We moved into our new house five years ago this week. 

A week later, our 15-year-old niece died tragically and sent our lives into a lengthy turmoil. Amid all that, we were still in total lockdown. Maddie was doing virtual college auditions from a makeshift studio in our living room. Noelle was practicing gymnastics in our basement. The vaccine was still a few months away. Then, we got another dog.  

Nobody saw any of that coming. 

Also, this week, Tara and I hit the six-month mark of empty nesting. We seem to be settling into it. We have full reign over the television, and the sink has far fewer dirty dishes in it. We go to Penguins games and cook all the foods Noelle is allergic to. I’ve grown more aloof about ending sentences in prepositions.  

On some level, it’s been anticlimactic. One or both of our kids FaceTime us every day, and we visit one of them every few weeks. Tara tracks their locations on her phone. Times have certainly changed. My mom recently reminded me that they hadn’t seen or heard from me for a month after dropping me off at college. They didn’t even know if I was alive. Sorry, Mom.

I had my annual check-up this week, too, my first north of 50. It was noteworthy because it was the first time I’ve seen a new doctor since I was 16. My PCP of 34 years retired last fall without asking my permission, the inconsiderate bastard. He knew things about me nobody knows. 

Reflecting on all this change makes you wonder what’s next. Will we stay in Pittsburgh for the long haul? That will depend on where our kids end up. Maddie is off to New York this summer to chase Broadway and then, who knows? Noelle is a homebody and loves our cabin as much as I do. She has the best chance of moving back to Pittsburgh eventually, if there are any jobs for her once AI takes over. Otherwise, we’ll likely relocate to wherever our favorite grandkids are. I hope there are good golf courses. 

No man in my family has ever lived past 74 – the Dicks weren’t graced with the best cardiovascular genetics. While I’ll confidently bet the over, because I exercise religiously and eat more green vegetables in a day than my dad ate in a decade, the clock is ticking louder by the minute. I plan to make the most of it. 

For someone who gets paid to tell people where the world is going, it seems funny that I have no idea where or how my own world will evolve. 

It’s exciting.

Here’s what we’re seeing: 

Our collective financial health has reached its lowest point in well over a year. Our February Consumer Financial Health Index came out this week, showing its second consecutive monthly drop. To be fair, the core index has been relatively steady over the past 12 months, moving within a narrow two-point band. People’s confidence in their income has been suffering the most since December, but attitudes toward household debt and investments took the steepest fall this time around.  

Meanwhile, Americans aren’t prepared for a financial emergency. We learned this week that over one-third of U.S. adults report having little to no money set aside for unexpected expenses, a figure that climbs to over 40% among Millennials and Gen Xers. Less than a third of respondents have enough money saved to cover more than a few months of expenses. It helps explain, for example, why so many Americans are saddled with medical debt or why millions have been drawing down their 401(k)s prematurely. Notably, there’s a stark correlation between financial preparedness and financial literacy – meaning we need to do a much better job educating young people about these things before it’s too late. 

Concerns over gender inequality are on the rise, and that’s super fu—ed up. After declining since the turn of the decade – and presumably for the hundred or so years prior – the percentage of Americans who are very or somewhat concerned about gender equality has been on the rise over the past year, crossing 50% for the first time since 2020. Simultaneously, overall emotional well-being among U.S. women continues to clearly lag that of men (and thus the Gen Pop). When asked what’s most to blame for their outsized stress, financial worries, and the news/current events rank at the top. Ever the most resourceful of our fellow human beings, women are finding all manner of ways to cope.   

Don’t be fooled, people haven’t stopped worrying about the environment either. If you followed politics or news over the past couple of years, you’d think somehow concerns over climate change magically disappeared. In our 3 Things to Know this week, however, we found the opposite to be true. Much like DEI policies, regulatory changes by the current Administration seem to have made people more – not less – motivated to address environmental problems. We also saw an uptick in cost-of-living optimism following the SCOTUS overturn of Trump tariffs. Finally, and entirely unrelated, the percentage of Americans who regularly drink soda fell sharply over the last year.  

As costs continue to rise, prescription drug use in the U.S. is only growing. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults now report taking at least one prescribed daily maintenance medication, up one point from last year. If there’s any good news, it’s that the percentage who report taking four or more maintenance drugs fell two points during the same period. The most prolific prescription takers significantly over-index as Medicare or Medicaid users, no surprise. We also learned that a growing number of consumers are willing to cross state lines for cheaper meds, while more and more are shifting to big box retailer pharmacies and online-only services to cut costs. 

 More awesomeness from the InsightStore™:

  • Americans, particularly younger adults, are increasingly turning to bath products, weighted blankets, and even plush toys to manage stress in their lives. 

The most popular questions this week:

Home ownership is a critical part of the American dream: agree or disagree?

Would you say you’re knowledgeable about the history of the Civil War?

How many of your home furnishings are secondhand?

How easy is it for you to spot a scam?

Answer Key: Critical, no, but it sure helps; Not as much as I’d like; Quite a few, we bought the house with a couple of rooms pre-furnished; I’d like to think I’m pretty good at it.

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Hoping you’re well.

JD

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