Upline Times - Coy Barefoot

News bytes in this edition of Upline Times:

1. People Want More
2. What's the Most Productive Day of the Week?
3. What Are You Waiting For?
4. Money Machines
5. 1998-1999 Economic Report Out in January
6. The Red, White and Blue Goes Gray....
7. Working Families

People Want More

Remember when "New and Improved" or "New Low Price" was enough to make Mom try a different brand of detergent? Times have changed. Nowadays, consumers take these things for
granted.

According to analysts at Roper Starch Worldwide, "Price and quality are an expectation now. Consumers want more: longer warranties, simple products and services, new technologies, appealing design."

The demands that modern consumers put on products has never before been so demanding. It's to be expected: Today's consumers are more educated and market savvy than previous generations. We can spot a trumped up advertising campaign and an aggressive sales pitch a mile away. We want the facts and we want proof.

Enter Network Marketing-- right idea, right time, right place.

Think about it. The marketing of products based on personal testimony, from folks who know and use them, is tailor-made for today's information hungry consumer. Network Marketing makes the expensive, glitzy media campaigns obsolete, and goes straight to where people live, literally. It's as simple and as powerful as people sharing with people-- new ideas, new technologies, new discoveries.

Wall Street and Madison Avenue are wondering how manufacturers are going to be able to keep up with the increasing demands that consumers put on products and advertisers. Network Marketing is the answer. Get out there and let people know.

(Source: Roper Starch Worldwide, as reported in American Demographics, September 1998)

Top executives were asked: What day of the week are your employees most productive? More than half said Tuesday. Monday was second, followed by Wednesday, then Thursday, and of course, Friday was the least productive day.

Here's something to think about: You're the top executive in your own Network Marketing company. What day of the week are you most productive for your company? Least productive?

(Source: Accountemps)

What Are You Waiting For?

"Sixty-seven percent of Baby Boomers worry about their financial future, and 68% say they haven't spent enough time planning for retirement No doubt, many will find themselves reaching retirement with little or no savings, and millions will be surprised to discover how meager their resources are."

Do you know any Baby Boomers? Don't you think they just might be interested in looking at a part-time investment with a full-time payoff? For countless Boomers across the country, Network Marketing has proven to be the answer to retirement concerns. In fact, Networking not only beefs up the nest egg, but makes it possible to retire much earlier as well. You hold the answer. Now find the people who are asking the question.

(Source: Cheryl Russell, The Boomer Report, as reported in American Demographics, August 1998 )

Money Machines

There are 147,000 automatic teller machines in use in the United States. Most are used regularly by young people, who grew up around computers. The average withdrawal is $40.

(Source: ABC News)

1998-1999 Economic Report Out in January

The Economic Policy Institute will release its much awaited The State of Working America, 1998-99 edition, in January. But we have a sneak peek at some of their findings. What's the gist of the 414-page book?

"The living standards of most working families still have not recovered from the recession of the early 1990s, nor have their wages kept pace with the growth in productivity. The income growth that has been generated among middle-income families has been driven largely by an increase in working hours to make up for the long-term deterioration of wages. The economic realities facing the typical American family over the 1990s include: increased hours of work, stagnant or falling income, and less secure jobs offering fewer benefits."

The EPI's Report also reveals that:

The typical married-couple family worked 247 more hours (over six weeks) per year in 1996 than they did in 1989.

• The typical middle-class family had 3% less wealth in 1997 than it did in 1989, despite the boom in the stock market. This is because the richest 10% of households in the U.S. have reaped over 85% of the stock market growth since 1989.
• The pay for CEOs has increased eight-fold since 1965. The average CEO now makes 116 times more than the average worker.
• Real wages have declined since the 1980s, especially for men, entry level positions, and new college graduates.
• The rich continue to get richer, the rest get poorer. The top 1% of U.S. households now claim 40% of the nation's wealth.
• The highly publicized stock market boom has had little benefit at all for most American families.
• Though unemployment has reached an historic low-- down to about 4.5% in 1998, the lowest since about 1970-- job security and benefits have fallen fast as well. Almost 30% of workers employed in 1997 did not even have regular, full-time jobs.
• One in five children today are born into poverty, and the rate is higher for minorities: forty-percent of African-American and Hispanic children are born to poor families.

The Red, White, and Blue

Birthdays continue to stack up for Americans, as people live longer and longer. Healthier lifestyles coupled with the aging of Baby Boomers is steadily producing the oldest and most populous elderly generation our country has ever seen. Health and nutritional products geared towards this "booming" elder care market are expected to proliferate over the next 50 years, making older Americans one of the most lively consumer groups ever.

• From 1965 to 1995 the number of Americans 65 and older jumped up 82% to 33.5 million people.
• By the year 2050, the number of elderly Americans is expected to more than double, to 80 million.
• The fastest elderly growth rate is projected to occur between 2010 and 2030, as Baby Boomers reach 65.
• By the year 2050, one in five Americans will be elderly.
• By the year 2020, well over 15 million Americans over the age of 65 will be living alone.

(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Administration on Aging)

Working Families

In 1947 the median family income in America (in 1996 dollars) was $19,651. By 1996, that had risen to $42,300-- less than it had been in 1989.

For African-American families specifically, the median income in 1947 (again, in `96 dollars) was $10,464. In 1996 it was only $26,522.

(Source: Economic Policy Institute)

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Reprinted with permission from Upline, Upline Times-November/December 1998, 888-UPLINE-1, http://www.upline.com

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