Americans & Money: 27 Facts

Americans & Money: 27 Facts
by Drew Gannon


With companies like Apple, IBM, and Harley-Davidson recently posting big earnings, it may be easy to start feeling more optimistic about the economy. But Americans have found that even when the markets are growing, our pocketbooks might not be.
So what exactly is the financial situation for Americans today? The most recent government surveys, polls, research, and census data -- gathered by New Strategist Publications in The American Marketplace -- give us 27 financial facts about what we own, what we owe, and much more.

What We Make
Even with unemployment numbers on the rise, the average American is still employed and insured. Fifty-eight percent of Americans have a job, with an average salary of $735 a week, and 56 percent of Americans still receive employer-provided health insurance. The majority of Americans still recognize the importance of the daily grind, with 70 percent claiming hard work is the way to get ahead in the job market.

What We Own
The American dream still includes a home of our own: Sixty-seven percent of Americans are homeowners. The average American lives in a 1,800-square-foot house built before 1975. Along with a home, the average American household also owns two vehicles and the majority (62 percent) owns at least one pet.

What We Do With Our Money
While the average American household has a net worth of $96,000, that figure includes the equity in our homes. When it comes to more liquid financial assets, 54 percent of Americans have less than $100,000 in savings and only 19 percent of households directly own stock. But Americans are still spending money. The average American spends $69 a day, even though we only have an average of $34 in our wallets.

How We Spend on Technology
It's a technological world we live in now, so it makes sense that a large chunk of our money goes into these products. The majority of Americans own a desktop (59 percent) and/or a laptop (52 percent) computer, and 76 percent of Americans use the Internet on a typical day. Today, a whopping 87 percent of Americans have a cell phone (35 percent own a smartphone), whereas only 70 percent of Americans still use a landline.
What We Worry About
The economy might be showing signs of an uptick, but 58 percent of Americans are still worried about being able to maintain their standard of living. It's no wonder we're worried: Including mortgage obligations, the average American household carries $75,600 in debt. We're working hard to stay on top of it, though: 54 percent pay credit card bills in full each month.
Still, keeping and creating jobs in the U.S. remains the most important political priority for 51 percent of Americans. Even more Americans (60 percent) believe the economy, specifically jobs, will be the top issue in the 2012 election. And Americans want government to spend more money on health care (60 percent) -- a necessity that now costs the average American $3,126 a year out-of-pocket. They also want to see more spending on the environment (60 percent), and education (74 percent).

Investing In Silver

Is investing in silver a profitable endeavor? Metals have been the attraction since ancient of times to this day. Investing in gold, silver, copper, zinc and oil is considered as good investment now.

There are also indexes that reports and records or silver and gold price movements. Investing in silver is a bright idea, as the silver index looks promising. In the month of May, 2007 silver has hit a high of .17 per ounce and since it is under it is still at the reach of an ordinary investor.
You can try your luck on silver through Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL), Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS), Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ: SSRI) and iShares Silver Trust (AMEX: SLV). The demand of silver is increasing in countries around and that is the major reason why investing in silver remains a gaining ground.

Gold and silver almost move in the same way on an index. Therefore, when gold prices do well in the stock exchange it heavily affects silver prices and silver rise up too.

The Silver boom is likely to occur, and contributing to this factor is demand of silver articles in USA, China, India, Russia and other parts of Europe. Silver jewelry is highly in demands it looks chic, is affordable and has a resale value. Silver consumption is increasing day by day. Industries silver demand is increasing every year.

Silver is a good conductor of electricity and that makes it popular as well. It is also thought that silver stock is low this year and when the demand supply ratio stretches silver rates will automatically soar.

Investing in silver is coming up as a powerful business with lots of money to play around with. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that investing in silver will bring you the gold mine. One can invest in Silver coins or silver bullions but take into account the high premium associated with it. Your broker can be the guide to your investing in silver.

The bottom line is this: in order to really profit from investing in silver, you need to focus all your efforts on this endeavor. Don’t become a jack of all trades but master of none. Follow these important tips and you’ll make a good profit with your silver investing exploits.
For more tips for investing in the stock market, visit http://www.stock-investing-tips.com, a popular site that teaches how to make a fortune in the market.

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Buy Bullion for a Golden Future – Investing in Gold and Silver Bullion

If you’ve though about buying gold bars lately, you’re far from alone. Investing in precious metals such as gold bullion and silver bullion is the smart investment of choice for savvy investors worried about the value of their traditional investments.
With the economy in a tailspin the threat of inflation looming down the line, the thought of one’s savings being eroded is a frightening one. When the world becomes a more uncertain place, there’s a need to hold ones wealth in tangible assets such as precious metals. Currencies have come and gone over millennia but gold and silver are as much solid measures of value today as they were in Roman times.

In a word, gold in today’s economy represents security. With governments creating money out of thin air to fund deficits, the future value of our currencies is at risk. Gold, on the other hand, retains its buying power over time. It also has intrinsic value and has no counter party risk. This means that whatever happens to the financial system, gold will retain its value throughout the world.
You can invest in gold in a slew of ways – everything from buying mining stocks to gold coins. But for sheer economic efficiency, nothing beat buying gold bars and keeping them yourself. Gold jewellery and coins both have significant mark ups on the gold price to cover craftsmanship. Also for jewellery and some coins, the purity of the gold content may need to be assayed before it can be sold. This makes the items less liquid.
Gold bullion, on the other hand, is the most guaranteed and thus most liquid form of gold. Once you buy gold bars, you have an investment that will withstand the ravages of inflation and bring unequalled value to your portfolio.
When it comes to acquiring bullion bars for investment, you can also choose silver bullion. Many investment pundits agree that silver is ready for a boom of its own. This means that adding silver bullion bars to your portfolio is a smart move.
Silver shares many of gold’s desirable characteristics – it’s durable, divisible, malleable, ductile and attractive. Silver jewellery is second only to gold in popularity. However one way in which silver differs from gold is in its industrial and medical applications. This is due to its unique electrical and thermal conductivity, its reflective properties, and its ability to withstand extremes of temperature.
To give just one example, almost all electrical switches, from batteries to computer circuit boards, now use silver-based solder. This means production of all iPods, microwaves, laptops, and you name it, need silver. Almost half the world’s annual silver output is taken up by the electronics industry.
It’s important to remember that precious metals used this way are gone forever. In fact it’s estimated that over 95% of all the silver ever mined throughout history has already been consumed by industry. What all this means is that there will be a continuing increase in demand for silver while the supply is limited – all the conditions you need for a continual rise in price.
This means you have the option of diversifying your investment portfolio even further by adding silver bars. As the price of silver is far lower than gold at the moment, you can get into the silver market with a minimal investment.
You can buy pure .999 fine silver bullion in a range of sizes including 100 gram, 250 gram, 500 gram, one kilo or 5 kilo silver bullion bars
The fact is that where gold goes, silver always follows. It’s logical, really, that two precious metals that share so many characteristics should move in tandem. Buying gold and silver bullion means your investments are safe whatever governments do.

Gold and silver are precious metals that have never lost their luster though they’ve been around since ancient times. And they’ve never been more relevant than in today’s world of exotic financial instruments and quantitative easing.

If you’ve decided to join the savvy investors and buy gold and silver bullion, the smartest way to do it is through online dealers who deliver you purchases via insured air mail. You buy at spot prices in real time and your purchase will be delivered the next day.

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Buy Canadian Coin Collecting Hobby: Canada Silver Coins, Gold, Nickel, Dime

Let’s take a look at what I think are the gems of Canadian coin collecting. These gems are the gold and silver coins to begin with. The value of a gold or silver coin is not just evaluated on the rarity of the coin only, but is also evaluated on the metal which the coin is made of.

The worth of the gold or silver, which is in the coins, can be much greater than the coins’ dollar face-value by many times over. Take a small worn-out silver dime for instance, which some call a junk silver dime because the grade of the coin is so poor that it is not worth selling for the quality or beauty of the coin’s face and tail side. This small coin falls into a category all of its own, and is bought for the silver content most often.

Nowadays, you can buy a silver junk dime to begin your Canadian coin collection. This will only cost about one dollar on the open market. If the coin is just rare because of low mintage or a high grade; what holds up the price if the demand for that Canadian coin drops? The silver and gold coins will hold up because they are gold and silver. What if the price of metal drops, as well? You are smart and are the best one to answer that question, but I will add that silver and gold have never being at a zero dollar-value over the last thousand years. That means that there has been at least some demand for gold and silver for a very long time.

Collecting coins for the fun of having a piece of history, or something that is rare in your hand is the backbone of collecting coins in the first place. This hobby can be for the rich and the poor. Even some Canadian pennies that are just made out of copper can be worth thousands of dollars.

For the most part, collectible types of coins that are very expensive are for the very rich who don’t know what to do with the cash that is oozing out of their wallets. This is what brings coin collecting to life; when the rich invest in your hobby. Who knows, maybe you have a coin that many rich people want? Now that would be a thrill! Should you sell the coin, bragging about how you came across it and the whole works, or should you just tuck it away for safe-keeping? If you are going to share, you may want to keep it to people you can trust and not in the greedy ears of individuals who may want to keep your coin for themselves.

The thing that I like most about collecting Canadian coins is that you can have something that is valuable, fun, unique, and a piece of history; whether that be as expensive as a gold coin, or as cheap as a 1944 V nickel, or as simple as a 1967 centennial bird copper penny. And yet they can all fit easily into your pocket or into your secret hiding place that is meant for your little treasures.




Canadian Coins Silver Bullion