Social mobility or rather Income mobility describes the ability of an individual to move up in the income strata of the society. This is also an indicator of the income elasticity.  As seen in the figure a larger number for this metric shows a smaller chance of being able to move up the income groups based on previous wealth. Surprisingly, there is a higher income inequality in the US and also a lesser chance of changing income strata despite being a developed country.

Social mobility versus income comparison

Get 10 new $100 bills. Cut them into thirds. Put all of the left sides in one envelope, right sides in another, and middles in a third. Send the envelopes separately.

1/3rd of a bill is not legal tender. Therefore, each shipment has no value. However, banks can reissue the money as long as you have > 51% of the material for each bill. Therefore, if one of the shipments is lost, the recipient still gets $1,000. [1]

You can fully eliminate the risk of loss (and reduce shipping costs) at the expense of latency. Wait for the recipient to acknowledge the receipt of each shipment before sending the next one. If a shipment is lost, split the bills into smaller parts so that you always ensure that you and the recipient have more than 51% of the bills. Once the recipient has 51% of the bills, you can stop making shipments, saving you costs.

This information is based on the data related by the national housing board of India.

Real estate price variation - Data statistics as per the national housing board (India). {{Click on the image to enlarge}}

Biggest gainers in 2012 (Q2): Pune
Biggest losers: Kochi

A small amount of inflation is actually necessary for economic growth. At zero inflation, money sitting in an account can be more valuable than taking an economic risk.

It is even worse if there is deflation. Deflation is a viscious cycle, where money is even more valuable in the future than now. The deflationary spiral goes like this:   Increased value of future money --> save more ---> less investment ---> less capital ---> fewer jobs ---> lesser salaries ---> increased value of money --> ....

Two main reasons:

Till now I was of the opinion that owning the physical commodity of something like Gold was best achieved by owning an ETF that buys and manages physical gold (GLD, SGOL).

The amount of gold represented by the Shares will continue to be reduced during the life of the Trust due to the sales of gold necessary to pay the Trust’s expenses irrespective of whether the trading price of the Shares rises or falls in response to changes in the price of gold.
Each outstanding Share represents a fractional, undivided interest in the gold held by the Trust. The Trust does not generate any income and regularly sells gold to pay for its ongoing expenses. Therefore, the amount of gold represented by each Share has gradually declined over time. This is also true with respect to Shares that are issued in exchange for additional deposits of gold into the Trust, as the amount of gold required to create Shares proportionately reflects the amount of gold represented by the Shares outstanding at the time of creation. Assuming a constant gold price, the trading price of the Shares is expected to gradually decline relative to the price of gold as the amount of gold represented by the Shares gradually declines. Investors should be aware that the gradual decline in the amount of gold represented by the Shares will occur regardless of whether the trading price of the Shares rises or falls in response to changes in the price of gold. The estimated ordinary operating expenses of the Trust, which accrue daily commencing after the first day of trading of the Shares, are described in the Trust’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, incorporated herein by reference.