Registered Rep. Readers Do It By The Numbers

Smart decisions are based on more than government statistics, agency reports, news releases, interest rates and stock quotes. We've selected a few fascinating statistics here that illuminate the markets, the world of financial services and big business. Presenting the Registered Rep. Index.

1. Return on $1 invested in the money market Reserve Primary Fund on September 16: 97 cents
2. Volatility, in points, in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from September 17 to September 22, an unprecedented streak of volatility representing a 25 percent move from peak to trough: 360
3. Annual rate of inflation in Zimbabwe, as of October 2008: 5.77 trillion percent
4. Average number of venture-backed companies that have gone public each quarter for the past three decades: 30
5. Number that went public in the second quarter of 2008: 0
6. Number that went public during the same period in 2007: 25
7. Rate of return for S&P 500 companies that have at least three women on their boards: 16.7 percent
8. Factor by which this exceeds the rate of return for all companies: 45 percent
9. Total household net worth in the U.S. at the end of Q2 2008: $56 trillion
10. At the end of Q2 2007: $58 trillion
11. In 2002: $39.2 trillion
12. Percent of American workers who don't like their bosses' management styles: 43
13. Change in the market capitalization of Washington Mutual from October 9, 2007 to September 12, 2008: -90.7 percent
14. Change for Bank of America: -36.5 percent
15. Percent of CEOs at S&P 500 companies who hold undergrad degrees from Ivy League colleges: 11
16. Rank of Princeton, Harvard, and the University of Wisconsin among colleges most attended by S&P 500 CEOs: tied for first with 12 CEOs each
17. Increase in money supply, as measured by seasonally adjusted M2, for the week of September 22: $165.5 billion
18. Increase expressed on an annualized percentage basis: 109 percent
19. Number of apprehensions made by Target Stores for retail theft in 2007: 75,000
20. Total number of criminal cases filed in all federal courts in the U.S. in 2007: 60,000
21. Amount of retail loss caused by shoplifting: 32 percent
22. Amount represented by internal employee theft: 47 percent
23. Chances that a left-handed person will be president of the U.S. in 2008: 100
24. Amount that the IRS has spent since 2006 on an outsourced program to collect unpaid taxes: $87 million
25. Amount the contractors have collected during that time: $50 million
26. Percent of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, who believe in Hell: 69; 52

Sources: 1 Federal Reserve; 2 New York Stock Exchange; 3 Cato Institute; 4-6 National Capital Venture Association; 7-8 Fast Company; 9-11 Federal Reserve; 12-13 N.Y. Times; 14-16 Registered Rep.; 19-22 The New Yorker; 23 Registered Rep.; 38-41 Associated Press; 42-45 The New Yorker; 24-25 National Taxpayer Advocate; 26 YouGovPolimetrix.