I received these figures from a friend of mine at Raymond James.  I found them interesting, so I thought I’d post them here, but not before adding one tidbit of my own.  Did you know that since 1968, more people have walked on the moon (12) than have pitched a perfect game (10)?

Now here are the rest of the facts: 

1.        INTEREST RATES - The yield on the 10-year Treasury note peaked at 15.84% on 9/30/81 or nearly 28 years ago.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury note closed last week at 3.48% (source: Federal Reserve). 

2.        CORPORATE BONDS - Low interest rates nationwide have influenced US corporations to issue $903 billion of bonds through the first 6 months of 2009, +65% more bonds YTD than from 2008 (source: BondDesk Trading). 

3.        WANT A LOAN? - 14% of the nation’s $1.9 trillion consumer debt (e.g., credit cards, car loans, store cards) is expected to default during the current recession.  Historical default rates for credit card debt during past recessions has reached 7-9% and has been less than 5% for unsecured consumer loans (source: Financial Times).    

4.        PAY DOWN DEBT - 2 out of every 5 Americans (40%) would pay off their home mortgage or credit card debt if they received a $50,000 gift as opposed to spending or saving the funds (source: MetLife, USA Today). 

5.        OVER? - The cover of today’s (8/03/09) Newsweek magazine declares “THE RECESSION IS OVER!”  If our recession did end last week, then it officially lasted 19 months, the nation’s longest since 1933 (source: Newsweek).  

6.     NOT WORKING - 36% of current US retirees between the ages of 55-75 retired sooner than they originally planned as a result of job loss, poor health, or an early retirement buyout from their employer (source: SOA).  

7.     BOOM-BOOM - “Baby boomers” are traditionally thought of as the 78 million Americans born between the years 1946-64.  Of the boomers born in 1955 or earlier (i.e., the group turning ages 54-63 in 2009), only 31% are financially prepared for retirement as of today (source: McKinsey, BusinessWeek). 

8.     WORKER COST - The average employer pays 43 cents in benefits (e.g., Social Security, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, health insurance, retirement plans) for every $1 paid in salary (source: DOL). 

9.     THE VALUE OF EDUCATION - The average net worth of American families headed by a person that received a college degree is more than 4 times as large as the average net worth of American families headed by a person that received only a high school diploma.  This data is part of the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances collected by the Federal Reserve and was released in June 2009 (source: Federal Reserve). 

10.     THE BEST CARE? - Almost 3 out of every 5 Americans (59%) believe US health care is no better than “average” or even “below average” when compared to other industrialized nations (source: Pew Research).  

11.     PERFECTION - Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox threw a perfect game on 7/23/09 against Tampa Bay , the 2nd no-hitter of his 10-year career.  Buehrle was drafted by the White Sox in 1998 in the 38th round (out of 50 total rounds) with the draft’s 1,139th pick.  The same umpire (Eric Cooper) was behind the plate calling balls and strikes for both of Buehrle’s no-hitters (source: Major League Baseball).