Friday, July 30, 2010
Duane's Business Tip of the Day July 30
New sales scripts need to be tested in
the market place before allowing your
sales force to use them.
Think about it.
Duane's Positive Quote of the Day July 30
The trouble with opportunity is that it's always more recognizable going than coming.
Text for Duane's Real Estate Video of the Day July 29
Duane’s Real Estate Video July 30
| “It’s a great day to be in real estate! Duane Beisner here… sales manager and a sales representative for ERA real estate. | |||
| Duane’s Quote of the Day Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
-- F. Hawes | ||
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Duane’s Joke of the Day
Harry came home from Sunday school and asked his mother, “Do people really come from dust?” “In a way said,” said his mother. “And do they go back to dust?” “Yes, in a way.” She replied. “Well, mother, I looked under my bed, and somebody’s either coming or going.” Duane’s Business Tip of the Day
I can make the following sentence have six different meanings depending on which word I place the emphasis. I didn't say he stole money.
Think about it.
Darwin Award of the Day
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(12 April 2008, Florida) Traffic was moving slowly on southbound I-95. Shawn M. had recently left a Pompano Beach bar, and now he was stuck in traffic. As the saying goes, you don't buy beer--you just rent it, and Shawn couldn't wait another moment to relieve himself. "I need to take a leak," he told his friends.
Traffic was deadlocked, so the waterlogged man climbed out, put his hand on the divider, and jumped over the low concrete wall... only to fall 65 feet to his death. "He probably thought there was a road, but there wasn't," said a Fort Lauderdale police spokesman. The car was idling on an overpass above the railroad lines.
His mother shared her thoughts. "Shawn didn't do a whole lot for a living. He got along on his charm, just like his father."
Though his death was tragic, Shawn's downfall proves the old adage: Look before you leak!
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Duane’s Social Commentary
13 Ways to Spend a Trillion Dollars!
Confronting the federal deficit starts with grasping just how colossal that number actually is. So, what would $1 trillion get you?
The figure is almost incomprehensible: $1,000,000,000,000. One trillion dollars. That's a dozen zeros.
The Congressional Budget Office reports that during the first nine months of fiscal 2010 -- which ends September 30 -- the federal government spent $1 trillion more than it took in. That's another $1 trillion added to a total national debt that stood at just over $13 trillion as of the Fourth of July.
Not so long ago, the idea of a "trillion" anything was so farfetched that it evoked a comic response similar to what the use of the word "gazillion" does today. The 1960s comment attributed to then Senate minority leader (and ever-vigilant deficit hawk) Everett Dirksen -- "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money" -- seems downright quaint today. (In 1965, the national debt was a paltry $317 billion.)
But, seriously, how much is $1 trillion? To help you wrap your head around that mind-boggling number, and to try to put deficit spending into perspective, consider what $1 trillion will buy, expressed in terms we can all understand:
$1 Trillion Would Buy ...
40,816,326 New Cars
At a sticker price of $24,500 each, $1 trillion would let you drive away with a fleet of Jettas equivalent to 30% of all the cars already on U.S. highways.
5,574,136 Typical American Homes
According to the National Association of Realtors, the national median price for existing single-family homes in May was $179,400. There are about 80 million detached, single-family homes in the U.S., according to the NAR and the Census Bureau.
140 Billion Hours of Labor
That's calculated at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Still hard to get your mind around? How about this: One trillion dollars is enough to hire all 2.8 million residents of the state of Kansas -- men, women and children -- in full-time, minimum-wage jobs for the next 23 years.
A Year's Salary for 14.7 Million Teachers
According to the National Education Association, the average teacher salary in the state of California is about $68,000. The total number of teachers working in the U.S. was estimated at 6.2 million ten years ago, according to the 2000 U.S. Census (the last official estimate). So $1 trillion would pay Golden State salaries to more than twice that number of teachers.
The Annual Salaries of All 535 Members of Congress for the Next 10,742 Years
The current salary for rank-and-file members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate is $174,000. We're not even counting the extras paid to congressional leaders.
The Star Power of LeBron James for the Next 50,000 Years
A lot of numbers are being thrown around about just how much the basketball superstar will be paid for playing for the Miami Heat. But let's say it's just $20 million a year. At that rate, $1 trillion would cover the tab for King James for the next 50 millennia.
1.33 Trillion Chocolate Bars
Got a hankering for something sweet? A sweet $1 trillion will buy you that many 1.55-ounce Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars at 75 cents apiece. That's 64 million tons of chocolate, equivalent to the weight of more than 150,000 Boeing 747-400s.
1,333 Celebrity Divorce Settlements
It's been widely reported that Tiger Woods may pay $750 million to settle the divorce with his wife, Elin Nordegren. Some commentators say that's a wild exaggeration, and that a mere $100 million will facilitate the split. But let's assume the worst (for Tiger). If it costs $750,000,000 to end his marriage, a trillion dollars would cover plenty more tabloid breakups.
A Guaranteed $6.3 Billion Payout for a 65-Year-Old Man Every Month for the Rest of His Life
With the demise of the company pension plan -- and its wonderful promise of regular checks in retirement -- immediate-payout annuities are garnering more and more attention. These investments let you trade a lump sum for a guaranteed stream of income for the rest of your life. For example, a 65-year-old man with a sweet quarter of a million nest egg to invest could buy an annuity that will pay him $1,564 a month.
Even at today's record-low interest rates (the lower the interest rate, the more expensive it is to buy future income), $1 trillion earns its way -- and then some. Because women live longer than men, on average, $1 trillion would buy a 65-year-old woman a little less. But having $5.8 billion a year to fall back on is nothing to sneeze at.
A One-Year CD Yielding $15.5 Billion in Interest
Everyone knows that interest rates on bank accounts, money-market funds and certificates of deposit are ludicrously low. But even at just 1.55% -- the best rate we could find recently -- $1 trillion socked away in a one-year CD would still yield a handsome return.
Annual Base Pay for 59.5 Million U.S. Army Privates
Basic pay for an active-duty U.S. Army private with less than two years of experience is $16,794 a year. So $1 trillion goes a mighty long way, even by military spending standards. To put that in perspective, 59.5 million privates is more than 100 times the total number of active-duty soldiers in the Army today.
Replace Annual Incomes for 19.2 Million American Families
Median household income in the U.S. (half the families earn more, half earn less) was $52,029 in 2008, according to the Bureau of the Census. At that level, $1 trillion would be enough to cover the incomes of a sizable percentage of total U.S. family households. There are no recent official estimates, but the 2000 U.S. Census figured there were about 71.8 million family households.
Pay the Estate Taxes for 2,222 Billionaires
Let's assume that, as we expect, Congress reinstates the federal estate tax retroactively to January 1, 2010, with a $3.5 million exemption and a rate of 45%. And assume that the late George Steinbrenner's taxable estate is $1 billion. The tax bill would be almost $450 million. That $1 trillion would be enough to cover the estate taxes of a lot more billionaires who might die before Congress acts.
Duane’s Real Estate News…
Feds Asked to Stop Home Resale Fees
Housing advocates and experts hosted a press conference today to launch the Coalition to Stop Wall Street Home Resale Fees and ask United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner to ban the financial scheme.
Wall Street Home Resale Fees are a controversial new financial scheme that has already been restricted in 17 states, with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signing legislation yesterday.
Some actors in the real estate industry, in consultation with Wall Street advisers, are attempting to add language to home purchase contracts requiring a percentage of the final sales price of a home be paid to private third parties every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. These actors are then attempting to sell the right to collect these fees on Wall Street — lining their pockets while stealing equity from home owners.
The Coalition to Stop Wall Street Home Resale Fees brings together a wide array of organizations, including the American Land Title Association, National Association of REALTORS® , American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Vote Vets, the Institute for Liberty, the Center for Responsible Lending, and the Property Rights Alliance. The Coalition has organized to fight the financial scheme of Wall Street Home Resale Fees and to protect home owners across the country.
Summer Home Security Tips - 7/30 Money Pit e-Newsletter
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Summer is a hot season for home burglaries, with break-ins typically peaking in July and August. Keep your home and valuables safe from the inside out with the tips in this issue. You can do-it-yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone 
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Duane's Business Tip of the Day July 29
I can make the following sentence have six different meanings depending on which word I place the emphasis. I didn't say he stole money.
Think about it.
Duane's Positive Quote of the Day July 29
Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
-- F. Hawes
