Investing to Beat Inflation
by John Dobosz
In October, the nation's first baby boomer, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, applied for her Social Security benefits. The 61-year-old woman was born one second after midnight on January 1, 1946.Following Ms. Casey-Kirschling into retirement over the next two decades will be about 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964, a generational swath that encompasses everyone from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Sandra Bullock and Rob Lowe.Welcome to your retirement, boomers. It's going to be a long one.Making sure that your savings last as long as you do could be a challenge for some people. And even if your nest egg grows, will it grow fast enough to keep you ahead of inflation?Going back 40 years to 1967, do you know which had a higher annualized gain: the S&P 500 Index or the Consumer Price Index (CPI)? Although you may be tempted to say inflation, you'd be wrong.From September 1967 to September 2007, the S&P 500 produced an annualized …
In October, the nation's first baby boomer, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, applied for her Social Security benefits. The 61-year-old woman was born one second after midnight on January 1, 1946.Following Ms. Casey-Kirschling into retirement over the next two decades will be about 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964, a generational swath that encompasses everyone from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Sandra Bullock and Rob Lowe.Welcome to your retirement, boomers. It's going to be a long one.Making sure that your savings last as long as you do could be a challenge for some people. And even if your nest egg grows, will it grow fast enough to keep you ahead of inflation?Going back 40 years to 1967, do you know which had a higher annualized gain: the S&P 500 Index or the Consumer Price Index (CPI)? Although you may be tempted to say inflation, you'd be wrong.From September 1967 to September 2007, the S&P 500 produced an annualized …