2010–11 MacroMonitor Scope and Coverage
Accounts
- Checking (interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing)
- Saving (regular or passbook)
- Money market deposit
- Packaged or relationship banking
- Asset or investment management
- Wrap or separately managed
- Custodial
- Education savings
- 529 Plans
- Full-services stockbrokerage
- Discount stockbrokerage
- Margin
- Recent activities related to various types of accounts
Alternative Access for Financial Services
- Automatic payroll deductions
- Automatic payments from an account
- Consolidated statements
- Extended office hours
- Minibranch access
- Kiosk banking
- Telephone-account services
- Telephone-bill-payment services
Calculated Variables
- Net worth and net worth excluding primary home
- Total assets
- Total financial assets
- Total investable assets
- Total retirement assets
- Total liquid assets
- Total savings
- Total equity in real estate
- Total liabilities
- Total debt on all real estate
- Monthly payments
- Total number of annual transactions using financial media
- Socioeconomic Level segmentation
- Age Cohort segmentation
- Life Stage segmentation
- Redefined retirement segmentation
- Delegator, collaborator, self-reliant segmentation
Consumer Behavior
- Household decision maker for each of 7 basic financial areas
- VALS™ psychographic segmentation
- Propensity to open, invest in, or close various types (13) of deposit accounts
- Propensity to buy a new mutual fund, buy more of an existing mutual fund, transfer or exchange one fund into another, sell, cash out, or redeem a mutual fund; and type of institution household would use for each type of transaction
- Propensity to conduct investment activities (14), such as to open various types of accounts and buy or sell various products
- Propensity to conduct activities related to retirement (20), such as to open, roll over, withdraw from, and contribute to various products
- Propensity to conduct various real estate transactions (15), such as to buy a home, obtain or pay off various financing vehicles, and miss a loan payment
- Propensity to conduct various activities related to vehicles (7), such as to obtain financing and insurance and to miss a loan payment
- Propensity to conduct various consumer-credit activities (10)
- Propensity to conduct various activities (16) related to credit cards, such as to open or close various types of accounts and transfer balances
- Propensity to conduct various activities (8) related to life insurance, such as to buy a policy, get a new agent, and cash in a policy
- Propensity to conduct various activities (14) related to health and other insurance, such as to buy various types of insurance and to open a health-spending or health-savings account
- Propensity to obtain professional advice for various types of financial planning (7)
Credit Cards
- Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, retail credit cards: incidence, number of accounts, number of times used recently, balance outstanding, amount paid in last month
- Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express issuers (23 by name): incidence, incidence of cobranded or affinity, and types of rewards
- Revolver or transactor
- Amount of credit-card debt in comparison with a year ago
- Credit card used most often: incidence and when obtained
- Features that would encourage household to switch credit cards
- Travel and entertainment charge cards: incidences of American Express Green and Gold or Platinum and all others; incidence of business and personal use; number of accounts; amount billed last month
- Smart cards and stored-value cards (7 types): incidences of having
- Contactless payment systems: incidence of using
- Recent activities (16) related to credit and other types of cards, including opened and closed an account, transferred a balance, and skipped a payment
Credit Products
- Checking-account overdraft protection
- Margin accounts
- Life insurance policy loans
- First mortgages on primary home or secondary real estate
- Second mortgages on primary home or secondary real estate
- Home equity lines of credit on primary home or secondary real estate
- Home loans: where obtained, how lender was found, fixed or variable interest rate, how funds were used, length of loan/line of credit, outstanding balance, monthly payment
- Reverse mortgages
- Recent activities (15) related to real estate, including bought a home, obtained equity credit and insurance, and missed one or more mortgage payments
- Vehicle loans: incidence, where obtained, interest rate, months remaining, monthly loan payments, incidences of extended warranty, service contract, and prepaid maintenance
- Recent activities (7) related to vehicles, including obtained financing and insurance and missed one or more loan or lease payments
- Installment loans
- Other secured loans
- Education loans
- Unsecured personal loans
- Secured credit line
- Other credit line
- Consumer credit: where obtained, type of interest rate
- Peer-to-peer lending and borrowing
- Recent activities (10) related to consumer credit, including obtained various loans, loaned or borrowed using peer-to-peer lending, and missed a loan payment
Demographics
- Household income: total, 15 subcategories (including income from wages and salaries, business, investment, trust, and retirement income, inheritance, and government payments)
- Number of people in the household
- Number and ages of dependent children
- Boomerang children
- Dependent adults
- For each household head:
- Education
- Sex
- Ethnicity
- Marital status
- Occupation
- Veteran of the U.S. military
- Size of employer's company
- Types of employee benefits
- Age at retirement or age will retire
- Business owner: incidence of professional practice; percent of business owned; number of employees; net market value; business revenue
- Years in current home
- Type of home
- Type of neighborhood
- Number and type of vehicles
- Occurrence in past two years of 33 major life events, including marriage, job change, inheritance, start of a business, home foreclosure
- Anticipation in next 12 months of the same 33 major life events
- Membership in organization (including AAA, AARP, alumni or professional association, union)
- Religious affiliation
- Incidence of having a will, living will, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, estate executor
- How 2009 taxes were filed
Direct Marketing
- 17 financial products or services obtained recently via mail, telephone, or Internet offer or bought face-to-face
- 17 financial products or services might obtain via mail, telephone, or Internet offer or face to-face only
- Number of financial solicitations received in a typical month via mail, telephone, Internet, or face-to-face and how completely read or listened to
Electronic
- Access to the Internet
- Use of the Internet for banking, investing, and other financial services
- Types (9) of financial software owned and used
- Types of online financial services (34) used recently and likely to use in the next 12 months, including opening high-yield savings account or CD
- Types of devices used for voice communication
Financial Attitudes
- $25,000 windfall: what household would do with it; where household would invest it
- Goals for savings and investments
- Most important investment factor
- Risk-return trade-off
- Primary focus about retirement
- Purposes for which household would use home equity
- Purposes for which household is likely to borrow; type of credit vehicle likely to use
- 21 attitudes about finances in general, including budgeting, shopping around, being a spender versus being a saver, preference for face-to-face communication, spending habits, needing help with finances
- 12 attitudes about financial institutions, including building long-term relationships and preferences for a single institution, nonpersonal contact, or local ownership
- 29 attitudes about investing, including consolidation of accounts or institution relationships, investment sophistication, tax-advantaged investments, riskiness of stocks, impact of interest-rate changes, diversification, socially responsible investing
- 16 attitudes about retirement, including reliance on Social Security, monetary confidence, impact of inflation, inheritance, and home value
- 16 attitudes about credit, including having too much debt, using variable-rate interest, mortgage loan payments, and borrowing against the home
- 19 attitudes about insurance, including need for insurance, adequacy of coverage, investment component, and health-care coverage
- 15 attitudes about financial planning and advice, including household's confidence in and qualifications for making decisions, use of professionals, willingness to pay for advice
Financial Information, Planning, and Advice
- Frequency of obtaining financial advice
- Financial professionals (12): incidence of using, how compensated, and amount paid in past 2 years; which considered primary; level of trust in each; likelihood of obtaining advice from in next 12 months
- Written financial plan: incidence, who prepared
- Current and preferred degree of control between financial professional and household
- Importance of criteria (7) in selecting a financial professional
- Recently obtained financial planning and advice (7 types)
- Sources of financial information (20) used in the past 12 months
- Financial topics (15) household would like to learn more about
Financial Institutions
- Type of primary financial institution
- 15 financial attitudes related to financial institutions, including building long-term relationships, dealing with a single institution, preference for nonpersonal contacts
- Number of times in a typical month household conducts various activities (9) at a financial institution
- Level of trust in various financial institutions (8 types)
- Banks, S&Ls, and credit unions (38 by name): awareness of, ever used, now use, primary, number used, products and services (31) used at primary and at all others, and propensity to recommend and to switch primary
- Insurance companies (43 by name): awareness of, ever used, now use, primary, number used, products and services (27) used at primary and at all others, and propensity to recommend and to switch primary
- Investment companies (36 by name): awareness of, ever used, now use, primary, number used, products and services (31) used at primary and at all others, and propensity to recommend and to switch primary
- Consumer finance companies (25 by name): awareness of, ever used, now use, primary, number used, products and services (21) used at primary and at all others, and propensity to switch primary
- Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express issuers (23 by name): incidence, incidence of cobranded or affinity, types of rewards (4)
- Percentage of the household's savings and investments held at various types (9) of financial institution
Health and Other Insurance
- Health (comprehensive, major medical, basic medical, health-maintenance organization (HMO), preferred-provider organization (PPO): group and individual, premium by type
- Health related (dental, eye care, long-term care, supplemental health, disability): group and individual by type, premium by type
- Government-sponsored health-care program
- Health savings account (HSA): incidence, amount remaining at end of 2009
- Professional and regular liability
- Travel and accident
- Accidental death and dismemberment
- Recent activities (14) related to health and other insurance, including bought various types, had a major medical expense, bought pet insurance, opened an HSA or FSA
Investments
- Goals for investing
- Most important factor for where to put investments
- Risk-return trade-off
- 29 attitudes about investing, including attitudes related to consolidation of accounts and institution relationships, investment sophistication, tax-advantaged investments, riskiness of stocks, impact of interest-rate changes, diversification, and socially responsible investing
- Money market mutual funds: incidence, number of accounts, value, where held, tax-free earned interest on any
- CDs: incidence, number owned, value, where obtained, use at maturity
- U.S. Savings Bonds: incidence of paper or electronic, value, more than 30 years old
- Stock and bond mutual funds: incidence of each type; number of each type; source (24 by name); owned and most recently purchased mutual funds—types (10 stock, 3 mixed, and 11 bond), types of fees and charges, where obtained
- Recent activities related to mutual funds, including bought new or for the first time, bought more of an existing mutual fund, transferred or exchanged one fund into another, and sold, cashed out, or redeemed a mutual fund
- Stock traded on an exchange: incidence, value
- Stock in employer's plan: incidence, value
- Stock in a nontraded company: incidence, value
- Closed-end funds: incidence, value
- ETFs (including iShares, Diamonds, QQQ, SPDR, VIPERs, HOLDRs): incidence, value
- Hedge funds: incidence, value
- UITs: incidence, value
- REITs: incidence, value
- Zero coupon bonds: incidence, value
- Corporate bonds: incidence, value
- CMOs: incidence, value
- U.S. Treasuries (T-Bills, T-Bonds, T-Notes, TIPS): incidence, value
- Municipal bonds or notes: incidence, value
- Options: incidence, value
- Commodities futures and futures funds: incidence, value
- Limited partnerships: incidence, value
- Retirement-income funds: incidence, value, monthly payout
- Recent activities (14) related to investments, including bought and sold various types
Life Insurance
- Group life through work (by household head): incidence, face value, premium
- Group life through other organization (by household head): incidence, face value, premium
- Term life (by household head): incidence, number, face value, premium
- Whole life (by household head): incidence, number, face value, premium
- Universal life (by household head): incidence, number, face value, premium
- Variable life (by household head): incidence, number, face value, premium
- Interest-sensitive life (by household head): incidence, number, face value, premium
- Most recent purchase: who covered, type, when purchased, value, premium, channel
- Presence of life insurance agent
- Recent activities (8) related to life insurance, including bought life insurance, found new agent, cashed out a policy.
Other Assets
- Primary home
- Vehicle (car, minivan, light pickup, truck, full-size van, full-size pickup, SUV, motorcycle, boat, recreational vehicle): incidence of owning or leasing; model year
- Secondary real estate
- Gold or silver bullion or certificates
- Marketable art
- Precious gems or jewelry
- Stamp, coin, or other collections
- Antiques and other tangible assets
Other Services
- Private banking
- Personal trusts (established): incidence, type (living and testamentary), value
- Personal trusts (beneficiary): incidence, value
Property/Casualty Insurance
- Homeowners
- Renters
- Additional riders
- Mortgage credit life
- Mortgage disability
- Vehicle (liability, comprehensive, collision, medical or personal-liability umbrella [PIP])
- Vehicle credit life
- Vehicle credit disability
- Consumer-loan credit life and disability
Retirement
- Primary focus about retirement
- 16 attitudes about retirement, including those related to Social Security, monetary confidence, impact of inflation, inheritance, home value
- Redefined Retirement Life Stage segmentation: pre-, revolving, traditional, postretired
- IRAs (traditional, Roth, simple, simplified employee pension plan) (by household head): incidence, value, where held (company specific), incidence and value of 14 types of investments in account (including target date MFs), and amounts contributed, rolled over, and withdrawn in 2009
- Salary-reduction plans (401(k), Roth 401(k), 403(b), 457) (by household head): incidence and value; incidence of 16 types of investments in account (including target-date MFs); amount contributed, borrowed, and withdrawn in 2007; automatic enrollment*
- Keoghs (by household head)
- Annuities (fixed and variable) (by household head): incidence, number, value, and annuitization status of each type; payment options, payout options, annuitization timing, purchase channel, years since most recent purchase, GMAB/GMWB awareness and incidence
- Defined-benefit pension plans (by household head)
- How much household thinks it needs to retire comfortably: total in savings and investments, monthly income
- Recent activities related to retirement accounts, including opened, rolled over, and contributed to various accounts
Transactions
- Checking and savings accounts: number of checks written and deposits, transfers, and withdrawals made
- ATM cards: incidence and number of accounts
- Debit cards: incidence, number of accounts; number of times used in past month in various locations (supermarket, grocery store, restaurant, fast-food place, gas station, convenience store, department store, other retail location, online)
- Credit cards: number of times used in past three months
- Travel and entertainment cards
- Smart cards
- Payroll deductions, automatic payments, minibranch access, kiosk banking, telephone-account service, phone-bill payment, extended office hours: times used in past month
- Internet banking, investing, and other financial services: transactions in a typical month
- Number of various activities (9) conducted at a financial institution