Economic and Investment News Bits
  • A child born in 2014 would attend college between the years of 2032 and 2036. The cost of attending an average private 4-year college, if price increases experienced over the last 30 years continued into the future, will total $458,098 or $121,274 per year. Public college education, using historical price increases will total $220,258 or $55,065 per year. (Source: College Board).
  • The world’s chocolate supply might run out by 2020. For some of us, this news could be life changing. But leading manufactures Mars Inc. and Barry Callebaut say that over-consumption and problems in farming have led to a crisis.  The Ivory Coast produces about one-third of the world’s cacao beans, and the threat of Ebola in neighboring Liberia and Guinea has shut borders, keeping workers from picking the beans as the harvest season begins. Think about it…Nutella will just be hazelnut spread, Reeses peanut butter cups will just be peanut butter, Oreos will only be the cream filling, M&Ms will be extinct, and (perhaps worst of all) there will be no more Starbucks mocha.
  • “For public consumption, Saudi Arabia must say that they want to stop U.S. shale oil producers from creating so much new production. In reality, that goal is only a minor part of their agenda. They have a much more important goal, which is to punish and politically enfeeble Iran and Russia. Iran is their neighbor and bitter enemy, and a country that has repeatedly stated they want to destroy the Saudi regime. Russia has supported Iran and other regimes hostile to the Saudis”, (Source: Guild Investment Management).
  • Top-10 jobs (professions with the most expected job openings) for 2015, according to CareerBuilder, are marketing executive, application software developer, registered nurse, industrial engineer, systems administrator, web developer, medical & health services manager, physical therapist, speech and language pathologist, and sales manager.
  • “Research shows that being too negative is actually more harmful than being too positive. Cautious optimism is generally the most rewarding path. But you also have to have a large dose of reality,” (Source: John Mauldin).
Thought for the week

“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

Mark Twain, American author (1835-1910)

Wealth Idea of the Week

Young people often have a difficult time saving money.  Sometimes routines lend themselves to parting with money, and while the intentions might be honorable, thinking before frequent spending in these areas might make it easier to take control of spending.  1) Online Shopping (deal & downloads), 2) Eating Out, After-Work Drinks or Starbucks Habit, 3) Smoking, 4) Wandering the Aisles at Stores, 5) Gambling & Lottery Tickets, 6) Paying Credit Cards Late or Paying Just the Minimums. (Source: Credit.com)

Graph of the Week

The average American spends 30% less for their residential phone than just six years ago.  On the other hand, we spend over 81% more for internet and almost 50% more for cellular phones.  This rate of change is boggling.  However, as a whole, our income is relatively unchanged and the spending is down about 2% since 2007.

 

 

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