Percentage of millionaires who expect a callback from their financial advisers within two hours, according to "Millionaire Investor 2010," a report released by Spectrem Group: 40

Altogether, percentage of investors with a net worth of $1 million to $5 million (not including a primary residence) who want to hear back from their advisers within 12 hours of their initial call: 72

Percentage of millionaires who said not returning calls in a timely manner was the No. 1 reason for changing advisers: 73

Source: Spectrem Group.

Year of the publication of the first "Ten Most Wanted" list by the FBI, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1950

In the years since, number of men and women who have appeared on the list: 494

Of these, number who have been apprehended: 463

Number who were caught as a result of tips from the public: 152

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who are consciously trying to buy foods that are local, according to the third annual BrandSpark and Better Homes and Gardens American shopper study: 60

Percentage of shoppers who believe private-label products are usually extremely good value: 66

Percentage who prefer purchasing brand-name products when they are on sale rather than private-label products: 66

Source: Better Homes and Gardens.

In 2009, percentage of Americans aged 55 or older with a graduate or professional degree who were in the labor force, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute: 63.1

Percentage of those without a high school diploma who were in the labor force: 22.4

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Percentage of college students who enter the classroom without basic skills in reading, writing, math and other areas, according to instructors surveyed by Cengage Learning: 25

Source: Cengage Learning.

If regular gas prices reach $4 a gallon across the nation (as many experts have forecasted), the number of additional passenger trips on public transit (buses, trains and subways) that can be expected, resulting in more than 10.8 billion trips per year, according to a study by the American Public Transportation Association: 670 million

If pump prices jump to $5 a gallon, predicted number of additional passenger trips that can be expected, resulting in more than 11.6 billion trips per year: 1.5 billion

Source: American Public Transportation Association.

Ranks of the federal budget deficit, unemployment, energy prices and the financial condition of state and local governments on the list of factors in the U.S. investment climate that investors are most likely to cite, according to the Wells Fargo-Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index survey: 1(tie), 3, 4

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of small business owners who indicate they use mobile applications in their business, according to the 2011 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll: 72

Percentage of owners who said they could not survive without wireless technology or that they would face major challenges to survive without it: 64

Source: AT&T Inc.

Percentage of Americans who continue to have concerns that their personal and financial information would not be kept private and secure if they file their state and federal tax returns using desktop computers, according to a survey commissioned by Taxsoftware.com: 49

Percentage who have some level of concern about using their laptop computers: 44

Percentage who have some level of concern about using smart phones: 43

Source: Taxsoftware.com.

Percentage of Americans who believe that political discussions today are angry and bad-tempered, according to a Harris Poll: 87

Percentage of respondents who believe that "how American politicians treat one another influences how American citizens treat one another": 72

Source: Harris Interactive.

Idle Thought

"That sign of old age, extolling the past at the expense of the present." -- Sydney Smith, writer and clergyman

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

Percentage of top performing high school students (those with grade averages of A and B) who used words like "lemony," "clean" or "baked goods" to describe the smell of their childhood homes, according to a study conducted by Dr. Alan Hirsch and the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation: 84

Percentage of lower-performing students (averages of C or below) who associated negative smells -- urine, fecal matter or mold -- with their homes: 34

Source: Clorox Company.

Amount of money the average person still owed in bank card debt at the end of 2010, according to data from Experian: $4,200

Average number of bank cards held by consumers (a drop of nearly 23 percent since 2007): 1.97

Percentage of their total available bank card balance now used by consumers since using fewer bank cards, a nearly 10 percent jump since 2007: 30

Source: Experian.

Percentage of managers who felt NCAA basketball tournament (March Madness) activities shouldn't be allowed in the workplace, according to an OfficeTeam survey: 32

Percentage who said group events tied to the playoffs are OK in moderation: 57

Source: OfficeTeam.

Estimated amount of total student loan debt, according to the College Savings Foundation: $850 billion

Estimated amount of credit card debt: $820 billion

Source: College Savings Foundation.

Ranks of recommendations from friends, online searches, online reviews from other travelers and travel books on the list of most trusted sources of information for people deciding on their vacations, according to a Smart Destinations survey conducted by Zoomerang: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Zoomerang.

In 1920, the number of standard signs on the nation's more than 3 million miles of roads, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: Zero

Year that state and federal officials met to solve the problem and came up with standard signs and numbers -- highways running north and south had odd numbers and those going east and west were given even numbers: 1925

Today, estimated number of miles of roads in the U.S., including about 47,000 miles in the Interstate Highway System: 4 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of drivers who drive at least one hour a week, own a smart phone and have a valid driver's license who admitted to using the Internet while driving, according to a survey by State Farm: 19

Approximate percentage of the U.S. population who own a smart phone: 40

Source: State Farm.

Percentage of Internet users who say they have gone online to find others who might have health concerns similar to theirs, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project: 18

Percentage of people living with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart conditions, lung conditions, cancer or some other chronic ailment who say they have gone online to find others with similar health concerns: 23

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of billing-related executives who view billing as a utility, according to a survey released today by billing outsourcer Billtrust: 67

Percentage who see billing as strategic: 33

Percentage of respondents who are not confident their bills will get paid on time: 25

Source: Billtrust.

Average age of a tour passenger, according to a survey of United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) members: 53

Among USTOA members with escorted tours, percentage of their business that is accounted for by this segment: 72

Source: United States Tour Operators Association.

Idle Thought

"Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy." -- Edmund Burke

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

Across all genders, age groups and ethnicities, rank of "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get" on the list of movie lines that most reflect people's life philosophy, according to the DDB Life Style Study: 1

Ranks of "There's no place like home" from "The Wizard of Oz" (21 percent), "Carpe diem" -- Seize the day -- from "Dead Poets Society" (8 percent) and "Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'" from "The Shawshank Redemption": 2, 3, 4

Source: DDB.

When asked how much a car dealer makes as profit on the sale of a $40,000 vehicle, percentage of respondents who answered $4,000 or greater (a profit of 10 percent or more), according to TrueCar's Online Automotive Buying Behavior Report: 55

In reality, percentage profit a dealer makes on each new car sold: 1 to 3

Source: TrueCar Inc.

Percentage of U.S. households with a net worth between $5 million and $25 million -- not including the primary residence -- that say they are likely to purchase equities over the next 12 months, according to a report released by Spectrem Group: 52

Average cash balances, including money market funds, checking, savings, Treasury bills and CDs in ultra-high net-worth households at the end of 2010: $659,000

Percentage of their investable assets that this represents: 10

Source: Spectrem Group.

Percentage of Americans who have more emergency savings than they do credit card debt, according to a poll conducted for Bankrate.com: 52

Percentage who have more credit card debt than emergency savings: 23

Percentage who have neither -- which means they're one unplanned expense away from having high-cost debt: 19

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of American adults who say they have a favorable opinion of unions that represent workers at private companies, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: 48

Percentage who say they have a favorable opinion of unions that represent people who work for state or local governments: 48

Percentage of people who say that when they hear of a dispute between unions and business their first reaction is to side with business: 43

Percentage whose first reaction is to side with unions: 40

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Percentage of dentists who say women professionally whiten their teeth more than men, according to a survey conducted for the Chicago Dental Society's 146th annual Midwinter Meeting: 60

Percentage of dentists who report that basketball was the sport that resulted in the most dental injuries for their patients: 30

Percentage who said hockey: 20

Percentage of dentists who think that smiles are getting so perfect that they look artificial: 50

Source: Chicago Dental Society.

Though toothpicks have been used throughout history by both civilized and primitive cultures, year that the first toothpick-making machine was developed by Charles Forster in Boston, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1869

Year that Silas Noble patented a similar machine that is still in use today: 1872

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of renters who are looking for a bigger apartment, according to apartments.com: 13.3

Percentage who are shopping for a less expensive apartment: 9.7

Percentage who are moving due to rent increases: 6.7

Percentage who want to live in a safer neighborhood: 5.7

Source: Apartments.com.

Ranks of North Dakota, Washington, D.C., South Dakota and Alaska on the list of the areas with the best job markets in 2010, according to the Gallup Job Creation Index 2010: 1, 2, 3, 4

Ranks of Nevada, New Jersey, California and Oregon on the list of places with the worst job markets: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Gallup.

Compared to other planning activities, percentage of pre-retirees who are calculating the effects of inflation on their retirement planning, according to a report from the Society of Actuaries: 72

Percentage of retirees who are making the same calculation: 55

Source: Society of Actuaries.

Idle Thought

"I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law." -- Aristotle

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