I had an aunt who passed away about five years ago and I helped the family pack up her belongings. If you haven't done that yet, it's much more emotional than one might think. I was amazed at the things I learned about my aunt and the things I found. For example, my grandfather (maternal) passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) at a fairly young age. I found the sign-in book for his funeral with the signature of my grandmother (on my dad's side of the family) alongside my dad's signature. My parent's had not been dating very long and I think my dad only met my mom's father once before he passed away. I got very emotional thinking about what my mom's family had just been through and seeing the signature of my grandmother who also passed away young (in a terrible flash flood).
I also found a record that my aunt kept which I found a little odd. It was a calendar - kind of like a modern-day planner. The calendar itself wasn't odd; rather, it was the info that was recorded in the calendar. For some reason, my aunt kept a record of what she wore every day and her daily expenditures. I've heard of other people doing this or something similar, but it just didn't seem very useful info to me... until now.
As you are probably aware, we are experiencing significant inflation for the first time since the 80's. In my aunt's calendar, on January 10th, 1963, she recorded that she wore the "beige Kimberly" and spent money on the following: hand lotion 77 cents, card 26 cents, donuts and hot tea 17 cents, lunch 50 cents, coffee 6 cents, and parking 85 cents. I love that I have this personal record and example of inflation.
When getting gas and experiencing the "pain at the pump", remember that stocks or equities are an investment category that has historically beat inflation. If you aren't sure if your portfolio has too much or too little in the equity category, feel free to schedule an appointment to talk.