Mutual Funds & ETFs
The Refinitiv Lipper database gives the median turnover of a US mutual fund as 39%, implying a holding period of just 2.5 years. (source link) This suggests an average holding period of around 2.5 years. Clearly investors are waking up and moving away from buy and hold investing toward more active management strategies like we offer at Shadowridge.
Investing
Almost 75% of companies paid a dividend in the late 1970. Due to changes in tax laws, dividend-paying companies declined to 35% in 2021. (source link)
Japan’s stock market hit a record high on February 22, 2024, after 34 years of waiting. I wonder what buy and hold investors think about that investment? (source link)
About a third of all S&P 500 trades are now executed in the final 10 minutes of trading. (source link)
Almost 20% of S&P 500 CEOs spent part of their careers at either General Electric or Procter & Gamble. Kudos to those companies for generating this kind of talent. (source link)
Ex-US Markets
Of the roughly 8,000 Chinese companies, only about 600 have earned more than 10% over the last five years. A leading China Index ETF (FXI) is down over 16% for the same 5 years ending December 6, 2024. (source link)
Companies
In 2023, McDonald’s bought 2 billion eggs from agribusiness giant Cargill. I remember when the McDonalds signs bragged “over one million sold” and that was just hamburgers! (source link)
33 million of us carry Starbucks cards in our wallets. At the end of March 2024, there was $1.9 billion of stored card value on those cards. For Starbucks that is like an interest free loan of $1.9 billion. They thank you, I’m sure. (source link)
Apple’s 2023 revenue (almost $400 billion) makes it about as big as the entire economy of Denmark or the Philippines. (source link)
Personal Finance
Americans believe it takes a net worth of $2.5 million to be considered wealthy in 2024, a 14% jump from last year. (source link)
For those of you who are not familiar with the name, Cornelius Vanderbilt was a railroad and shipping magnate in the mid-1800’s. In 1973, when 120 of his descendants gathered at Vanderbilt University for the school’s centennial and their first family reunion, there was not a single millionaire among them. This shows how easy it is to lose generational wealth. (source link)
There are now more $100 bills than $1 bills in circulation. (source link)
At the end of June 2024, 8.5% of U.S. homes are worth $1 million or more, the highest share of all time. (source link)
Innovation
Only 5% of listed companies at the beginning of 2023 are more than 50 years old. (source link)
More than 85% of total U.S. employment growth since 1940 has come in entirely new occupations. (source link)
The emissions that a modern tractor trailer puts out are 1/75th of what a tractor trailer put out in the 1980’s. This means a new semi’s emissions are down over 98% in the past 45 years. That is real environmental progress! (source link)
These facts have been excerpted from Meb Faber’s The Idea Farm newsletter, Dec 3, 2024. For more fun facts and additional commentary, please visit our YouTube channel and watch my December webinar video. Watch: Fun Financial Facts from 2024
Have a happy and prosperous New Year, everyone.
