Bill’s By The Number$

Posted by: Lisa Navarro | Posted on: October 11th, 2021 | 0 Comments

WHAT A DAY! – 13 years ago this week (on Monday 10/13/08), the single-best trading day for the S&P 500 in the last 71 years (since 1950) took place – a gain of +11.58% (total return) in just 1 trading day. The S&P 500 consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation. It is a market value weighted index with each stock’s weight in the index proportionate to its value (source: BTN Research).

WEALTHIEST FAMILIES – The top 5% of US households own 71% of US equities, while the top 20% of US households own 93% of US equities (source: Survey of Consumer Finances, Federal Reserve Board).

GOING UP? – Inflation as of 9/30/21, using the Consumer Price Index, will be reported this Wednesday 10/13/21. For the trailing 12 months ending 8/31/21, inflation was up +5.3%, a level not seen over the course of a calendar year in 31 years (source: Department of Labor).

IMPACTS MANY PRODUCTS – Oil prices have gone up +64% YTD, i.e., West Texas Intermediate crude has gone from $48.52 a barrel as of 12/31/20 to $79.35 a barrel as of last Friday 10/08/21 (source: NYMEX).

YOUR NEXT CAR – 25% of new auto sales in China in the year 2025 are projected to be electric vehicles. China is the world’s largest auto market (source: Bloomberg NEF).

SAME FOR YOU? – The total household net worth in America is up +47% in the last 4 years and is up +89% in the last 8 years. The total US household net worth was $74.8 trillion as of 6/30/13, was $96.2 trillion as of 6/30/17 and was $141.7 trillion as of 6/30/21 (source: Federal Reserve).

JUST NORMAL PEOPLE – President Joe Biden and his wife are worth an estimated $8 million, including their ownership of 2 homes in Delaware. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband are worth an estimated $7 million (source: The Wealth Advisor).

GOT YOUR SHOTS? – 81% of 1,000 small business owners (i.e., firms employing less than 100 workers) who were surveyed in September 2021 say they would require new hires to be vaccinated or they are considering a requirement that new hires be vaccinated (source: Digital.com).

MAY I ASK YOU? – The HIPPA Privacy Rule (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was enacted in 1996 or 25 years ago. HIPPA does not prohibit a business from asking an employee if they have received a COVID-19 vaccine, but it does regulate how and when a business may use or disclose information about an employee’s vaccination status (source: Department of Health & Human Services).

PANDEMIC DEATHS – Over a half million more Americans (526,000) died in 2020 than in 2019, i.e., 3.381 million in 2020 compared to 2.855 million in 2019. 264,000 Americans died in January 2020 (pre-pandemic), while 370,000 Americans died in January 2021 (source: National Center for Health Statistics).

EXPANDING ITS REACH – House lawmakers introduced legislation on 6/01/21 (“Improving Medicare Coverage Act”) that would lower the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 60. The change would expand Medicare to an estimated 23 million American seniors currently not eligible. Medicare provides health insurance coverage today to 54.1 million Americans aged 65 and older (source: HR # 5165).

MEDICAID IN YOUR STATE – A Supreme Court ruling in 2012 (9 years ago) made the expansion of Medicaid that was written into the Affordable Care Act an option that individual states could add but did not make the expansion mandatory. As of today, 38 states have expanded Medicaid and 12 have not. The 12 are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming (source: ACA).

BACKSTOP – The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has taken over an average of 5 ½ failed private pension plans each month over the 5 fiscal years of 2016-2020, a grand total of 336 failed plans. In fiscal year 2020 alone, 69 plans that provide pension benefits to 57,000 current and future retirees were bailed out (source: PBGC).

CAUGHT YOU – Billionaire Oleg Tinkov pleaded guilty on Friday 10/01/21 to filing a false US tax return, forcing him now to pay $507 million in back taxes, interest and penalties (source: Department of Justice).

DON’T CHANGE THE LOGO – The Big 12 Conference is made up of 10 teams, but the league will drop to 8 teams when Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC in 2025. In response, the Big 12 has announced that Cincinnati, UCF, BYU and Houston will join its conference, bringing its membership back to 12 teams (source: Big 12 Conference).