SAN ANTONIO — No doubt you noticed prices are rising but not your income. Inflation is making it difficult for Americans to cover everyday expenses.
For many of us rising prices are a real challenge to making our money stretch. There is little, if any money, for padding and we mostly cannot make our bills smaller.
Instead, inflation is pushing more people to take on debt. A recent AARP study found many people are only able to make the minimum payments on debts, which means they stay in debt for a lot longer.
“When you are looking at some of the price increases that are happening today, it’s really a challenge because, again, there isn’t a lot of money to go around in terms of the pace of these increases,” said Mary Liz Burns from AARP. “Folks are taking on more debt and it’s becoming more unmanageable for folks. So they aren’t able to save money for the future, save for emergencies. So when there’s an unplanned expense that happens, they can’t cover everyday expenses."
There is free help for consumers dealing with rising prices, unexpected expenses and more debt. AARP offers the online service Money Map to all adults 18 and older.
It can help you make a plan to pay down debt, create a budget, and save for emergencies. It offers strategies to create a spending plan and raise your credit score. An AARP membership is not required and it is also available in Spanish.