LET’S SHOOT FOR MORE A 65-year-old American male has a life expectancy of 18.2 years. A 65-year-old American female has a life expectancy of 20.8 years. (Source: National Center of Health Statistics) DREAM HOME Ground was broken in the United States on the construction of 100,200 single-family homes in October 2020, the largest monthly total nationwide since June 2007. (Source: Census Bureau) WE’RE DOWN, THEY’RE DOWN A LOT The US economy fell 3.5% in size during calendar year 2020. The … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of February 22nd
THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HIGHER 522,808 Americans filed bankruptcy in 2020, down 30% from 752,160 bankruptcy filings in 2019. (Source: United States Courts, Table F-2, Bankruptcy Filings) WERE YOU IN ON THIS? 5.6 million existing homes were sold in 2020, the highest number recorded in the United States since 2006. (Source: National Association of Realtors) DO THE MATH The S&P 500 is up +4.9% YTD (total return) through last Friday 2/12/21. Since the S&P 500 is cap-weighted index, the … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of February 15th
RELIEF DOLLARS 36% of stimulus payment money received by Americans from the March 2020 CARES Act was put into savings, while 35% was used to pay down debt. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York) AS LONG AS RATES STAY LOW The average interest rate that the US government pays on it interest-bearing debt as of 12/31/20 was 1.695%, down from 2.331% as of 12/31/15. That means our government can borrow 37.5% more money today that it borrowed 5 years ago and still have the same out-of-pocket … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of February 8th
NOT DONE YET In 2008-2009, the Congress authorized spending of $983 billion to alleviate the impact of the global mortgage crisis, an amount equal to 6% of the size of the US economy. In 2020, the Congress authorized spending of $3.7 trillion to alleviate the impact of the global pandemic, an amount equal to 17% the size of the US economy. (Source: BTN Research) NOW WHAT DO I DO? 82% of 2020 college graduates did not have a full-time job in place on the day they graduated last year. … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of February 1st
GOT A LOWER RATE Through 9/30/20, 65% of the mortgages that were originated in the United states TYD were refis of existing mortgages. (Source: Inside Mortgage Finance) IS IT A BUBBLE? The US stock market was worth $42.6 trillion as of the close of trading on 1/22/21, 2.0 times the size of our $21.2 trillion economy. At the peak of the dot-com stock bubble in March 2000, the US stock market was worth 1.4 times the size of the US economy. (Source: Fund Manager Julien Bittel) RED AND BLUE … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of January 25th
NFL In 2020, eleven of the top 15 U.S. TV broadcasts were NFL games. (Source: Axios) POPULATION Last year, California’s population contracted by 69,532, shrinking for the first time as far back as records go. (Source: The Wall Street Journal) OUR PART OF THE WORLD The US stock market had a total capitalization of $41 trillion as of 12/31/20. 39% of the world’s $104 trillion stock market capitalization. (Source: S&P) DEBT The USA increased its national debt by $7.77 trillion in … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of January 18th
JOBLESS The lowest (3.5%) and the highest (14.7%) unemployment rates in the United States in the last 50 years (since 1970) both occurred in 2020, and they took place just 2 months apart. (Source: Department of Labor) TEN-YEAR TREASURY NOTE The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ended 2020 at 0.91%, its lowest calendar year close ever and down 1 percentage point from its 12/31/19 close of 1.91%. The 10-year Treasury note yield was 0.50% on Monday 03/09/2020, its lowest closing yield ever. … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of January 11th
RAINING NOW All 50 US states maintain a “rainy day” fund that may be accessed as a result of an economic emergency. As of 7/01/19, California had $19.2 billion set aside, Texas had $7.8 billion, New York had $2.5 billion while Illinois had just $4 million. (Source: National Association of State Budget Officers) JUST HERE FOR THE DAY 48% of hospital revenue in 2018 came from outpatient procedures. (Source: Deloitte Center for Health Solutions) BIRTHS It is estimated that there will be … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of January 4th
ALTERNATIVE POWER SOURCE Wind, solar, and hydro accounted for nearly 90% of new electricity infrastructure installed in 2020. The average cost of onshore wind is about $26 a megawatt-hour and solar is $29. That means that building new wind and solar power generation is now cheaper than keeping many of the world’s existing gas plants running. (Source: Lazard) ALL THE OTHER STUFF Administrative costs make up 34% of total US health care expenditures (i.e., expenses not related to direct … [Read more...]
Fun facts: Week of December 28th
IT HAS BEEN AWHILE Congress has passed 4 separate bills providing $2.8 trillion of pandemic relief, but the last of the 4 bills (HR 6312) was signed into law on 4/24/20 or nearly 8 months ago. (Source: Congress) SUGAR Between 1970 and 2000, the amount of added sugar in the American food supply rose by 25%, or about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day. (Source: CNBC) LUMBER Lumber is the most reported material shortage among commercial contractors and the problem is getting worse. The … [Read more...]
