Update 10/26/2019

Fraud

In the U.S., fraud involving debit- and credit card payments in 2016 neared $7.5 billion, 60% of it from online fraud, according to the most recent surveys from the Federal Reserve.

Nashville Growth

Over 15 years, the population of Nashville has grown by 19 people a day on average, from 588,512 residents in 2003 to 692,587 in 2018. (WSJ)

US Treasury

The U.S. Treasury said that the federal deficit for fiscal 2019 was $984 billion, a 26% increase from 2018 but still short of the $1 trillion mark. The U.S. government also collected nearly $71 billion in customs duties, or tariffs, a 70% increase compared to the year-ago period. The gap between revenues and spending was the widest in seven years. Defense, Medicare and interest payments ballooned the shortfall. (CNBC)

Investing

“Everybody is worried about something. If you invested in 1969, amidst turmoil in 1969, you would have made 25 times your money. People forget about compounding” money over time,” – Ron Baron, founder of Baron Capital, with $29.6 billion in assets under management. Here are some more of his insights that sound like they could apply to real estate too:

* Investors should forget the day-to-day market gyrations and stay focused on the long term.

* In 1969 the US economy was $850 billion. It’s now $21.3 trillion. That’s up 25 times.

* Extraordinarily low-interest rates provide even more incentive to invest.

* Technology is making businesses grow faster compared with the traditional, capital intensive ways of building physical structures in hopes they will pay off over time. It’s making the costs be lower.

* Knowledge is growing at the fastest pace it’s ever grown. (CNBC)