Do you think you know a lot weird facts about money? Maybe you do.
Maybe you don't. But let's see if any of the following facts are in any
way surprising to you:
More of our fantasies are about money... than sex.
If
we could have any luxury in the world (and money didn't matter) more of
us would choose to spend money on a butler and a maid than anything
else.
90% of Americans who own pets buy them Christmas gifts.
Money is the leading cause of disagreements in marriages.
65% of Americans would live on a deserted island all by themselves for an entire year for $1,000,000.
For
$10,000,000 most of us would do almost ANYTHING! Including abandoning
our family and friends and our church. A very high percentage of us
would, for that same amount of money, change our race or sex. And, 1 in
every 14, would even murder someone for ten million bucks. What's
really strange about this is, the statistics remain the same whether
it's ten million dollars all the way down to three million. For three
million bucks, most of us would do the same horrible things we would do
for ten million. But, guess what? Few of us would do these things for a
"measly" two million.
92% of us would rather be rich than find the love of our lives.
Here's
a weighty one: Money (or the lack thereof) is the biggest stress
inducer in the lives of Americans. We worry more about money than our
marriages, our health, or even who's going to win the Superbowl Game or
come out on top in the latest Survivor TV show.
If you
get your money out of a Hitachi ATM machine in Japan, it will be
laundered. The way they do it is, they briefly press the bills between
rollers at high enough temperatures to kill most bacteria.
Women
have very fixed ideas on how much they are willing to spend on a bra.
38.3% of women won't spend $30 for a bra. 28.4% won't spend $50. 10%
would pay as much as $75. And, only 3.5% would shell out $100. But, you
know what? Almost 20% of women say they would pay almost anything
for a bra. This is because they consider (and I guess so do a few men)
that the contents of what those bras are encasing is of extremely
high-value.
Nearly half of the people who sell their
houses with furniture included will take all the light bulbs out of all
the lamps when they vacate the premises.
Most people won't bend over to pick up money lying on the sidewalk unless it's at least a dollar.
Most Americans think pennies are a pain in the ass and the U.S. Mint should stop making them.
There is about 405 billion dollars in circulation. Only 32 million
of that amount is counterfeit. That means, the percentage of
counterfeit money in America is .0079%. And, $20 bills are more often
counterfeited than $100 bills.
Do people care if their
bills are crisp? Indeed, they do. Fresh, crisp, clean bills are
considered much more valuable than those which are old, wrinkled and
dirty. I once sent a 'dollar bill thank you'
letter to a guy who sent a sincere letter back to me bitching the free
$1 bill I sent him was wrinkled instead of crisp as I had described in
the letter.
Let's flip a coin and try to guess
whether it will come up heads or tails. Three times as many people
guess 'heads' than 'tails'.
Here's one I personally
think really sucks: One out of every four Americans believe their best
chance of getting rich is by playing the lottery.
How
about this one for a shocking fact: 5% of lottery ticket buyers buy 51%
of all tickets sold. (Trust me, none of these people belong to the
"Einsteins of America Society".)
A staggering 74% of us are influenced by how much we can win in a lottery as opposed to the odds of us winning.
That's a good thing for the Government because the odds of winning a lottery jackpot are about 10 million to 1.
A
person who drives 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket is 3 times more
likely to be killed in a car accident while driving to buy the
ticket... than... he is to win the jackpot.
Sunday newspaper coupon inserts are the second-most read section of the paper, after the front page.
Few people know it but, you can buy single-disease insurance.
Only 6% of people in America regularly buy clothes tailor made just for them.
Here's
one that's really important: 63% of us decide NOT to buy a product
advertised on the Internet... because... we think the shipping and
handling charges add too much to the order.
Eight times as many Americans would rather use an ATM than deal with a real live teller.
This one's going to blow your mind: 83% of Americans still pay with checks instead of credit cards!
Almost
30% of us say we would need 3 million smackaroos to feel rich. This
ties in with the fact most of us would do anything for as little as $3
million... but... not nearly as many of us would do those identical
things for a measly $2 million. (Hey, here's your chance to take
advantage of that situation. If you only want to pay $2 million to have
something done, ask me if I'll do it. The chances are, believe it or
not, I WILL DO IT.)
Here's another fact which is
really, really important: 80% of Americans say giving personal
information (especially their credit card information) over the
Internet scares the living shit out of them.
Two-thirds
of Americans say they wouldn't let their spouse spend the night and
have sex with another person for a million dollars. Many of these
people are liars. There's a big difference being asked if they would do
it for a million dollars... as opposed to... handing them a paper sack
containing the million fungolas and simply saying, "Here, you can have this if you'll let me sleep with your sweetie tonight."
The average wedding in America costs a staggering $20,000.00.
More than one-third of American women consider money more important than good sex to the success of a marriage.
According
to Employee Benefits Research Institute 96% of all people who have jobs
right now won't be eligible for their full Social Security benefits
when they reach age 65.
When it comes to houses, more than anything else, people want a state-of-the-art kitchen.
When people shop for a car, what they want more than anything else is reliability for the best possible price.
One
of the best ways to raise money for a charity is to have a free dinner
for a lot of people and have an empty envelope tucked under their
plate... for the express purpose... of making whatever size donation
they want.
People tip more on sunny days than they do on dreary days.
More
than 80,000,000 people call the I.R.S. Information Hotline phone number
every year. One-third of those calls go unanswered. And, according to
the Treasury Department itself, 47% of the answers the 'get-through'
callers receive are incorrect.
Almost two out of three people have modified their financial behavior because of their fears.
Almost
three times as many people who live in the South worry about losing
their jobs as compared to people who live in the Midwest.
Which would you rather do: Shop till you drop... or... have great sex? For men, this is a no-brainer. However,
more women would actually rather have an unlimited shopping spree than
spend a weekend with a fabulous lover. In fact, the #1 favorite fantasy
of women is to have a blank check to shop at their favorite store. The
favorite fantasy of men (at least in my opinion) is what we would like
to DO to the sales girl... rather than... what we would like to buy
from her.
