Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of parents with children under 18 who say they are willing to accrue debt to treat themselves/their families, according to a survey by creditcards.com: 76

Percentage who plan to spend more money in at least one nonessential category in the second half of 2021: 66

Source: Creditcards.com.

Among people who eat at a sit-down restaurant, the average percentage tip amount they add to the bill, according to research by Bankrate.com: 20

Ranks of unfriendly staff, waiting too long and not receiving what they ordered/expected on the list of reasons that 77% of sit-down restaurantgoers will tip less: 1, 2, 3

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of today's shoppers who identify cost as the biggest barrier to healthy eating, according to research by Acosta: 30

Percentage of shoppers who say they are taking a proactive approach to living a healthy lifestyle: 65

Percentage of shoppers say who the cost of health insurance is the biggest barrier to living a healthy lifestyle: 37

Source: Acosta.

Percentage of Americans who are having more sex than before the pandemic, according to a survey conducted by Lovehoney in partnership with the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University: 30

Percentage who report more satisfying sex lives, including 46% of couples: 32

Source: Lovehoney.

With clarity about the upcoming school year and consumer sentiment continuing to rise, projected back-to-school spending for K-12 students, according to the 2021 Deloitte Back-to School survey: $32.5 billion

Approximate amount per student: $612

Projected back-to-college spending: $26.7 billion

Approximate amount per student: $1,459

Source: Deloitte.

Looking back, percentage of parents who say they were not financially prepared to have a child, according to a survey from Policygenius: 45

Percentage of parents who say their biggest financial stressor is saving for retirement: 30

Percentage who say educational expenses put the biggest strain on their budget: 23

Source: Policygenius.

Percentage of U.S. adults who do not have a will, representing nearly 140 million people, according to research by GoodTrust: 67

Ranks of "I haven't gotten around to it" and "I don't have enough assets to leave anyone" on the list of the top excuses people cite for not creating a will: 1, 2

Source: GoodTrust.

Percentage of U.S. broadband households that are unlikely to subscribe to another video service to watch new movies, according to Parks Associates: 44

Percentage of U.S. broadband households that are now comfortable going back to movie theaters, including 50% or more of consumers aged 18 to 34: 41

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of professionals who are uncomfortable sharing workstations, according to a survey by Robert Half: 53

Percentage who want a hybrid work structure, where they can divide time between the office and another location: 49

Source: Robert Half.

Estimated number of students annually whose lives could be changed by a free community college, according to a survey from BestColleges.com, a Red Ventures company: 5.5 million

Percentage of Americans who believe the government should provide two years of tuition for first-time students who attend public community colleges: 69

Percentage of supporters who agree that students should have to qualify under specific requirements: 37

Source: Red Ventures.

Idle Thought

"Patience is also a form of action." -- Auguste Rodin, sculptor

Percentage of millennials and Gen Zers who plan to use money saved during the pandemic toward a down payment on a house, according to a survey by Zillow: 59

Percentage of young adults who say they somewhat or completely preferred a home in a remote area: 44

Number of young adults who moved back home since the spring of 2020: 3 million

Source: Zillow.

Number of cigarette-equivalents of tobacco (combining smoked tobacco products include manufactured cigarettes, hand-rolled cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, pipes, shisha, and regional products such as bidis and kreteks) that were consumed in 2019, amounting to 20.3 billion each day worldwide, according to research by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation: 7.4 trillion� Globally, percentage of male and female smokers who consume 20 or more cigarette-equivalents per day: 33 for men, 20 for women� Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Percentage of professionals who plan to take more than three weeks of vacation time this year, according to research from global staffing firm Robert Half: 33� Percentage who are ready for an "awaycation" to travel and completely disconnect from work: 57� Percentage who prefer a staycation: 32� Source: Robert Half.

Percentage of 13- to 17-year-olds who say they have had some sort of financial literacy class in school, according to a survey conducted for Junior Achievement: 38� Percentage of teens who agree with the statement, "Every student should have at least one financial literacy class before graduating high school": 87

Source: Junior Achievement.

Percentage of Americans who say they are confident they will take a vacation this year (up from 42% in 2019 and 26% in 2020), which is defined as a leisure trip of at least a week to a place that is 100 miles or more from home, according to Allianz Partners: 60� Source: Allianz Global Assistance USA.

Percentage of Americans who said global warming is a serious and pressing problem, according to the results of a Long Island University Steven S. Hornstein Center for Policy, Polling and Analysis national poll: 73� Percentage of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 who said it was: 80� Percentage aged 45 years and older who agreed: 68� Source: Long Island University Hornstein Center for Policy, Polling and Analysis.

Percentage of U.S. workers (and 54% of European workers) who believe vaccines will not completely stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus: 47� Percentage of U.S. workers (and 34% of European workers) who feel that their employers have a plan in place to provide vaccination: 39� Percentage of workers in both regions who are not comfortable with employers collecting their personal data specific to the pandemic: 66� Source: Forrester.

Among vaccinated travelers surveyed globally, rank of dining indoors, visiting a museum and visiting a theme park on the list of activities they feel more confident attending, according to a survey conducted by TripAdvisor: 1, 2, 3� Percentage of U.S. respondents who plan on taking a summer vacation somewhere in the U.S., while 22% plan on taking a summer vacation abroad: 51� Source: TripAdvisor.

Percentage of homeowners who expect to spend more than $10,000 on upcoming interior projects, while 71% of respondents plan to spend $5,000 or less on interior work: 17� This year, percentage of homeowners who plan to finance about half of their project, up from 20% of respondents in 2020: 31� Source: Modernize.com.

Percentage of students who believe their post-graduate plans may have been different if not for the economic recession, according to a report from BestColleges.com: 45� Percentage who feel apprehensive about entering the current job market: 52� Percentage of graduates who feel the pandemic impacted their immediate employment goals: 56� Percentage who reported feeling prepared to work remotely as 2021 college graduates: 59� Source: BestColleges.com.

Idle Thought

"A brother is a friend given by nature." -- Gabriel Legouve, French poet (1764-1812)

Percentage of Americans who say women face a lot of pressure to be an involved parent, according to a Pew Research survey: 77

Percentage who say the same of men: 49

Percentage of women who feel pressured to be physically attractive: 71

Percentage who say the same of men: 27

Source: Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends.

Percentage of newlyweds who went into wedding debt, according to a study by LendingTree: 45

Among those who went into debt, percentage who said money caused them to contemplate divorce, compared to just 9% of those couples who did not go into debt for their wedding: 47

Percentage of newlyweds who wish they spent less on their wedding: 25

Rank of spending too much on food and drink or the venue on the list of regrets: 1

Source: LendingTree.

Percentage of Americans who said they were planning to celebrate Independence Day with a cookout, barbecue or a picnic, according to research by Statista: 56

Percentage who planned to attend fireworks/community celebrations: 24

Percentage who were going to a parade: 6

Source: Statista.

Percentage of employees who want to be fully remote post-pandemic and will not tolerate being compensated less for remote work, according to survey data from salary.com: 48

Percentage who want a hybrid work model: 44

Percentage of employers who support the hybrid work model: 51

Source: salary.com.

On average, percentage of people in 28 countries across the world who think that their country is divided by "culture wars," according to an Ipsos Global Advisor poll, carried out in partnership with the Policy Institute at King's College London: 35

Ranks of South Africa, India, the United States and Brazil on the list of countries where people are most likely to feel that their country is divided that way: 1, 2, 3, 4

Ranks of the United States and South Africa where people perceive that their country is divided by tension between different ethnicities: 1, 2

Source: Ipsos.

Percentage of people who want rewards on gas more than any other type of travel purchase, according to a survey by WalletHub: 63

Percentage who consider the price of gas when making summer travel plans: 54

Source: WalletHub.

Ranks of real estate and cash investments, such as savings accounts or CDs, on the list of Americans' preferred ways to invest over a period of 10 years or more, according to a Bankrate.com report: 1, 2

While the stock market topped the list in 2020 with 28% of Americans pointing to it as their preferred way to invest money not needed for a decade or longer, percentage who chose it this year: 16

Percentage of Americans who indicate some level of comfort with investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin: 35

Source: Bankrate.com.

Entering the summer months of 2021, percentage of Americans who say they have grown more comfortable with the plane as a mode of transportation, compared to 2020, according to an Out of Home Advertising Association survey: 59

Percentage of Americans who say they have grown more comfortable with trains: 56

Percentage who had grown more comfortable with the subway: 38

Source: Out of Home Advertising Association.

Percentage of U.S. adults who identify as politically independent, though most "lean" toward one of the two major parties, according to a Pew Research Center report: 38

Percentage of Americans overall who don't express a partisan leaning: 7

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

Percentage of American voters who support the U.S. helping global COVID-19 vaccination efforts, according to research by Data For Progress: 79

Estimated percentage of likely voters who agree that pharmaceutical companies, governments and countries around the world should work collaboratively to help us recover from the pandemic as quickly as we can: 90

Percentage who want to share excess vaccine doses from the U.S. stockpile that would otherwise expire unused: 83

Source: Data For Progress.

Idle Thought

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony." -- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)