Percentage of parents who save for the holidays, according to a T. Rowe Price survey: 73

Percentage of holiday-savers who start to put money away right after the previous year's holiday season: 48

Source: T. Rowe Price.

Percentage of U.S. adults who will buy a gift that costs at least $50 this holiday season, according to a CreditCards.com report: 53

Percentage who will fork over $100 or more on a single item: 27

Percentage who won't buy any gifts at all: 12

Source: CreditCards.com.

Percentage of people who would pay extra for some peace and quiet this holiday season (topping "no Trump tweets" 24 percent), according to a survey by WalletHub: 41

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of Americans who said they didn't have a set budget for holiday shopping this year, down from 56 percent last year: 45

Percentage of people who don't expect their spouse or significant other to spend anything on them during the holidays: 23

Percentage who said they don't plan to spend anything on their spouse or significant other: 10

Source: Lending Tree.

Percentage of workers who admitted to shopping on a company device during work hours, according to a Robert Half survey: 75

Percentage who said they spent one hour or more shopping on the job during last year's Cyber Monday: 41

This year, percentage of all respondents who said they plan to spend even more time on online bargain hunting while at the office: 23

Source: Robert Half Technology.

Percentage of Americans who say Christian symbols such as nativity scenes should be allowed on government property, according to Pew research: 44

Percentage who say Christian displays should be permitted only with symbols from other religions: 28

Percentage who say Christian symbols shouldn't be allowed on government property at all: 20

Source: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Percentage of American women who would forgo gifts for themselves this year if they could guarantee everyone on their list was delighted with what they received, according to a Marshalls survey: 90

Percentage of American women who believe the best holiday gifts are the ones least expected: 94

Yet, percentage who shop based on lists, leaving little room for surprise under the tree: 33

Source: Marshalls.

Percentage of consumers who plan to visit a physical store in the month of December, according to a survey by RetailMeNot Inc.: 87

Average number of store visits these consumers plan to make: 7

Percentage who are likely to make a purchase at a special in-store event, such as pop-up shops, new brand collaborations or celebrity guest appearances: 63

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Percentage of 18- to 35-year-olds who consider keeping fit one of the most important parts of their holiday experience, according to a survey by Hotels.com: 80

Ranks of top-notch hotel fitness facilities, proximity of good restaurants and nightlife on the list of the most important vacation considerations: 1, 2, 3

Source: Hotels.com.

Ranks of online, department store, discount store, grocery store/supermarket, clothing or accessories store and electronics store on the list of the most popular shopping destinations this year, according to a survey for the National Retail Federation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: NRF.

Idle Thought

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." -- Desmond Tutu

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

Percentage of employees who admit to being late every day, according to a survey by Accountemps: 7

Percentage who admint to a few times a month: 15

Percentage who say never: 34

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of professionals who describe holiday parties as entertaining, according to a survey from OfficeTeam: 36

Percentage who give these events a thumbs down: 35

Percentage who feel pressure to attend, saying their holiday parties are obligatory: 28

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of "successful savers" (working adults and retirees) with investable assets of at least $50,000 (under age 44) or at least $100,000 (above age 44), not including funds in 401(k) retirement accounts, who listed living comfortably as a top goal for retirement, according a PNC survey: 77

Percentage who selected spending more time with family as top on their list: 56

Percentage who mentioned travel: 70

Of those surveyed, percentage who are confident they will achieve these goals: 72

Source: PNC Financial Services Group.

Percentage of men who indicate they do most of the outside Christmas decorating, according to a survey by Christmas Lights Etc: 82

Percentage of women who say they do most of the decorating inside: 79

Percentage of Americans who say the hardest part of Christmas decorating is taking it all back down: 63

Source: Christmas Lights Etc.

Projected percentage of their holiday shopping consumers will have completed by Sunday, Dec. 3, according to a Salesforce.com survey: 50

Percentage completed by Friday, Dec. 15: 80

Source: Salesforce.com.

Percentage increase in a teen driver's risk by having just one teen passenger, according to research by the National Safety Council: 44

Percentage of teen driver crashes that occur because the teen made a critical error due to inexperience: 75

Percentage of teens killed in crashes who are unbelted: 52

Source: National Safety Council.

Of the early holiday shoppers, percentage who say they are trying to spread out their budgets, according to a survey for the National Retail Federation: 65

Percentage who do not want the stress of last-minute shopping: 49

Source: NRF.

Percentage of Americans who are concerned that their sleep habits have an impact on their physical health, according to a National Safety Council probability-based survey: 70

Percentage who are worried about the effects on their mental well-being: 67

Percentage of respondents who say they "frequently" get enough sleep to feel at their best the next day: 43

Percentage who say they "rarely or never" worry about getting enough sleep: 39

Source: National Sleep Foundation.

Percentage of people who say gift cards are what they want most this holiday season, continuing a decade-plus trend of gift cards topping the list of the most popular holiday presents, according to WalletHub's report on 2017's best gift cards: 41

Ranks of iTunes, Starbucks, Walmart, Victoria's Secret and Amazon on the list of the best gift cards: 1, 2 (tie), 4 (tie)

Ranks of Netflix ($86.11), Best Buy ($85.30), Walmart ($84.92), Apple Store ($84.25) and Applebees ($83.40) on the list of cards with the highest resale values of a $100 gift card: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: WalletHub.

Idle Thought

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not." -- Andre Gide, writer

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

Percentage of Americans (an estimated 164 million people) who are planning to shop or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics: 69

Source: NRF.

Rank of Black Friday 2017 on the list of predicted busiest digital shopping days in U.S. history, exceeding Cyber Monday as the U.S. digital shopping day with the most sales for the second year in a row, according to Salesforce insights and predictions for the 2017 holiday shopping season: 1

Average percentage discount off list price that will be seen Cyber Week (Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday): 28

Percentage of orders that will offer free shipping during this period: 86

Source: Salesforce.

Rank of Thanksgiving on the list of America's favorite holidays, according to research for CNN: 2

Rank of Christmas: 1

Year that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving: 1863

Percentage of Americans who said eating Thanksgiving leftovers is more important than eating their regular Thanksgiving meal: 79

Estimated number of native Americans who attended the 1621 Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts: 90

Estimated number of questions typically answered by the Butterball Turkey hotline every November and December: 100,000

Source: CNN Money.

Percentage of people who say a store credit card's zero-percent financing is its biggest draw, according to a survey by WalletHub: 53

Percentage of people who understand how deferred interest works who say they would not sign up for such a plan: 67

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of American households that can be defined as affluent (at least $125,000 in annual household income), according to an Ipsos survey: 16

Percentage of affluents who can be categorized as "affluencers," a powerful group who influence others' shopping and buying behaviors: 71

Percentage more that affluencers spend than other affluents on all spending categories, and 3.6 times as much as non-affluents: 40

Source: Ipsos Affluent Survey.

During the past two years, estimated number of Americans who were starting or running new businesses in the United States, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016 United States Report released by Babson College: 25 million

Percentage of U.S. entrepreneurs who are driven by opportunity: 88

Percentage of Americans who see good opportunities around them to start a business: 57

Percentage of people in the world's other 26 innovation-driven economies who see entrepreneurial opportunities around them: 41

Source: Babson College.

Ranks of Netflix, Amazon (Amazon Prime), Hulu (SVOD) and MLB.TV on the list of the 2017 top 10 U.S. subscription video services, according to Parks Associates and based on the number of subscribers: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of American workers who did not receive a salary increase in the past 12 months, according to a Bankrate.com report: 52

Percentage of workers age 53 years and up who did not see a recent wage increase via a pay raise or a new job, compared to 47 percent of those who are younger: 64

Source: Bankrate.com.

Ranks of the people with whom they meet as part of the recruiting process, the work they'll be doing, reputation of the company and salary/benefits on the list of the top reasons graduates would choose one employer over another: 1, 2, 3, 4

Percentage of hiring managers who said they look for traits that highlight leadership and a drive for excellence: 51

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

Idle Thought

"The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation." -- Ezra Pound, poet

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