If you grew up in the 1960s, '70s or '80s, you may want to forget everything you know about inflation.

It's very possible that the financial and economic conditions of your youth were an aberration in American history. Of course, this is important to how you manage your portfolio, especially a retirement portfolio.

Shown in the black line is the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator (PCED), the inflation benchmark used by the Federal Reserve in setting interest-rate policy. The PCED is not as well-known as the Consumer Price Index, which is the inflation measure most often quoted in the media.