Percentage of American adults who received no instruction on investing -- not from their parents, their school or from anyone else -- according to a survey from RBC Wealth Management-U.S. and City National Bank: 35
Percentage who said they simply taught themselves: 39
Percentage of Americans of all ages who say that financial literacy should be taught in schools: 87
Source: RBC Financial.
Number of shell companies that were set up by a single law firm, Mossack Fonseca, according to an article by Deborah Hardoon, Oxfam's deputy head of research: 200,000 plus
At the peak of its activity in 2005, number of companies that Mossack Fonseca incorporated -- one company every 10 minutes: 13,000
Number of banks, law firms, company incorporators and other middlemen -- almost 2,000 from the United Kingdom, 1,200 from Switzerland and more than 400 in Brazil -- that the "Panama Papers" show that Mossack Fonseca worked with: 14,000 plus
Source: Oxfam.
Percentage of workers who would consider relocating for a job, according to a Robert Half Relocation Survey: 67
Percentage who believe a move would improve their career prospects: 37
Ranks of a higher salary, a lower cost of living, career growth prospects with the new company/city, and being closer to family and friends on the list of the most important factors in deciding to relocate for a job: 1, 2, 3, 4
Source: Robert Half.
Cost of a gallon of regular gas in 1967, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 33 cents ($2.13 in 2015 dollars)
Cost of a gallon of regular gas in 2016: $1.86
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Total debt as a percentage of median income in Hawaii, two times higher than in Mississippi, the state with the lowest, according to WalletHub research: 286.51 percent
Foreclosure rate in New Jersey, 14 times higher than in Alaska, the state with the lowest, 0.30 percent: 4.30 percent
Housing expenses as a percentage of median home price in Michigan, three times higher than in Hawaii, the state with the lowest, 1.76 percent: 5.02 percent
Percentage of the population spending more than they make in Hawaii and Nevada, two times higher than in Maryland, the state with the lowest at 14 percent: 23
Source: WalletHub.
Percentage of U.S. consumers who now binge watch an average of five television series episodes at a time, according to Deloitte's 10th Digital Democracy survey: 70
Percentage who binge on a weekly basis: 31
Source: The Harris Poll.
Average cost of tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities today, according to research by Convergex: $9,410
Average cost of tuition and fees if attending a private, nonprofit four-year college or university: $32,405
Source: Convergex.
Percentage of business travelers who generally feel positive about traveling, according to findings released from Booking.com: 39
Among international business travelers, percentage who feel stressed at some point on their journey due to the logistics of their travels: 93
Ranks of missing a flight/train, language barriers and the possibility that luggage will be lost on the list of the top causes of anxiety for American business travelers: 1, 2, 3
Source: Booking.com.
Percentage of people who say they clean their homes every day, according to the Nielsen Global Home-Care survey: 31
Percentage of people who say they do laundry every day: 31
Percentage who say women do the majority of cleaning: 44
Percentage who say housecleaning is a shared responsibility between women and men: 28
Source: Nielsen Online.
Percentage of employers who say they plan to hire recent college graduates this year, up from 65 percent last year and the highest outlook since 2007, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 67
Percentage who plan to offer recent college graduates higher pay than last year: 37
Source: CareerBuilder.com.
Idle Thought
"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty and truth." -- Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)