There are many big-time philanthropists in the U.S., but the biggest is none other than Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. He and his wife, Melinda, started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which, among other things, spends approximately $800 million a year on medical research. In January 2010, the foundation pledged $10 billion towards vaccine research over the next ten years in an effort to vaccinate 90% of the un-vaccinated children in Third World countries. Melinda Gates estimates that the research will help save 8 million children’s lives over the next decade. The $10 billion dollars is a substantial increase over the $4.5 billion (approximately) that the charity allocated towards vaccine research in the previous decade.
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Who is the United States’ biggest philanthropist?
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010Sales Tax is…
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010Sales tax is a set-percentage tax applied to the selling of goods and services. For example, in New York City, the sales tax is 8.875%. So if you buy a chair for $100 in Manhattan, you’ll actually end up paying $108.89 with the sales tax included.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is…
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010The Dow Jones Industrial Average (or DJIA) gets its name from Charles Dow, the man who first created it in 1897. In the beginning, Mr. Dow made an index of the 11 most prosperous and most widely traded industrial stocks on the market. Currently, the Dow is made up of 30 stocks from all sectors of the market – not just industrial stocks. The companies in the current Dow index are chosen by the editors of the Wall Street Journal (which is owned by Dow Jones and Company). These stocks are intended to reflect how the largest U.S. companies are doing in the stock market.
Can a nonprofit go out of business?
Friday, June 18th, 2010Yes! A nonprofit can “go out of business,” so to speak. There are all sorts of reasons why an organization would shut down. The most common reason is lack of funding. Almost all nonprofits rely on donors and foundations to cover the costs of staff salaries and all other overhead expenses. If and when funding sources dry up, many nonprofits have no option but to close their doors. Additionally, some nonprofits are actually formed with the intention of “going out of business” at a certain point – once their mission has been accomplished and they no longer need to exist.
Savings Bonds are…
Friday, June 18th, 2010Savings bonds are government-issued debt securities (doled out by the U.S. Department of the Treasury) that help pay for the U.S. government’s borrowing needs. They are supplied in face-value denominations from $50 – $10,000, with local and state tax-free interest and semiannually adjusted interest rates. Savings bonds are considered to be among the safest of investments, as they are backed by the U.S. government.
How can you look at your credit score?
Friday, June 18th, 2010Checking your credit score is a lot simpler than you may think — in fact, everyone in America is entitled to one free credit report each year from all of the three credit reporting agencies. You can request them online at the fishy-sounding but totally legit and official www.annualcreditreport.com.
You can also buy your credit report, for a nominal fee, directly from each one of these agencies. Make sure you type in the correct website address, because fake websites have similar names and will try to trick you into giving away personal information or signing up for services you don’t want or need.
How do they choose who rings the bell at the NYSE/NASDAQ?
Friday, June 18th, 2010The first way to answer this question is to address the “they.” The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ are two separate entities, though both are stock markets and both are headquartered in New York City. On both exchanges, “opening” and “closing” bells are rung to signal the beginning and end of each trading day. The trading day starts at 9:30am EST and ends at 4:00pm EST.
The logic of who gets to ring these bells is a more interesting question. It’s basically pure public relations and promotional play to ring the opening or closing bell of the NYSE or NASDAQ. Lebron James might stop by to ring the bell because he is in New York playing with the Knicks, or it could be the CEO of Electronic Arts because his company is about to release the latest version of Rock Band. On some days, no one is scheduled to ring the opening or closing bells, and officials from the exchanges have to do the job themselves. Generally speaking, companies and individuals request to ring the bell and the individual exchanges choose who they will allow to do so.
It’s important to remember, though, that ringing the bell to start or end the trading day is a ceremony and has significance. You wouldn’t want to be remembered as the person who rang in the worst trading day of the year. On the other hand, if your company rings the bell on the opening or closing of the best trading day ever, it’s a victory for pretty much everyone!
LIBOR is…
Friday, June 18th, 2010LIBOR is an acronym for the London Interbank Offered Rate, a short-term interest rate that top-quality banks offer each other for loans. The rate changes all the time, and is usually expressed as a 1, 3, or 6-month rate for U.S. dollars.
Finance is…
Friday, June 18th, 2010Finance is the practice (or science) of managing money, which includes allocating resources for spending, growing and giving. It can also refer to the system of money and investment as a whole, or to an activity that involves obtaining or providing money for some project or goal.