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When it comes to inflation, now is not the time to clean closets. If you work from home, a few nice blouses or sweaters are just the ticket. If you go into the office, just because an item is a couple of years old is no reason to toss it. With a little creativity, you can create a whole new look. Need jewelry? Check out your nearest Savers Thrift Store, Salvation Army, and Goodwill stores, all of which have discount days. One of the largest and best marketplaces is Facebook. There you will find a lot of free items in very good shape, including furniture, kitchen and bedroom items, and children's clothing. While these tips are helpful, we need to deal with the big elephant in the room – how to protect your money

In response to the growing inflation, the Federal Reserve has been increasing interest rates, with the largest coming in June 2022. According to a variety of financial reports, in November 2022, the Federal Reserve approved a fourth consecutive three-quarter point interest rate increase and signaled a potential change in how it will approach monetary policy to bring down inflation. The central bank raised its short-term borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points to a target range of 3.75%-4%, the highest level since January 2008. The elephant will grow larger as more increases are anticipated. What this means for the average consumer is the rising cost of borrowing money to purchase a house or a car, be it new or used, and credit card interest rates will have an unprecedented impact on their bottom lines and their “money”

Steven Carrigg, certified financial planner and private wealth adviser at Integrated Partners, advises investing in your company's workplace retirement account and opening a brokerage account for additional savings. This allows you the advantage of compounding. By having a diversified portfolio, your risk to any one asset will be limited in the event of a downward spiral. Carrigg also suggests considering Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which are government bonds that help protect you from inflation. “The principal of a TIPS increases with inflation and decreases with deflation, as measured by the consumer price index,” the government explains.

If you have a portfolio, you should think about value stocks in the consumer staples arena. Snigdha Kumar, head of product operations for Digit, says investing in things like food and energy — which are always in high demand — is a smart choice because staples are essentials, and companies selling them have the ability to price items higher while riding the wave of inflation.

If you are one of the more fortunate individuals with excess cash, more than you may need for an emergency fund secured in a lockbox underneath your bed or a floor or wall safe, you may want to heed the advice of Chanelle Bessette, banking specialist at NerdWallet. Bassett suggests, “you should consider investing the excess. The stock market is low right now, but over a long rough time frame, that investment can earn a much higher interest rate in the stock market than it would in a savings account.”

Remember, the financial behaviors you change now will serve you well, way beyond Inflation 2022. n