It's most definitely true, especially my biggest expenses of taxes, real estate, education, and healthcare.
Savings (for retirement or otherwise) is probably the other big expense, which you could classify as "stocks", but if you predict more volatility in the future, therefore needing to save more now, then that is also increasing in price.
Taxes are a function of income, so irrelevant [edit] and either factored into CPI or again, not monetary policy. That's fiscal policy. Take it up with congress, not the fed.
Real estate, while down, is a supply and demand function. In big cities, supply is artificially constrained to the benefit of existing landowners. On average across the US housing, on an inflation-adjusted dollars per square foot basis, is actually exactly the same as its been since the 1970s. [1]
Education and healthcare are social and fiscal policy issues and not connected to monetary policy at all.
Taxes paid can go up even if your income does not. Tolls, car registration fees, property taxes, etc are all taxes. Therefore, they are very relevant when discussing CPI, as it directly affects your bottom line.
I specifically wrote the "goods and services I want" so real estate that I'm not interested in doesn't concern me. I have to plan my life around buying real estate that I want, and so if the price of that real estate is increasing, then it's once again affecting my bottom line.
Education and healthcare being social and fiscal policy issues is irrelevant to me for budgeting purposes. All I am concerned with is the price to achieve the life I want for myself and my kids.
I am predicting that the items I am interested in buying are worth $x in year 2021, but will be worth $y in year 2030, and the difference in $x and $y will be more than what is predicted by official CPI numbers. This has proven true for the last 15 to 20 years for me.
That's all fair but not relevant to monetary policy, the Fed, bitcoin or anything else in this thread. That's a matter of fiscal and social policy and something you should take up with Congress and not the Fed.
My original comment was tongue-in-cheek about how CPI is irrelevant to day to day life for many people and the disconnect people feel from what CPI versus what they experience (or they believe they experience).
I assume it's all wrapped up in the widening income/wealth divides, rewards of automation and outsourcing going to capital owners, and reduced opportunities or perceived opportunities for many resulting in lower quality of life than they expected. That's not going to be captured by any numbers, especially not in a single number nationwide for a place as big as the US.
CPI measures something, and perhaps it's useful for economists or policymakers, but it has been useless as a predictor for how much income I will need to keep up with expenses in day to day life.
