Average percentage less the interest rate charged for a new car loan is versus that for the average used-car loan, according to WalletHub's 2016 Labor Day Auto Financing Report: 17
Average amount that buyers with fair credit will end up spending in additional interest payments over the life of a $20,000, five-year loan than consumers with excellent credit: $6,671
Source: WalletHub.
Percentage of Americans who consider their homes to be at least somewhat cluttered with items they no longer use, according to a study conducted by ClearVoice Research and commissioned by OfferUp: 48
Percentage who have a room in their home they cannot use because it is filled with things they rarely use: 14.3
Percentage of Americans who believe they would gain more space in their homes by purging unused items: 72
Percentage who haven't decluttered for over a year: 41
Source: Clear Voice Research.
When thinking about media time with their family, percentage of families who say they consume different media in the same room, according to an Ipsos Connect survey: 32
Percentage who still consume the same media in the same room: 51
Percentage who consume different media in all different rooms: 13
Source: Ipsos Media.
Among girls who have ever worn makeup, percentage who have negative feelings when they are not wearing makeup, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Renfrew Center: 20
Percentage of these girls who said that going without makeup made them feel more attractive: 5
Percentage who began wearing makeup between the ages of 8 and 13: 66
Source: The Harris Poll.
Percentage of Americans who say labor unions mostly help the U.S. economy, according to a Gallup Poll: 52
Percentage who believe unions mostly hurt it: 41
Source: Gallup Organization.
To buy the average convertible at a cost of $33,560, number of days that a public relations assistant making $50,000 annually would need to work to pay for it, according to research by the Hay Group: 175
Number of days that a junior accountant who makes on average $58,000 a year would have to work: 150 days
Number of days that a vice president of finance making on average $239,000 would need to work to pay for the car: 37
Source: Korn/Ferry International.
Ranks of Portland (Oregon), Phoenix, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Minneapolis/St. Paul on the list of the best metropolitan areas for homeowners, according to a Bankrate.com report: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Ranks of Hartford, Connecticut; New York City; Providence, Rhode Island; Los Angeles and Buffalo, New York, on the list of the worst: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Number of factors reviewed to assemble the list (home affordability; price appreciation; property taxes; homeowners insurance; energy; maintenance costs; foreclosures and how rapidly rents rose over the past six years for which data are available): 8
Source: Bankrate.com.
Average balance of an individual retirement account (IRA) in 2014, the latest data available, according to new research by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute: $100,000
Because many people own more than one IRA, average total IRA balance per individual IRA owner: $127,600
Source: EBRI.
Year that the Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio became the first college in the U.S. to grant equal status to men and women in degree programs: 1837
Of the 40 percent of the population ages 18 to 24 enrolled in college, estimated number who are women, compared to just over 8.6 million men: 10.5 million
Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Percentage higher that motor vehicle deaths were through the first six months of 2016 than in 2015, an 18 percent higher rate than 2014 at the six-month mark, according to preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council: 9
Estimated number of people who have been killed on U.S. roads since January -- enough to fill 382 school buses: 19,100
Estimated number who were seriously injured: 2.2 million
Estimated total cost of these deaths and injuries: $205 billion
Source: National Safety Council.
Idle Thought
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -- Aristotle
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)