According to a survey by the Yorkshire Building Society, the average Brit's savings would only last 52 days if they found themselves out of work.
(36% of people surveyed had savings of less than £500. The concept of saving for a rainy day seems to have disappeared.)
A 44 year old Briton living in Australia has sold his life on eBay for £192,000.
(Ian Usher put his "entire life" up for sale - house, car, job and even his friends. How much would you sell yours for?)
1967 - The world's first ATM was installed by Barclay's Bank in North London.
(We also call the a hole in the wall or a cash machine.)
The ATM (Automated Teller Machine) was invented by John Shepherd-Barron.
(Seemingly he had the idea whilst he was in the bath.)
According to the World Gold Council, the officially reported gold reserves of each country in 2007 were:-
1 United States of America - 8,133.5 (tonnes)
2 Germany - 3,417.4 (tonnes)
3 International Monetary Fund - 3,217.3 (tonnes)
4 France - 2,622.3 (tonnes)
5 Italy - 2,451.8 (tonnes)
6 Switzerland - 1,166.3 (tonnes)
7 Japan - 765.2 (tonnes)
8 Turkey - 700.1 (tonnes)
9 Netherlands - 624.5 (tonnes)
10 People's Republic of China - 600.0 (tonnes)
11 Russia 438.2 (tonnes)
12 Taiwan - 423.3 (tonnes)
13 Portugal - 382.6 (tonnes)
14 India - 357.7 (tonnes)
15 Venezuela - 356.8 (tonnes)
16 United Kingdom - 310.3 (tonnes)
17 Lebanon - 286.8 (tonnes)
18 Spain - 281.6 (tonnes)
19 Austria - 280.0 (tonnes)
20 Belgium - 227.7 (tonnes)
(I have to point out that although the United States has the largest reserves of any individual country, in total the Eurozone gold holdings are greater; 11,065 tonnes as of December 2007.)
According to the EU's equal opportunities commissioner, the disparity in wages between men and women in Germany is one of the highest in the European Union.
(The reason given is the high percentage who can't work full-time because of child-raising responsibilities. KKK - Kinder Kirche Kuche.)
According to Visa Europe, 41% of personal expenditure in Britain is carried out using a credit card.
(This compares with just 8% in Germany. You can imagine how many times I had to put my credit card away and scrabble around for cash when I first came here.)
According to the European Central Bank six out of seven payments in Europe are made with cash.
(So much for a plastic society. Show me the money!)
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According to Prison Service Order 4460, all prisoners in the UK who participate in purposeful activity must be paid.
(The current pay rate is not subject to the national minimum wage and the average pay is £9.60 for around a 32-hour week, which works out at around 30p an hour. Of course their bed and board is paid for.)
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According to Money Week it takes US investor Kirk Kerkorian just 3.1 seconds to make another $1,000.
(Click - that's another grand. Click - oh goody there goes another one. Kerching!)
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In the USA the federal minimum wage is $5.85 / hr.
(Some states have set a higher rate, but some have an even lower rate or no minimum wage at all. I do hope that any senators or public officials who set the minimum wage levels receive that wage.)
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According to the Centre on Philanthropy at Indiana University, in 2006 charitable giving by individuals in the US rose to $295 billion.
(When it comes to individual contributions, Americans give the highest share of GDP (gross domestic product) at 1.67%. The UK was second at 0.73%. The lowest at 0.14% of national GDP was France. Come on mon amis, you can do better.)
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According to a United Nations report called "State of the future", in 2007 25% of the world's population were living on less than $1 a day.
(Thankfully this is down from 1980 when 40% of the population were doing so, but I'm afraid that that is probably more to do with inflation than philanthropy. My premise is that if you can't pay a living wage to someone, do the work yourself. Anything else is slavery.)
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According to social website alljoinon.com, if housewives got paid at the going rate for doing household chores, they would earn around £30,000 a year.
(The average mum works around nine hours a day every day, and if she were paid for the amount of time she spends doing the chores it would look something like this:-
For £8 an hour a nanny would earn £36.80 a day.
Cleaning and tidying for £7.10 a day.
Cooking £17.30 a day.
Making the beds is worth about £1.29 for a chambermaid.
Washing up for £2.57.
Doing the family finances for 39 minutes, would cost £12.50 if an accountant did it.
A taxi driver would earn £2.53 for the 23 minutes of ferrying children around.
And a mystery shopper £2.10 for the 18 minutes a day of grocery shopping.
Ah - but we all know that mums are priceless.)
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According to research released by Sybase 365, Americans are obsessed with managing their personal finances.
(More than a third of them, are able to state their bank balance at any given time, and an additional 42 percent typically know their bank balance to the nearest $200. What a shame they don't watch their economy that closely.)
"Plain vanilla" is a term for basic financial instruments such as shares.
(Round where I come from it's only found in cornets or with wafers. Mind you, with the state of the money markets it's quite an accurate term, they are melting after all.)
British MPs can claim up to £250 a month in expenses without producing receipts.
(I'll try that with the tax man shall I?)
Germany has agreed to introduce a minimum wage for postal workers. The minimum wage, which will be introduced on Jan. 1, 2008, is expected to be €8.00 ($11.70) per hour in the states of the former East Germany and €9.80 ($14.35) per hour in western Germany.
(Luxembourg-based Pin Group immediately announced that it will cut more than 1,000 jobs in Germany in response, they currently pay between €7 and €7.50 per hour on average.)
According to the Spiegel, a German carworker earns just under €50,000 a year on average.
(Wendelin Wiedeking, the chief executive of car maker Porsche, in case you were wondering, earned more than €60 million in 2006.)
A £500,000 note would not technically be a counterfeit, because to be counterfeit the money would need to be legal tender - and the Bank of England has never issued £500,000 notes.
(Still be warned, there's no such thing as a £500,000 note!)
