Who doesn't like the word guarantee? It gives us a comforting feeling when we exchange our money for a product or service to know that we will get our money back if our expectations are not met. But when it comes to most guaranteed financial products, like CD’s, bond funds, and annuities, owners unfortunately don't realize their expectations have not been met until it’s too late because there's another guarantee these products fail to address - inflation. If inflation continues at just 2% for the next ten years, $100 worth of groceries today will cost $122 ten years from now.

[caption id="attachment_7006" align="alignnone" width="1024"]Turner Field. Atlanta, GA. Turner Field. Atlanta, GA. -- https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/[/caption]   I talked to my friend Brian on the phone the other day, and among other things we discussed his desire to go see the Atlanta Braves play at Turner Field this summer. Brian is a diehard Braves fan, but has never been able to get down to Atlanta to see them play, and would love to do so before they tear that stadium down and build one way out in Cobb County (suburb of Atlanta).

This week's Brief comes to us from our good friend and like-minded colleague Russ Thornton, an Atlanta-based financial advisor. Russ is a thought leader in the area of financial planning, and puts out rock-solid content each week over at his website (and via an email which all of us subscribe to). His post this week on moving past rules of thumb and avoiding overly expensive products while still creating retirement income was spot on, so we decided to share it with you all! Take it away, Russ:

Have you seen how much movie tickets cost these days? Expensive enough that when I went to the movies last week, I felt very acutely what behavioral economists call the "pain of paying." Ouch. As I handed my credit card to the cashier inside the plastic bubble, I wondered, "How much will these things cost in 24 years?"