Estimated amount of money that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first-born child could inherit in royal legacy from the fortunes of the immediate members of the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II and Princes Philip, Charles and William, according to Wealth-X: $1 billion
Advertisement
Source: Wealth-X.
Estimated percentage of private-sector workers who qualify for a pension, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (down from more than four in five in the early 1980s): 20
Average pension for which members of Congress qualify through federal pension programs, according to a Bankrate.com analysis: $40,000 plus
Initial annual Social Security benefit for those who earn a middle-class salary most of their life and retire at 65, according to federal government estimates: $18,234
Initial annual Social Security for members of Congress: $30,156
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Percentage of people taking part in a study commissioned by American Express who felt their breathing rate decrease from 16.7 cycles per minute to 10.2 cycles per minute as they relaxed and became happier when thinking about great service: 68
Percentage of participants who felt their heart rate increase from a baseline of approximately 76 beats per minute to 87 beats per minute when thinking about providing great service: 74
Source: American Express.
Percentage of millennials in their 20s with at least some college education who claim to be "totally independent" now as compared to 2011 (23 percent), according to the second nationwide survey by the PNC Financial Services Group Inc.: 17
Percentage of 20- to 29-year-olds with some college who rate themselves behind where they expected to be in terms of financial success (a 26 percent increase since 2011): 58
Percentage of those who do not identify as "totally independent" who are determined to be independent soon: 60
Source: PNC Wealth Management.
Of the 60,000 to 100,000 small businesses negatively affected by Hurricane Sandy, percentage that are estimated to have failed as a direct result of the storm, according to a report from Small Business Majority and the American Sustainable Business Council: 30
Estimated percentage of small to mid-sized businesses that do not reopen following a major disaster: 25
Source: Small Business Majority.
Ranks of Luanda, Angola; Moscow; Tokyo; Ndjamena, Chad; Singapore and Hong Kong on the list the world's costliest locations for expatriates, according to Mercer's latest Cost of Living survey: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Cost of a cup of coffee in Moscow, compared to $1.54 in Managua, Nicaragua: $8.29
Cost of a luxury two-bedroom, unfurnished apartment rental for one month in Moscow, or 14 times as much as one in Karachi, Pakistan: $4,600
Source: Mercer.
Percentage of Americans who say journalists contribute "a lot" to society's well-being, a 10 percentage point drop from four years ago, according to a Pew Research Center report: 28
Number of occupational groups (business executives and lawyers) that received lower marks than journalists: 2
Ranks of members of the military (78 percent) and teachers (72 percent) on the list of professions that contribute "a lot" to society's well-being: 1, 2
Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
Percentage of workers who indicated they would not have a problem looking for new employment before leaving their current firm, according to a survey by Accountemps: 73
Percentage of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 who said they are likely to conduct job-search activities at work: 48
Percentage of professionals between the ages of 35 and 44 who expressed a similar willingness: 26
Source: Accountemps.
Of the 2,000 individuals nominated for their snoring by their spouses in a contest for a sleep-positioning system, perentage who were male, according to a survey commissioned by Protect-A-Bed: 55
Percentage of female nominees: 45
Percentage of respondents who indicated that their snorer produced unwanted animal sounds, ranging from a "wounded warthog" to a "cat in heat": 15
Percentage of respondents who noted that the snorer in their life sounds like heavy machinery during sleep: 26
Source: Protect-A-Bed.
Percentage of consumers who plan to spend up to $500 this back-to-school shopping season, compared to 63 percent in 2012 and 48 percent in 2011, according to the results of a PriceGrabber survey: 68
Percentage of respondents who plan to spend between $500 and $1,000: 17
Source: PriceGrabber.com.
Idle Thought
"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought." -- Matsuo Basho, poet
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)