John Barabe has an unwavering commitment to quality and service which has enabled him to build and retain a successful practice in Regina. He and his team believe that planning with honesty and integrity are cornerstones to improving clients' quality of life. He applies his knowledge to help clients make the right choices when considering all the product and service options that exist in today's marketplace.  In this article, he gives us a little perspective and insight while ansewring the question does inflation matter.

Does INFLATION matter?

Let’s simplify inflation with a silly story: The U.S. government just printed and deposited 1 billion dollars into everyone’s chequing account. The first thing that happened is a 5-mile-long lineup at the Ferrari dealer. But, will the Ferrari dealers sell their expensive cars at yesterday's price? Not a chance, because the currency is now nearly worthless. 

 Above sports cars, there are exotic sports cars—and then there’s the LaFerrari! Base model starting at $1,420,112 U.S.

The purpose of my above silly story was to emphasize that printing does cause inflation. Further to that point, 78% of all money the U.S. has ever created was printed since January 2021. Please note that the M2 money supply chart was recently discontinued. I wonder why? What is the value of anything that can be produced for nothing?

Okay, enough theory. Commodities broke out to the upside (by Michael Oliver’s criteria) in October and are currently up ~28% since that breakout. He is predicting a ~50% climb in less than a year and we are on pace for his prediction to play out. 

As commodities are the basis for everything we consume, does it not make sense that costs (actual inflation) will also be increasing by about this amount? 

We have known for a long time that Statistics Canada and BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) understate inflation. Check out shadowstats.com (see below chart) and the Chapwood index for carefully calculated inflation (both of these independent sources calculate inflation amounts and their results roughly confirm each other and dispel the official calculation).

Understating inflation is done to save the government billions a year. Think about union negotiations when the official inflation is only 1%. This creates unfortunate negative effects, the payout of social programs and pension plans to name a few. Over time we end up with way less income than “actual” inflation would dictate we should have. 

What if inflation, real inflation, were to be 50% from October 2020 to October 2021 (matching the increase in commodities as discussed above)? If this were the case, I would guess that Stats Canada and the BLS would have to increase their official numbers higher, much higher. After all, there is a limit to how far you can pull the wool over people’s eyes.

If “official” inflation were to become 12% (still way below the above “potential” actual) a 5-year GIC (guaranteed investment certificate) becomes ~16% and mortgage rates would jump to ~20% (there is a profit spread for banks). A $1,905 a month payment ($500,000 house with a high ratio $450,000 mortgage at 2%) would become $7,267 a month. 

The likely outcome for many homes would be that the bank now owns them as this payment is much too high. The bank would then attempt to sell it to recapture the debt lent out.

House prices are dictated by the affordability of the monthly payment. For example, $7,267 is not affordable. Assuming $1,900 is still affordable the $500,000 house would have to fall in price (using the same high ratio 90% mortgage - now $120,000) to $135,000. That is a drop in value of -73% or a $365,000 loss. 

Our money forms the bank's reserve (bank deposits are unsecured loans to the bank/credit union/trust company). It does not matter if we deposit to savings, chequing or locked in for a time period. From our deposits, the banks loan money out at huge leverage. I was shocked when I looked up the reserve that Canadian banks set aside. It seemed as though it was a secret (finding specifics was nearly impossible). The reserve is apparently 0.62% on average for Canadian banks. Less than one percent. Let’s make it 1% to simplify how leveraged the banks are. 

For every $100 in deposits, they loan out $100/0.01 = $10,000. All the banks need to lose is $100 of their $10,000 block of debt to be bankrupt. Considering the above losses with only a 12% inflation rate, I believe that is a real risk. 

In addition to the above, the actual amount that CDIC (Canada Deposit Insurance Corp.) could cover in a system-wide banking collapse (which would likely be the result of 12% inflation) is $6737 per $100,000. It is just not designed for a system-wide collapse. I do believe the money needed will be printed but is that not what caused the problem in the first place? I believe more printing will not solve the problem but will make the problem worse.

Also think about the effect of your money sitting in the bank. If inflation is way higher than the understated official number, deposits are not being compensated. After tax and inflation, what will you gain? Or will you suffer a guaranteed loss? 

Why is it that no one is telling you about this but me? Why is this not front-page news? Should GIC’s still be rated low risk?

So, does inflation matter? I will let you decide. There is more to this story, much more. As this plays out, we will be here every step of the way. Our objective is to guide each of you to the best of our ability and do everything we can to protect and grow your wealth. This is evident with the strategies and investments that are recommended (and more than likely implemented) already.

If you have any questions, or just want to catch up, please feel free to touch base by email, phone or with an in-office appointment. 

John Barabe is a Trusted Financial Advisor