7 Ways to Tighten Up Your Finances

When times are good, you don’t feel the impact of being a bit loose with your finances.

The Chicago Fed released their Advance Retail Trade Summary in June and it showed that consumer spending fell 1.3% in May, when adjusted for inflation. Americans are spending less. We’re tightening our belts.

This is a pretty big deal. You’ll see some months with negative values but 1.3% is a sizable drop. February 2023 showed a -1.16% fall while we were dealing with inflation in the 5-6% range and two banks failed...