Have a look at these up-to-date stats...



59% of all Americans are directly or indirectly (via 401K's and pensions) invested in the stock market: an all-time high in percentage of population who, in October, benefited from stock market highs.

In fact, a greater percentage of Americans are market-invested than ever before in history, in part thanks to 401K Plans ? which, in many cases, have employer matching contributions. For small business, the health of big business is often a predictive factor of success and prosperity; spending by big business trickles down.

So it was good news as we wrote this that, 256 of the S&P 500 companies had reported their 3rd quarter earnings and 70% beat estimates, only 23% came in under their estimates. Overall 3rd quarter growth exceeds 17%, which beats last year's 14%. The market reflected this, hitting new highs late in October.

Gas prices dropped last month, as much as 50-cents a gallon. And the much predicted stall in home construction failed to materialize; in fact, there was 4% growth (Incidentally, the average new home is 2,434 square feet, 62% larger than the average home built in 1970, according to the National Association of Home Builders ? we're livin? large!). Only one sector of the American economy seems to have serious trouble: the old big 3 automakers.

A great deal of noise has recently been made (again) about the urgent need to raise the minimum wage, so these facts may be of interest: only 2.7% of hourly paid employees and 1.1% of salaried employees are paid at minimum wage level. Approximately 30% of that is tied to "entry level jobs" occupied by people entering the workforce for the first time, second jobs, and completely unskilled workers.

The hospitality and leisure industries have the highest percentage of these workers ? and that includes seasonal employment at resorts and amusement parks.

Factoring all this together, the best estimates are that fewer than 2% of American workers are in minimum wage jobs as their full-time employment/career, from which they are attempting to support families. (Sources: Bureau Of Labor Statistics; Employment Research)

So next time you hear your TV, your newspaper or your friends and family saying times are hard...think again.

There's more opportunity and wealth than ever before - take a look at the facts first!