KEY FINDINGS NEWSLETTER
Winter 2002/2003

Profiling Millionaires
Nine in ten American millionaires built their own wealth, compared to 7% who inherited it and 2% who married into it. Several factors related to outlook and motivation set millionaires apart from other Americans. For example, they tend to be more independent, more satisfied with their lives, more upbeat in their thinking, and more tolerant of risk. Of course, they work harder, but they also play more and contribute more hours than others do to community service. The chart below provides additional details.

Workforce Challenges Ahead
According to The Aspen Institute, American industries should expect some major workforce challenges in the near term. Namely, these are the slow growth of a native-born workforce, a slowdown of gains in education, and the increasing gap in earnings between workers at the top and bottom rungs. 

The native-born workforce grew 44% over the past 20 years. However, over the next 20, it is expected to remain relatively flat. The percentage of workers with a post-high school education increased 19% during the past two decades, but is expected to only grow 4% in the next two. The best-paid 10% of full-time male workers age 18-64 saw their earnings grow 30% since 1970, while the bottom 10% experienced a 20% drop in wages.

Experiencing Stress
People say they experience at least one stressful event on two out of every five days (39.4%) and have multiple stressful events on one out of ten (10.4%). One-half of these events involve interpersonal arguments and tensions - including job procedures, financial issues and children. Other sources of stress are from events that happen to people they know (15.4%), work and school issues (13.2%), home and neighborhood (8.2%), and healthcare (2.2%). Almost two-thirds (63.3%) of these events affect two people, while 25.7% involves only the person stressed. In 10.8%, the person is stressed due to events involving only others.

Women Market Segments
The ongoing fluctuation in circumstances and influences prompts American women to continually reengineer their lives. It is this reality that leads researchers to conclude that women are more appropriately segmented using psychographics rather than demographics. These changes encompass a mix of personal, family/relationship, health, financial and career modifications. 

Women say the most important reasons they make changes are to improve their mental and emotional well-being (62%), to improve their physical health (56%), to take control of their lives (55%), to gain a sense of accomplishment (52%) and to connect with what they truly want for themselves (51%). The chart below shows the four segments into which women are grouped based on their attitude toward personal growth.

Simultaneous Media Consumption
Many Americans now consume different types of media at the same time. For example, 59.8% of men and 67.2% of women go onto the internet while they are watching television. The chart below shows how popular dual consumption is becoming and which media are being consumed in conjunction with another.

Men's Media Usage by Ethnic Category
Among males age 25-54, African American men spend more time consuming media than do men in other ethnic groups. Asian men are found to spend the least amount of time. The chart below compares media consumption of four major ethnic groups.

Online Users
Most Americans (61%) currently go online at least once a month. This is up from 59% at the end of 2001. The chart below shows how often these users are accessing the internet.

Shoppers Look to Healthy Foods Over Medication
Today, 68% of grocery shoppers are more likely to treat themselves for a common illness before seeing a doctor. This is up from 31% in 1998. And, according to Princeton Survey Research Associates, almost nine in ten agree that "In most cases, eating healthfully is a better way to manage illness than medications." 

When warranted, most (69%) shoppers say they turn to healthcare professionals for health information. Other sources cited include books (67%), magazines (63%), and 61% talk to their friends, family and neighbors. Only 16% consult store personnel for health information.

Bullets

• One-quarter (24%) of retirees have worked or continue to work after their retirement.

   

• Farmers and ranchers receive approximately 19 cents of every dollar spent by consumers on food. This is down from 31 cents in 1981. The remaining money goes toward processing, transportation, labor, energy, and wholesale and retail markups.

   

• In 2000, Americans spent 3.6 billion hours delayed in traffic and consumed 5.7 billion gallons of excess motor fuel due to delays.

   

• One-half (52%) of men say the media are too liberal, 13% think they are too conservative and 33% say they are about right. Only 41% of women say the media are too liberal, 14% say too conservative and 41% think they are about right.

   

• The average American will have eaten 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the time he or she graduates from high school.

   

• While 86% of grocery shoppers prepare a list, only 28% of them follow it after reaching the store.

   

• One-third of women and 27% of men buy soy foods and beverages. People age 55-64 (37%) and 25-54 (35%) are more likely to buy them than those age 65+ (25%) and 18-24 (24%). Consumption of soy products tends to rise with educational attainment and income level.

   

• Gay and lesbian consumers are more likely (47%) than their heterosexual counterparts (18%) to do business with companies they know exhibit a commitment to diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion and disabilities.

   

• Most (94%) recipients of spam delete the e-mail message, and 35% report the sender of the message.

   

• Spam attacks grew from 2 million in the first quarter of 2001 to 13.9 million in the second quarter of 2002.

   

• During 2001, 16.7% of US hospitals provided complementary and alternative medicine services, up from 15.5% in 2000. The most popular outpatient CAM services are massage therapy, pastoral car, acupuncture and biofeedback. On an inpatient basis, the ones offered most are pastoral care, massage therapy and relaxation treatment.

   

• The typical American ate snack foods 435 times during 2002, compared to 471 times in 1999.

   

• Close to one-half (44%) of Americans have a gun in their home or on their property. The average gun owner has four guns, while one-quarter possess five or more.

   

• Almost one-half of families dine together four or more times per week. This is up from one-third in 2001.

   

• A recent survey shows that 75% of college students read their school newspaper. Forty-five percent read at least three out of the last five issues and spent 19 minutes with each issue. The most popular sections of the paper are front page (73%), politics (46%), entertainment (34%), and sports (29%). Only 8% of students visit their newspaper’s website.

   

• Asian households (78%) are most likely to own cell phones; Hispanic households (42%) are least likely.

   

• Almost nine in 10 women (89%) say they want to lose weight, including 57% who want to shed 30 pounds or less. The main motivation for losing weight is to attain better health (49%); the reason most given for being overweight is not having time to exercise (33%).

   

• About 2.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the U.S. each year. This is about eight pounds per capita.

   

• Although the U.S. has just 5% of the world’s population, it produces 72% of all hazardous waste and consumes 33% of the world’s paper. The U.S. is also responsible for 25% of the world’s total energy consumption, using almost one million gallons of oil every two minutes.

   

• The number of children adopted from overseas by Americans has almost tripled in 10 years. The number grew from 6,472 in 1992 to 20,099 in 2002. During 2002, the children were most likely to be from China (5,053), Russia (4,939), Guatemala (2,219), South Korea (1,779), or Ukraine (1,106).

   

• E-mail is used by 93% of Asians, 84% of Anglos, 76% of Hispanics and 72% of African Americans.

   

• Three-quarters (75%) of American e-mail users prefer receiving communication from online merchants via permission-based e-mail, while 25% prefer postal mail communication.

   

• Most (54%) voters who voted in the November 5, 2002 election split their votes between political parties. Only 19% (including 44% of registered Republicans) voted the straight Republican ticket, and 21% (including 47% of registered Democrats) voted the straight Democratic ticket. Two-thirds (65%) of Independents split their votes.

   

• About one-quarter (24%) of 2-17-year-olds are obese.

   

• More than one-third (35%) of 18-24-year-olds use over 500 minutes of cell phone airtime each month.

   

• One-half of PC owners in the U.S. say their PC is the most important technological device in their homes.

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