Environics Analytics Releases WealthScapes 2012 Calculating the Financial Health of Canadians
Environics Analytics, the marketing services and data analytics company, today announced the release of WealthScapes 2012, the latest edition of its financial database that measures the assets, liabilities and wealth of Canadians. Updated to December 2011, WealthScapes 2012 features a database of more than 80 key financial and investment statistics that serve as a balance sheet for every neighbourhood (or census dissemination area) in the country. [See coverage in today’s Globe and Mailhere.]
Now in its fifth year, WealthScapes has proven to be a valuable marketing tool for an increasing number of industries. Financial companies use the database to market and calculate potential sales for specific products like mortgages, mutual funds and GICs. Real estate developers draw on WealthScapes data to plan commercial and residential developments. And retailers and fundraisers use it to find consumers with significant spending power beyond what their household incomes would suggest, such as retirees on fixed incomes who still have substantial spending power due to sizable investment portfolios.
“WealthScapes continues to grow in popularity because of its detailed data on the assets and liabilities of every neighbourhood in Canada,” says Catherine Pearson, vice president and leader of the financial services practice at Environics Analytics. “Now with the latest edition, WealthScapes 2012 can help businesses and not-for-profits better understand the impact that the recent financial crisis has had on their customers and markets. Have investors in different neighbourhoods recovered from the stock market decline? Are households in different cities carrying too much debt today? WealthScapes 2012 has the answers.”
As with previous editions, WealthScapes 2012 was built using sophisticated modelling techniques and a variety of authoritative sources—such as the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada—to create the most reliable financial data available in the industry. And like the prior versions, the key variables used in WealthScapes 2012 were created to match the best available control totals in Canada endorsed by Chief Economists. Among the financial and investment statistics included in the dataset: average net worth, income distribution, disposable and discretionary income, savings by type, investments by type (stocks, bonds, GICs and mutual funds), RRSP components of investments, mortgages, loans, lines of credit and credit card accounts. All can provide valuable insights to help organizations develop differentiated strategies, products and messages that meet their customers’ changing needs.