THEY HAD TO BE SURE The government announced on 7/19/21 that the recession the United States entered into at the end of February 2020 lasted just 2 months, ending on 4/30/20. The recession, the 18th in the country in the last 100 years, was the shortest recession in the last century. The other 17 recessions in the last 100 years lasted on average 13.6 months. (Source: Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research. JUST TAKE UBER The price of used cars and … [Read more...]

NOT JUST KIDS 19% of American that have outstanding student loan debt from college are over age 50, i.e., 8.7 million borrowers out of 44.7 million total borrowers. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York) AN AGING GROUP 2 out of every 5 physicians (40%) in the United States today will be at least age 65 within the next 10 years. (Source: The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections from 2019-2034) THAT WOULD BE NICE Social Security retirement benefits are projected to … [Read more...]

COSTCO The number of Costco memberships reached 105.5 million in 2020, exceeding the number of U.S. households that pay for cable TV. (Source: Bloomberg) SHIPPING More than 400 ships traveling between Asia and the West Coast were late by more than two weeks during the first five months of this year. Compare that to 388 vessels in total that were late between 2012 and 2020. (Source: Yahoo!News) TAXING AND SPENDING The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasted on 7/1/2021 that during … [Read more...]

CANCER The diagnoses of some forms of cancer fell by more than 50% in 2020 when compared to 2019, not because cancer is on the decline but because 94% of Americans postponed their annual screenings and many cancer clinics suspended the collection of biopsies. (Source: Propublica) HOSPITALS Between 3/1/0 and 6/30/20, American hospitals lost $51 billion per month of revenue due to cancelled and foregone medical services. The Mayo Clinic furloughed or cut the hours of 29,500 of its 70,000 … [Read more...]

SHIPPING The cost of sending a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Rotterdam is now $10,500, up from $8,900 in January, $5,800 in December, and $2,800 in November. (Source: NumlockNews) BITCOIN An estimated $140 billion worth of Bitcoin holdings can’t be accessed because owners have forgotten their passwords or digital keys. (Source: Markets Insider) NFL An estimated 16% of NFL players go bankrupt within 12 years of retirement. (Source: MarketWatch) CHARITABLE GIVING In 2020, … [Read more...]

HALF 51% of the $64.2 trillion forecasted by the Biden White House that the US government will spend over the next 10 fiscal years, i.e., fiscal year 2022 through and including fiscal year 2031, are outlays for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. (Source: Budget of the U.S. Government released 5/28/21) FEWER CHOICES There were 1.16 million existing homes for sale nationwide as of 4/30/21. The 1.03 million “for sales” as of 2/28/21 was the lowest level ever reported for a statistic that … [Read more...]

LIVING LONG US life expectancy at birth was 60.8 years in 1921. US life expectancy at birth was 77.8 years in 201. Thus, life expectancy has increased by a year every 6 years over the last century. (Source: CDC) LOVING LABOR Employers created 559,000 new job in May, dropping the unemployment rate to 5.8%, it average rate since modern data collection began in 1948. From 1980-1999 the average was 6.5%, from 2000-2019 it was 59%. Prior to Sars-Cov-2 it was 3.5%, and the jobs deficit remains … [Read more...]

INVESTING AT A RECORD HIGH The S&P 500 has set 180 all-time record closing highs in the last 5 years, i.e., since 6/07/16, an average of 3 record closes per month. (Source: BTN Research) REALLY LOW As of 6/04/21, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has been below 2% for 462 consecutive trading days, i.e., since 8/01/19, the longest stretch below 2% in US history. (Source: Treasury Department) IN TEN YEARS The 10-year budget forecast released by the Biden White House on Friday … [Read more...]

BABIES China had 12 million births in 2020, more than 3 times the 3.6 million births that took place in the United States last year. (Source: National Vital Statistics System) BUSINESS DONE ON A CELLPHONE The US banking industry, employing 2 million workers today, is forecasted to eliminate 10% of that total (200,000) during the upcoming decade. The reductions will take place in local bank branches and regional call centers. (Source: Mike Mayo, Wells Fargo Bank Analyst) SPENDING … [Read more...]

ROAD TRIP The average price of a gallon of gasoline reached $3.04 Friday (5/14/21), up 79 cents a gallon YTD. The last time gasoline closed a calendar year above $3 a gallon was 2013. (Source: AAA) PETS After the beginning of the pandemic, about 12.6 million U.S. households got a new pet. The largest national provider of veterinarian’s services, Banfield Pet Hospital, saw half-million more visits in 2020 than in 2019. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterinary positions are … [Read more...]

BUCKS FROM THE GOVERNMENT Pandemic stimulus payments to individuals and federal unemployment benefits made up 22% of the record setting US personal income total reported by the government for March 2021. The same 2 categories made up just 3% of national personal income in January 2020, i.e., immediately before the pandemic began. (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis) DO THE MATH The S&P 500 is a cap-weighted index, i.e., the largest capitalized stocks carry a disproportionate impact on … [Read more...]

Greetings, our team is growing and so is our need for more space! We are thrilled to announce that our office remodel will begin next week with an expected completion date sometime in the early fall. We will still be available to all clients during this time. Our team will primarily be working remotely, but we will have some of our support staff team at temporary office location.  If you need to pick something up or drop something off, you can find us at 5944 Seminole Centre Ct, Suite B, in … [Read more...]

MAKE A QUICK DECISION Existing homes that were sold nationwide in March 2021 were on the market on average of just 18 day (2 ½ weeks) before selling. (Source: National Association of Realtors) SIMPLER RETURN The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (TCJA) of December 2017 increased the standard deduction for taxpayers effective with the 2018 tax year. As a result of the change, the percentage of households taking the standard deduction has increased from 70% (pre-TCJA) to 90% (post-TCJA). (Source: Tax … [Read more...]

TAX CHEATERS The government projected in September 2019 that our nation’s “tax gap,” i.e., the difference between what all taxpayers should have paid compared to what they actually paid, was $441 billion per year. On 4/13/21, IRA Commissioner Charles Retting testified before the Senate Finance Committee that the “tax gap” could be as his as $1 trillion annually, or more than double previous estimates. (Source: IRS STATE MONEY The average US state receives 48% of its tax revenue from sales … [Read more...]

LOFTY NUMBER Almost forty years ago, on 10/9/81, the interest rate on a 30-yr mortgage peaked at an amazing 18.63%. Today that rate is just 3.04%, a decline of 83.7%! Conversely, today, the price for a thousand board feet of lumber on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange hit yet another high at $1,300.00/1,000 bd ft. A year ago, the same contract was $328.50, and on 9/28/09 it was just $163.60. Nothing is forever. IMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT In Israel, where per capita Covid-19 injection rates are … [Read more...]

BEFORE RATES RISE In a report released on Monday 4/05/21, an estimated 1 out of every 8 homeowners (12.2%) with a mortgage had refinanced their loan to a lower interest rate in just the previous 6 months. (Source: Survey of Consumer Expectations Housing Survey) GROWING DEMAND, LAGGING SUPPLY Inflation as measured by the “Consumer Price Index (CPI),” was up +0.62% in March 2021, the highest monthly rate recorded in the United States since June 2009 (almost 12 years ago). There have been just … [Read more...]

WEALTHIEST The top 10% of US households (as measured by net worth) own 70% of all assets nationwide as of 12/31/20, i.e., $85.6 trillion out of $122.9 trillion. The bottom 50% of US households own just 2% of all assets as of 12/31/20, i.e., $2.5 trillion out of $122.9 trillion. (Source: Federal Reserve) LOWEST PAID, HARDEST HIT 82% of the net job losses in the United States in calendar year 2020 were suffered by workers in the bottom 25% of wage earners. (Source: Economic Policy … [Read more...]

COMPUTER In 2019, Google’s quantum computer Sycamore reached a milestone. In 200 seconds, the machine performed a mathematically designed calculation so complex that it would take the world’s fastest supercomputer, the IBM Summit, 10,000 years to do it. This makes Google’s quantum computer about 158 million times faster than the world’s supercomputer. (Source: Medium) TWO SUPERPOWERS The United States and China makes up 40% of the world’s gross domestic product. (Source: Barclays Investment … [Read more...]

LESS BABIES The global “total fertility rate” has been cut in half (down 51%) in the last 50 years, falling from 4.992 “births per woman” in 1968 to 2.415 “births per woman” in 2018. (Source: The World Bank) TEN YEARS APART Banks repossessed just 1,428 homes nationwide in January 2021. Banks repossessed 78,133 homes nationwide in January 2011. (Source: Attom Data Solutions) REAL ESTATE AGENTS Today, there are more real estate agents in the U.S. than homes for sale. The National … [Read more...]

PUT IT ON THE CARD In the 1-year since the declaration of a “national emergency” on 3/13/20, the US national debt has increased $4.46 trillion from $23.44 trillion to $27.90 trillion. (Source: Treasury Department) RISING RATES From its all-time closing low of 0.501% on Monday 3/09/20, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has more than tripled to close at 1.634% as of Friday 3/12/21. (Source: Treasury Department) NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE To rank in the top 1% of US taxpayers took $85,428 … [Read more...]