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Subscribe to RSSIf your New Year's resolution is to get your finances in order, you might want to make note of the changing costs of some everyday items. From cars to eBook prices, TODAY financial editor Jean Chatzky sorts through the list of what will be more and less expensive in 2013.
Some popular items will cost more in 2013, while price tags on other items will be lower. TODAY financial editor Jean Chatzky, working off a list supplied by content partner Dealnews, breaks down the numbers.
1. Cars
The price of a Toyota Camry is going up $175. Some Lexus models will be up as much as $3,000. Why? Auto manufacturers are passing on to drivers the cost of making engines that meet new higher fuel economy standards. "These fuel economy standards are across the board, but your negotiating power in buying a car is always best if you are willing to sort of pair one model off against each other," she said.
2. Groceries
Thankfully, Congress averted the so-called "milk cliff" by re-extending the farm bill, otherwise costs for keeping your cereal nice and moist could have doubled. Still, prices are set to rise 3 to 4 percent overall thanks to last year's big drought, which led to a grass- and corn-feed shortage. That resulted in higher prices for beef, poultry and grain-related products.
3. Health care
Despite Obamacare's best intent, employee health premiums are going up as much as 6 percent, largely due to employers passing on the cost of increased premiums. How much depends on your employer and plan. Choose carefully when open enrollment comes around.
4. State universities
"States have been under a huge amount of fiscal pressure," Chatzky said. "As a result, they have not been able to fund their state universities as much to keep up with these increased tuition prices. So, more of those increases are being passed along to you." As a result, prices at state colleges are likely to go up almost 5 percent; fees at those same universities, almost 4 percent. Financial aid isn't rising either, making the gap more pronounced. For college students, it's even more important to get that FAFSA form filled out early this year. Missing that deadline will hurt even more in 2013.
Ways to save
However, there is some good news, as several items are predicted to get cheaper, such as Netflix, Kindle eBooks, the costs of solar power, and the big-screen LCD HDTVs.
Finally, after reaching the highest gas price year on record in 2012, gas prices started to fall and analysts at Deutsche Bank say the trend will only continue. They predict the price per barrel to go from $100 to $70, which means the numbers won't spin so fast at the pump.
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BUT....
Just because Obamacare is the law of the land, it doesn't mean that the folks who oppose it are giving up!
I expect they'll do everything they can to make it 'not work.' In the end, though, I still believe that more people will end up getting better care at a more reasonable cost.
Health care costs will keep going up as long as private insurance companies (the big ones) are involved.
It's called corporate greed.
As soon as single payer health care becomes available cost savings will kick in.
Obama said that Obamacare would reduce health care costs and that it would reduce the deficit by $100 million. Remember that? Too many sheep in this country.
The middle class is grabbing their ankles.
Exactly slodan
Before the ACA
2004 +19%
2005 +20.4%
2006 +5.4%
2007 + 14%
2008 +14%
2009 +12%
After the ACA
2010 Layed off late 2009, Downgraded -77% to the lowest level of care.
2011 +17.9%
2012 +17.4%
2013 +29%
My wife couldn't downgrade because of a pre-existing condition 2010 so we kept her's open on the old plan and then went to her Employer's insurance
2012 +11.3%
2012 +7.4% - Boss downgraded prescription drug coverage because the increase was going to be 30% like me.
So, when I see claims of 6% in 2012 and now for 2013 I say
Bull$h-t!
Nothing new with this. I been paying more every year (for same things) that goes bye (last 45 years about... since I'm 64).
Will you still love me..will you still need me..when I'm 64!
Of COURSE health care costs are increasing. In economics we say "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" and when you pass a law giving more people more "stuff" of COURSE the cost will increase!!
Umm, sounds like apples and Volkswagons to me...usual MSNBS, who didn't see this coming after the election?
ProBusiness,
It seems simple enough to figure out. Somehow all the idiots in Washington (and uneducated voters) bought the snake oil from Obama. What an absolute joke....and the Obamacare taxes are just now beginning to roll.
Good bye middle class!
Until you stop corporations and Wall Street from running our country as they have been prices will continue to go up. As long as they are in control they will dictate what you will pay for things and you will pay more and more (debt slavery) because the more you pay the more they make in profits.
Wake up 'Arch'.....corps and Wall Street just cashed in courtesy of Obama & Co.
This news article is a government propaganda to conceal the fact that government inflationary monetary policy had debased the purchasing power of your dollar.
Since the introduction of Henry Ford's mass production technique, the cost of producing a product has steadily declined. However, due to government manipulation of the currency courtesy of the Federal Reserve, American workers have seen their 2013 Dollar worth less than 5% of a 1913 Dollar. Essentially, the government has stolen 95% of the wealth of Americans. It is any wonder Americans are feeling the 'pinch' at the retail stores?
Unfortunately for most Americans, that 'pinch' will become a vise grip in the near future when the full impact of the QEs, Twist, and "Stimulus' spending collapse the 2013 Dollar to less than 1% of the 1913 Dollar.
Rather than reduce the size and cost of Big Government, which is the right solution, the politicians, instead, turn on the printing press 24/7 thereby debasing the value of the Dollar still further. Until the American people stand up and demand the preservation of their wealth and future security, which is only possible under a sound currency, Big Government will continue to steal from them.
Why? Has there bee a sudden demand for twenty year-old Cavaliers?
1. Cars,
2. Groceries
3. Health care
4. State universities
Ways to save
However, there is some good news, as several items are predicted to get cheaper, such as Netflix, Kindle eBooks, the costs of solar power, and the big-screen LCD HDTVs.
Cars don't effect me,.I being military retired and my wife retired, We have bought our last car back in 2006. So no effect on us.
2.Groceries
This has a direct effect on us. But like a lot of people on fixed incomes, you eat least of one thing look for bargains and change what you eat. But then again we are only 2 months to feed where my children have 7 children and themselves to feed and with children adjustments are not easy.
3 Health Care...Direct effect, but I will come back to it.
4. State Universities. No direct effect on me or my wife. But on my children and grandchildren yes.
Now those things that don't have a direct effect on me or my wife doesn't mean we don't care, because it has a direct effect on our children and grandchildren. So we do care. We can try to adjust they? More difficult.
Things to save on ? That's BS for me. I don't need any of those things that they say we can save on. My older TV is just fine as is not having the need for any of those other things. And my children really don't need all those new gadgets and widescreen tv's.
Health... We'll in that we use Medicare, well yes we got a small raise in our SS. but a good part of it went to paying the part B that pays the Medicare advange. And on top of that they still raised the deductible in some cases 400% ($50.) But even with that we have found ways to adjust. Yet I worry about my children and grandchildren more when it comes to Health plans. They are not cheap, you need them the costs are going up and the pay scales are not keeping up.
bicfi,
Ahhh, the intellectual lazy speaks. Do me a favor. Go into your bathroom, turn on the light, and look at the shiny thing on the wall. That's the main reason health care costs continue to rise. Americans want the best and most advanced health care that is available. They want the latest drugs, the latest imaging systems, the latest surgical tecniques, the latest technology in durable medical equipment, the most advanced of everything. The only thing they don't want is to pay the costs. Add to that all the state mandated coverages and now Obamacare and you end up with something that is, wait for it, wait for it, unsustainable... I love that word when it is used correctly :). Then you have the Einsteins out there Dah it's the big business, dah it's the big insurance companies, dah, it's everybody's fault but mine dah. Dah, I'm too stupid to think for myself dah, Let's get the government more involved, dah. As one poster so aptly quoted a great man "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."
Here's the one I thought hilarious;
It appears the shine is coming off the Educational Industrial Complex. Enormous salaries given to those that can't do but think they can teach. Tenure so you'll never be able to get rid of the losers. Add to that the easily available money to any Tom, Dick, or Idiot that thinks he's college material because God knows he/she shouldn't have to go to work for another 4 years and darn it I'm owed a job after getting my degree. A degree who's value is so watered down by every Tom, Dick and Idiot having one. Automakers turned out really crappy product in the late 70s and 80s. Now we have the State universities using the same production model. Those that don't see the parallel should consider; No money down! 1.5% financing for 70 months! Sign and drive your car/college degree off the lot today!
I honestly can't remember very many years in the last two decades where my health insurance premium DIDN'T go up...Obamacare has little to do with it other than being a convenient scapegoat
Hey Liberals....this is Obama's economy.....
Cars - Price up due to new regulations on fuel.
Groceries - Price up due to Obama diverting corn for biofuels.
Health Care - Price up due to ObamaCare.
Where is Obama actually helping the middle class? Where is Obama actually doing anything for you? Oh, he stuck it to those greedy rich guys...uh, in reality, everyone got a tax increase when the 2% payroll deduction expired.
Well, you got what you asked for....I would say "celebrate", but you ain't got no money.
as to cars... anyone who can afford a Lexus will not be deterred by $175
US health care industry is nothing but a criminal racket. That is why the prices keep rising like crazy. We are the only developed country in the world without a national health care system. Why? The criminals in charge will not allow it to happen.
PAWS...hate to tell you but here in MO, we have been using 10% ethinol for decades....that means all 8 years of Bush.
Paws, I’m no obamacare fan, this country simply can’t afford it. However, it’s not the cause of rising healthcare costs. For that matter, for the most part, neither are insurance companies, doctors, etc. We, the people, are the problem. We lead a sedentary life, many sitting on the couch for hours on end, allowing the “great entertainer” to siphon off our health, not to mention our brain cells. Companies are finding that when they institute wellness programs that encourage people to get up off the couch and do something, eat healthy food instead the ice cream and cookies most nosh on while being mesmerized by the TV and/or video games, teach them how to deal with/improve/eliminate their chronic health issues, they can lower their costs. The employees who participate are healthier, don’t require as much medical care which reduces claims which in turn lowers premiums.
What irritates me are the numerous people who actually bought into the idea that if we just had obamacare and we move to a single payer system, healthcare costs would eventually go down. That was a lie propagated by the left to sucker people into supporting obama’s grand plan. Either that or their president is really that stupid…
JP- LOL!!! "It's Bush's fault"...Puhhhhh-lease. You're right....Obama has not been responsible for anything in his entire first term. Everything was George Bush. You know. George Bush was the 3rd gunman on the grassy knoll who killed Kennedy. He's responsible for floods and famine. In fact, Bush is responsible every time a baby gets sick. You do know George Bush has been gone for 4 years? He's not president any more.
Justicenonexistent - I agree that personal responsibility, eat right, and healthy lifestyle reduce issues, but Obama care is responsible for increasing rates because you're covering more people on other people's money and including pre-existing conditions. Maybe we should have a "weigh in" and institute the 5% income "fat tax" on income tax to pay for Obamacare. No...that would hurt the middle class and poor. Maybe food rationing cards like with gas. A cards can buy anything. B cards are too fat, no chips or ice cream. Well, you can't legislate people to be responsible....If you could, we wouldn't have $16 trillion in debt.
...grocery prices going up? ya think? and the clever ways that are used to disguise those increases! like a one-pound bag of chips for $2 that is now packaged in the same bag with only 12 ounces (still only $2!). that's about a 25 percent increase! and look at how helpful the markets are for making a purchase: product a may be so much per ounce while the store brand is so much per gallon.
And of course Boehner and crew want to consider a chained CPI for the old folks (limit COLA). Their checks shrink while food skyrockets. Those Republicans are so considerate...wouldn't dare tax the rich too much...better to put the burden on grannny. Such humanitarians. They better not bother praying to God...They are going to that other place.....
Take your meds Empress..... 'Boner' has been giving Obama & Co. every penny they want to spend on whatever they wanna spend it on.
justoneguy Bonehead yes that is what I call him only gave in on the fiscal cliff bill because the majority of his own party actually forced his hand. I finally think that some of the republicans in the house are starting to see that their way is not the way and that the will of the people (think to our constitution and what it says at the very beginning) wants.
First time I noticed this type of price increasing was almost 30 years ago when I had my second child and started buying jars of baby food. Same price per jar but the amount in each jar had gone down by a quarter of an ounce. Doesn`t sound like much until you realize those had begun as 4 oz jars so that was a relatively big price increase at the time.
Empress: Well, it's Obama and his lackeys Bernanke and Geithner who keep claiming that inflation has been about 2% for the past few years. Total BS. Just how stupid does this administration think the American consumers are?
I think it is more like the bag is now 12 oz AND it's now 2.25.
Sure, why not. We are getting fcuked everywhere else. Why not get boned at the grocery store and on the car lot. I hope astroglide prices don't go up or my hoop is gonna get really sore.
you've been getting it since 2009, with a series of small price increases and smaller quatities in each size category. In some foods you are up 100% in 3 years.
I worked for Shasta (yeah, it was a job) some years ago and when we sold the big bottles of soda they were 3 liters, now they are 2.5 litter, same price. This has been going on for a very long time. I noticed because I use to work in grocery. The 'manufactured' food price increases have been going on for sometime now, they've also been reported on repeatedly, but nobody is really listening...
I keep a very full cold pantry and buy in bulk (food (and staples, like flour/sugar/spices etc.) that will last) when it's on sale for a good price, I don't understand people who don't?
Angela,
Good for you. Prepping is a skill that few people have or care to employ. Too bad, as food proces go up, people are going to wonder why they are always so hungry, when preppers are still eating good. This should be a huge eye opener to everyone. Stock up now while there is still time.
LOL, but I don't consider myself a "prepper". I just pay attention to what the news has been reporting. Keep an eye out for 'news' stories about 'food' and you'll see they've been reporting about this manufactured food crisis for sometime. Every few months there has been a story about it, it's just buried within other food articles. And, I'm the grocery shopper (I worked for years in the food industry, I can read a shelf tag and understand what they say/their code) and have watched the prices raise, food/product reduced and still costing the same or both...pay attention for just a month and ask the store to tell you what the coding is on the tags (it will tell you things like how much the store paid for the product and how much it cost the manufacturer to produce it, if you know how to read it) and discover it for yourself. It's fun and totally scary at the same time. You'll find out just how much you've been hosed as a consumer...
And, for the record, store brand is often a 'major' brand with a different label, for all products not just food.
I'm already eating crackers and soup.
Groceries are ridiculous. If people really looked at what they pay now for things they paid a couple years ago they would be amazed. Grocery shopping for the average family has become a 3 or 4 stop trip. Sams / Costco for bulk goods, soda, paper, beed, poultry, pork, etc... Publix or local grocery store for the best produce, baked goods, etc... Then Costco / Sams again (the opposite of the other) to get the few things the main club store you go to doesn't carry. It's a joke. Mainstream grocery stores prices for meat, dairy and ICE CREAM are the dumbest thing I have ever seen... OK. Rant over. If the consumer keeps accepting this... it will get worse.
It's real hard to see people with snap cards (food stamps) check out with steaks, ribs, Shrimp when you don't qualify by a few hundred dollars for them, while you are buying a cheap ground beef, spaghetti sauce and spaghetti for your best couple of meals in the week.
Kinda hard to take a lot of these comments to heart with McDonalds doing so well.
prices are going up, and i am surprised! what do you think Fed's QEs do to the prices and inflation? why do you think Fed is printing more money?
US ECONOMY POISED TO GROW
right below this headline you have:
Expect to pay more for cars, groceries in 2013
Bob,
You beat me to it.
The "growth" appears to be the result of inflation and printing money more so than real increases in products and services.
Thanks for the tip on health care. However, open enrollment for most people ended Dec. 31st, great timing NBC, what a joke.
It's called INFLATION! Remember all those QE's? That is another way of saying printing money. Just what do you Liberals think would happen when the Fed pumps 3 Trillion into the economy in 3 1/2 years? Don't forget that the Fed is now printing about $85 Billion per month until the Unemployment rate is LESS than 6.5%. I wonder how long that will take.
Our so called government represents Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and Big Oil. These are the ones calling the shots. Liberals or Conservatives are nothing but a smoke screen. The corporate controlled media keeps on feeding this propaganda as the truth to the sheeple like you who believe this nonsense.
They do not "think"
Ok, gas is down to $2.81. That's still TOO MUCH!
Yes, gas prices are too much when weighed against that most U.S workers wages have not kept up with the real cost of living(3% official increase ha!) Still better than nost other nations, UK, France, Germany, etc where $2.81 is a 2/3 or less than we pay.
Most utility companies in the U.S. are raising rates, service fees etc, this year. If you got a 10% raise this year or late last year, you can handle the back to 6.2 % of your salary going to SS, and the increased costs of about everything else. Can't remember ever getting a 10% raise, well maybe over several years, 5 or 6 to be exact!
For you to have 2.81 per gallon, you would have to be in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Idaho, or New Mexico. Most people are paying much more.
I hate you all. I live in California, right by at least a half a dozen refineries (within 40 miles, I kid you not) and I TODAY paid $3.49 per gallon of gas...
dont complain we are paying 3.61 is the lowest price around here. i would love to trade gas prices. i live in the rip-off state of NY
WHat is interesting is they had an article on here about gas dropping 10 cents over two weeks...yet nothing about gas going from 2.79 to 3.20 in less than a week in MO. Gas here is just went up to 3.19
Yeah, I live in north Denver. So, I guess the price is lower, here, comparatively. BUT, still way too high!
Andrew, I think I, and people like me, have the right to complain. Loudly. I live down the street, within MILES of at least a half dozen (but if I recall correctly, it's probably more). So why is my gas so expensive? Well, because they don't keep it here, they ship it off to other countries, like Japan. It's ridiculous that I pay, a lot of times, almost a dollar more than the rest of the nation living so close to the finished product. It's not like they have to ship it to me, or truck it in...I can, literally, drive to the tank and pump my gas from their reserve stock and be home about 20 mins later.
Medical cost over the yrs have increased 12 to 14% annually.
excellent news! now I can cut down on the essentials - like food, health care, and education - and make way for HDTV entertainment. good thing my salary increases all the time too lol
This is news? Huh, price of milk alone is up 25% over same time last year in my neck of the woods. Health insurance deductibles are up because of corporate greed and/or all of us with insurance are paying for those without--especially illegal aliens. Premiums are so high and wages so low that many working people simply can't afford the cost and make just over what would qualify them for govenment programs. I know what it is like to work for an employer who can't or won't offer employees health insurance and also to have a preexisting condition where you can't buy health insurance at any price. Even if you have a health care record of fewer medical occurances than family, friends, and co-workers, freely admitting a pre-existing condition when applying for health insurance will instantly disqualify you. Thank goodness I finally landed a job years' ago, when I did finally get health insurance, despite the deductibles, increasing copays, etc.
and no tax increase?
it is a joke; prices have cuadrruple on everything from gas to milk, utility, trffic ticket, car insureance, rent, and prescription medicine. is this the cost to a friendly china and modern wallmart super store? to alow our job provider to keep more cash at their over seas acconts? wait on people to get angry…..
This article is patently ridiculous. Tell me when the price of the items didn't go up from year to year? The implication that somehow that President Obama was reelected is the cause is for low information Fox Bots.
Aww geee thanks! Glad Obama could also raise the payroll tax on EVERY single working citizen.
Can he honestly say he hasn't raised taxes on the middle class?
What a joke.
I will never buy a new car and pay high car insurance and I eat a lot of soup.. bring it like the wicked witch....
You can blame the high price on guess who.
NAZI = National Socialist German Workers Party
Germany 1933 = Free Healthcare...but don't bother going to the doc you will be days in line
Taxes 80% to pay for all the free stuff the Gverment was giving away to buy votes
We pay 50% now when you figure everything in...and the Government is still going broke
Class war to alienate the upper class and rich and blame them for all the trouble
The registration of all firearms...and once they had the list mandatory confiscation with the death penalty for all that didn't comply
And everyone knows what happened next once people could not defend themselves against the Government
Nazism and Fascism are FAR RIGHT movements, despite the "Socialist" in the name. Anyone with a tiny bit of European Education knows that. And Germany got free healthcare from Otto Von Bismarck around 1900, not the Nazis in 1933. Right now, they still have free healthcare and wait LESS than us. We used to have a longer lifespan than Germans, now we have less.
Pay more? Not to worry as within the next four years the Big O will come through with his promise of 'spreading da wealth'. Promises, promises, promises.....
What is promised today (election day) and can not be kept tomorrow can always be justified (in their mind) in any way they want. And leave office not wanting for anything.
When gasoline prices go down the US does not look for alternatives to fossil fuels such as hybrids, electric, and natural gas fuels and drivers go back to driving gas guzzlers. More oil dependence. That is not good for the country.
Solara?
seems to me the common thread to these increases are new govt. regulations and inflationary policies. Thanks for voting these people in again.
Depends where you work. But what it comes down to is, people must have insurance. Taxpayers want the insurance industry to pay for the ones who get sick, instead of the taxpayers having to pay it. People were already paying for free stuff before the ACA. It was taxpayers covering all the uninsured and emergency welfare claims. Now the insurance industry must pay it. And the public will have to get insured, to make it work. It really cant be any other way. It cant go back to how it was.
1. Price of cars going up? Oh please. They are just using fuel economy standards as an excuse. Years ago the fuel economy was actually better than today relative to the standards of production and ability to control quality. They actually went down in quality over the decades. They have only implemented what they could have done years ago. And charging us more for it even though it costs them almost nothing.
2. Why even bring this topic up? The drought is causing the natural increase in prices. We are going to have to live this this.....it's called capitalism which supposedly everyone loves.
3. Health care costs have been increasing in double digits for well over a decade now. Again, this is nothing new and it will take years, maybe decades for this to all reduce.
4. Just an excuse for increased tuitions. I put children through the same state university from 99-12. Tuition, room and board has gone up every single year. Double digits most times. Despite all this there has been building on the campus left and right, north and south. Education hasn`t changed whatsoever.
This whole article is a waste of electrons. Trying to say something but it says nothing.
Nobody ever explains why College tuitions are going up? Why do our state funded schools need all this money? They don't make anything; they get money from donations, alumni and the state, yet they can't make ends meet? teachers don't get that much - if you ask teachers - yet tuitions are always going up! WHERE'S ALL THAT MONEY GOING?
Thw Whole Idea is to Keep people who go to them Broke after they leave and Keep them Broke trying to pay it all back. Then make it harder and harder to find a good job after they are out, so they Stay Broke. The system is Working just as planned.
JAM - the main reason college tuitions have been going up is that the colleges have been converting themselves into country clubs so that more kids will want to attend their campus. For example, when I attended UMBC around 1970, the tuition was $756 per year. That's about $4473 in 2013 dollars according to online inflation calculators. Now the tuition's about $11,000. Why? A typical reason is the commuter cafeteria. In 1970 it was a grab a tray, choose from a few selections, and sit at bench typical cafeteria. Now it's an enlarged, skylit affair with live potted plants and semi-private tables at various levels. There are stations with knockoffs of KFC, McD's, Subway, Pizza Hut, etc. Everything from the tennis courts to the gym have been tremendously upgraded. The dorms were typically two to a room. Now there are 4-room suites with kitchens, etc. THAT is why the Middle Class is being priced out of public colleges: they're now country clubs for the wealthier kids.