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

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.)

Percentage of baby boomers (set to inherit a total of $7.6 trillion in their lifetimes, a figure more than $1.7 trillion greater than China's 2012 GDP) who will receive an inheritance, according to the Boston College Center for Retirement Research: 66

Projected percentage of that legacy they will lose, and not because of taxes: 70

By the end of their children's lives -- the third generation -- percentage of family fortunes that will be gone: 90

Source: Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy.

Amount of money unauthorized immigrants pay each year in state and local taxes, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: $10.6 billion

Estimated annual revenue increase for all 50 states and the District of Columbia should undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. be allowed to work here legally: $2 billion

Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

By 2018, projected net worth of 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, through prize money and endorsements, propelling him into the second spot after Maria Sharapova and ahead of Novak Djokovic, according to Wealth-X: $160 million

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of homeowners who feel they have earned an "A" grade in home energy conservation, according to the findings of the 2013 Lennox Home Energy Report Card survey: 23

Percentage of homeowners who say the motivation for energy conservation is saving money: 57

Percentage who say it's the importance of protecting the environment: 38

Source: Lennox Industries.

Number of times more often that drivers aged 16 to 17 years are involved in crashes per mile driven compared to drivers in their 40s, 50s or 60s, according to a study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety: 7

Source: AAA.

Percentage of people who already swim or want to start swimming who believe that it is the only sport that can be done for life, according to global research commissioned by Speedo: 73

Percentage who believe swimming provides a better workout and results in a better body than any other form of exercise: 86

Percentage who feel more physically fit as a result of swimming: 71

Source: Speedo.

Percentage of all buyers of addictive pain medications in the U.S. who were estimated to be "doctor shoppers" (persons who seek prescriptions for the same drugs from different physicians without telling them about other prescribers), according to a study from ABT Associates published in the journal PLOS ONE: 1

Although they constituted a small portion of patients prescribed opioid pain killers, estimated number of prescriptions they purchased (almost 2 percent of all prescriptions for highly controlled opioids): 4.3 million

Source: ABT Associates.

Percentage of workers who admitted it is at least somewhat likely they would leave their current position if they felt disengaged, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 61

Percentage of respondents who said their company is at least somewhat effective in keeping workers motivated: 74

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of chief financial officers who said international experience will be at least somewhat necessary for accounting and finance staff five years from now, according to a survey from Robert Half Management Resources: 69

Percentage of CFOs at companies with 1,000 or more employees who feel accountants will need international experience: 99

Even at the smallest firms (20 to 49 employees), percentage of executives who say accounting and finance staff will need more than a U.S. perspective on the job: 67

Source: Robert Half Management Resources.

Percentage of America's insurance brokers, shaken by wide-ranging changes to the nation's health care system and economic unrest, who are considering exiting the health insurance business altogether, according to the 2013 Aflac WorkForces Report for Brokers: 45

Percentage who are only somewhat or not at all confident about the future of their firm and industry: 51

Source: Aflac Inc.

Idle Thought

"You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by." -- James M. Barrie

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

When asked their favorite way of standing out from other candidates when applying for a job, percentage who said they do nothing special at all -- claiming their CV and experience speak for themselves, according to the results of a global survey conducted by FindEmployment: 63

Percentage of candidates who go the extra mile and personally hand their CV to the HR department in order to enhance their prospects: 28

Percentage who attach an attractive photo to their CV, hoping to catch a recruiter's attention: 5

Percentage who attempt to flirt with interviewers to try to gain notice: 3

Source: FindEmployment.

Percentage of Americans who would not like their child to go into politics as a career, according to a poll by Gallup: 64

Source: Gallup Organization.

Year that one of our favorite ice cream concoctions -- the sundae -- was purportedly invented to bypass the strict Sabbath laws of the time, which forbade selling flavored soda water, thus Edward Berner came up with the idea of putting chocolate syrup on ice cream, according to the Census Bureau: 1881

While drugstore soda fountains are gone, estimated number of ice cream shops there are across the country today: 11,500

Estimated number of employees who are busy making delights for customers worth nearly $3.2 billion a year: 90,000

Source: Census Bureau.

Percentage of people who believe erroneously that there is a chemical added to swimming pools that turns a conspicuous color in the presence of urine, according to a Mason-Dixon survey: 52

Source: Water Quality and Health Council.

Number of drinks in a two-hour period that are enough to put the average American male (four for the average woman) above 0.08 percent BAC (blood alcohol content) -- the legal limit in all 50 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 5

Percentage of Americans who consume alcohol at least once per month, according to a national survey conducted by BACtrack: 75

Percentage of respondents drinking more than four drinks in one night who admit to making poor choices: 44

Source: BACTrack, Inc.

Projected number of car sale units in 2013, the highest in six years, according to CarFinance: 15.5 million

Percentage of Americans who are buying cars with "below-prime credit" and who may be focusing only on the purchase price of the vehicle, unaware of some of the significant variable costs that are part of purchasing and maintaining a vehicle: 45

Total cost of ownership for a Honda Civic over five years, whereas the selling price is $18,423: $43,000

Source: mWEBB Communications.

Percentage of hiring managers who view millennials' (those 18 to 34) unknown long-term commitment to a company as the biggest possible liability, according to a survey by Adeco: 46

Percentage who have concerns about millennials' unwillingness in taking direction from older management: 27

Rank of "wearing inappropriate interview attire" and "posting potentially compromising content on social media channels" on the list of the biggest interview mistakes made by millennials: 1, 2

Source: Adecco.

Amount of trash the average American produces each day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency: 4.4 pounds

Amount of trash produced in the United States each year: 250 million tons

Percentage that is currently recycled: 35

Source: The Ad Council.

Percentage of chief information officers (CIOs) who said they plan to hire new IT graduates in 2013, according to a poll by Robert Half Technology: 35

Percentage of CIOs who say new IT graduates are unprepared to start contributing as soon as they start a new job: 26

Among these executives, percentage who said the reason is a lack of skills in areas such as communication and leadership: 55

Source: Robert Half Technology.

Percentage of people who would either never allow a camera or sensing device to be connected to their TV, or would probably never be convinced that such technologies could be beneficial, according to the results from a Strategy Analytics study: 43

Percentage who said they had some reservations, but would not object if the TV service improved significantly: 20

Percentage of respondents who said they would not mind at all if their TV viewing behavior was observed and data collected: 14

Source: Strategy Analytics.

Idle Thought

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." -- Leo Buscaglia, author

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)