Since 1978, the MacroMonitor has served as an objective, single source of data about consumer
needs, behaviors, and attitudes. The MacroMonitor is a comprehensive, independent measurement
of US households. It is a biennial, proprietary survey, and a reliable method to target customers,
identify trends, and develop strategies

Leading banks, stockbrokerage firms, consumer-credit organizations, insurance companies, mutual
fund companies, business corporations, financial associations, government agencies, academic
institutions, and other financial organizations and consulting firms rely on MacroMonitor’s data and
expertise.

The MacroMonitor measures all aspects of consumer-households’ financial needs, behaviors, and
attitudes. The financial areas covered include all transaction products, channels, savings, and
investment products, retirement products, credit, insurance products, information and advice,
institution use, demographics, and attitudes.

• To size and profile key market populations.
• To identify the best business opportunities.
• To create robust household-level financial profiles.
• To develop targeted product offers.
• To append secondary data. The MacroMonitor can be appended with segmentation and scoring
systems such as Prizm as well as FICO scores through TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian

Consumer actions and attitudes change in response to changing economic conditions, so it’s critical
for financial-services providers to have a clear and integrated understanding of households’ needs
and competing priorities. The MacroMonitor provides a single-source measure integrating all US
households’ financial needs (transactions, borrowing, protection, saving, investing, information, and
advice), financial attitudes, and demographics. Several decades of financial measures provide users
with the ability to learn where consumers have been, where they currently stand, and where they are
most likely to head.

• MacroMonitor measures all consumer households’ financial needs, providing organizations with
the ability to size, track, and trend populations, products, and attitudes reliably.
• MacroMonitor measures an extensive set of more than 130 financial attitudes. Other measures,
such as risk/return, loss aversion, discount rate, and perceived financial situation are also
included.
• MacroMonitor’s sample of household financial decision makers contain an oversample of affluent
households earning more than $100,000 annually or having a net worth (excluding the primary
home value) of $500,000. The survey sample has a minimum of more than 4,000 financialhousehold decision makers; roughly half are affluent households.
• MacroMonitor is validated by comparisons with the US Federal Reserve’s Board of
Governors’ triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. Internal validation takes place through waveto-wave data comparisons, scrutiny of response patterns, and reasonableness of ranges for
numeric responses.
• MacroMonitor uses continuous variables—not ranges—to measure income and financial-product
and service balances which enables calculations such as real means and medians. Subscribers
can create their own custom segments.
• MacroMonitor provides calculated summary variables such as net worth, total investable assets,
and total outstanding debt. Continuous variables are an accurate measure; responses in ranges
provide estimates

MacroMonitor steadfastly maintains a commitment to methodological excellence. Beginning in 2010, MacroMonitor has used the Ipsos KnowledgePanel®, an online panel that maintains a true probability
sample projectable to the total US population; the panel includes households without online access,
households with unlisted telephone numbers, and cellphone only households. The methodology
enables MacroMonitor to recontact panel respondents for additional, proprietary research. For more
information, see References and Resources.

Subscribers receive the complete data set with an online data manipulation tool, Toplines, Data
Documentation, Custom Crosstabulations, Trends Newsletters, Quick- Reference Materials, an
extensive PowerPoint deck of graphs showing up to six custom populations, 20 hours of consulting
time, and highly responsive customer service. Optional and Custom Deliverables are also available.

MacroMonitor is available by subscription. Contact MacroMonitor_Team@rfi.global