R e - P e t e

The Rich Get Richer

I read an interesting article today that says, to sum things up, that the rich get richer. Nothing new, right? Well I thought there were some interesting tidbits:

Millionaire Ranks Hit New High
http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/millionaire_1.html

• The number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more rose 21% in 2004… There now are 7.5 million millionaire households in the U.S. …The study excluded the value of primary residences, but included second homes and other real estate.
• The studies suggest that despite falling wages for nonmanagement employees in 2004, the fortunes of those at the top continued to rise. .. They also tend to invest in higher-risk and potentially faster-growing investments, including hedge funds, private-equity funds and debt instruments.
• Reflecting their doubts about the future of the financial markets and the economy, the affluent continue to hold large amounts of cash. The Spectrem survey showed that 9% of their assets were in cash deposits.
• Households with net worth of $3 million or more garnered 34% of their wealth last year from investment gains, according to the Spectrem survey. Only 31% of their wealth last year came from compensation.
• The wealthy remain highly skeptical of financial advisers, given their stock-market losses in 2001 and the wave of scandals on Wall Street. Fully 30% of affluent investors make most of their financial decisions without the help of a professional … Only 10% let their advisers make all the decisions.
• In 2004, investors with total assets of more than $500,000 had 46% of their holdings in investible assets, such as stocks and bonds. Of the remainder, they held 21% in privately held businesses, 6% in insurance and annuities, 10% in their primary residence, 7% in other real estate, including second homes, and 10% in retirement plans.
• The richest investors kept more of their wealth in investments, as opposed to hard assets. Investors with total assets of more than $3 million had 49% of their holdings in investible assets. Investors with from $500,000 to $1 million had 29% in investible assets.

The thing I found interesting was that more money was made through the market than through hard assets like property.

Revenge of the Myth

(Spoiler warning!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET. STOP NOW!)

I saw Star Wars 3 today. I thought it was pretty good. In a way I was expecting more because it was hyped by everybody as being “sooo good”, even by those who did not like SW2. I did think it was better than Attack of the Clones, but not as much as I would’ve expected. The order of the first trilogy would have to be Revenge of the Sith > Attack of the Clones >> The Phantom Menace.

I did feel, though, that the ending of SW3 was a bit abrupt. All the loose ends were tied and whatnot but I still felt that it could’ve used a little more at the end. Specifically, Yoda tells Obi-Wan about a training/capability to talk to Qui-Gon and then it goes nowhere! What a disappointment. I was really looking forward to something more.

I felt that the Hayden Christensen (is that his name? I’m too lazy to check.) who plays Ani/Darth did a better job. I did read, though, that he was told by Lucas to withhold his dark side and come off as cold and stifled in SW2 so I’ll forgive him for that. He definitely seemed a more believable character in this one. The same can be said for Princess Amigdala who seemed completely asleep throughout 2.

I felt disappointed that Yoda gave up so quickly. I mean, yes, yes, I know that he’s supposed to end up on Dagoba, but I have such high respect for him. I mean he’s supposed to be like the shiznits of the Jedi’s and yet the dude can’t seem to win a fight to someone who possesses dark side powers (Count Dooku in SP2 and The Emperor in SP3). Given that Anakin beat Count Dooku, does that mean that Darth is superior to Yoda?

I liked how they showed how Darth ended up in the decrepit state he is in SP4, but it was kind of lame that Obi-Wan did just not bother finishing him off. I mean you chop off his legs, you watch his skin melt and hair burn but you don’t finish the job. What is UP with that?!

The space fight scenes are total eye candy and much appreciated. Plot-wise there was not much room for twists which is understandable. I liked how the story of Darth was told and how he turned to the dark side. I did wish there was a bit more complexity to it.

Overall, I liked it a lot. I wouldn’t mind if someone made an episode 7, 8, 9. I think it would be cool if someone else directed it, though.

Btw, I heard there’s going to be a TV show for Star Wars. My bets are that it’s going to suck big time. Big time.

I’m BACK!

Voila! I’m back from my trip to Europe!

I’m still feeling the effects of jet lag. I was so dead tired yesterday. I had a combination of getting up early the day of my flight, bad sleep on the flight, feeling ill on the flight and jet lag. I passed out early last night and am feeling better today.

Now I’m trying to get this American Life back into order. Pictures will be put up soon!