Life is full of interesting facts, tricks, and shortcuts. Here are 10 of the greatest regarding time, money, and fun.
Time
- You can count to one billion in your lifetime assuming 3 syllables per second and 110 years of life (and doing nothing else like eating or sleeping) – my calculations.
- 6% of all the people ever born are still alive. Does this mean there’s a 6% chance you will never die?
- Average internet users spend 7 hours a month on Facebook. Five times more than popular sites like Google or YouTube.
Money
- If you can get someone to agree to the following pay scheme you will have $10 million in a month. Just ask them for a penny on day 1, two cents on day two, four on day three, and so on.
- In a Ponzi scheme like Social Security, the rate of return is equal to the growth rate of members. With the US population growth rate and Social Security returns around 1% (before considering SS money is spent for other things), you could make significantly more money investing your Social Security tax in basic mutual funds or savings accounts.
- Assuming you are the average American, your national debt burden is greater than $43K.
- Income mobility is better than most people think. Between 1999 and 2007, people moved up from the bottom quintile of income earners 60% of the time and down from the top quintile 40% of the time. This is partly due to the fact that the top quintile pays nearly 80% of our taxes and the bottom quintile pays roughly 1%.
Fun
- If you have just 23 people in a room, there is more than a 50% chance that two will have the same birthday. With just 50 people, there is a 97% chance. This is known as the birthday paradox.
- You can count to 31 using just one hand and to 1023 using two hands. Check it out on YouTube.
- Despite being the best selling movie of all time, Avatar doesn’t even break the top 10 when revenue is adjusted for the times. Top three are Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, and The Sound of Music.
Know any cool facts or stats that didn’t make my top 10? Let us know in the comments.
