Figuratively Speaking

Due to a longer life expectancy, a need to earn income longer, and the fact that some people enjoy their jobs, percentage of U.S. employees who say they don't expect to retire until they are 70 years old, according to The Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, conducted by Willis Towers Watson: 25

Percentage of employees who don't ever expect to retire: 5

Percentage of men in the U.S. who are working past age 65 today: 22

Source: Willis Towers Watson.

Percentage of co-signers to loans who have had to pay some or all of the bill because the primary borrower did not, according to a new CreditCards.com report: 38

Percentage who experienced a drop in their credit score because the other person paid late or not at all: 28

Percentage of co-signers who said the experience damaged their relationship with the person they co-signed for: 26

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Percentage of Americans who report they are "living comfortably" or "doing OK," according to a survey of household economics and decision-making commissioned by the Federal Reserve Board: 69

Percentage of non-retired respondents who saved at least a portion of their income from the prior year: 68

Percentage of respondents who were mostly or completely happy with their neighborhoods: 70

Source: Federal Reserve Board.

Estimated number of fathers across the United States in 2015, the most recent year for which data are available, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau: 70.1 million

Number of fathers who were part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2015: 24.9 million

Number of single fathers in 2015: 1.9 million

Percentage of single parents who were men: 16

Estimated number of stay-at-home dads in 2015: 199,000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of workers who feel they don't get enough time off, according to a survey from Accountemps: 33

Percentage of workers who forgo or take shortened vacations: 41

Percentage of workers who have not taken a vacation or have taken fewer days off because they were concerned about the amount of work that would await them when they returned: 41

Source: Accountemps.

On April 21, number of people, including the musical icon Prince, who reportedly died from prescription opioid overdose, according to research by the National Safety Council: 52

Estimated number of people who die every year from opioid overdoses: 19,000

Source: National Safety Council.

Rank of Las Vegas on the list of the most popular destinations searched on Expedia, whether in a stand-alone search for flights, hotel, car rentals or a money-saving package, according to Expedia travel analysts: 1

Ranks of Las Vegas, Orlando, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego on the Top 10 list of hotels sold over the last 10 years: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Rank of Cancun, Mexico, on the list of the top international destinations for American travelers: 1

Source: Expedia.

Percentage of workers who have smartphones, according to a survey done on behalf of CareerBuilder: 83

Percentage of those with smartphones who keep them within eye contact at work: 82

Percentage of those with smartphones who say it's decreasing their productivity at work: 10

Percentage who say they use it (at least) several times a day while working: 66

Ranks of cellphone/texting and the internet on the list of the biggest productivity killers in the workplace cited by employers: 1, 2

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of senior managers who said employees wear less-formal clothing than they did five years ago, according to research from OfficeTeam: 50

Percentage of office workers who would prefer to be at a company with a business casual dress code: 31

Percentage who favor a casual dress code or no dress code at all: 27

Ranks of "wearing overly casual clothing" and "showing too much skin" on the list of the most common dress code violations: 1, 2

Source: OfficeTeam.

Among those who live with others, percentage of Americans who sit down to family dinner at least once a week, according to results of a Harris Poll: 87

Percentage of Americans who say cellphones don't belong at the dinner table: 90

Percentage who say they have made changes to make their family dinners healthier over the past couple of years: 79

Source: The Harris Poll and Nielsen.

Idle Thought

"I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be." -- Studs Terkel, author and broadcaster

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

Percentage of time the average person spends indoors over the course of a typical week, according to a survey among homeowners conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Velux Skylights: 67

Percentage of Americans who say that having a healthy home is important to them because they know and recognize the benefits: 62

Percentage who say it enhances their mood: 58

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of CFOs who said the most difficult part of becoming a new manager is balancing individual responsibilities with time spent overseeing staff, according to a Robert Half Management Resources survey: 32

Percentage who said supervising friends or former peers is most difficult: 19

Ranks of motivating the team (17 percent), prioritizing projects (16 percent) and meeting higher performance expectations (16 percent) on the list of the biggest challenges for new managers: 3, 4 (tie)

Source: Robert Half Management Resources.

Average marrying age, according to the results of The Knot Real Weddings Study: bride, 29; groom, 31

Average number of guests at a typical wedding: 139

Average number of bridesmaids: 5

Average number of groomsmen: 5

Source: The Knot.

Percentage less interest charged on the average new-car loan than is charged on the average used-car loan, according to Wallet Hub's 2016 Auto Financing Report: 17

Number of times more that buyers with fair credit will end up spending to finance a vehicle -- about $6,304 in additional interest payments over the life of a $20,000, five-year loan -- than consumers with excellent credit: 6

Percentage below average charged to finance a new car through car manufacturers: 38

Source: WalletHub.

Average time it takes Americans to fully unpack all of their belongings when moving to a new home, according to a survey of U.S. adults conducted on behalf of Cramer-Krasselt: 2 months

Percentage of respondents who say they had everything fully unpacked within a week or less: 28

Percentage who say it took them up to a month to unpack: 36

Percentage who took between one and six months: 18

Source: Cramer-Krassel.

Percentage of employees who grade their bosses' performance as either an "A" or "B," according to a survey from CareerBuilder: 62

Percentage who would assign a grade of "C": 22

Percentage who grade their boss with a "D": 10

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of global citizens who are concerned that their information may be bought or sold online, according to a poll commissioned by the Centre for International Governance Innovation: 79

Percentage who are aware that companies often sell their personal data to other companies or government: 49

Percentage of global citizens who are more concerned about their online privacy compared to one year ago: 57

Source: Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Estimated percentage of small businesses that are in low-wealth communities, according to a report from The Association for Enterprise Opportunity: 43

Amount in annual revenue created by these businesses: $1.87 trillion

Of the 11.2 million small businesses in low-income communities, number that are microbusinesses: 10.2 million (90.7 percent)

Of the $1.87 trillion, amount generated by microbusinesses: $1.34 trillion

Source: Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

Year that Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, conceived the idea of Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon, according to the Census Bureau: 1909

Number of children her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran, was left to raise alone: 6

Date of the first Father's Day celebration proclaimed by Spokane's mayor because it was the month of Smart's birth: June 17, 1910

Year the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day: 1966

Source: Census Bureau.

Among retired U.S. adults without a pension, percentage who recommend that those younger than them save earlier in their career, according to a survey commissioned by Pentegra Retirement Services: 63

Percentage who suggest saving more throughout their career: 57

Source: Pentegra Retirement Services.

Idle Thought

"It is wrong always, everywhere and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." -- William Kingdon Clifford, mathematician and philosopher

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

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Number of megabytes (MB) of data used by Americans in 2015, three times the 3.2 trillion MB in 2013 and the equivalent of consumers streaming 59,219 videos every minute or roughly 18 million MB, according to the annual survey results released by CTIA: 9.6 trillion

Source: CTIA -- The Wireless Association.

Percentage of companies that believe their employees are not knowledgeable about the company's security risks, according to the Experian Data Breach Resolution and Ponemon Institute study: 60

Percentage of companies that have already experienced a security incident due to a malicious or negligent employee: 55

Source: Experian -- Business to Business Unit.

Percentage of human resource managers who say their company commonly acts on feedback from exit interviews, according to a survey by OfficeTeam: 63

Percentage of managers who say they update job descriptions as a result: 29

Percentage who say they address comments about management: 24

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of Americans who don't have six months of savings in their emergency fund, according to a survey conducted by Fifth Third Bank: 69

Percentage who don't have an emergency fund at all: 30

Source: Fifth Third Bank.

Rank of Capital One on the list of the 15 largest credit card issuers for offering the best credit card rewards program (for the second consecutive year), scoring 49 percent higher than TD Bank's last-place program, according to CardHub's 2016 Credit Card Rewards Report: 1

Percentage more value there is in redeeming for travel than there is in redeeming for merchandise, the worst option: 54

Source: CardHub.

Percentage of parents who are unaware that the biggest risk to their teens' safety is the vehicle sitting in the driveway, according to a National Safety Council poll: 76

Rank of car crashes on the list of causes of death among teens (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research): 1

Source: National Safety Council.

Percentage of beer drinkers who agree that it's a great time to be a beer lover, according to a Harris Poll: 88

Percentage who say they enjoy trying new types of beer: 70

Percentage who are fans of local brews: 64

Source: The Harris Poll.

Average growth in cumulative student debt levels in the last 15 years, according to research by Convergex: $5,000

Average debt per borrower at private, nonprofit four-year institutions: $30,200

According to a vintage survey of 1983-1984 graduates of four-year institutions a year after graduation, conducted by the American Council on Education, average college debt: $5,470 (about $12,483 in today's terms)

Source: Convergex.

Among those who have been exposed to streaming programming, rank of Netflix (33 percent) on the list of the most frequent choices for all demographic groups when they want to watch a TV show, according to a survey from E-Poll Market Research: 1

Ranks of a TV channel during its original air time (16 percent), DVR or TiVo Service (15 percent), Hulu subscription (7 percent) and YouTube (7 percent) on the list: 2, 3, 4, 5

Percentage of respondents who said they chose Netflix because there are no commercials: 69

Source: E-Poll Market Research.

On the subject of least-desirable behaviors (and ranking first for the third year in a row), percentage of people who named "the texter" as the most aggravating driver on the road, according to the results of the Expedia 2016 Road Rage Report: 22

Ranks of "the tailgater" (14 percent), "the last-minute line-cutter" (13 percent) and "the left-lane hog" (11 percent) on the list of the least popular American drivers: 2, 3, 4

Source: Expedia.

Idle Thought

"Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed." -- Jan de Hartog, playwright and novelist

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

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