Consumers
Can San Francisco Feed Itself With Local Food?AFT Study Shows ;Plenty of Food, But Significant Challenges to Marketing Local Food, Protecting Farmland - Aug 29, 2008 - 3:20:37 PM
Could a major international city such as San Francisco feed itself with local food from farms and ranches within 100 miles of its....

Consumers
Consumer Reports Analysis of Late-Summer Car Incentives: Some Deals Are Compelling While Others Distract From True Savings - Aug 29, 2008 - 3:16:47 PM
Consumer Reports' Auto Price Service's latest analysis shows that looking beyond the hype of heavily marketed sales, some deals are compelling, while others attempt to distract........

Consumers
Economic Turndown Means Spending Time Away from the Children - Aug 27, 2008 - 4:21:57 PM
It's 7 P.M. -- do you know where the working parents are?  Nowadays they're still in the office, pulling double-shifts, working extra.....

Consumers
America Today: What Makes Women Say 'Yes' - Aug 27, 2008 - 4:16:27 PM
As uncertainty swirls around the state of the economy, women are responding in different ways as it relates to the people they trust to help manage.....

Consumers
Greenberg Millennial Survey: How "Generation WE" Are Taking Over America and Changing the World - Aug 27, 2008 - 4:01:29 PM
As the Democratic and Republican parties prepare to nominate their 2008 presidential candidates, a new generation is about to seize the.....

Consumers
The Female Perspective on Cars: Johnson Controls Conducts International Study Investigating 'What Women Want' in Vehicle Interior Design - Aug 27, 2008 - 3:51:03 PM
When choosing a vehicle, women want design options that offer flexibility, allow them to connect to the outside world and......

Consumers
Philadelphians Are the Highest Tippers in the Nation - Aug 27, 2008 - 9:11:18 AM
Zagat Survey released its 2009 Philadelphia Restaurants guide today.  The new guide covers 1,038 restaurants in Philadelphia and its surroundings.....

Consumers
U. S. Wine Consumption Still Climbing With No End in Sight - Aug 22, 2008 - 2:03:02 PM

Consumers
Consumer Satisfaction Finally Up - May 20, 2008 - 4:59:35 PM
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) reversed course and registered its first gain in a year...

Consumers
We're Buying Gift Cards, Not Gifts - May 20, 2008 - 4:47:46 PM

According to the 2007 U.S. Gift Card Consumer Insights Survey, gift cards continued to gain in popularity in 2007...

Consumers
SmartForTwo - May 19, 2008 - 5:20:34 PM
To help consumers select the most cost-effective vehicles with respect to fuel economy, the experts at Cars.com identified the top 10 gas-only cars and the top five hybrid vehicles that deliver the best bang for the buck based on base sticker price and estimated lifetime fuel costs...

Consumers
More Than Half of Households Take Money from Savings to Pay Bills - May 16, 2008 - 5:34:50 PM
The mortgage still ranks first as the bill that households are most likely to pay, although the percentage of households who reported being delinquent with their mortgage payments has increased significantly...

Consumers
Gen Y Is Spending, Not Saving - May 14, 2008 - 12:53:17 PM

People under 30 aren't saving for retirement, and financial advisors aren't pushing them to do so...

Consumers
Obama Seen As Most Likely to Wash His Own Car - May 13, 2008 - 1:10:15 PM

Rising fuel prices have sent a lot of people back to washing their own cars and replacing their own wiper blades...

Consumers
Drinking More and Spending More - Feb 25, 2008 - 1:09:05 PM
Within the last decade, beverage alcohol sales have consistently grown faster at bars, restaurants, hotels and clubs than they have at off-premise outlets...

Consumers
Your Sex Makes a Difference in How Much You Worry About Debt - Feb 25, 2008 - 12:53:29 PM
A national poll has determined that 61% of Americans carry non-mortgage debt and most of them worry about it...

Consumers
Filing Taxes Online a Growing Trend - Feb 20, 2008 - 11:01:57 AM
Forty percent plan to file online, up from 34 percent three years ago. More than two-thirds of consumers report having filed online for three years or more...

Consumers
Parents Get a "D" in Saving for College - Feb 20, 2008 - 10:58:44 AM
While American families aspire to robust college savings goals, the reality is that most are failing to come close to meeting their personal savings needs, according to new research from OFI Private Investments, a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Funds.

The first annual OFI Private Investments College Savings Confidence Index ^® reveals that less than one-third (32 percent) of American families who are currently saving for their child ’s college education have confidence in achieving their college savings goals. The OFI Private Investments College Savings Index ^® measures consumers ’ stated beliefs —as well as actual behaviors —to provide an annual grade and consistent year-to-year evaluation of college savings confidence. The research, which was conducted by Cogent Research, compares the knowledge and goals of “Savers ” (those currently saving for college) versus “Future Savers ” (those who plan to begin saving for college in the future).

In the benchmark first year of this Index, Savers received a grade of “D ”, while Future Savers received an “F. ” The Index also reveals that only three percent of U.S. households currently have enough saved to pay for college.

“We developed this Index to more accurately display the ‘reality gap ’ that exists for families as they struggle to make the dream of a college education a certainty, ” said Raquel Granahan, director of 529 College Savings Plans for OppenheimerFunds. “529 college savings plans represent a genuine example of this gap. Despite the many benefits of this savings vehicle, a staggering number of Americans are simply not taking advantage. Now is the time for state-sponsored plans and financial services firms to reconsider their approach and more aggressively educate the American consumer about 529 plans and other savings options. The failing grade shown in the Index is simply not acceptable. ”

The College Savings Confidence Index examined households who are currently saving for college and those who intend to do so in the future in an effort to identify the common perceptions and attitudes of each group, as well as the variance in each group ’s familiarity with savings options. While Savers are clearly more knowledgeable about their options than Future Savers, The College Savings Confidence Index reports that both sides are not fully educated, especially with regard to 529 Savings Plans. For example:

• Only 51 percent of Savers currently or intend to use a 529 plan
• For Savers, 529 plans account for only about one-fifth of actual college savings
• Well less than half of Future Savers (40 percent) intend on using a 529 plan
• 56 percent of Future Savers claim that they could “not explain a 529 plan at all to a colleague or a friend ”

This research reveals that there is a significant pool of liquid assets earmarked for college expenses currently sitting in non-maximized savings vehicles such as checking and savings accounts. Considering the intents, attitudes and perceptions of American households, this reveals a true opportunity for advisors. For example:

• More than 90 percent of US households with college bound children expect to pay at least some of college tuition
• 54 percent of Future Savers intend to start saving in the next 12 months
• Savers who do not currently have a 529 plan have almost half of their savings in traditional savings accounts

For a full white paper on the College Savings Index, or graphs to support the above data, please visit www.oppenheimerfunds.com.

Consumers
Newspaper Readers Going Online to Newspaper Sites - Feb 20, 2008 - 10:52:26 AM
Scarborough Research found that newspaper website audience is growing and is compensating for some of the declines in print readership...

Consumers
In a Bad Market, Online Purchases Still Satisfy - Feb 19, 2008 - 10:50:17 AM
Customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector hits an all-time high, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index...

Consumers
Web Catches More Viewers than TV - Feb 19, 2008 - 10:43:33 AM
We surf the Web more than eight times as much as we spend reading newspapers and magazines...

Consumers
Cash Savings are King - Feb 13, 2008 - 1:22:09 PM
Survey reveals the fear of recession has caused Americans to reduce spending in order to save significantly more in 2008...

Consumers
Boomers Spending Less, But Not Saving for Retirement - Feb 12, 2008 - 11:15:17 AM
Sixty-one percent of baby boomers say they are spending less in the current economy, but the money they are saving is not going toward retirement...

Consumers
Most Retirees Off Target About Spending Money - Feb 11, 2008 - 1:18:22 PM
This survey set out to measure the attitudes and readiness of Americans as they approach, and live in, retirement...

Consumers
More than Half US Businesses Surveyed Say Prices Will Be UP in 2008 - Feb 11, 2008 - 12:36:38 PM
Prices will be up but that doesn't mean more service in 2008...