The “Silent Pickpocket” of Retirement—How to Fight Back

This Miami Herald article shines a spotlight on the outsized impact of inflation when planning for retirement—a detail too often overlooked in rosy projections. The author underscores that if your money sits idle in low-interest savings while everyday prices steadily climb, you're actually losing purchasing power every month.

As I told the Herald, "Inflation is the silent pickpocket of our financial lives." Simply put, a dollar saved today won’t buy what it does now in 20 or 30 years unless your portfolio grows faster than rising costs. With average savings accounts yielding just 0.62% (Bankrate)—and some large banks offering a meager 0.01%—while the Consumer Price Index currently sits at 2.9%, that gap means you're slowly (and often invisibly) falling behind.

The article details how recent years have brought not just national spikes, but regional cost surges—from rents to food to energy—with shelter, groceries, and used cars rising sharply in just a single month. Currency declines and global tariffs have only added pressure, especially in places like California and New Jersey.

Given this environment, simply standing still isn’t an option. My own advice in the article: Don’t ignore inflation just because you can’t control Washington’s policies. Take ownership of your own plan. That means seeking higher yields on your cash (there are savings accounts paying 4%+ if you look), considering hard assets like real estate or gold, and—perhaps most crucially—making sure your investments outpace the cost of living over time.

The bottom line: If your savings aren’t growing faster than prices, you’re quietly losing ground. Inflation is persistent, but with intentional planning—from high-yield accounts to inflation-protected securities and regular portfolio reviews—you can keep the silent pickpocket at bay, and give your retirement plan a fighting chance.