Thinking Out Loud: Life

Thursday, June 5, 2025

First Date Finances

1^ST DATE FINANCES — (a sweet story)

One of my favorite things about the work I do is the privilege of

getting to hear stories like this one from a couple who I have grown

to respect and admire over many years. Hope you enjoy this piece

of real life here in OKC.

“Have I told you about our first date?” Mr. B. asked me (his financial advisor)

while his wife was out of the room for a moment. “No, I’ve not heard.”

I replied with an eager tone.

“For our first date we went to a nice Italian place, had a pleasant

meal and conversation, and I got up to pay the bill. While fiddling with

my wallet, my date walked up and asked—“are you having issues with

your credit card?”—to which I replied, NO. I am trying to find my 2 for 1 coupon.”

“Her positive response is part of why we have such a happy marriage

after decades of life together.”

Troy

Monday, September 23, 2024

Food Inflation Perspective

To read the chart:

Red lines and numbers on the left axis are the number of hours/week people work to purchase a week of groceries.

Black lines and numbers on the right axis and the bars are Food Inflation

Green lines show the President in charge and Pre-Covid vs Post Covid time periods.

What does all of this mean?

Covid clearly caused food prices to go up.
Food affordability actually improved since 2015. 4.2 hours/week in 2015—3.6 hours/week in 2024
Food inflation started under Trump during Covid and is now below where he ended, and affordability is still well below the 2015-19 average.
YES—food is more expensive. BUT—we have more money to spend on it and more time to go to restaurants (my opinion based upon experience lately.)

What I hear on the news most days is not what these charts are saying. Back in the 80’s when I took Dale Carnegie training, he taught a 3-step process for solving problems. His main point was that identifying the PROBLEM is harder than you think.

Identify the problem.
Possible solutions.
Best possible solution.

Well, FOOD INFLATION, according to these charts, is NOT the problem. In my opinion, National Debt and Deficits, getting Wall Street influence out of Washington, fixing our immigration system which is essential to our success and has been a problem for 40+ years—these are the issues, that if addressed correctly, will improve our chances of continuing the America we know and love, which currently is one of the best economies in the world—and at least part of why we have an illegal immigration problem. Have you ever heard of anyone immigrating to Russia, Hungary, China, or North Korea? Nor have I.