Kiplinger's Personal Finance May 2022

STOCKS TO SHIELD AGAINST STAGFLATION The combination of slowing growth and rising prices can pressure stocks. But these five can thrive. kiplinger.com/kpf/stagflation TAX CHANGES FOR 2022 Done filing your 2021 taxes? Good for you. Now make sure you’re up on the latest tax rules and limits for 2022. kiplinger.com/kpf/2022taxes WHEN LOVE AND MONEY DON’T MIX Sweetheart scams gained popularity during COVID isolation. Hearts were broken—and money lost. kiplinger.com/kpf/romancescams Kiplinger Today Profit from the best of Kiplinger delivered to your e-mail inbox every weekday. Sign up for our Kiplinger Today e-newsletter at kiplinger.com/links/ktoday. FACEBOOK: KiplingerPersonalFinance TWITTER: @Kiplinger INSTAGRAM: @KiplingerFinance HOW TO REACH US: Subscriptions. For inquiries about ordering, billing or renewing a subscription, or to report address changes, please have your mailing label handy to reference your account number and visit us online at kiplinger.com/customer-service or call 800-544-0155, Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 9:30…

In “Moving? Don’t Overlook the State Tax Bite” (March), you overlooked the proverbial elephant in the room: What services and programs does a resident of a given state get for taxes paid, and are they delivered well? Many people are willing to pay higher taxes if they are getting something that they want from the government. Conversely, many people would find a low-tax state an unfriendly place to live, despite the low taxes, if they desire more and better services from government. The article seems anchored in the notion that all states do equally well in using the dollars they spend, so a retiree should choose a state based solely on tax amount. But the quality and quantity of services can vary widely. ROBERT TILLER VIA E-MAIL Retirees looking for a place…

Readers—you—are the reason we are in business, and reader service is a primary tenet of Kiplinger’s mission. For a century, our editors have lived by that mantra. Our letters page is called “Reader Feedback,” and we use the feedback you freely offer to gauge how we’re doing. As a group, Kiplinger readers are highly educated and engaged in financial and economic topics. You write to us to call us on the occasional error, add a relevant point or two to the discussion, disagree with what we wrote, or give us a pat on the back. We do our best to offer a representative sampling of your reactions to our articles. Not surprisingly, I often get letters from readers who incorporate strong political views into their comments. A recent example is the…

IF RETIREMENT IS A PARTY, inflation is the unwelcome guest who eats most of your food, drinks your best wine and makes you question whether throwing the party was such a good idea. Two-thirds of seniors are concerned that inflation will have a negative impact on their retirement, according to a survey by American Advisors Group, a provider of reverse mortgages. More than half said the cost of living in retirement has been higher than they expected. The concerns are understandable, particularly because it looks like inflation won’t end anytime soon. Kiplinger forecasts that inflation will end the year at 6.5%, primarily due to higher food and energy prices. Inflation erodes the value of retirees’ savings, increasing the risk that they’ll run out of money. There are, however, steps you can take to…

While Social Security benefits are adjusted annually to account for inflation—they increased 5.9% for 2022—a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College concluded that the increase in benefits often falls short of retirees’ actual costs, particularly when it comes to health care. Medicare Part B premiums have historically increased at a higher rate than Social Security benefits, the CRR analysis found. Between 2000 and 2020, the average annual adjustment for Part B premiums was 5.9%, versus an average annual benefit increase of 2.2%, the study found.…

Matt Degen is an editor at Kelley Blue Book, a website that helps consumers research and purchase used and new vehicles. Global supply-chain problems have reduced the inventory of new vehicles, resulting in long waits to buy a car. When will things get back to normal? None of us has a crystal ball, but our analysts think that toward the end of the year some of these supply constraints will have eased. And we’re already seeing that, as inventory levels are rising very, very slowly. It’s baby steps toward some normalcy, though it may be a new normal. Because automakers have been selling cars even with leaner inventory, I think a lot of them are realizing that they don’t need to make as many cars. Is there any hope for those who…