industries, including oil refining, cars and airlines, cut staff and production in 2020 at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving them understaffed when demand for travel roared back.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent oil embargoes by the U.S. and the European Union have also further strained the global energy supply, isolating one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers and driving prices higher as countries scramble for replacements.

And rising natural gas prices have led to spikes in the cost of electricity, sending energy bills soaring in some cities.

The federal government has taken steps to combat rising prices. President Joe Biden authorized several withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and more than 20 states, including New York, Connecticut and Georgia, either paused their local gas taxes or introduced legislation to do so.

The Federal Reserve has also raised interest rates several times in the past year to cool demand by making it more expensive for consumers and businesses to borrow money.

Title: Inflation in America: Track where prices are rising
Author: Nigel Chiwaya, JoElla Carman and Danica Jefferies
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/inflation-tracker-how-much-prices-rising-us-consumers-n1296378
© 2023 NBC UNIVERSAL. All rights reserved.

Happily Retired: 12 Tips to Enjoy Life After Retirement

What will you do when you retire? Learn 15 tips to find purpose in your golden years, enjoy each day, and remain happily retired for life.

It’s finally happening. After decades of long hours and hard work, it’s time to hang up your hat and retire.

You’ve been dreaming of this moment for as long as you can remember! However, now those coveted golden years are actually upon you, you can’t help but wonder what life’s actually going to be like…

Will it really be the sunshine-and-rainbow-extravaganza that society suggests it should be? Or is there a danger you’ll be disappointed?

You recall a couple of telling statistics – that of the 34 million Americans who are aged 65 or above, almost 2 million suffer from depression. And that 60% of retirees who return to work do so because they simply want something to do!

Maybe there’s more to being happily retired than meets the eye…

If you’re on the cusp of retirement and those sorts of thoughts are drifting through your mind, then you’re in the right place. Today, we’re going through 15 top tips to help you enjoy an amazing, contented, and fulfilling life after retirement.

1. Maintain a Strong Social Life

A thriving social life is invaluable when you retire. Not only does it ensure you stay busy throughout the week, but you develop a strong support network that can keep you company and lend a hand whenever you need something.

Furthermore, one-third of people suffer from loneliness later in life. Having strong social connections – be it from family, friends, or community groups – reduces the risk of isolation and the negative emotions that can follow.

As much as anything else, though, having an active social life is about enjoying your retirement! No man is an island, after all. Whether you play golf each week with friends, visit relatives on the weekend, join a social club, or go out for dinner with old colleagues once a month, you’re having fun and feeding your soul.

2. Establish a Daily Routine

One reason retirement can be problematic is that you lose the routine you may have held for decades. It’s discombobulating! Your days lose their structure, and a sense of lethargy can creep in. Not only that, but, left to your own devices, it’s also easy to fall into bad habits – like oversleeping and forgoing exercise.

That’s why we suggest you establish a new daily routine when you retire. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, nor do you have to stick to it too rigidly. Simply waking up, eating your meals, and going to bed at similar times each day can help.

Incorporate some physical activity, family time, and spiritual practice, too, and you’ll be onto a winning routine. Indeed, according to WebMD, routines reduce your stress levels, make you sleep better, and improve your health – among a slew of other benefits. You’ll feel a greater sense of purpose and enjoy a more fulfilling life.

3. Stay Active in Retirement

Another key ingredient to a happy life after retirement is exercise. As one of the most important ways to boost our overall health, exercise will delay and/or prevent a slew of physical and psychological problems associated with aging. It strengthens your muscles as well, which enables you to remain independent for longer.

The CDC recommends adults aged 65 and above do at least 2.5 hours of “moderate-intensity activity” (e.g., brisk walking) or 75 minutes of “vigorous-intensity activity” (e.g., hiking or jogging) each week. You should also work on your balance and do muscle-strengthening activities for 3 days and 2 days a week, respectively. A few examples of good physical types of exercise for older adults include:

Yoga (or chair yoga if you have mobility issues)
Pilates
Tai chi
Walking (adjusting the pace according to your abilities)
Zumba
Resistance bands
Weight lifting
Swimming/Water aerobics
Gardening

4. Eat a Healthy Diet

On the subject of health, try your best to maintain a healthy diet too. As with exercise, this is vital for everyone, regardless of age. But it becomes even more important when you enter your golden years.

Indeed, research suggests retirees often change their eating habits – especially men, who tend to eat less healthily and are more likely to become obese. A well-balanced diet also aids weight control, boosts energy levels, and decreases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions.

Stay hydrated, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and avoid foods that are high in cholesterol and saturated fats. A diet full of whole grains, lean meat, seafood, and legumes should provide all the nutrients you need without the excess calories.

5. Sort Out Your Finances

Neglecting the financial side of retirement is a recipe for stress and uncertainty. With any luck, though, you’ll have been preparing for it for some time – spending, saving, and investing sensibly over the years so you can enjoy a life of leisure as a retiree!

Alas, this isn’t always the case. For example, the median sum of money in the retirement accounts of Americans aged 65+ is just $87.7k. Considering that may have to last a few decades, you can see why so many retirees struggle.

We could write an entire article on this topic! For now, though, our best advice is to hire a reputable financial advisor to help get your finances in order. Just be sure to find someone who’s a fiduciary advisor. These financial professionals work independently and should have your best interests at heart – as opposed to someone who receives a commission for recommending certain financial products.

6. Start a New Hobby

One of the primary joys of retirement is that you reclaim your time. There’s no more 9 to 5, which means your days are yours to do as you please! It’s fantastic…but it also opens the door to an oft-unexpected challenge: What on earth should you do all day?

One popular option is to pick up a new hobby. Whether it’s learning an instrument, learning a second language, going fishing, traveling, teaching yourself how to draw, writing a book, or playing a sport, hobbies are perfect ways to have fun, meet new people, and do something worthwhile with your time.

So what’s something you’ve always wanted to do?

7. Focus on Your Current Pastimes

Picking up a new hobby is great. But you could just as easily double down on the pastimes you do already – especially if you’ve been unable to indulge in them much throughout your working life.

If you love reading science-fiction novels, go ahead and read them! Love to paint beautiful landscapes in wispy watercolors? Paint those landscapes! Have a favorite band that you love to watch live? Book tickets and go see them.

The world’s your oyster, and you have time to spare, so now’s the ideal time to embrace your hobbies. Bear in mind that not all of them are made equal, though! Try to pick activities that keep you active, energize you, and stimulate your mind.

8. Give Back

One of the secrets to a happy life is the act of giving – doing things that benefit others as opposed to just yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you volunteer for a good cause, make a donation to charity, or simply compliment someone on their appearance. The outcome is the same: it feels good to do good.

Take this review article from BMC Public Health, in which volunteering “had favorable effects on depression, life satisfaction, [and] well-being”. The evidence, both anecdotal and scientific, indicates that giving back works wonders for your personal well-being.

Now you have more time on your hands, then, why not use some of it to partake in volunteerism? You’ll be contributing to a good cause and doing something sociable at the same time – ticking off another suggestion on this list in the process!

9. Retire in Stages

If you’re not ready to step back from your career, why not ease your way into retirement by winding down gently? You could step back bit by bit over a number of years, easing off the workload until you’re ready to retire fully.

For example, some soon-to-be retirees decide to go part-time before moving down to one day a week and then finally just doing sporadic consultancy work. Take this sort of tack, and retirement will come as less of a shock to the system.

Like the mountaineers who ascend Everest in stages to acclimatize to the altitude, you’ll adjust gradually to the change of lifestyle. As a result, it feels more natural when you hang up your hat, which means the emotional fallout that many retirees experience isn’t as pronounced.

10. Get a New Job

Okay, hear us out! While a job may be the last thing you want right now, working after retirement is a totally different experience from working before. After all, this time, you’re doing it because you want to – not because you have to.

You could see this as an opportunity to do something totally different. Are there any particular roles or industries that have always interested you? Or do you have a business idea you’d like to pursue? Or could you take whatever skills and knowledge you’ve accrued throughout your career and start doing consultancy work?

Whatever you do, you can expect to regain a sense of meaning and purpose. Oh, and the extra money you’ll be making won’t hurt either!

11. Travel the World

We’ve mentioned travel in the context of picking up new hobbies. However, it’s such a fantastic way to spend your life after retirement that it’s worth talking more about!

Whether you’re visiting friends who live overseas or exploring destinations you’ve had on your bucket list for years, traveling is a life-giving experience that delivers a host of proven benefits. Among other things, it relieves stress and boosts creativity, enhances happiness, and decreases the risk of depression.

It’s no surprise that almost 60% of Americans dream of traveling when they retire! If you’ve been one of them, then it’s about time you turn that dream into reality. Grab a globe, give it a spin, and see where your mood takes you.

12. Get Out Into Nature

Did you know that spending time in nature can improve your physical health and well-being? Seriously! It reduces feelings of stress, fear, and anger while boosting positive emotions. Not only that, but your blood pressure, muscle tension, and heart rate all drop at the same time.

This isn’t just a by-product of being physically active either (e.g., going for a walk or running around the local park). The magic happens simply because you’re in nature, surrounded by space, greenery, and fresh air.

So put on your boots, grab a jacket, and visit the nearest park, beach, or area of wilderness next time you’re looking for good retirement ideas! Want to take it a step further? Combine it with a brisk walk, hike, or run with friends to roll nature, exercise, and socializing into a single activity.

Avoiding a “Self-inflicted Recession”

Key Takeaways

Many investors today are worried about a recession.
For investors with longer time horizons, investing during a recession is almost unavoidable.
The good thing is that for long-term investors staying invested matters more than a recession.

Recession fears

After the dramatic events in the banking sector, many investors are worried about a potential recession, and for a good reason. Recessions have real-world impacts on people’s financial security and well-being. Thankfully, recessions don’t happen that often. Historically, we experience a recession about every 7.5 years.¹ The longer your investment time horizon, the more likely you are to experience a recession. This can be an incredibly challenging experience. The good news is that for long-term investors, recessions don’t actually matter that much.

Time heals all wounds (mostly)

The chart on the next page shows the average performance for a 60/40 portfolio² over short time horizons (rolling one-year periods, in blue) and over long time horizons (rolling ten-year periods, in green). We then separate those returns into periods that included a recession (“Recession”) and periods that did not include a recession (“No Recession”). Looking at the two blue bars on the left, you can see that over the short-term, periods with recessions were meaningfully lower than periods without recessions (average one-year return of 10.6% without recessions, compared to 6.8% with recessions).

Over longer time horizons, however, the impact of recessions is only marginal. Looking at the two green bars on the right, you can see that over the long-term, periods with recessions were only 0.6% lower than periods without recessions (average ten-year return of 10.0% without recessions, compared to 9.4% with recessions). This is because longer periods tend to include full market cycles, which include both drawdowns and recoveries. To put that 0.6% difference in perspective, if you were uninvested for as little as six months during an average ten-year period, it would have the same return impact as a recession!³

Key takeaway

Investing in the face of a possible recession is really hard. The good news is that recessions don’t impact long-term returns that much. Over the long term, getting invested (and staying invested) is much more important than trying to time the next recession. We encourage investors to avoid a “self-inflicted recession” by maximizing their time in the market using a long-term investment strategy.

1-Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, NBER based Recession Indicators for the United States from 1855 to 2023
2 -All 60/40 returns cover the period 1940 to 2022. 60/40 returns are composed of 60% S&P 500/40% US fixed income proxy. US fixed income proxy is composed of a combination of 5-year and 10-year US Treasury returns (from 1940 to 1976) and the US BBC Aggregate index (1976 to 2022). Sourced from Morningstar and Bloomberg
3-If an investor holds cash (bank savings) for half a year, and then invests in a portfolio which consistently returns 10.0% (average annual) for nine and a half years, the return over a ten-year period would be 9.4% (average annual). Assumes a 0.23% (annual) bank savings rate (the average bank savings rate on March 1, 2023, per bankrate.com).

AssetMark, Inc. 1655 Grant Street 10th Floor Concord, CA 94520-2445 800-664-5345
Important Information:
This is for informational purposes only, is not a solicitation, and should not be considered investment, legal or tax advice. The information in this report has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed, and is subject to change. Investors seeking more information should contact their financial advisor. Financial advisors may seek more information by contacting AssetMark at 800-664-5345.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Asset allocation cannot eliminate the risk of fluctuating prices and uncertain returns. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will outperform a non-diversified portfolio. No investment strategy, such as asset allocation, can guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Actual client results will vary based on investment selection, timing, market conditions, and tax situation. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Indexes are unmanaged, do not incur management fees, costs and expenses and cannot be invested in directly. Index performance assumes the reinvestment of dividends.

Investments in equities, bonds, options, and other securities, whether held individually or through mutual funds and exchange traded funds, can decline significantly in response to adverse market conditions, company-specific events, changes in exchange rates, and domestic, international, economic, and political developments.

Bloomberg® and the referenced Bloomberg Index are service marks of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, (collectively, “Bloomberg”) and are used under license. Bloomberg does not approve or endorse this material, nor guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information herein. Bloomberg and AssetMark, Inc. are separate and unaffiliated companies.