Word: medians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Real estate is an incredibly steady investment. Not once since the 1960s, when records were first kept, has the nation's median home price declined in a calendar year. There have been plenty of regional busts, as in Texas following the '70s oil boom and in New England during the late '80s. Yet overall, home prices have risen an average 6.3% annually. Part of the appeal is that even when supply and demand turn sour, home economics makes sense. Mortgage interest is deductible, and when they sell their home, a couple can walk away with $500,000 of their gain...
...true that home values have been rising faster than family income for years, a trend that can't last. Since 1990, family income has grown 3.8% a year while home prices have risen at a 4.5% clip. The median home now sells for 2.8 times the median family income--up from 2.6 in 1990. But this ratio has historically ranged from 2.5 to 3, so the current reading puts housing squarely in the fair-value zone...
...these days, how does one best prepare for life after work? Saving more earlier is the surest strategy. Nearly half of all households did not save a penny last year; revolving consumer debt over the past five years has soared 30%. The median savings for boomers at age 55 are just $25,000--without accounting for debt. Yet many polls show that people in their 40s still expect to retire in their early 60s. And some 70% of Americans believe they will live well in retirement, even though just a third have attempted to calculate how much they should...
...HOUSING: The median price for a single-family home is only $70,000, half the national average...
...stays at the top are getting shorter. The career of Luc Vandevelde, 51, right, the Belgian ceo of Marks & Spencer, is a typical case: after joining the company two years ago and helping reverse its decline, he stepped aside last week. A study by consultancy DBM shows that the median tenure for a CEO in the U.K. is now only 2-3 years and that 68% of European CEOs hold office less than five years. Globally, the median corporate captain's term has dropped from nearly four years in 1999 to less than three today. The clamor for shareholder value...