From Eggflation to Ghost Jobs: Roasting 2024’s Biggest Financial Turkeys
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What are the biggest financial turkeys of 2024?
Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles.
And I'm Sarah Raffner. Sean, happy Thanksgiving.
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving to you too, Sarah. On this day of thanks, I would like to thank all of our listeners for participating in the grand smart money experiment. We love getting and answering your questions, and we appreciate all of you and your loyal listenership.
It really is a privilege to be here in front of the microphone interacting with folks, helping them with their finances. I have to say, I really enjoy hearing about people's lives and the financial decisions that they're hoping to get help with. And not just because I am a nosy person, but also because I just like to know what's on people's minds.
and how we can help people. It really is an honor. I've been answering the questions of smart money listeners for a few years now, and sometimes people ask if I get bored of answering similar questions over and over. And I always say no, because in truth, each listener's question is different. Whatever someone wants help with is informed by their own financial background and experiences and their current financial goals. And I just find that stuff endlessly interesting.
So do I. And besides, listeners join us at different points, at different episodes. So it is helpful to repeat topics once in a while. And if you're making a really tough financial decision, sometimes you have to hear about it a few times before you feel comfortable actually taking any sort of action. We're here to examine all sorts of money stuff from multiple angles.
We are all about informed decisions, and it's our job to give you that information. For all of those great and wonderful episodes, today we are handing out our 2024 Financial Turkey Awards. And by turkeys, we mean things that really missed the mark in the financial world. And let me tell you, there were a number of turkeys this year.
That's true. So Sean, what do winners get?
A broken wishbone and unsalted gravy.
Ugh, nobody wants this. That's like getting socks for your birthday.
Yeah. Well, in a moment, we bestow honors on the financial turkeys of 2024. But if you have a money question for the nerds, we invite you to call us or text us anytime, including holidays, on the nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730-NERD. Or email us at podcast at nerdwallet.com.
And if you want to nominate your own Financial Turkey of the Year award, we're all ears. So let us know. We'll be back in a moment with our nominees and winners for Financial or Economic Turkeys of the Year. Stay with us.
Okay, we're back and ready with our nominees and winners of the Smart Money 2024 Financial Turkeys of the Year. Sarah, what's your first candidate?
If we're going to talk turkey, let's discuss grocery inflation. Remember eggflation? That was actually a 2023 problem that peaked in January of that year. But it's still really hard to get out of the store sometimes without spending like 50 bucks on just a few items. And food prices are up significantly since 2019, thanks to everything from supply chain issues to bird flu to the war in Ukraine. And according to the USDA, as U.S. household incomes rise, those households actually spend more money on food, but their food spending represents a smaller share of income. So look at it this way. Looking at data from 2022, households in the lowest income quintile spent 31.3% of their income on food. That's nearly a third of their household income.
On the other side of the coin, households in the highest income quintile spent just 8% of their income on food. So this is a problem that affects U.S. households across the board, but it's affecting specific types of households much more seriously. So we'll have to see how this continues to play out. High food prices can be hard to stomach. But I'm saying, pun intended.
Why are grocery prices so high in 2024?
Good job, Sarah. Love that pun. And a solid and on theme nominee for the food holiday. By the way, I'm going to say I'm still upset about how much my cream cheese costs nowadays, although I will not give up my bagels. Okay, Sarah, what's your next candidate?
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