Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo: Protecting Purchasing Power and Beating Inflation

Episode 32 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna unpack a surprising local inflation driver: premium pay mandates for gig workers and tipped employees. Using Seattle's 2025 gig-worker minimum-wage law and the recent 10-year breakeven inflation rate of 2.36%, they explore how city-level wage rules create small but persistent price bumps in restaurants, delivery apps, and car serv...

As core PCE inflation hovers around 2.6% in mid-2026, companies are using surplus cash differently. Lucas and Luna explore how inflation is driving a quiet shift in dividend policies—away from high-payout, low-growth models and toward reinvestment and special dividends. They examine why Walmart and JPMorgan have boosted dividends while tech giants like Apple and Microsoft lean into buybacks and R&...

Episode 30 of Inflation and Your Money digs into how persistent inflation is quietly reshaping the stock market's winners and losers. Lucas and Luna examine why the recent 1.5% drop in the Russell 2000 contrasts with the S&P 500's relative calm, even as gold and silver miners have seen sharp pullbacks. They unpack the 10-year breakeven rate dipping to 2.38% and what that says about where inflation...

Episode 29 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo explores 'quality fade' – the hidden way companies cut costs by reducing product quality without lowering prices. Lucas and Luna use concrete examples like thinner trash bags, fewer chips per bag, and cheaper smartphone components to show how inflation masks this practice. They cite recent CPI data (332.4) and the 10-year breakeven inflation rate...

In Episode 28 of Inflation and Your Money, Lucas and Luna dig into how inflation is quietly taxing cash savings even as the Fed holds interest rates near 3.6 percent. With the S&P 500 at 7,610 and gold pulling back slightly, the hosts explain why a standard savings account yielding 0.5 percent is losing 2.5 percent real purchasing power every year. They walk through the math of a $10,000 emergency...

Lucas and Luna break down how inflation is silently eroding the purchasing power of cash sitting in savings accounts, even with interest rates above 3.5 percent. Using the latest CPI data from April 2026 at 332.4, they explain why the real return on savings is still negative for most people. They compare high-yield savings accounts, Treasury bills, and Series I bonds as alternatives, and discuss w...

In Episode 26 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down how persistent inflation is rewriting the classic rent-versus-buy calculus. With the April CPI hitting 332.4 and core CPI at 335.4, home prices remain stubbornly high even as inflation cools. They examine why the 10-year breakeven inflation rate ticked up to 2.40 percent, what that means for mortgage rates, and how r...

In Episode 25, Lucas and Luna dig into how persistent inflation is quietly rewriting the math behind one of the biggest financial choices most people make: renting versus buying a home. With home prices still rising despite a cooling CPI — the latest reading shows the index at 332.4, up from 330.29 — and the Fed holding rates steady near 3.64%, the old rules of thumb no longer apply. Lucas breaks...

In Episode 24, Lucas and Luna explore a puzzle: headline inflation is easing, but home prices and rents keep climbing. They dissect the latest CPI shelter component data, the Fed's 3.64% rate stance, and Berkshire Hathaway's $6.8 billion Taylor Morrison deal as a signal of institutional conviction. The episode explains why shelter inflation is sticky, how the Fed's policy inadvertently props up ho...

Lucas and Luna explore an underappreciated inflation mechanism: property taxes. As home values rise, local governments reassess, and tax bills climb even if your income doesn't keep pace. Using data from the latest CPI release (332.4) and the Fed's flat 3.64% rate, they break down how this stealth tax affects homeowners and renters alike. Plus, a practical tip: check your assessment and know how t...

Episode 22 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo: Lucas and Luna unpack the quiet but corrosive phenomenon of shrinkflation — where package sizes shrink but prices stay the same (or rise). Using real examples from recent grocery store data, they explain how this hidden price increase fools the official CPI, why companies prefer it over raising sticker prices, and what shoppers can do to spot it...

Episode 21 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo dives into a surprising inflation hedge hiding in plain sight: the shrinking package. When prices rise quietly through 'shrinkflation' and 'skimpflation,' the official CPI can miss the true cost of living. Lucas and Luna break down how Pringles cans lost 17% of chips since 2021, why a jar of Folgers coffee now holds 11.3 ounces instead of 12, and...

Inflation is officially cooling — CPI is up just 2.4% year-over-year — so why does everything still feel expensive? In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a quiet shift that economists call 'greedflation' — the idea that companies are using inflation as cover to widen margins. They break down new data on how corporate profit margins have expanded while input costs have flattened, using the recen...

Lucas and Luna examine a curious market divergence: gold bullion is up just 2 percent in the past five days, but gold mining stocks like the GDX ETF have jumped over 5 percent. They dig into why miners are outperforming the metal itself—touching on rising cost pressures, operational leverage, and what the gold-silver ratio says about the current cycle. Along the way, they reference the latest CPI...

Lucas and Luna dive into the growing tension between prediction markets and state tax authorities. With the gaming association reporting that states have lost $1 billion in tax revenue due to unregulated prediction markets, they explore how these platforms operate, why traditional gambling oversight doesn't apply, and what this means for your state's budget and potential future regulation. The hos...

Episode 17 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo explores a fresh angle: the hidden fiscal impact of prediction markets on state tax revenues. Lucas and Luna break down the gaming association's report that states have lost $1 billion in tax revenue as legal sports betting loses market share to unregulated prediction platforms. They tie this to inflation by showing how states rely on that revenu...

Lucas and Luna explore a surprising inflation ripple: why the price of used cars is rising again even as new-vehicle inventory recovers. They trace the mechanics — from microchip shortages that began years ago to lease-return dynamics and rental-fleet buying patterns today. Along the way they unpick how CPI measures this category versus what consumers actually experience, and why the gap matters f...

Lucas and Luna explain how inflation has allowed companies to quietly increase profit margins without triggering consumer backlash. Using recent data on the personal consumption expenditures index and corporate earnings reports from May 2026, they show how consumers are paying more for the same goods while companies enjoy record margins. They discuss why the Federal Reserve's focus on headline inf...

Episode 14 of Inflation and Your Money with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna explore why small-cap stocks are outperforming the S&P 500 so far in late May 2026, with the Russell 2000 up 6.3% in the past five days while the S&P 500 gained 2.3%. They tie this to sticky core CPI at 335.4, the Fed holding rates at 3.65%, and a surprising shift in investor sentiment toward domestic cyclical companies. The hosts...

Lucas and Luna examine how inflation reshapes the economics of higher education more powerfully than published tuition hikes. With the CPI at 332.4 and core CPI at 335.4 in April 2026, they break down why the real cost of college has grown 22% faster than tuition alone over the past decade. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the College Board, they explain the hidden...

Lucas and Luna examine a little-discussed inflation asymmetry: wage growth for younger workers has outpaced inflation, while workers over 55 have seen real wages decline. Using April 2026 CPI data showing core inflation at 3.35% year-over-year and Fed funds at 3.64%, they explore why older workers face a 'wage stickiness penalty' — their income is more tied to cost-of-living adjustments that lag,...

Lucas and Luna explore a stealth inflation driver that hits every household but rarely makes headlines: insurance premiums. With CPI data for April 2026 showing all-items inflation at 332.4, auto insurance alone has outpaced overall inflation by nearly 3-to-1 over the past three years. The hosts break down why premiums keep climbing even as goods inflation cools—citing rising repair costs, climate...

Lucas and Luna discuss a hidden cost of inflation: the silent erosion of emergency cash reserves. With CPI at 332.4 and core inflation still sticky at 335.4, the purchasing power of a six-month emergency fund has dropped significantly. They explore whether keeping three months of expenses in a high-yield savings account and the rest in a short-term TIPS ladder might offer better protection. Concre...

The stock market is hitting new highs — the S&P 500 just crossed 7,400 — but the cost of living keeps climbing. Lucas and Luna unpack the disconnect between a booming stock market and sticky inflation. They look at why equities can shrug off a 3.6% Fed funds rate while your grocery bill still feels the bite. The episode centers on the concept of 'inflation winners' — companies with pricing power t...

Core CPI came in hot again for April, driven almost entirely by services like rent, car insurance, and medical care. Lucas and Luna break down why goods deflation isn't enough to bring the headline number down, what the 2.40 percent ten-year breakeven tells us about market expectations, and whether the Fed's next move depends more on wage growth in the service sector than on anything else. Specifi...