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Sources

Every figure, with its source and its date.

Numbers on this site trace to a primary source or to our own math, named as ours. Checked against source November 3, 2026.

  1. Under 1% of stocks belong to the bottom half of families. The bottom 50% hold 0.6% of corporate equities. Federal Reserve, Distributional Financial Accounts, Q2 2026 (FRED WFRBSB50203).
  2. 705x. Average wealth of a top-1% household against a bottom-half household. Merger calculation from Federal Reserve DFA levels, Q2 2026 (FRED WFRBLT01026 and WFRBLB50107).
  3. $2.1 trillion left behind in 401(k)s at old jobs. Capitalize with the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, September 2025, data as of July 2025. Capitalize offers rollovers, and trade groups dispute the count.
  4. 41% of partnered Americans made a major money decision last year without telling their partner. CFP Board, To Have and to Hold, October 2026. Morning Consult, 820 adults, margin of error 3.4 points.
  5. $191 billion in credit card interest and fees in one year. CFPB, Consumer Credit Card Market Report, December 2025: 2024 interest above $160 billion plus $31.3 billion in fees, summed by Merger.
  6. $35 average overdraft fee. CFPB overdraft data spotlight, 2023, and FFIEC call reports, first half of 2026.
  7. 46% of families have no retirement account. Federal Reserve, 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances: 54.4% of families hold one. The 2025 survey is pending.
  8. 40 is the median age of a first-time homebuyer. National Association of Realtors, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
  9. $472 found per household, under an hour to set up, 85% with both partners active, 89% of Money Dates kept. Merger closed, invite-only paid beta, May 29 to July 28, 2026. Setup time is as reported by the couples we interviewed.
  10. About 11 minutes a week. Merger product estimate for reading the briefing and saying yes. The Money Date, about 20 minutes, is counted separately.
  11. 7.7 hours a week: the time the average worker spends on money. Sergeyev, Lian and Gorodnichenko, NBER, The Economic Consequences of Financial Stress. Survey of 10,000 employed U.S. workers.
  12. About $1,500 returned in the first year. Merger model for an average household, built from the average leaks found in U.S. households. A projection, not a measured result. The measured figure is entry 9.