The biggest news this week was the positive announcement about the drop in the CPI to the lowest rate in over two years. The PPI followed the trend as well. Read all about it, plus an interesting assortment of other headlines.

Economics

• CPI drops to 3%--the twelfth consecutive month and the lowest in over two years. Core CPI, also down, is still at 4.8%. Housing costs are still driving the increases. (CNN) (BLS press release)
• The Cleveland Fed produces two alternate measures of inflation meant to reduce the noise often found in both the CPI and Core DPI. Here is their latest update.
• Will this change the Fed’s states plan to raise rates more? Probably not, according to the Washington Post.
• PPI was basically flat year over year, and core PPI up only 2.6%. Unemployment claims drop too. (Reuters)

Investing

• When will higher interest rates matter when it comes to investing? (Wealth of Common Sense)

Banking

• Bank of America will have to reimburse customers $100 million and pay fines of $150 million for a host of double-charging overdraft fees, withholding credit card benefits, and opening accounts without customer consent. (AP News)

Retirement/Taxes

• Your tax picture changes quite a bit when you retire, and can vary depending on where you live. USNews takes a look.

Paying for College

• More details have been revealed about new provisions the administration is putting in place to make repaying student loans less onerous. (Inside Higher Education)
• Over 800,000 borrowers will be getting good news this week that their loans will be forgiven.  These are people that should have qualified for forgiveness under one of the income-based repayment plans, but because of miscommunication and mismanagement by loan servicers, were told they didn’t qualify. (NPR)

Budgeting

• How many subscriptions do you have that auto-renew? It may be time to take a look. (Impersonal Finance)

Behavioral Finance

• Anchoring bias and how it can hurt you financially are explained in this CNBC article.

Interesting News

• Office usage is way down since the pandemic. Here is one very interesting use of those empty buildings. It may be where your lettuce is being grown! (Smithsonian)

About the Author

Beth Tallman

Beth Tallman entered the working world armed with an MBA in finance and thoroughly enjoyed her first career working in manufacturing and telecommunications, including a stint overseas. She took advantage of an involuntary separation to try teaching high school math, something she had always dreamed of doing. When fate stepped in once again, Beth jumped on the opportunity to combine her passion for numbers, money, and education to develop curriculum and teach personal finance at Oberlin College. Beth now spends her time writing on personal finance and financial education, conducts student workshops, and develops finance curricula and educational content. She is also the Treasurer of Ohio Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.

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