Ten Challenges for 2008 and Beyond

As part of its cross-industry perspective, the MacroMonitor program keeps clients informed and armed with supporting data about key emerging issues that enable them to prepare and plan ahead to meet some of the challenges affecting the U.S. financial industry. Some of the key topics that we will focus on in 2008 include "Conspicuous Consumption or Conspicuous Conservation?," "Continuing Consumer Disengagement?," "The Sprint to Retirement," and "Income or Accumulation?" These are just some of the topics that the MacroMonitor is going to address—and will do so in ways that are far superior to proprietary research. For more information about these and other key topics, see Ten Challenges for 2008 and Beyond.

MacroMonitor Market Trends Newsletter

With the arrival of 2007 comes a new wave of MacroMonitor data: the 2006-07 MacroMonitor. In our ongoing quest to provide you with the latest news about and insight into consumers' financial behaviors and attitudes, the Consumer Financial Decisions group is excited to introduce our monthly newsletter: MacroMonitor Market Trends. MacroMonitor Market Trends highlights topical news and trends of interest to you and your colleagues. A text-only version of the newsletter is sent out via e-mail each month. At the same time, the full version of each issue, showing graphs and charts, is posted on our Web site. Learn more and subscribe to the newsletter now!

MacroMonitor clients can now get custom results in PowerPoint!

The MacroMonitor is well-known for its excellence in providing survey results using words (marketing reports) and numbers (crosstabulations.) CFD is proud to add to its arsenal a new deliverable: the Custom Graphic Analysis, or CGA. The CGA provides 300+ graphic charts showing results from the 2006–07 MacroMonitor for up to six client-selected segments. Although not exhaustive, these charts cover the breadth of financial attitudes, behaviors, channel use, and demographics contained in the MacroMonitor. Visit our Custom Graphic Analysis page to read more about this new deliverable, see a complete table of contents, and download an order form.

Additions to the MacroMonitor for 2006–07

In an effort to maintain our comprehensive coverage of financial-services behaviors and attitudes and to keep our clients informed about key emerging issues, we have added or expanded many items in the 2006–07 MacroMonitor questionnaire. For a complete list of all the new attitude statements and questions, download Additions to the MacroMonitor for 2006–07(PDF).

Comparison of the MacroMonitor and the Survey of Consumer Finances

External validation for a survey is critical, providing users with confidence that the information in the survey reflects the population that it measures.

The most recently released bulletin from the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) found three key shifts underlying the change in net worth—shifts that appear also in data that the MacroMonitor released in November 2004:

• Strong appreciation of house values and a rise in the rate of home ownership produced a substantial gain in the value of holdings of residential real estate.
• Direct and indirect ownership of stocks declined, as did typical amounts held.
• The amount of debt relative to total assets increased markedly, the largest part of that increase attributable to debt secured by real estate.

For a comparison of the incidences of major asset and debt instruments from the MacroMonitor and from the SCF for 2004, 1998, and 1992, download Comparing the MacroMonitor to the Survey of Consumer Finances(PDF).