Although we recently entered into a new year, the fact that the economy feels like it’s been in an intense game of Jenga that could collapse at any moment, unfortunately, was not left behind in 2020… or 2021…
Hundreds of millions of Americans, while still going about their everyday lives, all seem to be waiting for that next bit of news that either signals relief or our worst fears, a recession like we’ve never seen before.
While nothing is ever for certain, we are indeed facing many factors that could each independently whirl us into an economic depression.
In fact, as if hitting a record inflation rate of 6.8% in December, the highest level in nearly 40 years wasn’t enough of a warning sign, the Labor Department just announced that inflation has risen yet again to 7%.
Inflation rates have been on a consistent rise for over a year now and clearly are not showing any sign of slowing down.
Surely not the way to enter into a new year…
Keep in mind that traditionally, The Federal Reserve considers 2% to be a healthy inflation level- the question is, how much higher will inflation rise?
How much higher can we as a nation afford for it to increase?
Our next culprit is one that barely caught a ride into the new year with us, the new COVID variant, Omicron.
We had made it past what was seemingly a “decently” quiet summer in regards to the Coronavirus and its evil gang of variants. Then came Thanksgiving break.
And just like that, something that most of us were starting to think that we could finally put behind us popped back up to let us know that its presence couldn’t be forgotten, at least for now.
Last but not least is the overvalued stock market which, according to the “Buffett Indicator”, named after famous billionaire investor Warren Buffett, currently weighs in around 211%.
Compare that to the dot-com bubble when the Buffett Indicator was at about 78%.
And yes, the higher the percentage, the more overvalued the market is.
Is it impossible to overcome these hurdles? No.
Unfortunately, it does seem like one of those situations that will get worse before it gets better.
Whatever happens, no one can argue that having a plan to adhere to either way would be a smart choice.
Do you have a plan? Call American Hartford Gold at 800-462-0071; we can help.
