Figuratively Speaking: Survey: Foreclosure fears plague half of Americans

Percentage of Americans who are concerned they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next six to 12 months, according to a survey commissioned by Move Inc., the operator of Realtor.com: 52

Percentage of homeowners who plan to take advantage of the Obama administration's new program to help prevent foreclosures: 18.9

While searching for answers in the past 12 months, percentage of all homeowners with a mortgage who contacted a lender to restructure their loan: 21

Financial crisis blame

Percentage of Americans who believe that the U.S. is either completely or somewhat responsible for the international financial crisis, according to a study conducted by HCD Research: 90

Credit conundrums

Percentage of Americans who do not know the current average interest rate on a credit card, according to TrueCredit.com's Financial Literacy Quiz: 84

Percentage of consumers who revealed that they are not aware of exactly what information is included in their credit report, and mistakenly believe that a credit score is included in the report: 90

Saving for the kids

Percentage of parents with children under the age of 18 who do not have any savings set aside for their children, according to a survey conducted for ING Direct: 27

Percentage of parents who have reduced the contributions they make to their children's savings: 34

Percentage of parents with savings set aside for their children who have taken money from their children's savings to cover bills or pay off debt: 18

Tax burdens

Percentage of Americans who say lower-income people are paying their "fair share" of federal taxes, up from 32 percent last year, according to a Gallup poll: 41

Percentage of Americans who say that middle-income people pay their fair share of taxes, as they have in six of the last seven years: 50

Percentage who say upper-income taxpayers pay their fair share: 23

Budgeting basics

Percentage of parents who have made budgeting a new topic of conversation for the entire family, according to a study from CoolSavings.com and Q Interactive: 33

Percentage who feel budgeting is not a conversation for kids: 8

Percentage who see it as an important life lesson: 78

Future finances

Percentage of Americans who say that they will be able to retire comfortably, according to a study released by Bankrate Inc.: 28

Percentage who say they'll have just enough finances to get by when retired: 33

Percentage who say they've set low expectations about their retirement prospects: 70

Money management

Percentage of teens who expressed an interest in learning more about managing money, according to Capital One Financial Corp.: 50

Percentage of teens who have taken a personal finance class in school: 14

Percentage who say that what they know about managing money, they learned from their parents: 69

Percentage who did not have this discussion last year: 36

College-student debt

Percentage of college students who left school with more than $5,000 in credit card debt, according to a survey commissioned by TrueCredit.com: 24

Percentage of respondents who indicated they owed more than $10,000 for purchases made with credit cards: 10

Fighting fraud fears

Percentage of executives from the banking and securities, financial services and technology industries who expect accounting fraud to increase during the next two years, according to the results of a poll conducted by Deloitte LLP: 63

Percentage of respondents who indicated that their organizations have established protocols for conducting investigations to prepare for the risks that a downward economy poses: 46John MacIntyre is a Nova Scotia-based author and former city magazine editor. His "Figuratively Speaking" column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.