Of U.S. adults overhauling their finances, percentage who will focus on tackling debts for their credit cards, cars and/or mortgages: 43
Percentage who also intend to become a smarter shopper by using coupons and seeking sales/deals: 37
Percentage who will grow a six-month emergency fund: 27
Percentage who will focus on their 401(k), IRA or retirement fund: 18
Source: CouponCabin.
Number of residences, businesses and Post Office boxes that are reached by the U.S. Postal Service, the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation: 151 million
Number of retail locations operated by the Post Office: 32,000
Estimated annual revenue of the Postal Service: $65 billion
Estimated percentage of the world's mail delivered by the Postal Service: 40
If it were a private sector company, rank the U.S. Postal Service would hold in the 2011 Fortune 500: 35
Source: U.S. Postal Service.
By the next Year of the Snake, 2025, expected combined net worth of Chinese ultra-high net-worth individuals -- surpassing the projected collective wealth of their counterparts from New York, London and Paris, according to predictions from Wealth-X: $4.1 trillion
Source: Wealth-X.
Percentage of young American adults who expect to give up some of their career goals in order to have the family life they want -- with men as likely as women to have such expectations, according to a study released by Clark University: 61
Source: Clark University.
Percentage of respondents who believe that homeownership remains an essential part of the American dream, according to a LendingTree survey of homeowners: 79
Percentage who remain confident that if they wished to purchase a new home in the future, they would be able to sell their current home, obtain a mortgage and afford a down payment despite the recent recession and housing market crash: 76
Source: Lending Tree.
Percentage of couples who admit to arguing about cleaning at least once a month, according to a survey by Handybook: 37
Percentage of respondents who said their inability to find a maid leaves them feeling stressed: 50
Source: Handybook.
Estimated number of Americans who smoke, according to Legacy: 46 million
Each year, estimated number of people who die from tobacco-related diseases: 400,000
Number of new "replacement" smokers who become addicted each day: 1,200
Source: Legacy.
Percentage of singles who have had a "friends with benefits" relationship in the past (40 percent of women and 53 percent of men), according to survey by Match.com: 47
In 2012, percentage of these arrangements that turned into long-term relationships (a 24 percent increase over 2011): 44
Source: Match.com.
Estimated number of black-owned businesses in the U.S., representing a gain of more than 60 percent in the last five years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1.9 million
Number of people these businesses employ: 920,000
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Percentage of CFOs who find it very or somewhat beneficial to use temporary workers during employee absences, according to an Accountemps survey: 76
Percentage who cited maintaining productivity when they aren't ready to hire full-time workers as a benefit of using temporary staff: 72
Source: Accountemps.
Idle Thought
"Never cut what you can untie." -- Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)