Hartford Region Ranks #4 in USA in Digital Coupon Clicking, Survey Says

Coupons are fast-becoming money savers that are clicked, not clipped, and in few regions is that more the trend than in Greater Hartford.  Newly released data indicates that the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford market ranks #4 in the nation in the level of click activity, just behind New York, Boston and Philadelphia. According to results of a survey conducted by RetailMeNot, a leading digital offers destination, in conjunction with The Omnibus Company, the number of Americans who rely mostly on mobile coupons has been steadily increasing, as traditional scissor-clipped declines.

The study found that over the past four years, the use of printable coupons has dropped to 58 percent in 2014 from 73 percent in 2010. However, digital coupon usage has increased substantially as the world has gone more digital with online (27% in 2014 vs. 16% in 2010) and mobile (15% in 2014 vs. 4% in 2010) coupon usage.

The latest edition of the company’s Shoppers Trend Report revealed that nearly all Americans (96 percent) are coupon users, and retailers and brands are steadily moving their marketing promotions to more mobile and digital formats. A separate survey of retail executives in May 2014, also conducted by The Omnibus Company, found that 75 percent of retailers believe that digital advertising delivers a higher ROI than offline advertising, including circulars and direct mail.

September has been designated as National Coupon Month, and based on the level of coupon click activity in ratio with each city’s population, the Northeast is leading the way.  Rounding out the top ten after New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Hartford are Providence, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa and Buffalo.

Western communities appear to lag in their savings activity, with the Las Vegas, Phoenix and Denver areas representing the bottom of the active-coupon-user list. In fact, the New York, Boston and Philadelphia areas appear to be four times more active than the Denver area at couponing, according to survey analysts.

In the top 10 active couponing cities, clothing and food categories ranked consistently at the top for click activity, followed by electronics and home and garden.

“Our survey findings show how a consumer’s mobile phone is becoming a key device within their savings tool kit as millions of shoppers increasingly take advantage of digital offers, promotions and sales opportunities.” says Trae Bodge, senior lifestyle editor for The Real Deal by RetailMeNot.

They survey also found that printable coupon usage for 18- to 34-year-olds dropped significantly in the past four years (40% in 2014 vs. 57% in 2010), and online coupon usage nearly tripled for those ages 50+ over the past four years (18% in 2014 vs. 7% in 2010).

According to the survey deep discounts aren’t the only deals that shoppers appreciate, as more than 2 in 5 (43%) coupon users consider discounts up to 25 percent to be a good deal. Respondents said they are most interested in deals that offer a specific dollar amount off of their purchase (30%).  The survey also shows that interest in different types of deals varies by region.

• Coupon users living in the Northeast are more likely than those living in other regions to be most interested in receiving a specific percentage off a purchase (28% vs. 18% of the rest of the country).
• Those living in the South are more likely than those living elsewhere (26% vs. 15% of the rest of the country) to be most interested in “buy one, get one free” deals.

In an August 2014 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of RetailMeNot, an overwhelming 59 percent of respondents stated that out of all the different types of promotions a retailer can employ, digital coupons still sway them the most when it comes to influencing a purchasing decision. The study also found that:

• 63 percent of respondents agreed that digital coupons “close the deal” for them when undecided on a purchase,
• More than 90 percent of smartphone and tablet users redeem their digital coupons within several days,
• Nearly 7 in 10 consumers (68%) said they strongly believe that digital coupons have a positive impact on a retailer’s brand
• 68 percent state that coupons generate loyalty

RetailMeNot, Inc. operates what the company describes as the world’s largest marketplace for digital offers, and for the 12 months ended June 30, 2014, the company had more than 625 million visits to its websites.  See the complete list of the top 50 cities.

Top Cities (and Surrounding Metro Areas) Based on Click Activity

1. New York-Newark-Jersey City
2. Boston-Cambridge-Newton
3. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
4. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford
5. Providence-Warwick
6.  Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
7.  Pittsburgh
8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
9. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
10. Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls

Danbury-Based Ethan Allen In Retail Industry’s Hot 100; Only CT Company Named

The lone Connecticut-based retailer to make the list of the Hot 100 Retailers produced by the National Retail Federation is Danbury-based Ethan Allen Interiors, sliding in at #97.  Data from the national advocacy organization indicates 5 percent growth and 208 locations nationwide for the chain. Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE:ETH) is a leading interior design company and manufacturer and retailer of quality home furnishings. The company offers free interior design service to its clients and sells a full range of furniture products and decorative accessories through ethanallen.com and a network of approximately 300 Design Centers in the United States and abroad.

Ethan Allen owns and operates eight manufacturing facilities including five manufacturing plants and one sawmill in the United States plus one plant in each of Mexico and Honduras. Approximately seventy percent of its products are made in its North American plants. Chairman, President and CEO is M. Farooq Kathwari.He has been president since 1985 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1987.

The company website indicates that “Ethan Allen is full-service. We conceptualize, design, source, manufacture, market, advertise, style, sell, distribute, and install. That means at headquarters our horizons are ever broadening. But our job is surprisingly straightforward: that is, to raise the bar — in all aspects of the company every day.”

Overall in Connecticut, the Federation highlighted the importance of the retail industry on the state’s economy:

• Retail directly and indirectly supports 1 in 5 Connecticut jobs.
• Retail is directly and indirectly responsible for 16% of Connecticut's GDP.
• Retail directly and indirectly generates 15% of labor income in Connecticut.
• Retail supports 476,568 jobs in Connecticut. (see breakdown below)

Among Connecticut’s neighboring New England states, Boston-based Wayfair was the #2 retailer nationwide on the Hot 100; Jordan’s Furniture, based in Taunton, MA was ranked #24; C & J Clark, headquartered in Newton, MA was #29; and Framingham-based Cumberland Farms was ranked #62.  In addition, LL Bean (Freeport, Maine) was #94 and BJ’s Wholesale Club (Westborough, MA) rounded out the list at #100.

Breaking down Connecticut employment by retail sector, the Federation reported:

1. Retail trade (including food services and drinking places) 17.2%
2. Health care and social assistance 14.8%
3. Finance and insurance 9.8%
4. Manufacturing 9.4%
5. Professional, scientific, and technical services 8.2%
6. Other services, except public administration 5.8%
7. Construction 5.8%
8. Administrative and waste services 5.7%
9. Real estate and rental and licensing 5.6%
10. Education services 3.9%

Nationally, the top 10 leading the Hot 100 in sales growth were Albertsons (Boise, Idaho), Wayfair, Ascena Retail Group (Suffern, NY), Conn’s (The Woodlands, Texas), SpartanNash (GrandRapids, MI), Michael Kors Holdings (New York), Under Armour (Baltimore), Cardinal Health (Dublin, Ohio), Five Below (Philadelphia), and Amazon.com (Seattle).  Each of the top 10 companies had sales growth exceeding 25 percent from 2012 to 2013.

The data for the Hot 100 report was provided by Kantar Retail for the National Retail Federation.

Hurricane Sandy: 3rd Costliest Insured Loss Catastrophe Worldwide Since 1970

Hurricane Sandy, which hit Connecticut and the Northeast in October 2012, produced the 3^rd costliest insured loss in the past 43 years, according to data compiled by Swiss Re and reported by Bloomberg. Half of the 15 costliest catastrophes since 1970 have occurred in the past 10 years.  The analysis methodology, going back to 1970,  reviewed loss including property and business interruption, excluding liability and life insurance losses.  It was released this week by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Hurricane Sandy was reported to have an insured loss of $36.9 billion.   The Federal Emergency Management Agency has reported that although New England was spared the brunt of the storm, residents and businesses along the shores of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire suffered severe damages from wind and water, many losing homes and livelihoods.  New York and New Jersey were also hard-hit by the record-setting storm, which disrupted livelihoods, transportation and electricity grids and countless industries.

The top ranked insured lost was Hurricane Katrina, which catastrophically hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005, which losses estimated at $80.3 billion.  Next costliest was the earthquake which triggered a tsunami in Japan in March 2011, with an insured loss of $37.6 billion.  All loss amounts were indexed to 2013, for purposes of comparison.

Rounding out the top five costliest insured losses of nearly the past half-century were Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida, neighboring states and the Bahamas in August 1992, with an insured loss of $27.6 billion and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, with insured losses of $25.6 billion.

Also ranked in the top 10 were the Northridge, California earthquake in 1994, Hurricane Ike in 2008, Hurricane Ivan in 2004, flooding in Thailand in 2011, and a New Zealand earthquake in 2011.

A September 2013 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration had estimated that the total payout by the insurance industry related to Hurricane Sandy was expected to be reduced because much of the storm damage was caused by the storm surge and subsequent flooding was not covered by standard homeowner or small business commercial policies. Also, reportedly half of all losses of the insurance industry were expected to be covered by reinsurers.  The report indicated that the Insurance Information Institute estimated that insurers would pay $18.75 to $25 billion to over 1.5 million policyholders across 15 states including Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.  More than two-thirds of claims were anticipated from homeowners, with the highest value of claims  from commercial property owners ($9 billion)accounting for almost half of the value of claims paid, the report indicated.

The insurance industry had its third-most expensive year on record in 2012, led by Hurricane Sandy, with global economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters totaling $186 billion, according to a previous report issued by Swiss Re.

New Haven Leads the Way in Major Transportation Infrastructure Projects Underway

There’s a decidedly New Haven bend to the state’s largest ongoing transportation infrastructure projects.  A listing of the largest Department of Transportation (DOT) projects indicates that of the top 20 projects, eight of them are in New Haven, including four of the top six. The largest project is the construction of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, better known ats the Q-bridge, which carries I-95 over the Quinnipiac River.  The $417 million project began in 2009 and is slated for completion in 2015.

The second largest project is less than a stone’s throw away.  The reconstruction of the I-95/I-91/Route34 interchange in New Haven began in 2011 and is estimated to be completed in 2016, at a cost of $359.9 million.

Ranked as the third largest DOT infrastructure project now underway is the reconstruction of the Moses Wheeler Bridge, which brings I-95 over the Housatonic River in Stratford.

It’s back to New Haven for the fourth largest ongoing project, the facilities improvements to the New Haven Rail Yard, including construction of a component changeout shop.  The estimated cost is $160.9 million, with the project due to be completed next April.

The Hartford-New Britain area of central Connecticut has the fifth largest project, the construction of the CTfastrack bus corridor.  The I-95 West River Bridge replacement in New Haven is number six, followed by catenary replacement in Bridgeport (number 7) and New Haven (number 8).

There are approximately 200 track miles of overhead catenary lines powering trains in Connecticut.  Officials have described the job of replacement those lines “while still operating the nation’s busiest commuter rail services, as a “monumental task.”  The original lines were put in place at the turn of the century – the 20^th century – more than 100 years ago.

The full list of the top 20 projects currently underway in Connecticut was compiled by Hartford Business Journal with data provided by the state Department of Transportation.

CT Ranks #3 in Millionaires, Behind Maryland and New Jersey

Connecticut had 100,754 millionaire residents last year, up from 99,235 in 2012, comprising 7.32 percent of the state’s 1.4 million households. Connecticut ranked third in the U.S. in millionaires per-capita, according to published reports. Maryland ranked in first place using the per-capita measurement and New Jersey placed second. Connecticut was ranked fourth in 2012, but moved up one slot by overtaking Hawaii.

In the midst of its oil boom, North Dakota was the leader at minting millionaires in 2013, moving to #29 in the Millionaire Ranking, up from #43 in 2012.  Other big gainers in 2013 were Maine (up 11 slots to #25) and Louisiana (up 10 points to #32).

Phoenix Marketing International, a global marketing services firm, develops the  annual ranking of millionaires per capita by state.  The results care culled from their Global Wealth Monitor, a service that tracks affluent and high net worth households.

Nevada lost the most ground in the 2013 Millionaire Ranking, falling 20 positions to #39.  Other big drops were Arizona (losing 13 positions to fall to #34); Florida, Michigan and Idaho each fell 10 positions on the list.

While Maryland continued to lead the list, there were some changes among the other top five states: New Jersey and Connecticut each moved up one spot (to #2 and 3 respectively), while Hawaii fell two places to #4.  Alaska moved into the top 5 for the first time, while Massachusetts moved down to #6.

Rounding out the top 12 were Virginia, New Hampshire, Delaware, District of Columbia, California and New York.  At the other end of the list, in reverse order from the bottom, were Mississippi, Arkansas, Idaho, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee – the states with the fewest millionaires per capita.

Nationwide, the number of American households with more than a million in assets has hit 9.6 million, according to the Spectrem Group, surpassing the pre-recession high of 9.2 million.

CT One of 4 States to Require RN 24/7 in Nursing Homes; Study Finds Care Diminishes with Private Equity Ownership

In Tennessee, Rhode Island, Hawaii and Connecticut, nursing homes must have a registered nurse on duty 24/7.  A total of only thirteen states require 24-hour registered nurse coverage in some cases, but their statutes vary, and are somewhat less stringent than the four 24/7 states. As for the rest of the country, a registered nurse may be on premises for as few as 8 hours each day.

When U.S. News & World Report rated Connecticut’s nursing homes, one-third received the publication’s top rating.  About 32 percent of all nursing homes in Connecticut earned an overall five-star rating.  Areas of measurement included health inspections, nurse staffing, and quality measures.

That’s the good news.

Another recent study found that nursing homes under private equity ownership are cited for more deficiencies and have fewer registered nurses on staff than other for-profit facilities.

Findings published in the Journal of Health Care Finance earlier this year indicated that “Results suggest troubling shifts in nurse staffing patterns of private equity nursing homes particularly in the case of Registered Nurses.”

Investigators analyzed quality indicators for about 350 nursing homes in Florida for each year between 2000 and 2007. These facilities had a 9 percent higher pressure ulcer risk prevalence and reported 21 percent higher deficiencies compared with a control group of Medicare/Medicaid-certified, for-profit, chain-affiliated, non-hospital nursing homes.

The private equity nursing homes also had 29 percent lower registered nurse hours per-patient-day, the study authors determined.

The findings bore out the investigators' hypothesis that private equity ownership would correlate with diminished care quality. Previous research also has come to this conclusion, the authors noted.

The researchers recommended “transparency and accountability” to address concerns, concluding that “to ensure that nursing homes deliver high quality care and in instances where this expectation is belied, effective tools are available to punish the guilty and to compensate the victims.”

The study was done by researchers affiliated with academic institutions including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Florida. Findings appear in the Journal of Health Care Finance.

MetroHartford, Connecticut Have Strong Linguistic Diversity; Plus for Global Marketplace

The number of languages spoken in Connecticut is considerably larger than most people expect.  That fact was highlighted in the recent MetroHartford Progress Points Report, prepared for the MetroHartford Alliance.  The linguistic diversity and global connections of the region are reflected in schools and employers, with more than 100 different languages spoken in homes of students attending schools throughout the region, according to the report. The “number of students with non-English home language” according to data on the website of the State Department of Education include Avon, 185; Bloomfield, 59; East Hartford, 1,124; Farmington, 474; Hartford, 8,371; Manchester, 335; Newington, 653; Simsbury, 228; South Windsor, 328; Tolland, 14; West Hartford, 1,876; and Windsor, 280.  The report indicated that 75 percent of English language learner (ELL) students are Spanish-speaking, 25 percent speak other languages at home.

Some of the languages spoken in the homes of students attending schools in the region may be unexpected.  In Manchester, for example, the lead languages are Spanish, Bengali, and Urdu, and the list also includes Twi/Fante, Telugu, and Gujarati.

The Hartford region consists of 750,000 people living in the city of Hartford, its surrounding inner-ring suburbs, and outer-ring and rural towns that have historical, economic or social ties with the city.

In 2013, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving gathered a group of regional stakeholders to develop a unique community partnership that came together to collect, analyze and disseminate a broad range of data, to place a spotlight on some of the central challenges and opportunities for the region. The goal was to share critical information “with residents and policymakers that will result in meaningful dialogue and propel action in our communities.”  Among the report’s areas of research is “increasing globalization through immigration,” using data from the state Department of Education (SDE).

Sponsoring organizations of Metro Hartford Progress Points include Capital Workforce Partners, Trinity College’s Center for Urban and Cultural Studies, the Capitol Region Council of Governments, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Hispanic Health Council, MetroHartford Alliance, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, Urban League of Greater Hartford and the City of Hartford.

Data on English-language learners and languages spoken in schools is based on reports retrieved from the SDE CEDAR Data Tables on English Language Learners, for both Number of English Language Learners (ELL) and Languages Spoken by Connecticut Students for the 2010-11 school year, the most recent data available.

Statewide, the variety of languages spoken by Connecticut students is considerable.  Nearly 73,000 students live in homes with a “non-English home language,” according to the State Department of Education. The leaders include:

• Spanish                        47,190
• Portuguese                  2,846
• Polish                          2,279
• Albanian                      1,263
• Chinese                       2,215
• Creole-Haitian             1,714
• Arabic                         1,159
• Vietnamese                 1,157
• Urdu                            1,131
• Russian                        811
• French                         762
• Gujarati                       738
• Serbo-Croatian            705

For the uninitiated, Gujarātī is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 46 million people in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, and also in Bangladesh, Fiji, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Oman, Pakistan, Réunion, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  And, apparently, Connecticut - in the homes of 738 students.

Close to 100 million people around the world speak Urdu. It is the official language of Pakistan, a status and is also spoken and understood in parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Middle East.

The Progress Points partners include: Capital Workforce Partners, Capitol Region Council of Governments, City of Hartford, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Hispanic Health Council, MetroHartford Alliance, Trinity College Center for Urban and Global Studies, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut , and the Urban League of Greater Hartford.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0zTQjsbNlw0

Immigration Reform: Economic Impact in Connecticut

As the fate of immigration reform remains unresolved in Congress, plays out on the nation’s borders, and is debated  in states around the country - including Connecticut -  the potential economic benefits remain an element in the debate.  Connecticut-centric data seeks to provide local context as a new national immigration policy is considered and stalled and considered again in Washington, D.C. Some highlights, as released by the White House, point out that immigration reform will “strengthen Connecticut’s economy and creates jobs.”  Some of the data points that have been part of the past year's debate:

• Immigrants already make important contributions to Connecticut’s economy. For example, Connecticut’s labor force is 16.7% foreign-born.

• 18.5% of Connecticut business owners are immigrants. These businessmen and women generate $2.05 billion in income for Connecticut each year.

• In Connecticut, 38.2% of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates at the state’s most research-intensive schools are foreign-born. Also, 68.2% of the state’s engineering PhDs are foreign-born.

• According to Regional Economic Models, Inc., a set of reforms that provides a pathway to earned citizenship and expands a high-skilled and other temporary worker programs would together boost Connecticut’s economic output by $568 million and create approximately 6,904 new jobs in 2014.  By 2045, the boost to Connecticut’s economic output would be around $3 billion, in 2012 dollars.

The White House has also indicated that “common sense immigration reform increases workers’ income, resulting in new state and local tax revenue, contribute to the recovery of Connecticut’s housing market and strengthen Connecticut’s technology, agriculture, and tourism industries:

• Providing a pathway to earned citizenship and expanding high- and low-skilled visa programs will increase total personal income for Connecticut families by $1.6 billion in 2020, according to Regional Economic Models, Inc.

•  Immigration reform would have increased the state and local taxes paid by immigrants in Connecticut by approximately $29 million in 2010, according to one study.

• Immigrants significantly increased home values in Connecticut between 2000 and 2010 - in New Haven County, the increase was $2,680 for the median home.

• There are 4,916 farms in Connecticut that sell approximately $552 million in agricultural products. Noncitizen farm workers accounted for 24% of all farm workers in Connecticut between 2007 and 2011. According to one study, in 2020 an expanded temporary worker program would mean 264 new jobs for U.S. citizens and immigrants (including jobs not only in agriculture, but also retail trade, construction, and other sectors) in Connecticut, and increase Connecticut’s real personal income by $15 million in 2012 dollars.

• These provisions will increase tourism to the U.S., including to Connecticut - which saw approximately 307,000 overseas visitors in 2011.

An August 2014 poll by FOX News found that by a more than three-to-one margin, voters nationwide would pick immigration reform that only includes a pathway to citizenship over no Congressional action at all.  The  poll finds 65 percent of voters prefer legislation that only focuses on creating a pathway for certain illegal immigrants if that’s the only action Congress takes on immigration this year.   The survey also found substantial bipartisan agreement on the issue: 76 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans say something is better than nothing on immigration reform, and 60 percent of independents agree, FOX News reported.

Fraud Watch Aims to Limit Costly Scams Targeting Elderly

Connecticut state agencies are collaborating, in concert with private sector organizations, to protect senior citizens from elder abuse.  In issuing an Executive Order, Governor Malloy directed agencies to identify ways to increase public awareness, reporting and social network support of elder abuse victims, consider ways to improve programs for elder abuse victims, and identify best practices in elder abuse prevention, detection and intervention. Recent surveys by AARP underscore the susceptibility of seniors to identity theft and fraud, reporting that seniors were likely to have engaged in behaviors including:

• Clicked on pop-up ads – 26 percent of victims and 10 percent of non-victims said they had done so in the previous seven days;
• Opened an email from an unknown person – 27 percent of victims and 17 percent of non-victims said they had done so in the past seven days;
• Signed up for free trial offers – 18 percent of victims and 8 percent of non-victims had done so in the previous week.

Fraud victims were also found to have experienced the following life experiences, which may have impacted the susceptibility statistics cited:

• Sixty-six percent of victims and 42 percent of non-victims said they “often or sometimes feel isolated.”
• Twenty-three percent of victims and 10 percent of non-victims said they had experienced loss of a job.
• Forty-four percent of victims and 23 percent of non-victims said they had suffered a “negative change in financial status” in the past two years. 

Connecticut AARP is a member of the state’s Elder Justice Coalition Coordinating Council, which convened this summer, and one of the 16 agencies appointed by the Commissioner of the State Department on Aging to work on elder justice issues.  AARP is leading the Consumer Fraud Education workgroup which has hit the ground running with the recent launch of the AARP Fraud Watch Network – a national campaign that connects people to experts, law enforcement and people like them who can help them spot and avoid scams.

As part of the CT Elder Justice Coalition, AARP Connecticut is working with state, federal and community organizations across the state utilizing Fraud Watch Network resources to educate older adults and their families about scams and provide tools and information to prevent identity theft and fraud.

Fairfield Chief of Police, Gary MacNamara, representing the CT Police Chiefs Association and a member of the CT Elder Justice Coalition, stated, “Police officers understand efforts to prevent our community members from being victims is really important.  The first step in prevention is awareness.  The AARP Fraud Watch Network provides a great place for older adults and families to get accurate information and become aware of the threat.”

Last fall, a survey of nearly 2,400 U.S. adults age 40 and older conducted by the FINRA Foundation revealed that financial fraud solicitations are commonplace.  Many Americans are unable to spot fraudulent sales pitches, and older Americans (age 65 and older) are particularly vulnerable.

Specific findings include:

• Over 80 percent of respondents have been solicited to participate in potentially fraudulent schemes, and over 40 percent of those surveyed cannot identify some classic red flags of fraud.
• More than 8 in 10 respondents were solicited to participate in a potentially fraudulent offer. And 11 percent of all respondents lost a significant amount of money after engaging with an offer.
• More than 4 in 10 respondents found an annual return of 110 percent for an investment appealing, and 43 percent found "fully guaranteed" investments to be appealing.
• Americans age 65 and older are more likely to be targeted by fraudsters and more likely to lose money once targeted.

According to AARP volunteer and Executive Council member, Byron Peterson, “Identity theft, investment fraud and scams rob hard-working Americans of billions of dollars each year – with older adults often the biggest targets.  Through the AARP Fraud Watch Network, we’re arming people with information about what makes them vulnerable and giving them access to the tools they need to outsmart con artists before they strike.”

The FINRA Foundation's survey found that 64 percent of those surveyed had been invited to an "educational" investment meeting that was likely a sales pitch. Additionally, 67 percent of respondents said they had received an email from another country offering a large amount of money in exchange for an initial deposit or fee. Upon being solicited for fraud, older respondents were 34% more likely to lose money than respondents in their forties.

In collaboration with partner agencies and organizations, AARP staff and volunteers are making fraud prevention presentations to community groups and encouraging all residents to sign up for watchdog alerts and stay abreast of current scams through the AARP Fraud Watch Network.  Available free of charge to AARP members and non-members alike, and people of any age, the Fraud Watch Network provides an array of educational information and access to individuals who share experiences and provide expertise.

Yale Grad One of 12 to Win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony; Frozen’s “Let It Go” Was Family Affair

As the Frozen juggernaut continues with no signs of slowing whatsoever, the ubiquitous anthem “Let It Go” rings in the ears of children and parents worldwide.  What many may have missed in the phenomenon is the Connecticut connection. The anthem “Let It Go,” sung in the movie by both Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato (over the closing credits), was penned by Yale graduate Robert Lopez,  whose notoriety and track-record is virtually without recent parallel.  The song was co-written with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez.  Together, they also wrote the songs for the 2011 Disney animated musical Winnie the Pooh.

Prior to Frozen, Lopez was best known for co-creating The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, two of Broadway’s stand-out box office smashes of the past decade. He is one of only 12 people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award, and the only person to win all four within a decade.

Lopez was born in Manhattan, developed an interest in music from an early age, and wrote his first song at age seven. He received a B.A. in English from Yale University (Class of ’97), where he was a member of the Yale Spizzwinks and wrote comedic songs for various student-run theater groups, according to the Avenue Q website.

Earlier this year, when Lopez took home an Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing "Let It Go" he became the youngest person, at age 39, to "EGOT", (win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award).  Lopez previously won the Grammy and Tony for The Book of Mormon, and received Daytime Emmy Awards for music direction and composition for the kids TV series The Wonder Pets.

IMDb and Variety reported that "EGOT" members include Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, and Scott Rudin, among the 12 members of the exclusive club.

In 2011, he told the Yale Daily News “the Spizzwinks are still my best friends, longest-lasting friends from college. I first got my inkling in college that I might not want to just write serious stuff. That music could be funny. That was something I enjoyed doing. The Spizzwinks were really the first place where I started dabbling with that.”  Success, however, did not come overnight.  “Right out of college I lived with my mom and dad. I lived with them for four years after college. They were extremely supportive of me. Without that, I don’t know where I’d be,” he told the newspaper.

In an interview this year with People magazine, Anderson-Lopez said "Frozen has been a team, family effort," says Anderson-Lopez. "Every song we wrote, our [daughters Annie, 4, and Katie, 9,] were the first audience for it and if they didn't want to hear it again, we went back to the drawing board."  The couple wrote eight songs for Frozen.  

Lopez told NPR’s Terry Gross that “When this song came to us, we were on a little stroll through Prospect Park in Brooklyn near our house, and we both started to improv what Elsa might be feeling. So we stood up on picnic tables.”  He added, “Once we had the idea for the song, it came quite quickly. It took about, you know, a day and a half.”

In April, Frozen became the highest-grossing animated film in box office history, just days after the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray.  The Frozen soundtrack is also the best-selling digital soundtrack album in history and the top-selling album of 2014, having spent 31 consecutive weeks in the top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, including 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1. The "Let It Go" film clip from Frozen has been viewed nearly 300 million times on YouTube.

Disney had the song recorded in 25 different languages for international versions of the film:  French, German, Dutch, Mandarin, Swedish, Japanese, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Korean, Serbian, Cantonese, Portuguese, Bahasa Malaysian, Russian, Danish, Bulgarian, Norwegian, Thai, Canadian French, and Flemish.

"The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic" will be broadcast by Disney-owned ABC television on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m.