Thanks to inflation, prices on almost everything increase every year. In 2013, consumers are bracing for the impact of higher prices on many of the items that they have to buy. With the policy of the Federal Reserve to continue printing more money, this has the effect of lowering the value of the dollar. While it may help the government stay afloat, it doesn’t do anything to help your purchasing power. Because of this, here are a few items that you’ll probably see increase in price over the coming year.
Grocery Costs
If you’ve been to the grocery store in the last year, you know that food prices are rising. Unfortunately, food costs aren’t calculated into the Consumer Price Index, which means they don’t take them into consideration when calculating inflation. In reality, prices are going up fast. This past summer, many farmers experienced drought conditions, which made hauls of corn, wheat, and other commodity crops lower than normal. This is poised to drive up prices on many of the things you buy at the grocery store.
Healthcare Premiums
If you pay for your own insurance, expect to pay more for your premiums in the future. Even without the addition of the Obamacare program to the medical industry, you probably would have seen premiums go up, since health care costs continue to rise. With the additional burden of Obamacare, expect premiums to go up by quite a bit over the next year.
School Tuition
Another cost that is poised to go up is school tuition. Many state budgets have been cut substantially, which means they can’t subsidize colleges as much as they used to. This means that students are going to feel the majority of the burden in this area. A lot of people simply won’t be able to go to college, while many others will simply rack up more debt in student loans.
Shipping
With higher fuel prices and rising costs in almost every area, shipping costs are going to increase this year as well. Some estimates suggest that shipping costs could go up by as much as 5 percent this year alone. While it may not seem like much, that’s quite a bit for a single year. If it went up that much every year, we’d be in trouble.
Car Prices
While the auto industry has tried to keep prices low for years now, this may be the year that they finally have to go up a bit. With federal regulations requiring that cars become more fuel-efficient, this is causing manufacturing costs to go up. This cost is then passed on to the consumer in the long run.
If you plan on making any major purchases in the near future, it might be better to make them sooner than later. The costs of almost everything are on the way up and it makes sense to go ahead and get the things you need now. Otherwise, you might be paying more money for them later on without any added benefit for you.
