The US is the largest economy in the world by a sizeable margin, and growing. The US has the world’s largest bond market, largest stock market, and largest real estate market. –International Monetary Fund, April 2025
Never mind “Sell in May and Go Away.” If you’re a long-term investor, every month is a good month to start investing. As it turns out, the average annualized ROR for the S&P500 looking forward 1, 5, 10, 20, and 30 years in all months of the year ranges between 11.2% - 12.3%, and this data goes all the way back to 1923. – Creative Planning, June 5, 2025
“Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.” ~ Morgan Housel
China is home to about 17.5% of the global population today, but in 1800, 1 in 3 people on Earth lived there. Widespread smallpox inoculation, improved birthing techniques, and rapid population growth made China the most populous country on the planet at the time. –History Facts, February 18, 2025
The U.S. bond market has now been in a drawdown for 57 months – by far, the longest in history. –Creative Planning, May 5, 2025
Google currently commands approximately 89.66% of the global search engine market share, solidifying its position as the most-visited website worldwide. The platform processes more than 8.5 billion searches daily, amounting to more than 3 trillion searches annually. –GlobalStats, April 2025
Volatility isn’t unusual – it’s the cost of admission. On average, the S&P 500 sees seven -3% dips, three-and-a-half -5% pullbacks, and one -10% correction per year, plus a -15% drop about every 18 months. Said another way, if you have a $1 million retirement portfolio, that’s the equivalent of losing (and recovering) -$30,000 multiple times a year, -$50,000 a few more, -$100,000 once annually, and -$150,000 every year-and-a-half. In other words, this is what “normal” looks like, having nothing to do with bear markets. –Ryan Detrick, March 4, 2025
The US dollar represents 54% of global export invoicing, 57% of official foreign exchange reserves, and is used in 88% of foreign exchange transactions. 46% of global GDP is anchored to the US dollar by way of currency peg, more than double the next closest competitor (the euro).” –Ilzetzki, Reinhart, and Rogoff
A four-day visit to Disney World for a two-parent family of four at a value-priced Disney hotel cost $4,266 in 2024 according to travel data provider Touring Plans, which represents a 32% increase from five years ago. Nearly 80% of the increase in costs during that period came from services and add-ons that used to be free. –New York Post, February 10, 2025
Over the last decade, fueled by AI, US oil producers have pumped 60% more oil daily with 40% fewer workers. By extracting more oil while reducing expenses, they’re lowering the costs to drill profitably. In the Permian Basin, the break-even price for oil producers has fallen to $40 a barrel from over $90 in 2012. – The Barron’s Daily, November 26, 2024
