What Is Shrinkflation? Examples & Effects on the Economy

There’s less there than meets the eye.There sure is a lot of air in this bag of chips. A “fun size” candy bar was a lot more fun when we were kids. That new “easier-to-hold” sports drink bottle is the same height, but thinner in the middle. And why is Fluffy suddenly doing her “I’m hungry” meow two

Four grocery bags getting progressively thinner to visualize shrinkflation.

Shrinkflation, sometimes called the “grocery shrink ray,” raises consumer costs by reducing the quantity of a product for the same price.

There’s less there than meets the eye.

Shrinkflation: Inflation hiding in plain sight

Composite Index, Standard & Poor’s Composite Index, Standard and Poor’s 500

S&P 500 | Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Index Funds

The S&P 500 is a broad-based stock market index that tracks roughly 500 publicly traded United States-based companies. It is considered by many investors and analysts to be the best overall measurement of American stock market performance. S&P Global (formerly Standard & Poor’s), which sponsors a

The S&P 500 Index tracks roughly 500 publicly traded United States-based companies. It is considered by many investors and analysts to be the best overall measurement of American stock market performance.

S&amp;P 500

online banking

Electronic Banking | Online Banking, Digital Payments & Mobile Banking

Electronic banking is the use of computers, phones, and other technologies to facilitate banking transactions rather than through human interaction. Electronic banking includes features like electronic funds transfer (EFT) and mobile payments for retail purchases, automatic teller machines (ATMs),

Electronic banking is the use of computers, phones, and other technologies to facilitate banking transactions rather than through human interaction. 

electronic banking

Cost | Fixed and Variable Cost, Opportunity Cost, & Marginal Cost

Cost is the monetary value of goods and services purchased by producers and consumers. For example, a consumer typically equates cost with the price of a good (such as a loaf of bread, a pair of shoes, or a car) or a service (such as a haircut or a night in a hotel). For a manufacturer or service

Cost is the monetary value of goods and services purchased by producers and consumers. A consumer typically equates cost with the price of a good, whereas a producer measures cost as the amount of money spent to produce something, which is then subtracted from the revenue earned from selling the good or service to determine the profit. 

cost

What Is a Collar Option Strategy? Definition & Examples

Kinda sorta. But there are trade-offs.If you’re a dog lover, you’re familiar with the collar. It’s that protective band you strap around Fido for ID purposes and to attach a leash when you’re out for walks. The collar gives you peace of mind and offers your furry friend some (limited) freedom of

The collar option strategy combines income from a covered call and downside protection from a protective put.

An option collar is the pairing of a covered call and a protective put around a long stock position. The premium from the short call offsets (or partially offsets) the premium paid for the put.

Kinda sorta. But there are trade-offs.

Option collar strategy: Can you get free price protection?

Time Value of Money (TVM) Calculator

The math remains the same.Have you ever shopped around for a mortgage or auto loan? Have you invested in a certificate of deposit or Treasury bond, or looked at a chart of stock market returns? Or are you an older investor who’s been pitched a guaranteed lifetime income through an annuity? If you

A hand holding a sand clock or hourglass.

Calculating the time value of money involves five basic variables: Present value, future value, interest (or other rate of return), number of time periods, and any payments made (or received) along the way. To calculate any of these variables, input all but one of them into a calculator and solve for the missing variable. Once you understand the basic money math calculation, you can use it to assess stock and bond investments, mortgages and other loans, annuities, and more.

The math remains the same.

Time is money: An introduction to financial calculators

Option Greeks: Delta, Gamma, Theta, and Vega

Are they Greek to you?When you’re first starting your options journey, you’re taught to look at the so-called risk profile at expiration. Whether you’re buying or selling a put or call option (or option spread), the risk graphs tell you your breakeven price—and whether there are limits to your

Option greeks—delta, gamma, theta, vega, and rho—are how traders measure the risks in the variables that comprise an option’s price. Those variables include the price of the underlying security, time until expiration, interest rates, and expected price variability (or “volatility”) in the underlying. Understanding the greeks and how they work can help you time entry and exit points.

Are they Greek to you?

Measuring options risk: Delta, gamma, theta, and vega (and rho)

Bank Run: What It Is and Why It Happens

It’s about confidence (or lack thereof).Your money is safe … except when it isn’t. That’s why, despite a myriad of protections built into the U.S. and other banking systems throughout the world, bank runs—when hordes of depositors sense danger and clamor to remove their money from banks—still

Illustration depicting a run on the Seamen's Bank during the Panic of 1857

Despite a myriad of protections built into the banking system, including the FDIC and Federal Reserve system, bank runs—when hordes of depositors sense danger and clamor to remove their money from banks—still happen. In case of a bank run, the FDIC offers insurance of $250,000 per depositor per institution, but depending on the circumstances, it has the power to extend its guarantee beyond the insured limit. 

It’s about confidence (or lack thereof).

Bank runs: What they are and why they happen

Fiscal vs. Monetary Policy: What’s the Difference

Purse strings and spigot.If the economy were a house, then production, consumption, investment, and savings would be the juices flowing through its pipes to make things run. And the economy—just like the pipes in your home—needs knobs and gauges to control and monitor the temperature and flow. In

Fiscal vs Monetary Policy, composite image: Capitol building and Federal Reserve

Fiscal policy is the general term for all the spending programs, government borrowing, and tax policies that guide the economy. The Federal Reserve controls monetary policy by setting the Fed funds rate target and varying the level of assets on its balance sheet. Fiscal and monetary policy work together to smooth out bumps in the economy.

Purse strings and spigot.

The government’s stimulus toolbox: Fiscal and monetary policy

Trading vs. Investing Stocks

It’s about time!So you’re ready to jump into the financial markets. Maybe it’s your first 401(k) plan, or there’s a company whose products you use and you’d like to own a few shares. But you hear so many terms—day trading, stock trading, investing, buy and hold—and now you’re confused and

A composite photo of stock fundamentals and a price chart.

Trading stocks is typically short term. Day traders liquidate positions on the same day they initiate them, while swing traders hold positions for days or weeks. But an investment is typically held for a longer period—months, years, or decades.

It’s about time!

Day trading, active trading, and investing: What’s the difference?

What Is a Recession vs. Depression?

These declines affect everyone.There’s a joke in economic circles that a recession is when your neighbor loses their job, and a depression is when you lose yours. But if you go by the National Bureau of Economic Research (“NBER,” whose Business Cycle Dating Committee is the official “recession

Unrecognizable man demonstrating empty turned out pockets outdoors

A recession is a downward trend in gross domestic product (GDP), characterized by a decline in production and employment, which in turn causes the income and spending of households to decline. These income and spending declines could lead to further declines in production and employment in a vicious cycle that morphs into a depression.

These declines affect everyone.

When the economy goes south: Recessions, explained

What Is Short Selling of Stock?

Zig when the market zags.It’s risky. It’s complex. And if you want approval, you have to jump through hoops. Sounds like the marketing pitch for an extreme sport, right? It’s also a description of short selling, or “shorting the stock market.” Key Points Candlestick chartCan you profit when price

Image of a price chart with a finger pointing.

Short selling aims to profit by borrowing shares from a broker, selling them, and then purchasing the shares later at a lower price (so you can give them back to the broker). But what if the price doesn’t fall the way you’re counting on? Short sellers need deep pockets, nerves of steel, and special account privileges.

Zig when the market zags.

When the upside is down: An intro to short selling of stocks

Bond Market Basics

Let your comprehension mature.You’ve probably heard the old saying, “My word is my bond.” You’ve been promised something, and a deal’s a deal. That’s essentially what happens when you buy a bond (a Treasury bond, for example). The issuer (the U.S. government, in the case of a Treasury) promises to

Bond Market Basics, composite image: savnings bonds, handshake

When you buy a bond, the issuer promises to pay you a certain amount on a regular basis and then return your money at the end of the bond’s life. It sounds simple, but to understand bonds, you need to cut through the jargon and terminology—principal, coupons, par value, yield, and more.

Let your comprehension mature.

Bond market basics: Here’s what to know

What Is a Reverse Mortgage?

Understand the pros and cons.Reverse mortgage. If you watch daytime TV, you’ve probably seen the sales pitch. A celebrity spokesperson tells you how a reverse mortgage can put cash in your pocket, help you cover expenses, and let you stay in your home. But like anything that sounds too good to be

Portrait of senior husband and wife in front of suburban home

 A reverse mortgage is actually a loan, with the payments consisting of slices off the equity in your home. It can help you pay your bills in retirement, but the fees can be hefty.

Understand the pros and cons.

What is a reverse mortgage, and should I consider one?

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Communication services, added in 2018, includes traditional and social media, web platforms, video game makers, and telecom providers. Companies include AT&T, Netflix, Facebook parent Meta, and Google parent Alphabet.

Communication Services

Discretionary companies - autos, travel and entertainment companies, apparel makers, and e-commerce - tend to rise and fall with the consumer economy. Companies include Ford, Nike, Disney, McDonald’s, and Amazon.

Consumer Discretionary

Staples are everyday products such as toothpaste, detergent, food and beverages, groceries, and beauty supplies. Companies include Costco, Walmart, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble.

Consumer Staples

The energy sector, which includes oil and gas producers, pipeline builders, and refineries, tends to follow commodities. Companies include ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Chevron, Occidental, and ConocoPhillips.

Energy

The financials sector includes insurance, commercial and investment banks, brokers, and credit card and payment providers. Companies include JPMorganChase, PayPal, Allstate, Visa, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.

Financials

The health care sector includes pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, and health insurance companies. Top names include Pfizer, UnitedHealth, Medtronic, and Johnson & Johnson.

Health Care

The industrials sector includes construction, agricultural machinery, airplanes, defense (weapons) contractors, railroads, and delivery companies. Top names include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Caterpillar, FedEx, 3M, and CSX.

Industrials

The growth-oriented tech sector makes and services semiconductors, cell phones, computer hardware and software, and services such as cloud computing. Companies include Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Cisco.

Information Technology

The materials sector includes agricultural services, miners, and makers of paper, steel, and chemicals. Typically growth-oriented dividend payers, companies include International Paper, Alcoa, Dow, Freeport-McMoRan, and Newmont.

Materials

Known for stability and a history of solid dividends, the utilities sector includes electricity providers, nuclear power companies, and waste haulers. Companies include NextEra, Waste Management, and Duke Energy.

Doug Ashburn

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