The Silent Thief

There is a force quietly eating your money right now, and your bank is helping it. It is called inflation — the slow, steady rise in prices that makes every dollar worth a little less each year. You do not feel it on any single day. You feel it when you notice that the same $20 buys half the cart it used to.

Since 2000, the U.S. dollar has lost well over a third of its buying power. That coffee that cost $1.50 back then now runs past $3.50. Your paycheck might rise, but if it does not outpace inflation, you are jogging on a treadmill that keeps speeding up underneath you.