In today\u2019s Steady\nInvestor, we take a look at key factors that we believe are currently impacting\nthe market, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inflation Remains\nElevated in July, But Pace Slows \u2013 <\/strong>Inflation\nmay be the most closely-watched economic metric in 2021, and the July reading\nwas released this week. Consumer prices (CPI) rose 5.4% in July 2021 from July\n2020, which marked the highest 12-month jump since 2008. The base effect \u2013\nwhich takes into account inflation conditions during summer 2020 when a\npatchwork of restrictions was still in place \u2013 remains a factor, but its impact\nis fading. As we move into the fall and winter months, the base effect will no\nlonger be a good reason for explaining high year-over-year inflation readings.\nJuly\u2019s CPI did have one minor silver lining \u2013 the pace of monthly inflation\nincreases was 0.5% from June to July, which marked a material slowdown from the\n0.9% increase from May to June. Even still, the average pace of increase was\n0.2% from 2000 to 2019, so inflation is currently moving twice as fast in the\ncurrent year as compared to previous decades.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n How to Build Your Ultimate Retirement Portfolio<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of the many uncertainties surrounding the future\nof the market, we still believe that investors can avoid the damage of economic\ndownturns. Especially for those nearing retirement, achieving these goals\ninvolves some work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To help you do this, we are offering readers our free guide\nthat offers a step-by-step blueprint of our customized investing process to\npotentially help you build a sound retirement portfolio of your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get this guide to\nlearn our ideas on building and maintaining a retirement portfolio to\npotentially achieve your long-term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get our FREE guide:\u00a07 Secrets to Building the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s Driving\nInflation in the U.S.? <\/strong>One of the\nbig factors that drove the slight slowdown in inflation from June to July (as\ncompared to May to June) was used-car prices. The semiconductor shortages and\nsupply chain bottlenecks have crimped the production of new cars, which drove\nmany consumers into used-car lots and bid up prices significantly in the\nprocess. As shortages ease and supply chains resolve issues, price pressures in\nthe automobile space may ease, contributing to the \u201ctransitory\u201d inflation\nargument. Indeed, rising prices over the past quarter have largely been\nattributed to disrupted supply chains, a surge in demand in travel, hospitality,\nand eating out, combined with labor and input shortages across the board. While\nthose pressures ease in the coming months, they could be offset by rising rents\nand continued rising home prices, while wages also get pressured higher. In our\nview, these counterbalancing forces in pricing may ultimately lead inflation to\nsomewhere in the middle \u2013 not transitory but also not run away as some believe.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n More Jobs Than\nUnemployed Americans? <\/strong>The number of\nopen jobs in the U.S. economy pushed to a new record high in June and now\noutnumbers the unemployed. Unfilled job openings increase by 590,000 in June to\nreach a total of 10.1 million, which is the highest level since the Labor\nDepartment started keeping records in 2000. Compare the 10.1 million open jobs\nin the U.S. to the 8.7 million Americans who lack jobs, and one can see the\nglaring disconnect that underscores the strength of the labor market. There are\nseveral economic explanations for the disconnect, from expanded unemployment\nbenefits to child care needs to low wages. But there is also a mismatch between\nwhere people want to work and the industries that are currently hiring. Namely,\nservice-sector jobs in leisure and hospitality have struggled to fill\npositions.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold Still Isn\u2019t an\nEffective Inflation Hedge \u2013 <\/strong>It\u2019s\nbeen 50 years since President Nixon ended the ability to convert gold into the\nU.S. dollar at a fixed rate. Since then, gold has etched its way into\ninvestor\u2019s minds as the best possible inflation hedge available. But is it? Not\nif you look closely at the data. Sure, the price of gold is 50 times higher\nthan it was in 1971, and inflation has risen by a lesser amount. But in order\nto be a consistent and reliable hedge against inflation, gold should maintain a\nrelatively stable ratio to the consumer-price index. It hasn\u2019t. According to\ndata crunched over the past 50 years, the ratio of gold prices to CPI has\nfluctuated from a low of 1.0 to a high of 8.4, making gold far more volatile\nthan consistent. Gold fluctuates relative to inflation as much or more than\nother asset classes, like stocks. Speaking of which, when comparing the\nperformance of gold to stocks over the last 50 years, stocks have done better \u2013\nthe S&P 500 has generated an annualized return of 11.2% compared to 8.2%\nfor gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inflation is likely to continue to be a closely watched metric for the remainder of 2021, so what can investors nearing retirement do to protect their assets? You can create a retirement portfolio that meets your financial goals. To help you do this, I recommend reading our guide,\u00a07 Secrets to Building the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio<\/em>.6<\/sup>\u00a0It provides a step-by-step blueprint of our customized investing process to potentially help you build a sound retirement portfolio of your own and pursue long-term investing success. A look at what’s driving inflation, why there are more open jobs than unemployed workers, and how gold fares against inflation <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10336,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9776\/revisions\/10336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get this guide to learn our ideas on the step-by-step process to building and maintaining a retirement portfolio that will potentially help you reach your goals and enjoy a secure retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"