The “Consumer Price Index” is around 3.2 percent at the moment, although I believe the cost of living has gone up much more for most people, due to prices of things that are not reflected in the CPI. Hopefully, any cost of living adjustments we receive at our jobs will cover at least the Consumer Price Index.
Jeanne Sahadi from CNN Money warns us of six expenses that will grow at a rate larger than inflation in 2005. She cites health insurance, (rose 11.2 percent in 2004), heating costs (34 percent increase in the northeast forecast for 2005), college costs (public university tuition went up 10.5 percent), homeowners and auto insurance (already sky high in New Jersey), interest rates (loans, mortgages, things I’m not worried about for 2005, but it will be nice to have a better interest rate on my savings account), and new homes (apparently there’s a cement shortage).
Time to start budgeting for 2005! It’s going to be a rough year…
Published or updated December 17, 2004. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
