[rebootthesystem]

I wish people and broadcasters would stop using "basis points" and "three tenths of one percent".

Both of them are and sound ridiculous. As the above comment illustrates, are pointless because either people have to do the math to understand what the hell you are saying or you have to spell it out.

Not saying anything at all about the content or merit of your post, you, your family, neighbors, cousins, dogs or cats. Just saying this "financial" language is, well, kinda silly.

Some TV news anchors would have said: "five one-hundreds of one percent to two tenths of one percent". Or "half a tenth of one percent".

Nutty.

[pbreit]

I hear you. I put both since I know the in-the-biz term, basis points, isn't universally understood. I feel like % can be confusing because 0.05 is 5% so putting 0.5% might not always be immediately understood.

My pet peeve is "quarter of a billion" to try to make the number sound bigger.

[AstroJetson]

What is your suggestion then on how to say it? I like basis points since that's what my investment charges are quoted. But happy to learn a new term.

[rebootthesystem]

I guess my point may have been lost. There is no need to learn a new term. "1%" is read "one percent". "0.5%" is read "zero point five percent" or, shorthand, "point five percent".

How did we get from "zero point five percent", which is the literal value, to "one half of one percent", which imposes a cognitive load?

Or, better yet, why "one half of one percent" and not "half a percent"

It's like reading the number "1" as "one-hundredth of one hundred", or "10" as "one tenth of one hundred".

Question: Do they do the same in Europe? I must admit, I've been there tons of times but never paid attention to this (probably because I never watched enough TV while there). Of course, in Europe (and the rest of the world, as far as I know) it's "comma" not "point".

I can understand the use of basis points in some financial circles as a term of trade or convenient insider's unit. I don't understand it when used to communicate with the public. Go out there and ask a random sampling of people what a basis point is. I'll bet very few will say "0.01%", even if they own stocks.