The big economic news this week is that interest rates are staying high.

Interest rates which are at a 23-year high are going to remain that way for quite some time.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors met just a couple of days ago and on

Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern made the announcement that they are holding interest

rates steady. Now the Fed meets eight times per year that's on average once

every six and a half weeks but they are widely expected to hold rates steady at

their next several meetings. In fact, there is speculation that interest

rates may not decline until late in the year. How far in advance can we

reasonably make these predictions and what does this mean for your wallet,

for your mortgage, for your car loan, for your credit cards, for your finances, and for the businesses

that you run, or the jobs that you apply to what does

this mean for you we're gonna tackle that in today's first Friday bonus

episode welcome to the Afford Anything podcast You can afford anything but not everything.

Every choice carries a trade-off. And this is a show about optimizing your limited resources,

including money, time, focus, and attention.

I'm your host, Paula Pant.

I trained in economic reporting at Columbia,

and I help you cut the noise and focus on what matters

so you can lead a wealthy life.

On the first Friday of every month, we broadcast a monthly economic update,

so welcome to the May 2024 first Friday economic update.

The big news right now is that statements made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell,

...