STATE OF U.S. ECONOMY CONTINUES TO STRAIN FAMILIES, AND ALTER FAMILY SPENDING PATTERNS, ACCORDING TO RECENT SURVEY
Moms, often the CFO of the house, can now turn to Disney Family.com's Online Finance Resource for Help
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Sept. 22, 2008 – Ninety-one percent of parents, when asked about the current economic conditions, said the U.S. economy is an extremely/very important issue for their families and 67% reported their biggest economic concern as either "making ends meet" or "paying off debt." Additionally, only 20% used their government economic stimulus check to make a purchase, while the rest used it to pay down debt or put it in savings. When asked if they are willing to pay higher taxes to help the economy, only 14% said yes. These findings, among others, were revealed in a recent online survey about families and finance from Disney Family.com (www.family.com).
Along with the overarching economic concerns, the survey focused on how parents are handling finances when it comes to their children. Of the parents surveyed, nearly half chose lower cost activities or enrolled kids in less activities as a result of the economy, and 46% are not able to save for their children's college education or haven't yet started, expecting their child to get student loans or earn scholarships.
Further survey findings include:
- Sixty-one percent of people are nervous about retirement, with good reason. Even those with higher incomes aren't saving for their retirement – 37% of households earning $100-125K a year and forty-seven percent earning $125k+ a year haven't started saving yet.
- Seventy-four percent of respondents have cut or reduced eating out and 71% have eliminated personal splurges.
- Sixty-five percent of people have changed their driving habits and nearly half of the respondents feel the government should eliminate gas taxes to offset high gas prices.
"After examining the survey findings hearing the conversations parents are having on Disney Family.com, it's clear that parents everywhere are extremely concerned about their family finances and the overall economic forecast of the country ," said Emily Smith, vice president of the Disney Family Group. "To help answer and address some of their concerns, we have developed pertinent content and enlisted financial experts to help guide parents on the new finance section on Disney Family.com."
To aid parents with the financial concerns uncovered in the survey and more, the new Disney Family.com Finance resource (www.family.com/finance) includes content such as money saving tips and original articles from Laura Rowley, journalist, columnist for Yahoo! Finance and author of the book "Money and Happiness."
"Stretching the dollar is a challenge for many families and positive strategies can help people put themselves on a better financial track," said Laura. "Through collaboration with Disney Family.com, we hope to reach concerned parents and provide them with meaningful everyday ideas to help them make smart financial decisions."
The Disney Family.com Finance resource features:
Survey Methodology
The results of the survey, underwritten by Disney Family.com and conducted by Usability Sciences, are based on responses of 9,200 Disney Family.com visitors worldwide. Every other visitor to the Disney Family.com Web site was invited to participate in the survey. The survey was conducted over a period commencing August 11, 2008 and continuing through August 25, 2008. The margin of error is + or - 5%.
About Disney Family.com
Disney Family.com is designed to present information on a variety of topics important to today's families – ranging from education, food and parenting, to advice on traveling with children, entertainment and shopping – in a manner that is compelling, comprehensive, entertaining and, most importantly, objective. Disney Family.com is dedicated to providing parents with answers to pressing questions through practical, objective and reliable information.
About Disney Online
Disney Online (www.Disney.com), a unit of Disney Interactive Media Group, produces the No. 1 ranked kids' entertainment and family community destination on the World Wide Web. Launched in 1996, Disney.com is the online gateway to all of the company's Disney-branded entertainment initiatives, providing comprehensive access to, and information about Disney movies, travel, television, games, mobile, music, shopping and live events.
In addition, Disney Online develops and publishes a range of online products and services including Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Disney's Toontown Online, Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online, Disney Game Downloads, Disney Game Kingdom Online, Disney Connection and Hot Shot Business.
Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG) is a unit of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS).
# # #
Contact:
Andrea Meyer
Disney Online
(818) 623-2756
andrea.meyer@disney.com
Caroline Pierce
On Behalf of Disney Online
(617) 585-5778
cpierce@360publicrelations.com
<< Previous page
