Today is your day Boomer! We are almost one month into the new year and already there are severe predictions for inflation. Canada's consumer price index rose 4.8% last month, which is the highest it's been for about 30 years! A majority of Canadians, 57%, “say that it is currently difficult to feed their household”, according to a new poll from Angus Reid Institute. In contrast, the number stood at 36% in 2019. More of the respondents, 29%, believed their financial standing will worsen in the next 12 months, six points higher than those who believed it will improve. For Boomers too, it is bad news. Many of us are on fixed pensions with no cost-of-living increase and/or are suffering through a period of low interest rates on savings and investments. I am one of the lucky ones; my teachers' pension just received a 4.4% COLA increase, which is awesome.....but one thing we all have to do is budget for this large increase. Put it in our monthly household budgets and maybe take money away from some other things like restaurant meals, holidays, and recreation. This burden will hit us hard in places like the grocery store, gas station, and clothing outlet. And don't forget our home tax assessments! In many places, that is way up too. Mine is up about 30%, so that means an increase in yearly taxes come June. Budget for it, Boomers. It's all we can do as this crazy, new world continues.......cheers!

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