There are 11 women running Fortune 500 companies - so 97.8 percent are still run by men. At least the numbers have been rising in recent years, up from eight in 2003 and six in 2002. Here are the 11: Patricia Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland Co.; Indra Nooyi (as of Oct. 1), PepsiCo; Brenda Barnes, Sara Lee Corp.; Mary Sammons, Rite Aid Corp.; Anne Mulcahy, Xerox Corp.; Patricia Russo, Lucent Technologies Inc.; Susan Ivey, Reynolds American Inc.; Andrea Jung, Avon Products Inc.; Marion Sandler, Golden West Financial Corp.; Paula Rosput Reynolds, Safeco Corp.; and Meg Whitman, eBay Inc. There are many other high-profile women in business, such as Citigroup Inc.'s chief financial officer, Sallie Krawcheck, and Safra Catz, president of Oracle Corp.

Float "is money we hold but don't own. In an insurance operation, float arises because premiums are received before losses are paid, an interval that sometimes extends over many years. During that time, the insurer invests the money. Typically, this pleasant activity carries with it a downside: The premiums that an insurer takes in usually do not cover the losses and expenses it eventually must pay. That leaves it running an 'underwriting loss,' which is the cost of float. An insurance business has value if its cost of float over time is less than the cost the company would otherwise incur to obtain funds. But the business is a lemon if its cost of float is higher than market rates for money."

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