Heads up to business owners. The recent Federal Reserve short-term interest rate hike was the 15th consecutive increase since June 2004 and the first since Ben Bernanke took over as chairman of the central bank in February.

The Fed indicated that even more rate hikes may be necessary in the next few months. "Some further policy firming may be needed to keep the risks to the attainment of both sustainable economic growth and price stability roughly in balance," the Fed said in its statement.

Translation: more rate hikes ahead, let