The good news is you probably put a little more money in your pocket in November.

The bad news is inflation ate up all your income gains and then some.

Real personal incomes fell 0.2% in November despite a healthy gain in nominal income.

Personal income from all sources, including wages, salaries, interest dividends, rental income, unemployment, Social Security, etc. rose by 0.4% in November. Year on year, personal income is up a healthy 7.4%, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. (Keep in mind a chunk of this yearly gain came from government stimulus.)

But when you adjust for the worst inflation in 40 years, real income actually fell last month. That means you have more dollars, but you can't buy as much with them. It was the fourth straight monthly decline in real income. Compared to a year ago, real income from all sources was up by only 1.6%.

Pulling out all of the government money, compensation from wages and salaries in November rose by 0.5% for the month. That's good, right?