On today's episode of Wealth!, Host Brad Smith breaks down key personal finance stories, from anticipated interest rate cuts to a lookahead to the holiday shopping. Traders have been pricing in a 25-basis-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve at its September meeting next week. Crescent Grove Advisors co-chief investment officer Andrew Krei notes that the labor market has been increasingly in focus since July's jobs report saw the unemployment rate hit 4.3%, sparking fears of a recession. However, he believes that the labor market data shows the economy "softening off of an ultra-hot level" rather than indicating the beginnings of a recession. According to new data from Fidelity, there are now almost half a million 401(k) plan participants with balances of at least $1 million in their accounts. UBS financial advisor Tracy Byrnes encourages retirement savers to not "set it and forget it," and explains the importance of revisiting a retirement account to rebalance and diversify. She warns, "What was good when you started working 20 years ago might not still work today." The latest Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey shows Americans are still under pressure from high prices, as necessities like food are straining budgets and wallets. Former USDA economist and Cal Poly professor of agribusiness Richard Volpe explains that in 2021 and 2022, "we saw food prices increase at a clip that we hadn't seen in the US since the 1970s." He notes that while inflation has cooled across the board, food prices have not fallen. As the holidays are right around the corner, retail sales are likely to increase between 2.3% and 3.3% from 2023, according to Deloitte's annual holiday retail forecast. Deloitte Consulting retail and consumer products leader Michael Jeschke believes that retailers with omnichannel approaches will likely outperform this holiday season, expecting a 7% to 9% acceleration as they "are best able to meet consumers where they are." This post was written by Melanie Riehl
