but I’ve also been suspicious of the reported inflation numbers

Check the purchasing power of your money against hard assets like gold, stocks, land, housing, etc. "Inflation" numbers we get are CPI numbers, and those are intentionally doctored to show lower "inflation" values. For starters, they assume "stable" prices that don't change are normal. That is a lie as prices should be going down all the time due to improved production processes. Once you realize inflation is underreported and that wages don't even keep up with that..