What does inflation mean to me?
Inflation as defined in the general, has many impacts at a personal level. For example, you say that the reduction in the price of oil has no impact on you.  That's absolutely not true, unless you're a hermit living off of the land.  Every box or can or jar of food you buy off the shelf of the grocery store has the price of oil baked into it, because it had to get there somehow.  High fuel costs for trucks mean increased costs to put food on shelves, which mean increased prices for that food. Even tobacco prices can affect you, because they affect what other people are spending.  Demand is always a significant factor in prices, particularly retail prices, and if people are spending more money on tobacco, they're probably spending less on other things - either buying less snacks, for example, or buying cheaper brands of those snacks.  So the price of Doritos may drop a bit (or not rise), for example. General inflation also tends to drive raises, particularly in industries with relatively small performance ties to raises.  If inflation is 3%, wages need to raise 3% or so in order to keep up, on average; even if your personal cost-of-living went up 0%, or 5%, or 10%, the default wage inflation will be closer to that of the national average.  Any raise less than national average is effectively a pay cut (which is one reason why inflation is needed in a healthy economy).  So your company probably has a cost-of-living raise everyone gets that's a bit less than inflation, and then good performers get a bump up to a bit more than inflation.  You can read more on this topic for a more in-depth explanation. Finally, inflation rates tend to be major factors in stock market movement.  Inflation that is too high, or too low, can lead to higher volatility; inflation that is "right" can lead to higher stability.  An economy that has consistently "right" inflation (around 2-3% typically) will tend to have more stable stock market in general, and thus more reliable returns from that market.  There are many other factors that lead to stock markets rising and falling, but inflation is one very relevant one, particularly if it's not in the "right" zone.