NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Prepare for Stagflation and Make Your Insurance Work Harder
22 May 2025
Chapter 1: What is stagflation and why is it important?
So he said, you know, I threw him that information. Well, he said, OK, well, that changes things up a little bit.
What happened? Some of the biggest changes that you made as a result of one being a parent, which you have been for a number of years now, but also getting remarried. Those are some big changes.
Obviously, for instance, I never carried life insurance or thought about it until I had kids. And then that was the impetus for getting life insurance. At the same time, started saving for college. But around the time of the divorce, I had to stop putting away money for college just because that was one of the places where I needed a little bit of extra money.
Obviously, financial situations changed then. And then in the last... I guess a year and a half or two years, I was able to start recontributing to their 529 accounts. But yeah, I mean, it's sort of, you know, it was adjusting to, you know, child support payments and things like that and living in two separate households and then just having one contributor to the mortgage.
But my now wife moved in, gosh, a year and a half ago. And so obviously then we start splitting up mortgage and other bills and that changes the dynamics as well. maybe a little more room to breathe in your budget. For sure. Yeah, it definitely did. And, you know, we sort of sat down together when we realized, you know, figured out how it was all going to play out.
But it definitely gave more wiggle room for vacations and saving for college and things like that.
Got you. So you wrote to us with some insurance questions. So can you tell us how this ties into maybe all of these life transitions you're having if it does at all? And then what your questions are around that?
I mean, it actually came out of listening to your podcast episode about insurance in general. And while I was listening, I realized, hey, maybe I should check in with my insurance because I like to do that every year or two. And it started when you were talking about things that you can adjust and collision insurance and being responsible for other people's bills if you were to get in an accident.
And then... You went on to talk about umbrella insurance, which I had, but I realized my net worth has gone up over the last 10, 15 years since I got it. I decided to go from 1 million to 2 million coverage. But then in doing so, I'm realizing, well, does that then cover any extra cost if my car insurance doesn't cover for collision? My question that I posed to you over email was,
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Chapter 2: What are the signs of stagflation?
And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not your financial or investment advisors. This nerdy information is provided for general, educational, and entertainment purposes, and it may not apply to your specific circumstances. This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland and Anna Helhosky. Nick Karisamy mixed our audio. And a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help.
And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds.