Honestly, I'm down like the economy

-Thank you Little Wayne for giving me one of my favorite lines in a rap song.

It seems as though this song is slowly becoming outdated. With the turn in the stockmarket, consumer spending, and employment, analysts predict an overall increase in growth to be higher than than 3% in 2011.

Great. So you might be asking, "What does this mean for me"? (You selfish person...)

Well, I'll tell you what it means for me. It means my rent is going to be $45 higher every month to live in the same apartment. When I went to talk to the complex owners they explained to me that they predict the economy will be higher and therefore the whole area is raising prices. (Please, don't listen to wall street, listen to the apartment owners at your apartment complex... they seem to have this whole economy thing figured out) It's funny that my job isn't giving me a raise to reflect the future change in the economy and my increase apartment rent.

Although your rent might not personally be increasing, there is still a lesson to be learned. Just because some hot shot analysts think the economy may be going up doesn't exactly give you the go-ahead to go to the mall and spend $700 on new shoes. There will always be surprise additional expenses that may pop up. (Oh, maybe like gas prices?) The financial health of the country may not completely reflect your personal financial health.

If there IS something to do differently, it should be to invest. If the economy is going up, this is the time to open an mutual fund. Take this opportunity to grow your wealth and not to spend it. Sigh, hard lesson I know.

Is this post my best work? Probably not. But I was listening to Jay Sean and Little Wayne while I wrote it before their song goes out of style.