eMacromall.com - Investments

Multinational life insurance companies, such as Metlife and Prudential, pocket hundreds of millions in profit that really belong to those who have lost familiy members.
Since 1935, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the first U.S. Savings Bonds, which have encouraged savings and a broad participation by Americans. Today, billions of dollars in savings bonds have stopped earning interests, but haven't been crashed. If you still have one, you may need to cash or reinvest it so your money can start working for you again.
There are ways you can get your IRA funds before retirement without penalty before age 59.5. If you meet some specific requirements, you can use your IRA to pay for medical expensive, health insurance, college, buying first home, disability, annuity payments, and military service.
The U.S. has the world's largest gold reserve - more than 8000 metric tons, which is worth an estimated $288 billion (2/2010). German has 3400 metric tons of gold, which comes in second.
Since 1971, the return on gold has been 8.86% a year, while the average return on stocks has been 9.76%.
In terms of return on investment, buying a home at this time is actually not that great of an investment
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and experts believe Tokyo has a 90 percent chance of being hit by a major quake between today and 2060. There is a 67 percent chance for at least one earthquake of magnitude 7 or larger in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1990 and 2020. Most insurance companies do not cover home/building damaged by an earthquake
Berkshire Hathaway is the most expensive U.S. stock, the price for one Class A share of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) briefly topped $100,000 in October 2006. It was reached $100,425 again on August 4, 2009. It was lost 32% of its value in 2008
2008 is the worst year of the stock market since 1937. During 2008 there was around $10 trillion household wealth destroyed. Value wiped out from the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 is around $7.3 trillion. Decline of the S&P 500 is 38.5% (loss around $4.8 trillion). The NASDAQ's loss is around 40.5%. The average loss among stock mutual funds is around 38%, and loss among bond mutual funds is around 8%
In terms of returns in 2008, while investors lose money, investment bankers continue receiving bonus. They receive money based on how many investment deals they can push through, not on the quality of the deals or long-term strategy.
Currently (2010) retirement savers can contribute up to $16,500 to a tax-deferred 401(k), which jumps to $22,000 for those age 50 and older.