How businesses can persevere in the face of adversity – Fairfield Daily Republic

Millions of individuals envision being their own boss and gaining financial independence, and those are just two reasons why starting a business can be an exciting prospect.

Novice entrepreneurs are likely familiar with just how difficult it can be to get going and sustain a business for years. The United States Department of Labor Statistics says 20% of small businesses fail within the first year. By the end of five years, nearly 50% have closed their doors. This information shouldnt make aspiring entrepreneurs run for the hills, but it can serve as motivation to avoid common mistakes and learn from others.

Every new business venture is met with obstacles along the way. Recognizing potential challenges and learning how to sidestep them is an important part of growing a successful business.

A business plan is crucial and will begin with your vision and what you want to achieve. The business guidance site The Balance: Small Business suggests including the following in your business plan: a mission statement; list of the products or services that will be offered; the niche a business intends to establish itself in; marketing strategies; which problems a business will solve in its industry; and how business owners plan to position themselves against competitors. An effective business plan can serve as a guide that business owners can use to get started and then return to as their business grows and evolves.

The business solutions company Dont Do Business Without It says choosing the right employees or cofounders is very important. It may be tempting to hire a friend or family member because you want to do them a favor. You may even have had a successful working relationship in the past. But its best to base hiring decisions on applicants competence and skills. Integrity also is a good trait to look for in an employee.

Strategies for retention also should be a priority. Pew Research says roughly 40% of millennials will change jobs in a years time. Figure out how to make your business so attractive that employees will want to become long-term fixtures.

All business owners experience problems from time to time, but the obstacles a business faces have no doubt challenged others in the past. Business owners should not feel as though they need to go it alone to prove their mettle. Business owners can reach out to a mentor or someone in their professional network when faced with a new and challenging obstacle. A study by UPS showed that 70% of business owners who received mentoring survived for five years or more. Thats nearly double the rate of those who didnt seek assistance. Asking for help with problems can also free up energy for other components of the business, which allows owners to play to their strengths.

Any business will face obstacles and adversity, but with the right mindset and people, any obstacle can be overcome.

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How businesses can persevere in the face of adversity - Fairfield Daily Republic

Vulnerability to Financial Scamming: Victim and Family Protection – Psychiatric Times

Financial exploitation is one of the most prevalent forms of elder abuse and is a major public health problem.1 Older adults are more likely to have a nest egg, own their home, have excellent credit, and they are generally raised to be polite and trusting. Moreover, with age also comes reduced sensitivity to negative arousal cues, so even cognitively intact older adults can have functional changes that may render them financially vulnerable.2-4 Estimates by MetLife indicate that senior citizens lost $2.9 billion to elder financial abuse in 2010, and up from $2.6 billion in 2008.1,5 The Federal Trade Commissions survey on fraud prevalence in the United States revealed that African American and Latino consumers were more likely to become victims of fraud than non-Hispanic whites.6

Given that elder financial exploitation is associated with mortality, hospitalization, poor physical and mental health, lower quality of life, loss of independence, and significant financial hardship, fighting the crime of the 21st century is of utmost importance. As the elderly population continues to grow and become more diverse, primary intervention strategies will benefit both elderly and minority populations.

In 2010, approximately 1 in 5 Americans aged 65 years or older fell victim to financial abuse.5 Decision-making processes to avoid elder abuse require higher-order cognitive processes that decline with age. Even cognitively intact older adults can have functional brain changes that may render them financially vulnerable. The elderly population (aged 65 and older) is projected to reach 70 million by 2030. These estimates raise concern that increased susceptibility to deception will drive reduced quality of life and loss of independence, thereby negatively impacting the health status for a large segment of the US population.3,7

Individuals with cognitive impairment are at increased risk of becoming victims of scams due to decreased awareness, overestimation of competency in financial matters, social vulnerability, and changes in perceptual speed, episodic memory, and working memory.8,9 Furthermore, individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD) are more likely to suffer the loss of twice as much money per case of financial exploitation.10 Poor decision making and greater susceptibility to scams have also been linked to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and these vulnerabilities can emerge even prior to a diagnosis of actual MCI.11 The prevalence of individuals with AD in the US population is growing and will increase almost threefold to 13.2 million by 2050.12 Current estimates project that 1 in every 45 Americans will have AD by 2047.13 In adults with MCI and AD, structural brain changes and deterioration in cognitive capacitates such as processing speed and episodic memory exacerbate susceptibility to scams.9,14 Diminished cognitive functioning has been linked not only to greater financial victimization in old age, but to AD onset as well.15,16

Family Caregiver Burden

The disease burden of AD is associated with weakened financial capacity and financial autonomy, thereby increasing family caregiver burden.17,18 Financial capacity is crucial for independent activities in daily life; however, individuals with AD and cognitive decline often demonstrate total loss of financial capacity, which can lead to psychological burden and distress.19 Impairments in financial capacity also contribute to economic hardship, significant concerns for patient welfare, and family caregiver burden. This is particularly important in light of a recent survey of 2000 nonprofessional caregivers which found that 92% provide financial assistance for the adults they care for.20 Managing AD patients disease and functional independence is an expensive endeavor, and financial exploitation only exacerbates the problem. Moreover, financial mismanagement among cognitively impaired individuals is one of the greatest sources of perceived caregiver burden.

As the number of older adults diagnosed with AD is expected to rise,12 safeguards are crucial to protect this population and their caregivers from scams. The chronic burden associated with fighting a degenerative disease, lapses in memory and judgment, and caregiver fatigue are examples of why individuals with MCI or AD and their caregivers are vulnerable targets for the crime of the 21st century. The impact of financial scamming on older adults and their families has direct implications for clinical care, particularly as psychiatrists and other mental health experts may be in a prime position to identify at-risk individuals before financial loss occurs.

Case Vignette

Mr Xavier is a 76-year-old gentleman recently diagnosed with MCI who receives a phone call from someone who claims to be his grandchild. The caller is frantic and explains that they are traveling abroad and have come into health troubles. They would like Mr Xavier to urgently wire money in order to settle the emergency. Specifically, the caller indicates that they require the money in order to pay a pressing hospital bill. The caller indicates just enough information to make the situation seem plausible. The caller then turns the phone over to a doctor who legitimizes the story. The caller seems quite embarrassed by the medical emergency and asks Mr Xavier to keep his financial assistance a secret from other family members and friends (eg, Dont tell mom; dont tell dad!).

Synthesis of Research

The current best protection against scams is education for the elderly and their caregivers. As examples, the FBI, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, USA.gov, and AARP all provide guidance on protection from scams. The status quo, as it pertains to prevention of scamming, includes hotlines, info-commercial home-based online education, legal interventions, and public lectures by law enforcement officials. Although these approaches have been shown to be cost effective and provide rapid response, major limitations to these intervention methods are that they: 1) do not preemptively target populations cognitively vulnerable to deception; 2) are not holistic and do not incorporate caregivers; and 3) are not often accessible to multilingual populations. A priori screening for susceptibility to deception and educational interventions would minimize adverse health outcomes and high costs of care, and may provide crucial interventions to both patients and their caregivers.

It is paramount that interventions for scamming specifically target vulnerable populations. Practicing psychiatrists and other mental health care providers are well positioned to conduct cognitive evaluations, assess capacity for financial decision making, and advise in advance care planning such as setting up trusts or facilitating discussions about creating a durable power of attorney. A behavioral science-based primary intervention approach would facilitate overcoming barriers, thereby opening new horizons for reducing public health burden due to financial fraud.

Dr Getz is an instructor in the Division of Neuropsychology, in the Department of Neurology of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr Galvinis a professor of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and founding director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health.

Acknowledgements and Funding Sources

This study was supported by grants to SJG from the American Academy of Neurology, American Brain Foundation, and McKnight Brain Research Foundation, and to JEG from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG071514, R01 AG069765, R01 AG057681, and R01 NS101483), the Harry T. Mangurian Foundation, and the Leo and Anne Albert Charitable Trust. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

References

1. Acierno R, Hernandez MA, Amstadter AB, et al. Prevalence and correlates of emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse and potential neglect in the United States: The National Elder Mistreatment Study. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(2):292-297.

2. Samanez-Larkin GR, Knutson B. Decision making in the ageing brain: changes in affective and motivational circuits. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2015;16(5):278-289.

3. Carstensen LL, Turan B, Scheibe S, et al. Emotional experience improves with age: evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling.Psychol Aging. 2011;26(1):21.

4. Harl KM, Sanfey AG. Social economic decision-making across the lifespan: an fMRI investigation.Neuropsychologia. 2012;50(7):1416-1424.

5. Amstadter AB, Zajac K, Strachan M, et al. Prevalence and correlates of elder mistreatment in South Carolina: the South Carolina elder mistreatment study.J Interpers Violence. 2011;26(15):2947-2972.

6. Anderson KB. Consumer fraud in the United States, 2011: The third FTC survey. Federal Trade Commission. April 2013. Accessed October 26, 2021. https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/consumer-fraud-united-states-2011-third-ftc-survey/130419fraudsurvey_0.pdf

7. Dong X, Simon MA. Elder abuse as a risk factor for hospitalization in older persons.JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(10):911-917.

8. Pinsker DM, McFarland K, Pachana NA. Exploitation in older adults: social vulnerability and personal competence factors.Journal of Applied Gerontology. 2010;29(6):740-761.

9. Han SD, Boyle PA, Yu L, et al. Grey matter correlates of susceptibility to scams in community-dwelling older adults. Brain Imaging Behav. 2016;10(2):524-532.

10. Jackson SL, Hafemeister TL. APS investigation across four types of elder maltreatment. Journal of Adult Protection. 2012;14:82-92.

11. Boyle PA, Yu L, Wilson RS, et al. Poor decision making is a consequence of cognitive decline among older persons without Alzheimers disease or mild cognitive impairment. PLOS One. 2012;7(8):e43647.

12. Hebert LE, Scherr PA, Bienias JL, et al. Alzheimer disease in the US population: prevalence estimates using the 2000 census. Arch Neurol. 2003;60(8):1119-1122.

13. Van Duijn C. Epidemiology of the dementias: recent developments and new approaches. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1996;60(5):478-488.

14. Catalano LA, Lazaro C. Financial abuse of elderly investors: protecting the vulnerable. Journal of Securities Law, Regulation & Compliance. 2010;3(1).

15. James BD, Boyle PA, and Bennett DA. Correlates of susceptibility to scams in older adults without dementia. J Elder Abuse Negl. 2014;26(2):107-122.

16. Boyle PA, Yu L, Schneider JA, et al. Scam awareness related to incident Alzheimer dementia and mild cognitive impairment: a prospective cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2019;170(10)702-709.

17. Marson DC, Martin RC, Wadley V, et al. Clinical interview assessment of financial capacity in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009;57(5):806-814.

18. Earnst KS, Wadley VG, Aldridge TM, et al. Loss of financial capacity in Alzheimer's disease: the role of working memory. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. 2001;8(2):109-119.

19. Moye J. Theoretical frameworks for competency in cognitively impaired elderly adults. Journal of Aging Studies. 1996;10(1):27-42.

20. Lynch M. The Journey of Caregiving: Honor, Responsibility and Financial Complexity. Merrill Bank. 2017. Accessed October 26, 2021. https://images.em.bankofamerica.com/HOST-03-19-0704/AgeWaveCaregivingWhitepaper.pdf

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Vulnerability to Financial Scamming: Victim and Family Protection - Psychiatric Times

Coping With Coronavirus: Here’s How The Pandemic Disrupted Fertility Treatments – TheHealthSite

Like many other aspects of our lives, COVID-19 affected the treatments too. Read on to know how the pandemic affected fertility treatments for infertile couples.

Written by Editorial Team | Updated : November 1, 2021 10:31 AM IST

Covid-19 has been a stressful experience for all of us and has negatively impacted our way of life. Unfortunately, aspiring parents are not exempted from the impact of covid-19 in their quest towards parenthood through fertility treatments. The rising number of infertility cases of young couples in India has increased drastically, with the number of couples seeking fertility treatment in recent times higher than ever before. But how has Covid-19 impacted their chances of parenthood?

Understanding the causes for increasing infertility is critical to determine the impact of covid-19 on couples seeking diagnosis or treatment. In terms of identifying variables that contribute to decreased fertility among couples, some recent trends indicate that the average age for marriage has risen for couples due to a greater emphasis on education. Thus, the advanced age at which couples begin attempting to have children is responsible for a significant portion of the increase in infertility among couples. Off late there are a lot of elderly couples who have lost their child to covid and they want to try again.

This increase in age can be ascribed to the fact that couples prioritize financial independence over having children. It has also been shown that the average age for marriage in metropolitan settings has grown, which has shortened the time of increased fertility, particularly for women. Although males may not have the same reproductive constraints as women, they are also more likely to experience fewer problems when attempting to conceive when they are young. Lifestyle changes may also be a cause of lower fertility rates. I see at least 2-3 cases in a day with couples in the age group of 25 -45 years.

There are many varied advanced reproductive therapies such as in vitro fertilization or IVF, intra-cytoplasmic sperm injections, oral hormonal pills, or intrauterine fertility injections that increase fertilization chances. These treatments are considered after the couple has undergone testing and has been diagnosed with certain levels of infertility. Further, because of advancements in technologies used in reproductive therapy, procedures now have higher success rates. For example, IVF success rates of approximately 10% in 1990 have risen to 50%-60% today.

Despite these encouraging statistics, pandemic-induced intermittent lockdowns enforced following the first and second waves of the pandemic have affected aspiring couples and have restricted their options for treatments. Specialists have also seen a decrease in the number of people seeking treatment because of the increasing costs of both the procedures and keeping with the safety regulations that must be followed as per government Covid-19 regulations. These new regulations also add extra expense to the treatment. The other consequence of the pandemic has also resulted in many losing jobs and taking pay cuts that do not allow them to access these expensive reproductive therapy procedures. The sudden decrease in income has hindered many couples who would have otherwise undergone these procedures to forgo their chance for the immediate future.

Since most of these procedures require consistent treatment across the woman's menstrual cycles for adequate success, both physicians and patients are becoming increasingly unwilling to engage in these procedures in the face of uncertainty. In addition, patients and doctors were also afraid to begin these procedures, some of which needed general anaesthesia, for fear of testing positive for Covid-19, especially when patients have co-morbidities or are immunocompromised.

In such cases, most fertility clinics and specialists encourage patients to begin fertility treatment only after taking both doses of the vaccinations available and then begin more invasive treatments for their safety.

(The article is contributed by Dr Shivani Sachdev Gour, Infertility Specialist at SCI IVF Hospital in New Delhi)

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Coping With Coronavirus: Here's How The Pandemic Disrupted Fertility Treatments - TheHealthSite

Independence Realty Trust Announces Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results & Updates Full Year 2021 Guidance – Business Wire

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (IRT) (NYSE: IRT), a multifamily apartment REIT, today announced its third quarter 2021 financial results.

Third Quarter Highlights

Included later in this press release are definitions of NOI, CFFO, Adjusted EBITDA and other Non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations of such measures to their most comparable financial measures as calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Management Commentary

The combination of favorable macro trends across our core markets and the execution of our growth initiatives continues to yield impressive returns, said Scott Schaeffer, Chairman and CEO of IRT. We delivered a 14.7% year-over-year increase in third quarter same store NOI, with our occupancy rate up 220 basis points to 96% and our average rental rate increasing 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As we look forward, our ability to maintain occupancy, drive rental rates, and advance our value add program gives us confidence that we can continue to unlock value within our portfolio. We are also focused on the integration of the planned merger with STAR and are excited about the growth potential of our combined business.

Same Store Property Operating Results

Third Quarter 2021 Compared toThird Quarter 2020(1)

Nine Months Ended 9/30/21Compared to Nine MonthsEnded 9/30/20

Rental and other property revenue

9.4% increase

7.8% increase

Property operating expenses

1.7% increase

4.4% increase

Net operating income (NOI)

14.7% increase

10.1% increase

Portfolio average occupancy

220 bps increase to 96.0%

270 bps increase to 95.6%

Portfolio average rental rate

7.3% increase to $1,227

4.6% increase to $1,190

NOI Margin

290 bps increase to 62.2%

130 bps increase to 61.7%

(1)

Same Store Property Operating Results, Excluding Value Add

The same store portfolio results below exclude 13 communities that are both part of the same store portfolio and were actively undergoing Value Add renovations during the three months ended September 30, 2021.

Third Quarter 2021 Compared toThird Quarter 2020(1)

Nine Months Ended 9/30/21Compared to Nine MonthsEnded 9/30/20(1)

Rental and other property revenue

8.3% increase

6.1% increase

Property operating expenses

1.6% increase

4.5% increase

Net operating income (NOI)

12.8% increase

7.1% increase

Portfolio average occupancy

230 bps increase to 96.4%

250 bps increase to 96.1%

Portfolio average rental rate

6.3% increase to $1,219

3.3% increase to $1,186

NOI Margin

250 bps increase to 61.6%

60 bps increase to 61.5%

(1)

COVID-19 Metrics (1)(2)

Rent collections

3Q 2021

3Q 2020

2Q 2021

Rent collected for the period presented, as a percentage of rent billed (3)

98.4%

99.7%

99.4%

(1)

(2)

(3)

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recorded a provision for bad debts of $122,000 in the third quarter of 2021. The table below presents additional details on the components of bad debt:

Components of Bad Debt (1)

3Q 2021

3Q 2020

2Q 2021

Amount

Percentage

Amount

Percentage

Amount

Percentage

Charge-offs, net

$534

0.9%

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Independence Realty Trust Announces Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results & Updates Full Year 2021 Guidance - Business Wire

Boris Johnson urged to impose financial penalties on ex-ministers and officials flouting lobbying rules – The Independent

Boris Johnson should introduce financial penalties, including cuts to pensions, for former ministers and officials who flout lobbying rules, according to a major report calling for a reform of standards in office.

The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life, which was set up by John Major in 1995 to advise prime ministers, argues the existing system for transparency around lobbying is not fit for purpose.

The report, which also calls for an overhaul of the ministerial code, comes after the Greensill lobbying scandal, when it emerged David Cameron had privately messaged senior ministers, and concerns over ministers breaching the code without facing sanctions.

In a withering verdict of the current systems, the authors warn: It is clear to this committee that degree of independence in the regulation of the ministerial code, public appointments, business appointments and appointments to the House of Lords falls below what is necessary to ensure effective regulation and maintain public credibility.

The committee said it recognises widespread discontent over the operation of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) a system that vets jobs taken on by former ministers and ex-senior civil servants.

The report recommends extending a lobbying ban to five years in certain cases where officials were privy to privileged information, and stressed: The lack of any meaningful sanctions for a breach of these rules is no longer sustainable.

Chaired by the former MI5 chief, Jonathan Evans, the committee added: The government should set out what the consequences for any breach of contract will be.

Possible sanctions may include seeking an injunction prohibiting the uptake of a certain business appointment, or the recouping of a proportion of an office holders pension or severance payment.

Lord Eric Pickles a former Tory cabinet minister who chairs ACOBA has previously expressed concerns about anomalies in the vetting system when it emerged a former official held a role at Greensill Capital while remaining as a civil servant.

On the ministerial code, the report suggests there still needs to be greater independence in the regulation ... which lags behind similar arrangements for MPs, peers and civil servants.

The recommendation follows last years controversy when Sir Alex Allan resigned as Mr Johnsons ethics adviser after the prime minister overruled his findings that the home secretary, Priti Patel, had bullied staff in breach of the ministerial code.

The report, published today, urges the government to enshrine the ministerial code in primary legislation and ensure it details sanctions prime ministers may issue, apologies, fines and asking for a ministers resignation.

Taking power away from No 10, it also suggests the prime ministers independent adviser should be able to initiate investigations into breaches of the ministerial code and have the authority to determine breaches of the code.

Mr Evans said there was a particular need for reform in central government, adding: It has become clear that a system of standards regulation, which relies on convention, is no longer satisfactory.

He stressed: Whereas parliament has undergone significant reform in recent years, and local government was reviewed by this committee in 2019, many of the arrangements in central government have not changed for over a decade.

Lord Evans added: We concluded that the current system of standards regulation is overly dependent on convention. The ethics regulators and the codes they enforce should have a basis in primary legislation, and government requires a more thorough and rigorous compliance function.

The arrangements to uphold ethical standards in government have come under close scrutiny and significant criticism in recent months. Maintaining high standards requires vigilance and leadership. We believe our recommendations outline a necessary programme of reform to restore public confidence in the regulation of ethical standards in government.

Responding to the report, the deputy leader of the opposition, Angela Rayner, said the Labour Party welcomed the recommendations. She said: Boris Johnson and his Conservative colleagues actions have repeatedly undermined standards in our public life.

The system is supposed to uphold the ministerial code. Lobbying rules, business appointments and transparency is clearly unfit for purpose. Ministers have disregarded the rules and it is about time for a radical overhaul of the system.

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Boris Johnson urged to impose financial penalties on ex-ministers and officials flouting lobbying rules - The Independent

No home to call their own – The News International

We have nowhere to go. said 19-year-old Sadia*, with tear-filled eyes. Her abusive older brother had forbidden her and her older sister (20) from going to university because he hated the idea of them going out and wanteded them to focus on chores at home.

Standing under the shade of a big tree near the university departments main gate, Sadia looked sideways as if checking whether she was safe and nearly whispered. He locked us up in a room. We jumped from the window to get here. But we dont have anywhere else to go!

Over the next ten minutes, while the rest of girls and boys called their cab rides, boarded university buses, and called their drivers to pick them up, all visibly helpless and scared Sadia could reiterate was that she had nowhere else to go

This was in 2017. Five years on, unfortunately, the situation is no better. Countless women suffer abuse at the hands of their family members parents, siblings, spouses or guardians. Saima Ali (shot dead by her husband) and Qurutulain Bureni (tortured to death by her husband) are just few of the many cases that have surfaced. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, 180 women were murdered in their households in 2018. In 2019, the figure rose to 217. Thirty-six women reported physical abuse at home in 2019, three times more than in 2018.

Every day the number of crimes against women increases. According to reports from March 2021, cases of violence against women and rape in Pakistan were doubled in the last six months of 2020 as compared to the first six months of the year 2021.

The light albeit dim at the end of the long tunnel of alienation and abuse is that women today are conscious of this mistreatment and are actively working to break free not just themselves but also those around them. They are eager to get educated and be financially independent. In 2020, womens participation in the labour force was 22.2 per cent.

According to Uzma Noorani, the Managing Trustee of Panah, a shelter for women survivors of violence, Financial independence is imperative for women; without it there is no moving forward. However, when women have to return to the same houses and partners, who very often believe they have a right to the womans income, financial independence alone becomes insufficient.

To be completely safe and free, and to grow as people, women must remove themselves from such environments and households. That, however, is an even bigger challenge. There is nowhere they can go.

The idea of women living alone and independent of their families is still an alien concept in Pakistan, shares Shumaila Roohi, a development specialist who has been living alone in Karachi for 9 years. However, Shumaila had to fly in her husband from another city to sign the rent agreement. The property dealer asked me if I was married and I said yes. When he found out my husband lived in another city, he immediately became uncertain. On finding out that even my kids wont live with me, he was almost in shock. So my husband came all the way from Rahim Yar Khan to formalise the deal. Now I live with two amazing flatmates to cut costs.

While there is no official data on exactly how many women own properties or rent their own spaces, it is clear that they are few and far between. A fair estimate can be taken from the fact that, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, there are only some three million female household heads as compared to the 28 million male heads. However, a number of brave women have managed to escape from abusive and detrimental households and have utilised a range of available options from renting or buying property to living in shared spaces or hostels. Each option, inevitably, comes with a set of challenges that women have to face.

The first option is to buy their own place, but unsurprisingly that is also the least practical for financial reasons, informs Maria*, a journalist in her mid-twenties. Most women who choose to move out are either running away from families or going against their express wishes and, therefore, have no financial assistance from them some of them even have to keep sending back money for an ailing parent or sibling.

How this situation affects women is visible from what Shakir*, an estate agent in Karachi, had to say one of the biggest problems with renting out places to women is that one never knows if theyll pay on time. And these preconceived notions make a womans journey to have a home/room of her own tedious.

Amna*, a 35-year old teacher from Karachi and the mother of one, found out one fine day that her husband had remarried and she was asked to leave his house. This house I had partially paid for working as a teacher, but we bought under my husbands name so its technically his house, she rues. My family refused to take me in because it was a love marriage. Amna then turned to real estate agents in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighbourhood of Karachi with whatever little savings she had.

One after the other, they informed me that getting a house for a single woman would be impossible because what respectable woman would want to live alone? One agent said that landlords did not want single women in their apartments because who knows what business they would end up involved in. One offered to rent a husband for me to allay the landlords concerns. Another messaged me late in the night telling me that I was beautiful and my husband a fool for leaving, narrates Amna, who eventually chose to remarry and had to part with her child to do so.

For women who choose to live away from families, living as paying guests or sharing spaces is ultimately the best option. Maria claims, It is a good idea to share an apartment with people because its really the safest. Living absolutely alone, especially, if youre in your 20s or 30s is crazy expensive and youre always scared. This way you know someone has your back if youre running too late or something.

Hafsa, a 38-year old freelancer from Lahore, opines, Assuming that a woman has sorted her finances and has somehow managed to find a landlord willing to take her in, she now faces a new set of challenges. But really, the biggest challenge I faced when I decided to leave my parents homes alone was safety.

According to Amna, while some landlords insist that the woman not be allowed to bring over her friends, they claim it is their right to come and visit unannounced to ensure that nothing shady is going on. And there would also be some who would try to hit on their tenants, assuming that a woman living alone will be easy.

Saima*, a 23-year-old freelancer who moved out last year, believes that neighbours and neighbourhoods are no better. My neighbours are always keeping an eye on me.

I think the biggest discomfort is just being single and looking for a place. Thats a big enough deterrent for many people to not rent out places. Somehow a single girl is a responsibility and must be up to no good, claims Hafsa, as she often hides the fact that she lives alone for fear that she may be stalked or harassed. Once my AC repairman, who knew I lived alone, decided to invite me to have sheesha with him and his friends. It gets pretty awkward at times.

On the other hand, Shumaila shares that the only problem that shes faced so far is that sometimes she gets terrible roommates.

But what happens if you dont have the finances to rent a whole place for yourself or even share the apartment? After all, sharing an apartment can also cost around Rs 20,000.

This is what Maria had to deal with. I had to move out at a moments notice because my dad wanted me gone the next day. I was so freaked out because I had nowhere to go. What do you do when you have nothing saved up and youve got to move out?

There arent many options for women. When they have to leave everything behind, a number of girls end up opting for shelters and hostels, offers Uzma Noorani.

But as she points out, shelters are few and far between. Even in Karachi, the largest city in the country, there are fewer than 10 shelters. Shelters can be a temporary stay, but we have rules that we cant forego because other women need to be protected. There are many times when the shelters become the first step for women seeking independence, to help them relocate to independent living to pursue their jobs or studies, she adds.

In Panah, an average of 30 to 35 women stay at any given time. Most of these girls are getting out of abusive divorces or households, and then they get married again and move out of here. But the problem is that there is always a dependency on men. What our women need is to be independent because whats the guarantee that the next marriage wont be abusive?

Most shelter house women from poor socio-economic backgrounds and are already strained for resources. They are constantly mired in controversy and women living in shelters are labelled as characterless, so people are unwilling to marry girls who have stayed at Dar-ul-Aman [a state-run shelter]. A report from 2017 claimed that women in Dar-ul-Aman felt they were no better than prisoners.

For working women, strict timings and rules prohibiting phones and internet access in the shelters are impossible to abide by, even though they are of paramount importance to the shelter authorities, who are often embroiled in legal matters on the behalf of the residents as well. Given these problems, hostels are slightly better options because they provide basic amenities to residents.

However, while they are excellent options for students, who often travel long distances to universities and do not have very hectic schedules, they are not permanent solutions for most women looking to make homes for themselves or for those who simply need space. Especially since some hostels dont want to host working women. Nasreen*, a 50-year old, who runs a small hostel for students in Karachis Gulistan-e-Johar tells, Im really not comfortable with working women. They have odd hours and can be a bad influence on younger girls. Keeping them is a risk I dont want to take.

However, as Maria rightly points out the desire to have ones own space, where one is comfortable or the desire to have ones own home, where one is safe albeit alone is not unique to a gender. Its also important to remember that women need to have each others backs. When I moved out, it was my friends who really helped me out and checked in on me regularly. Without them, it might have been impossible! she elucidates.

While a number of women in Pakistan are compelled to look for their own accommodation for the sake of escaping horrific circumstances, this does not necessarily have to be the case. A woman, as much as anyone else, should be able to move out for the simple reason that she wants to. It is incumbent upon each and every member of society to ensure that not only are women provided spaces, but that they are provided safe spaces. In this regard, Noorani suggests, One possible idea to achieve this is by having gated societies or apartment complexes for women. This would ensure that they are safe, while also removing the taboo from the concept of women living alone and exercising their agency.

*The names have been changed to protect identities

Continued here:

No home to call their own - The News International

Texas Heartbeat Act Again Before Supreme Court. Here’s What You Need to Know. – Heritage.org

The Texas Heartbeat Act, known as SB 8, is once again up for consideration before the Supreme Court as a result of two consolidated cases.

Whole Womans Health v. JacksonandUnited States v. Texasscheduled for oral arguments on Mondaywill require the court to consider whether the federal government can sue to enforce the right of Texas women to get an abortion and, if so, whether the Texas Heartbeat Act can be enforced at all.

SB 8a Texas law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks gestationhas remained in effect since Sept. 1.

This is the second time the court has considered the Texas Heartbeat Acts unique procedural positioning and is being asked to halt its enforcement while the case is litigated in the lower courts. The court declined to halt the law while the appeal is underway.

>>>Will Texas's Heartbeat Law Gamble Pay Off?

Both cases have been scheduled for oral arguments much faster than usual. A week ago, the court granted certiorari before judgment, placing the cases on whats known as the Supreme Courts rocket docket. This is an emergency review procedure that allows a party to leapfrog over the appeals courtin this case, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealswithout waiting for its outcome and go directly to the Supreme Court.

The two cases came to the Supreme Courtat different times and originated in different waysdue to the unique procedural questions presented. The court has joined the two and set them both for oral arguments on Nov. 1.

SB 8s unique enforcement mechanism provides the basis for both legal challenges. It has proven to be a barrier to those interested in maintaining the availability of abortion in the Lone Star State.

According to SB 8, state officials may not enforce the law and are granted sovereign immunity against anyone seeking to bring suit on the grounds that the bill is contrary to constitutional law.

Instead, theTexas Heartbeat Actallows private citizens to bring their own enforcement actions for violation of the law against those performing the outlawed abortions and anyone knowingly aiding and abetting them. This enforcement technique is generally reserved for state and federal fraud claims.

Therefore, the only way for an abortion provider to claim a defense against application of the law is to wait for a private actor to sue, and then raise the argument that the law itself is unconstitutional.

But for studious court-watchers and those following developments on abortion, Americans will recognize that this isnt the first time SB 8 has appeared before the justiceseven this year.

November: The Texas Heartbeat Act Is Back at the Supreme Court

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, when the Supreme Court made abortion a constitutional right, states have enacted more than 1,300 life-affirming laws, with more than 500 of them implemented in the last decade. The Supreme Court established a generalized right to privacy broad enough to include a right to abortion in its landmark 1973 decision.

Then, in 1992, the court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey affirmed that a state cant impose an undue burden on a womans right to an abortion and may only restrict her right to abortion after a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, which is at approximately 24 weeks gestation.

SB 8 opposes the courts jurisprudence on abortion and the framework set forth in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Therefore, on its face its unconstitutional under current Supreme Court precedent.

But the civil enforcement mechanismcriticized by abortion advocates as vigilantism has allowed the law to remain in effect so far by shielding state officials, those normally tasked with enforcing the law from liability by way of sovereign immunity.

Unlikepast state iterations of so-called heartbeat bills, the Texas lawsuniquestructure has flummoxed opponents and resulted in two trips to the Supreme Court and its continued operation at the state level during litigation.

The Texas law is rooted in both principle and science. Life is our most basic freedom. Science shows us that human life begins at conception and a babys heartbeat can be detected at roughly six weeks.

Since the Texas Heartbeat Actwent into effect on Sept. 1, most abortion activity in Texas has come to a halt and an estimated 150 unborn children per day have been saved from abortion.

The efforts of Texans have also demonstrated how civil society rallies to support women experiencing challenging or unplanned pregnancies. In one single year, according to the most recent data available, Texas pregnancy resource centersprovided$33 million in services, materials, and support at virtually no cost to Texas women and families.

That work continues in communities across the state every day. Nationwide, such centersservednearly 2 million people and provided $266 million worth of services and assistance in 2019.

Most Americanssupportsignificant restrictions on abortion.Yet, America is only one of seven countries in the world that permits elective late-term abortions after 20 weeksfive monthsof gestation.

America is an outlier when it comes to earlier restrictions, too. A recentstudyfound that 47 out of 50 European nations limit elective abortion prior to 15 weeks.

These statistics are reminders of the Supreme Courts arbitrary and unworkable abortion jurisprudence, which has been a barrier to states seeking to enact life-affirming policies that protect unborn children before viability and reflectadvancesin technology and science on fetal development.

While the Supreme Court will not address the constitutionality of the Texas prohibition on abortions before viability per se, the issue will likely come up during the argument itself. Rather, the primary focus will be on strictly procedural questions.

In United States v. Texas, the court will address whether the Department of Justice has standing to sue Texas at all and, if so, under what cause of action. In Whole Womans Health v. Jackson, the court will address the abortion providers claim that the civil enforcement mechanism itself is unconstitutional.

For its part, Texas is arguing that neither the federal government nor abortion providers are entitled to demand Texas write its laws to permit them to be challenged before they are even enforced. In the alternative, and if the court decides to address the underlying constitutionality of the six-week ban on abortion after all, Texas also argues that the court should overrule Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

December: Unworkable, Unsettled Abortion Jurisprudence Under Scrutiny in Dobbs v. Jackson Womans Health Organization

Its highly unlikely the court will get to such substantive constitutional questions in the Texas cases. But on Dec. 1, the justices will hear oral arguments in a case that will explicitly reexamine Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Caseys arbitrary viability framework and address head on whether the court should even be mired in the minutiae of state abortion restrictions in the first place.

InDobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the court will consider the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks gestation with limited exceptions for medical emergencies or severe fetal abnormalities.

At that time, the court will be asked to consider whether all pre-viability restrictions on abortions are unconstitutional (that is, prohibitions on abortion before the child can survive outside the womb).

In the meantime, the Texas Heartbeat Act is saving hundreds of lives every day.

Ultimately, the Supreme Courts abortion jurisprudence has distorted the Constitution, failed to settle the abortion debate in our country, and poisoned our laws, courts, and culture.

The courts arbitrary and unworkable standards do not account for advances in science, shifts toward pro-life public sentiments, and the status and financial independence of womenboth of which have increased significantly since the courts determination to legalize abortion in Roe v. Wade.

Looking Ahead

The Texas Heartbeat Act isnt the first time pro-life policymakers have gotten creative to challenge the status quo, and it likely wont be the last.

Regardless of the outcome ofWhole Womans Health v. JacksonandUnited States v. Texas, Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Womens Health will provide the court with a prime opportunity to make a course correction on abortion jurisprudence rooted in a proper understanding of the Constitution.

Should the Supreme Court change course and reverse its prior holdings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, all abortion policymaking would return to the states.

There, through legislation, debate, and representative government, states would have the power to further address outdated and extreme abortion laws without being subject to an arbitrary and unworkable viability standard.

>>>Overturn Roe? Its Not 1973 Anymore. Justices Should Let States Follow Science.

Policymakers could then craft laws that acknowledge the humanity of children in the womb and reflect public sentiment that supports protecting unborn children beforeandafter viability.

In her scathing dissent to the courts refusal to stay SB 8s operation during the pendency of United States v. Texas, Justice Sonya Sotomayor argued that the court should have put a temporary hold on the law so that women might continue to receive abortions.

She argued, There is no dispute that under this Courts precedents, women have a constitution right to seek abortion care prior to viability[But] SB 8 was created to frustrate that right by raising seemingly novel procedural issues [and] it has had precisely the intended effect.

For the drafters of SB 8, and pro-life advocates in Texas and beyond, they might consider Sotomayors statement proof of a job well done.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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Texas Heartbeat Act Again Before Supreme Court. Here's What You Need to Know. - Heritage.org

The $500k job that banks can’t find people to do – eFinancialCareers

One of the glorious things about the financial industry is that specialised areas of business can become really important, really quickly, but the senior roles in them need to be filled by people with years of experience. This means that when a previously unfashionable product takes off, the small number of people who have been labouring away at it for years can name their price. Right now, for example, asset managers are crying out for senior ESG managers.

The ESG teams (sometimes nicknamed swampies after a celebrity environmental protestor) have historically been a bit of a backwater in many fund management companies. Its been a role that has employed proportionally more women than many areas, and (probably not coincidentally) hasnt paid particularly well. There was often a sense that an ethical fund, suitably marketed, would always get reasonable inflows from charities, endowments and retail, and so it didnt have to be as competitive in performance terms. All this tended to generate a slow and sleepy labour market, where people were actually prepared to take a pay cut in order to have a slightly more relaxed life and feel like they were doing a bit of good in the world.

All thats changing, of course; ESG is hotter than its ever been, and ESG fund launches are happening at such a pace that the regulators have got involved, reminding companies that if theyre going to put sustainable in the branding, then there needs to be someone around the place who knows what theyre talking about. It all adds up to what Tim Wright from Korn Ferry calls a double whammy of strong demand and short supply.

Its exacerbated by the fact that the sector is getting more competitive with all these fund launches, and so the ESG experts have to ideally be good at fund management too. According to Sophia Deen from recruitment firm Bruin Financial, asset managers are looking for like-for-like hires if someone is hiring for a head of ESG, they want someone in a similar role from another firm, rather than from a consultancy. Global heads are now being offered 500,000 in London, and potentially more in New York.

And the other great thing about the financial industry is that hot markets tend to transmit their heat to neighbouring functions. If a lot of ESG fund managers are being hired, they are going to want to be serviced by salespeople who remember not to pitch them oil stocks. So the sell-side ends up paying a premium for staff who can demonstrate familiarity with ESG investors. Analysts who can adapt their research to hit the right buttons will rise up the rankings. Even bankers will sooner or later get in on the act; we might not yet have seen the first specialist ESG SPAC team, but theres a venture capital boutique focused on vegan meat substitutes so it wont be long.

Elsewhere in the world, once upon a time the practice of putting less experienced bankers into leading roles on deals was called juniorization and people used to be a bit sniffy about it it was associated with lower-tier banks who were losing their MDs and trying to maintain their dealflow while cutting costs. But when Moelis and Evercore start doing more or less the same thing, it somehow seems a bit more classy.

According to Ken Moelis, the boutique version of juniorization is very different from what we saw in 2017, though. In many cases, the actual deal has been brought in by an executive director or even vice president rather than by one of the MDs who are usually responsible for origination. Apparently its mainly due to developments in the private equity industry there are five to 10 people that are 40 years old or younger at some of the biggest financial sponsors firms in the world, and they are happier to talk to someone who doesnt start going on about his son or daughter whenever they mention Reddit or TikTok. This might explain why the boutiques have been so aggressive in bidding up salaries at the junior ranks theyre expecting the payback period to be much quicker.

Meanwhile

No details and so no chance to look up on LinkedIn and find out which bank, but a TikToker called Dumpster Diving Freegan, who posts videos of herself salvaging wasted food, claims that she works in the banking industry. She also suggests that shes part of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) trend and that the money she saves from her hobby is going into savings. (The Sun)

Is there a more musical two-word phrase in the English language than hiring spree? Cantor Fitzgerald wants to boost its investment banking and equities businesses, and so is looking for even more SPAC bankers, also tech specialists, equities sales and risk arbitrage traders. (Bloomberg)

Uma Thurman hosted a talk on the benefits of psychedelics while former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko was spotted milling about. Two prominent fund managers explained that their flight to lower tax states was related to the rhetoric that made their professional success feel unappreciated. When you take individual sentences out of context from the FTs reporting on the Milken Institute conference last week, they sound really quite unhinged. (Defector)

Congratulations to Vicki Tung on her promotion from head of campus recruiting to Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Goldman Sachs; in an interview on the company website she shares some of her career secrets. (Goldman Sachs)

Its not actually unusual for a top hedge fund manager to be paid multiples more than the CEO of the company he works for, but when that companys BlackRock, the amounts of money are likely to be startling. Alastair Hibberts hedge fund team apparently earned half of the performance fees for the entire group last year though, so theyre probably happy to write the nine-figure cheque. (Bloomberg)

Dan Loeb of Third Point, Stanley Shuman of Allen & Co, but very few investment bankers at Rupert Murdochs ninetieth birthday party. (Business Insider)

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

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The $500k job that banks can't find people to do - eFinancialCareers

Want to retire early? Here’s what you need to know – Moneyweb

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Welcome to the Money Savvy podcast. Im Boitumelo Ntsoko. October is retirement month and throughout this month the Money Savvy podcasts have covered topics such as how to recover when you have a retirement funding shortfall, where alternative investments should form part of your retirement plan, and we looked at where say-at-home parents can save for retirement. As we wrap up this four-part video series, in this episode were exploring how to retire early with Rick Briers-Danks, who is a certified financial planner at Veritas Wealth. Welcome to Money Savvy, Rick.

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Thanks, Tumi, thanks for having me.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: A lot of people dream about cutting their careers short and retiring early, but with life expectancy increasing is this still a viable goal to work towards?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Look, the idea of the retirement age of 65 is a bit of a misnomer. Its like a completely arbitrary age. I think it actually dates back to about 1889 in Germany, when Otto von Bismarck decided when somebody would qualify for a pension. He picked an age of 65. Funnily enough, at that time the average life expectancy was about 40 or something like 40 or 45. So that age of 65 retirement is really a bit of a misnomer.

But to answer your question I think it comes down to personal choice. Many people have a goal of retiring early, but I think the bigger question here is: why do you want to retire early? What do you want to achieve? What are you aiming for? You know are you going to pursue other interests when you retire Are you going to pursue other passions? Are you going to work for an NGO, or are you going to give back to society? Or are you planning to make a difference in the world? What are you actually doing it for? Or is it trying to become financially independent as quickly as possible and have choices? Or do you just want to stay at home and, say, play golf? Is that your game?

I dont know if youre aware, but theres a movement called Fire, which is F,I,R,E. It basically stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. Those guys are taking things to the next level. They literally are trying to save so aggressively, they are trying to save between 50 and 75% of their income and, by doing that, it allows them to retire in their mid-thirties, forties and its based on two main principles.

The first one is you need to have a very good income early on in your career to be able to save. The second one is obviously you need to be so aggressive on your living costs and your expenses that you need to live on the smell of an oil rag and save as much as you can. Then, they say, you can retire early and become financially independent.

Personally, I commend people who are focused, and so focused on retirement. Id wish all my clients were so focused on retirement, but I just believe that life is kind of worth living. I dont think having such a relentless focus on a goal of getting to a number is that healthy. I think lifes a bit of a journey; its not a destination. Thats probably a way of saying it.

The road is long, and I think there are lots of twists along the way, and lots of transitions in your life. Youre going to go through lots of things in your life and its not as a matter of just saving as aggressively as you can and then retiring.

So in this Fire principle, while I like the first part of it being the financial independence side; but the retire early you need to just really think about that. As a matter of fact theres actually a youngster who hit his Fire total, and made a comment the other day I read this on a blog where he said: Ive saved so aggressively. I was [so] relentlessly focused on my savings and hitting my goal that Id actually forgotten how to live. It was like he had no social life, no connections. He just was [at a loss]. He asked: Can you help me learn to live my life?

So, yeah, while its a great goal, I think you need to maybe explore the reasons why you want to retire early. What are you actually planning on?

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Now for those who are determined to retire early, how do they calculate the amount of capital they need to be able to do so?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Tumi, when people ask me and I get this a lot as a financial planner How much do I need to retire? At least my standard answer is It really depends because it really does depend.

It depends on how you want to live your life. But if I have to give you an answer, I would probably say the guide for somebody retiring at 65 is that they should have enough capital to support a drawdown of 5%. What that means is, if you take 5% of your capital annually, can you live off that number? You should work that out and then you can work backwards. But if youre retiring early, I would think youd need to build in a bit of protection there. So certainly not 5%; it would probably be like 3.5% to be safe, depending on how early you are looking to retire.

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: And then, of course, probably the best way to do that work is to actually do a bit of a cash flow modelling exercise, like What do I need to live on? and then build in things like I want to go travelling, I want to replace my car. I need to factor in looking after my mom when shes older. I need to educate children. All of those sorts of things. And if you get down to the detail, youll build yourself a pretty robust plan, and thats going to give you a fair idea of the capital you need. So a good lifestyle financial planner or CFP [certified financial planner] can help you do that.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Now, once you have the magic number, what should be your investment strategy going forward?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: The investment strategy? In broad principles, the longer your time horizon the more aggressive you can be with your investments.

But I think the most important thing to be aware of is that inflation is your biggest enemy. Its enemy number one in retirement.

So whatever your investment strategy is, it needs to be targeting an inflation-beating figure. Your mandate has to [be to] beat inflation over time. Factored into that is you need to know how much youre spending. Whatever that spend number is, you need to factor in inflation over time. Of course you need to have a well-diversified portfolio, which well probably get on to just now.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Just on that, what tax-saving tools should you employ to actually achieve that goal?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Traditionally you would use all your tax breaks in saving for retirement, using your retirement annuity. Or if you were at work with a pension, youd use a pension fund or a provident fund, whatever your work offered. Youre doing that because youre getting a tax break, youre getting a tax incentive. It would be a no-brainer to use those things.

But now we are flipping this thing on its head and you are saying, well, you want to retire early.

A problem with retiring early is all the retirement products have a rule that you can retire from them only at age 55.

So you need to think of others not to say you wont use them because you are going to reach 55 at some point, and you can definitely use those products. But I think you would need to factor in other things like tax-free savings accounts. I think you can save R36000 a year now into those, so that would be a definite no-brainer. Youd be wanting to maximise those. Youre going to be using discretionary savings, basically like a discretionary unit-trust-based saving share portfolio.

I suppose the other thing to consider is a property, a property getting a nice diversified rental income stream. So yeah, you should be diversified. Thats probably the key.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Now, when drafting your plan, how do you then factor in unpredictable events such as pandemics and market shocks?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Lets say youre retire at 50 and your life expectancy is 90, youre going to have 40 years of investment horizon. Thats a long time. I can virtually guarantee that youre going to go through a number of economic shocks along the way, corrections, market shocks. Its inevitable. The key is youre not going to know when theyre going to happen because thats exactly what they are, they are unpredictable. Its easy to sit here and say that, but dont get too emotional about it. You need to remain invested through these ups and downs and to sort of stick to your mandate. Youve got a long investment horizon stick to it.

Theres a saying that the only free lunch that you have in the investing world is diversification.

Thats the key here. To just remain well-diversified across a number of asset classes is probably the key.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Now, obviously investing is just one part of the plan. What lifestyle choices should you make to achieve your goal?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Yeah. Putting yourself into a position to retire early is all about behaviour, really. Youre going to have to be absolutely ruthless on your costs, cutting your living costs down, probably really cutting down on luxuries. Youre going to have to be quite aggressive on that in the accumulation phase of your life. So its making lifestyle adjustments.

Look, the one thing that intrigues me is youre going to be in this phase of saving as aggressively as possible through your accumulation stage. Youre going to get to, say, 45 or whatever your early retirement date is. Youre going to have to have a change in mindset and that mindset is going to be well, now Im not accumulating as aggressively. Im now going to start living on my capital. I can tell you, as somebody who advises people going into retirement, its a change that somebody has to go through like now they are actually drawing down on this capital amount of money, and its quite an adjustment. I think its going to be quite difficult to deal with. So youve got to be ready for that, but be coaching through all of that.

So I guess to answer your question, no, investing is one thing but theres a lot more behind that. Really its about getting your mind around it all and being ready for what it all means. So its not just money, essentially.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Do you think its advisable for those who are aiming to retire early to be flexible with the retirement age that they were envisioning?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: We have a planning tool that obviously has a bunch of assumptions, like return assumptions. But, as we know in life, returns dont come in a straight line and you never know whats around the corner. Yes, we can project and plan and make assumptions, but its never, ever going to happen like that on a straight line. All were doing is were trying to get ourselves as close to a [certain] picture as we can, and we are tweaking that all the time.

So to answer your question, absolutely be flexible. Life has a way of happening and the money just follows and its part of it. So yes, you have to be absolutely flexible. It may come earlier, it may come later. Things change all the time. You may have some life events, life transitions that happen. So you really need to be flexible.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: What other factors should you consider when drafting your early-retirement plan?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: The most important thing is to ask yourself: What am I doing when I retire, what am I actually going to be doing? What is your purpose? Human beings need to have a purpose. I think you need to remain connected, you need stimulation and a work environment gives you all of those things. It gives you a sense of worth, a meaning, so you really need to think through what you are actually going to be doing in retirement.

And then there are the obvious things, which are that you need to do your planning properly. You need to make sure are my costs correct? I need to adjust by inflation all the time, and certain costs dont behave like other costs. Medical aids escalate on average by 10%, so you need to have an inflation-plus on medical-aid costs.

There are a lot of factors to consider, but with some good planning and some help its not difficult to do. But be prepared to be flexible.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Now lets say you do manage to retire early, what would be the ideal drawdown rate, lets say, for a 40-year-old versus a 55-year-old?

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Theres a book called The 100-year Life, written by two people [Lynda GrattonandAndrew Scott] whove done a lot of research. Basically, people are living longer and, going back to the retirement age of 65 even that is young. So when you talk about retiring at 40 and 55, theres a long, long investment horizon there. Just talking about The 100-Year Life book, it really talks about going through almost three phases of work in your life. This is how we are going to evolve. People are living longer and its about almost re-skilling.

So youre going to maybe study at university or wherever, and youre going to do your first job, lets say. And then later on you are going to re-skill, youre going to take time out and youre going to do a second job. It could be completely unrelated. And then later in life, youre going to take some time off, you are going to re-skill, study again, and youre going to do a third job. But in all of this time, taking time off, you are refocusing, you are recalibrating, and thats because were living longer. We need to keep engaged. The authors look at it like that. They actually reckon were going to be working in our eighties and its good for us.

So when you talk about retiring at 40, 55, you need to have a plan of what youre going to do in that time. To answer your question, you need to keep a drawdown which is going to be sustainable if youve got this pot of money, if youre not going to be adding to it or doing anything in retirement to create income. Normally the guide is 5% at 65. So it needs to be 4% of that at 55, somewhere around there. And if its lower, like 3.5% drawdown would be a safe drawdown, to answer your question.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: Thank you so much Rick, for joining us on this episode.

RICK BRIERS-DANKS: Cool. Thanks for having me to me, Tumi.

BOITUMELO NTSOKO: That was Rick Briers-Danks, a certified financial planner at Veritas Wealth.

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Want to retire early? Here's what you need to know - Moneyweb

Rebecca Deaton To Join Focus Partner Firm Relative Value Partners, Enhancing Its Wealth Management Capabilities And Growing Its Presence in Chicago -…

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / November 1, 2021 /Focus Financial Partners Inc. (NASDAQ:FOCS) ("Focus"), a leading partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which industry veteran Rebecca Deaton will join Focus partner firm Relative Value Partners Group, LLC ("RVP"), headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. This transaction is expected to close on or about December 31, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

Rebecca Deaton is a Certified Financial Planner with over 25 years' of experience providing comprehensive wealth management services to high net worth individuals and families across the United States. She will join RVP as a Partner and will remain in Chicago, expanding RVP's presence in Chicago. The six-person team that currently supports Deaton and her clients is also expected to join her at RVP.

Deaton and RVP share the same dedication to independent and objective advice. RVP will provide Deaton and her team with access to RVP's considerable resources, advanced technology and investment specialists to better serve clients. Deaton and her team will expand RVP's financial planning capabilities, and Deaton will broaden RVP's partnership team.

"RVP has a client-first, boutique approach, which was critical to my decision to join," said Rebecca Deaton. "Partnering with RVP will provide my team and me with expanded investment solutions and other wealth management capabilities, together with deep technology and operational processes, which will ultimately enhance the high level of service my clients expect and deserve."

"We have enormous respect for Rebecca and her experienced team," said Maury Fertig, CIO and Co-Founder of RVP. "We have been seeking to bolster the depth and expertise of our team to provide more comprehensive planning services to clients with complex financial needs," added Robert Huffman III, CEO and Co-Founder of RVP.

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"We are very pleased that Rebecca has chosen to join RVP," said Rudy Adolf, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Focus. "This transaction is yet another example of the value that Focus delivers to its partner firms that seek to accelerate their growth through M&A. Our extensive, long-standing relationships with the premier firms, teams and advisors in this industry enable us to help our partner firms identify opportunities such as this one to deepen their wealth management capabilities and add new client relationships. Rebecca and her team will benefit from joining a like-minded, client-centric wealth management firm, and clients will ultimately benefit from an elevated level of personalized advice, supported by RVP's investment and operational strengths."

About Focus Financial Partners Inc.

Focus Financial Partners Inc. is a leading partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms. Focus provides access to best practices, resources, and continuity planning for its partner firms who serve individuals, families, employers and institutions with comprehensive wealth management services. Focus partner firms maintain their operational independence, while they benefit from the synergies, scale, economics and best practices offered by Focus to achieve their business objectives. For more information about Focus, please visit http://www.focusfinancialpartners.com.

About Relative Value Partners Group, LLC

Relative Value Partners Group, LLC is a comprehensive wealth management firm serving high net worth individuals, families and institutions. Tracing its roots back to 2004 and based in Northbrook, Illinois, the firm provides a range of services spanning multiple investment strategies, financial planning, estate planning, tax planning and more. For more information about RVP, please visit https://rvpllc.com/.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect Focus' current views with respect to certain current and future events. These forward-looking statements are, and will be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to Focus' operations and business environment, including, without limitation, uncertainty surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic, which may cause future events to be materially different from these forward-looking statements or anything implied therein. Any forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Focus on the date of this release. Focus does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any statements expressed or implied therein will not be realized. Additional information on risk factors that could affect Focus may be found in Focus' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor and Media Contacts

Tina MadonSenior Vice PresidentHead of Investor Relations & Corporate CommunicationsFocus Financial PartnersP: +1-646-813-2909tmadon@focuspartners.com

Charlie ArestiaVice PresidentInvestor Relations & Corporate CommunicationsFocus Financial PartnersP: +1-646-560-3999carestia@focuspartners.com

SOURCE: Focus Financial Partners Inc.

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Counties’ high staff turnover blamed on uncompetitive packages – The Star, Kenya

Counties experience a rapid loss of personnel to the national government because of unattractive packages offered by their public service boards.

CPSBs are mandated to manage human resources at the county levels but cannot effectively do so because of frequent cash crises. They are mostly controlled by county executives.

CPSB National Consultative Forum chairperson Catherine Omweno on Friday said they ought to be financially independent to effectively operate. She spoke at the close of the forum's three-day meeting in Mombasa.

One of the key principles of devolution is to take services closest to the mwananchi. This can only be done through a strong skilled workforce, which also requires to be motivated, Omweno said.

She said the CPSBs are, for instance, forced by the executives to hire workers, failing which they are starved of cash.This means the boards end up hiring quacks and unqualified persons at the expense of professionalism.

And yet we want devolution to work! It is difficult, Omweno said.

Without cash, they cannot offer competitive packages to retain employees whose jobs can also be found at the national level.

Where terms and conditions of employment are not favourable in the counties, well end up having, for positions that are both at the county and the national level, a flight of staff from the counties to the national government, Omweno said.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, who closed the forum, said the 47 boards should be autonomous to effectively discharge their mandate.

For the counties to be independent, not just by name but also by deed, I would emphasise the need for them to have financial independence, Muturi said.

He said the boards currently operate at the whims of the county executives.Muturi said the law should be amended to provide for the financial independence of the boards.

As it is, they are at the mercy of the governors. And sometimes the governors may have different priorities from the boards.

Muturi said the boards are professional bodies and may have issues they want to articulate and implement, but the issues may be at variance with what the governors want.

That creates a lot of confusion and makes the boards look like they are not doing their work.

Already, a bill at the Senate seeks to amend the County Government Act to provide for that independence.

The CPSBs mirror the Public Service Commission at the national level. PSC is an independent commission and gets its funds directly from the Consolidated Fund, thus the Executive cannot interfere in the operation of the commission.

Muturi said CPSBs should operate the same way to protect devolution. He called on the MPs to fast-track the bill to achieve CPSB independence.

Omweno also recommended that similar county and national government positions be graded and remunerated the same in the spirit of norms and standards.

Currently, positions at the county level are graded at a much lower cadre than similar positions at the national level, making counties unattractive.

The CPSB Forum is already engaging the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to have this addressed.

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Counties' high staff turnover blamed on uncompetitive packages - The Star, Kenya

The payment gateway is launched in WELTHEE, the innovative investment platform on volatile markets – Business Review – Business Review

With the launch of the payment gateway in Welthee, the innovative investment platform in volatile markets, anyone can have access to calculated risk investment opportunities. In the application launchpad, the selected startups in the pre-sale stage are already available. These include TOKHIT, the first blockchain-based social network, or Superkoin.

About 5,000 people around the world downloaded the Welthee application in the first 2 months after its launch, three times more than the initial estimates, which demonstrates the extraordinary interest and also confirms the vision of businessman Cristian Voaide, the founder of Welthee, on financial independence, digitization and decentralization. These investors, from all continents, also participated in the pre-sale round, enjoying the financial opportunities that the product brings. The round will end soon, but by then the cryptocurrency has a one-time cost of $ 0.06, and it will increase to $ 0.1.

Welthee, the Beta version, was launched in 2021, combining a futuristic idea about calculating investment risk and the possibilities brought by web 3.0. The Welthee currency and the digital wallet that the application offers, allowing inter-currency exchange and instant payment, will revolutionize the way each person, experienced investor or at the beginning of the road, will own and deposit money.

We are at the beginning of a new financial era and Welthee is the train to this future. The platform was enthusiastically received in Europe, but also in the rest of the world, and we are delighted with the enthusiasm with which we were greeted in Dubai. We aim to offer financial freedom and full control over the finances of all those who understand and want to enjoy the benefits of decentralized infrastructure, said Cristian Voaide, founder of Welthee.

Welthee presented WEEINVEST in Dubai

At the end of September, between 20-23 of the month, Cristian Voaide announced the launch on the Dubai market of WEENVEST, a Real Estate Investment Fund based on the investment technology Welthee> The Future of Financial Freedom

The two revolutionary projects have attracted the attention of investors from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, India, Africa and the USA, so Cristian Voaide and Andrei Ureche are confident that they can conquer the business market, through the innovative ideas on which the applications are based. If Welthee is a platform dedicated to investments using cryptocurrencies, TOKHIT covers the area of creative industries, being the first social network dedicated to artists and professionals in various fields, with the component of NFT and Blockchain.

Welthee is available for download: iOS and Android.

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The payment gateway is launched in WELTHEE, the innovative investment platform on volatile markets - Business Review - Business Review

When it comes to financial independence, be a hawk – Morningstar India

Everyone wants to be financially independent, but few are acutely aware of what it means to them, and the principles that need to be followed to achieve it. InvestorIan Casselhas some amazing insights that can lay the foundation for a roadmap.

Dont be afraid to say no to 99.9% of investment opportunities. You only need to find one great company, before others, to change your life. Extraordinary returns follow extraordinary discipline. An investors goal should always be to make as few investment decisions as possible. Keep your hurdle rate high and embrace inaction.

Chickens will eat anything you put in front of them. They will eat insects, bugs, meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, and, yes, even chicken. They have no self-control and will even eat their own eggs and faeces.

A hawk can see up to 8x more clearly than the sharpest human eye. To put in comparison, if you had a hawks vision you could see an ant on the ground from on top a 10-storey building. A hawks eye is so large that it occupies a big portion of its skull. The hawk knows what its looking for.

The visual capabilities let the hawk distinguish the size, shape, and speed of the potential prey so it can recognize, target, and capture it quickly. As you fly above the investment landscape looking for opportunities, develop tools, strategies, even statements, that you can apply quickly to evaluate opportunities. Know what you are looking for so you can develop the vision to recognize an opportunity quicker.

8 insights on getting wealthy

No one gets rich keeping their money in a savings bank account. For me, the advantage was microcap stocks, the smallest public companies in the world. For you, it might be another area of the public markets or maybe even real estate, or some other area of expertise. Through skill and prudence, you get to a point where you finally have a choice.

There is a reason why I exclusively invest in the microcap arena. Its one of the only places in the public markets where a small, astute investor has a clear structural advantage. It is impossible for larger institutions to invest in these small companies until these stocks rise and become more liquid. Great investors dont follow the institutions; they invest where they are going to go. (Did you know that Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and many other great investors started in micro and small cap stocks as well?)

Individual investors have an edge over investment managers, advisers, analysts, or anyone forced to prove how smart they are to others. You dont need to have an opinion on everything. You dont have distractions. All you have to do is focus on making a few good investment decisions per year.

3 investment hacks for young people

On my 16th birthday, my parents presented me with $20,000. It could be for my college education. They had also co-signed paperwork so that I could open an account with their financial adviser. The choice was mine.

I had always been interested in money and the stock market. Technology stocks were starting to make daily headlines in the business section of newspapers. I called the financial adviser and he sent me a few analyst reports to review. I bought $5,000 worth of one technology stock. It doubled in two months.

I filled out applications to a few private and public colleges. I realised I could spend all my money on one semester at a private college or attend a less expensive public university, live at home and commute, work part time, and continue to invest. I chose the latter path.

I worked part time for a financial adviser with over 1,000 clients. The money I earned was sufficient to pay for my college tuition. The $20,000 from my parents turned into $120,000 by riding the technology bubble. When the bubble burst, so did my portfolio.By 2001, my portfolio of mid and small cap technology companies fell so much they turned into microcaps. The $120,000 was now $8,000. I was financially and emotionally bruised.

It dawned on me that I was not skilled, just plain lucky.

When you are holding onto a position ask yourself Is this business growing and making more money per share than it did a year ago, two years ago? Successful investors can differentiate business performance from stock performance and can take advantage of those investors who cant. Even great businesses get overvalued. Its important to make investing decisions based on business performance, not stock performance. Its also important to know the distinction between external stock market forces driving a stock price versus business reasons.

Learning and evolving is a big driver of long-term success as a full-time private investor.

How to combat these 6 investing demons

A lot of people incorrectly assume that they need enough money to do nothing. You just need enough to do whatever you want. The power is having a choice. The choice might be to work less to spend more time with family, to go back to university, to start your own business, to travel, or perhaps even take a job that pays you less but gives you purpose when you wake up in the morning.

One of my mentors is a successful private investor. He works his day job not because he has to, but because he likes it. His non-financial job offers him lots of autonomy, so he can focus on his investing when he needs to. His job also shields him from questions from family and friends if he were to quit his job and retire. What most dont know about him is he has grown his portfolio from $100,000 to over $50 million over 20 years. You would never know it. He still lives in the same house, still has the same friends, still has the same life. One of his biggest worries is people finding out what hes done and looking at him differently.

As you grow your capital you will reach a pivot point when you feel you finally have a choice to do what you want in life. Some of you will choose to keep your day jobs because you love them. But some of you will choose to finally break free from a job and routine that have been holding you back.

6 questions that will get you excited about saving

Larissa Fernand is Senior Editor at Morningstar India. You can follow her onTwitter.

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When it comes to financial independence, be a hawk - Morningstar India

Bangor Savings Bank partners with Maine on novel benefits program – WMTW Portland

MORE AFFORDABLE- -BY MAKING THEM AVAILABLE AT MORE RETAILERS AND ONLIN E. A NEW LEVEL OF INDEPENDENCE FOR PEOPLE LINGVI WITH DISABILITES IN MAINE- THANKS TO A NEW TYPE OF BANKING SERVICE FROM BANGOR SAVINGS BANK. IT WORKS LIKE A CHECKING ACCOUNT, WITH ACCESSO T CHECKS AND A DEBIT CARD -- THE FEDERAL PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR SAVING AND LONGER TERM INVESTMENTS. BUT NOW, MAINERS WITH DISABILITIES HAVE MORE FREEDOM AND ACCESS TO MAKE DAY ILFINANCIAL DECISIONS. THIS GIVES FOLKS RECEIVING DISABILITY BENEFITS ALL OF THE ABILITY TO BOTH SAVE F OR THEIR FUTURE AND ALSO TO SPEND SOME OF THE MONEY THAT THEY'RE SAVING ON QUALIFIED BENEFITS. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH E TH STATE, OFFICIALS S

Bangor Savings Bank partners with Maine on novel benefits program

Updated: 4:15 PM EDT Oct 19, 2021

Bangor Savings Bank is launching a first-of-its-kind product in partnership with Maine State Treasurer, Maine ABLE Benefit CheckingSM, created for people with disabilities. The account allows greater accessibility for financial products and services, while also protecting eligibility for federal and state of Maine means-tested benefits, announced Bangor Savings Bank. A $2,000 limit in resources for individuals receiving benefits like Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance has been the norm until now. The account, available to all qualifying Maine residents, can be opened at any Bangor Savings Bank branch.Being the first such program in the country, ABLE Accounts offer a unique public-private collaboration, Bob Montgomery-Rice, president and CEO of Bangor Savings Bank, said. "Creating and offering this program supports the financial independence and well-being of Maine's residents with disabilities and reflects our ongoing commitment to provide better banking experiences for all community members," Montgomery-Rice said. ABLE Accounts will give opportunities for "financial health, planning and empowerment" to individuals with disabilities and their families.Originating from the Federal ABLE Act, created in 2014, ABLE accounts are established and managed at the state level, overseen by the Office of the Maine State Treasurer.

Bangor Savings Bank is launching a first-of-its-kind product in partnership with Maine State Treasurer, Maine ABLE Benefit CheckingSM, created for people with disabilities.

The account allows greater accessibility for financial products and services, while also protecting eligibility for federal and state of Maine means-tested benefits, announced Bangor Savings Bank.

A $2,000 limit in resources for individuals receiving benefits like Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance has been the norm until now.

The account, available to all qualifying Maine residents, can be opened at any Bangor Savings Bank branch.

Being the first such program in the country, ABLE Accounts offer a unique public-private collaboration, Bob Montgomery-Rice, president and CEO of Bangor Savings Bank, said.

"Creating and offering this program supports the financial independence and well-being of Maine's residents with disabilities and reflects our ongoing commitment to provide better banking experiences for all community members," Montgomery-Rice said.

ABLE Accounts will give opportunities for "financial health, planning and empowerment" to individuals with disabilities and their families.

Originating from the Federal ABLE Act, created in 2014, ABLE accounts are established and managed at the state level, overseen by the Office of the Maine State Treasurer.

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Bangor Savings Bank partners with Maine on novel benefits program - WMTW Portland

1-In-3 Canadian Parents Surveyed Aren’t Confident They’re Setting a Healthy Financial Example for Their Kids – Yahoo Finance

The 2021 TD Financial Literacy Month Survey Reveals:

33% of Canadian parents surveyed aren't confident they're setting a healthy financial example for their children.

10% of Canadian parents surveyed consider their household to be in "excellent financial health."

45% of Canadian parents surveyed don't have a household budget.

TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW/ - A recent September 2021 Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) ahead of Financial Literacy Month in Canada, reveals that one-third (33%) of Canadian parents surveyed aren't confident they're setting a healthy financial example for their children. The survey also reveals that only 29 per cent of Canadian parents surveyed consider their household to be in "excellent" or "good" financial health" which includes the ability to pay bills on time, carry manageable debt, have short and long-term savings, and a financial plan.

TD Bank Group Logo (CNW Group/TD Bank Group)

"Parents can be the biggest influence on their child's financial know-how, yet our survey shows many aren't sure about the kind of example they set for their kids when it comes to money management," says Jennifer Bishop, Head of Financial Health & Education at TD. "Asking for help when it comes to managing and talking about money can be an important step towards improving financial health. Speaking to a financial advisor can help a parent be better prepared to have the "money talk" with their children and support the development of healthy financial habits."

Bad Budgeting HabitsHaving and maintaining a budget is a fundamental behavior to achieving good financial health, yet the TD survey reveals that nearly half (45%) of Canadian parents surveyed say they do not set a household budget. Setting a budget now can help set the stage for responsible financial behaviours in the future, especially for older teenagers who are looking to leave the nest and are taking on their own financial obligations like saving for post-secondary education or making their monthly cell phone or car payments. That way, before this age group flies the coop, they will understand the benefits of putting in the effort to create a detailed budget.

Story continues

According to the TD study, of the parents surveyed that do have a household budget, only one-in-four parents (25%) believe they take a thorough approach to their financial planning - indicating most households aren't planning for the unexpected.

"If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's how important it is to have a household budget that includes setting aside funds for emergencies," says Bishop. "The unpredictability of the pandemic has shown us that it's important to plan for the unexpected. It is also a good opportunity to start the money conversation with our children, as it can foster healthy approaches to budgeting for parents and financial independence for children."

Wants vs NeedsAn allowance is a great tool to help younger children for example those under 13 - understand the concept of money and budgeting. According to the TD survey, nearly a quarter of parents surveyed give their children an allowance for completing household chores (21%) or as a reward for good behaviour (5%).

When it comes to parents with kids aged five and up, 28 per cent of survey respondents say their child does not know the difference between a want and need. "Kids will often see something, like candy at a check-out, and want it immediately," says Bishop. "These are good moments to teach kids the concept of needs versus wants, and that money is finite. If we buy the chocolate bar now, we won't have enough money to buy that toy you really want."

When to have the "money talk" When it comes to having the money talk, the TD survey reveals a lack of consensus on timing. One quarter (25%) of Canadian parents surveyed don't regularly talk to their children about money, with the primary reason being that they feel their child is too young. Other reasons for not talking about how to manage money include not believing it's an important topic for kids or not something they need to worry about (12%), because they'll learn about finances in school (11%), or because it's a taboo topic that shouldn't be discussed with anyone (4%).

The survey also reveals that conversations about finances between parents and kids are often reactive. Among surveyed Canadian parents, the most common catalyst for these conversations is their child receiving money as a gift (27%), when the child shows interest or asks questions (20%) and when they start getting an allowance (19%).

"It's never too early to have fun, creative and open conversations about money with your kids. From counting coins in a piggy bank to opening-up a first bank account and looking at the account activity together, there are many ways to involve kids in managing their finances," says Bishop. "Financial education is critical, and when children learn to manage money at a young age, they are more likely to have a long-lasting responsible and healthy relationship with money as adults."

Building Financial ConfidenceAs a long-time advocate and supporter of financial education, TD has several sources of information available as follows:

TD Ready Advice provides information and articles on a variety of financial topics, from how to keep track of day-to-day expenses to how to navigate the first-time homebuying process.

TD advisors are available at our TD branches across the country to help provide personalized advice and help customers with their financial goals.

Learn more about how we are supporting Financial Education in communities across Canada and the United States by visiting The TD Ready Commitment Financial Literacy page.

TD recently announced a CDN $10 million commitment to the Black Opportunity Fund, where part of the funds will go to Black-serving community and non-profit organizations focused on areas of financial security.

About the StudyTD Bank Group commissioned Ipsos to conduct a national online survey of 1,000 Canadian parents aged 18+ with kids under 18 in the house. This poll was conducted between September 17 and 22, 2021.

About TD Bank Group The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the fifth largest bank in North America by assets and serves more than 26 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in The Charles Schwab Corporation; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 15 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.7 trillion in assets on July 31, 2021. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

SOURCE TD Bank Group

Cision

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1-In-3 Canadian Parents Surveyed Aren't Confident They're Setting a Healthy Financial Example for Their Kids - Yahoo Finance

Asante closes first tranche of $7.5m Series A funding to bridge the gap in MSME lending in Africa – Finextra

Asante Financial Services Group (Asante) announces $7.5 million Series A investment anchored by Goodwell Investments with participation by other investors including Sorenson Impact Foundation and Forsage Holdings.

We are delighted to welcomeour new investors including Goodwell, Sorenson andForsagein our inaugural institutional fundraise. Together, we will advance access to finance, and financial independence and wellbeing for the millions of small businesses on the continent, said Chidi Okpala, Founding CEO of Asante.

MSMEs have a significant impact on the economies of most countries, especially emerging markets, representing 90% of all businesses, 66% of all jobs created and 50% of the worlds GDP. Yet according to the World Bank, the annual SME credit gap in Sub Saharan Africa is about US$330 million. MSMEs are often neglected by lenders due to a combination of factors. These include the high cost of customer acquisition and due diligence, insufficient data availability for accurate credit assessments, lack of collaterals, uncertain customer lifetime values, and the high costs of distribution and servicing.There is a large opportunity for lenders who are able to overcome these challenges.

Asante differentiates itself with its ecosystem-based digital lending platform that uses alternative data and a proprietary AI loan decisioning management system to approve loans to MSMEs. The company works directly with ecosystem channel partners to collectconventional and non-conventionalMSME data, with the prior consent of the clients. Its channel partners include Africas largest telcos, mobile-based marketplaces, airlines, retailers, payment processors, insurance companies, smartphone phone OEMs and large FMCGs. This significantly reduces the cost of customer acquisition and due diligence, while providing sufficient alternative data for credit underwriting.

As a result, Asante is in a strong position to address the credit gap and accelerate its rollout. Asante has executed over 16 strategic corporate channel partnerships, giving Asante direct access to 2m MSMEs with a monthly lending opportunity in excess of US$200 million.

With over650% growth in lendingactivitiessince Q1 2021 and a sustained average all-in default rate of 2.5%, Asante is well-positioned to fast track scaleand deepen our impact in our operating markets. Our bold post-COVID response is helping small businesses recover, reconstruct and reposition for growth while ensuring that thousands of jobs are safeguarded. We look forward to a round extension very early in the new year to support the solid growth momentum, notes Okpala.

MSMEsparticularly those in the informal sectorare being held back by a lack of responsible lending from traditional financial services providers who are unable to run accurate credit checks and offer profitable loans to this segment of the market. Asante has solved these problems through its innovative digital platform and ecosystem approach. The companys success to date is proof that the model works, and we are very confident that the business will scale quickly and successfully with this round of funding, explains Bitta Wycliffe, Senior Investment Associate atGoodwellInvestments.

This is the 20th investment byGoodwellInvestmentsuMunthufund, of which 50% is invested in financial inclusion. Asante is a perfect fit and a great addition to our portfolio of other socially responsible financial services providers.

Asante is a strategic partner of Mastercard for digital lending in Africa and the only African fintech in a class of 6 scaling start-ups selected in May 2021 to join the award-winning Mastercard Start Path program. Asante is currently piloting its Business Lending Platform, to further extenditslending and other services to small business clients with essential tools like Business Financial Manager, Management Toolkit and Tax Advisoryto assist them to operate more efficientlywhile infusing resilience into their operations. Via the platform, Asante will also be able to offer insurance, payments, and other products to its clients.

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Asante closes first tranche of $7.5m Series A funding to bridge the gap in MSME lending in Africa - Finextra

HCL Technologies to onboard 2,600 students in Vietnam in five years – Mint

BENGALURU: HCL Technologies Ltd has launched its TechBee early career programme in Vietnam with plans to onboard 2,600 candidates in the next five years, starting in 2021.

Designed exclusively for high-school graduates, the TechBee programme prepares students technically and professionally for global IT careers in HCL, where candidates undergo an extensive 12-month training to become successful IT professionals and work for global companies.

HCL Vietnam strives to foster growth and train the nations talent pool in collaboration with high schools and local ICT (information and communications technology) and engineering institutions. Any local student who has successfully completed high school and holds a high school graduation certificate or its equivalent, can apply for the TechBee programme. Enrolment in the programme will take place through an entrance test," the company said in a statement.

After the successful completion of the 12-month training programme, the candidates will join HCL Vietnam and will be paid salary equivalent to the job roles.

Vietnam has great market potential and talent pool for global technology companies to harness," said Sanjay Gupta, corporate vice president, HCL Technologies. The programme will give students an early start in high-tech career roles. With this program, HCL aims to hire the best talent from the country and give them financial independence early in their lives."

HCL started this programme in India in 2017 with an aim to hire the best talent and enable them to achieve financial independence. Running successfully in India, Australia and Sri Lanka, HCLs TechBee programme involves training selected candidates on high-tech niche technologies to make them job-ready early in their lives.

Till date, more than 3,000 students have completed the TechBee programme and now work with HCL. The Noida-based IT major began its business operations in Vietnam in July 2020. According to HCL, a key part of its business and development strategy in Vietnam is to provide the right skilling and platforms to train the local talent in high-tech domains and provide them with the requisite exposure of working on global assignments.

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Joe Manchin’s ‘blind trust’ is an utter farce | Will Bunch Newsletter – The Philadelphia Inquirer

A popular leader whose words are followed closely by millions of American voters just unveiled a political platform out there in left field with Bernie and AOC: Universal basic income, a shorter work day, a Big Tech crackdown on hate speech, curbs on the global arms trade and deep cuts in pollution. Unfortunately for Democrats, Pope Francis is constitutionally barred from seeking the White House.

Did someone forward you this email? Sign up to receive this newsletter weekly at inquirer.com/bunch, and youll get politics without the infallibility.

America has learned a lot in 2021 about West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and the things he doesnt like, as he positions himself as the decider on what legislation can or cant through the Congress. Hes not a big fan of what he calls the entitlement society apparently any government action that benefits working folks instead of those who float on or near the senators luxury houseboat or anyone bad-mouthing fossil fuels. But what the most conservative Democrat on Capitol Hill really hates is people asking him about his money.

In late September, Manchin snapped at a Bloomberg reporter, Ari Natter, who asked about the annual dividend checks the lawmaker still collects from a coal company now run by his son. Ive been in a blind trust for 20 years, Manchin insisted. I have no idea what theyre doing. When Natter continued to press about the millions Manchin has received from Enersystems, Manchin angrily asked, You got a problem? and when Natter asked another question, Youd do best to change the subject.

Lets not, shall we? In fact, lets make Manchin and the conflict of interest that now threatens Planet Earth the main subject of todays newsletter.

After all, it was less than three weeks later that word leaked on Capitol Hill that Manchin knowing that President Bidens ambitious climate agenda cant pass the 50-50 Senate without his support is successfully blocking the critical $150 billion component to help utilities replace dirty fossil fuels, including coal, with clean energy. Experts say that without the program, the lynchpin of the White House climate strategy, the United States wont meet scientists timeline for reversing global warming.

So, yeah, we do have a problem, Senator Manchin. And part of the problem is this: When the senator says that his not-insignificant fortune is in a blind trust his robotic response, for more than a decade hes technically not lying. But Manchins wealth isnt in a blind trust in the sense that most people would understand that term. The senator knows that coal dollars are floating his boat. Like much of what passes for ethics in Congress, the whole thing is a farce. As any hardened investigative reporter would tell you, the corruption of Joe Manchin is the worst kind the legal kind.

Its a misnomer these are not blind trusts whatsoever, Craig Holman, the Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics and related matters for the good-government group Public Citizen, told me on Monday. He added that Manchin is one walking conflict of interest.

There are several loopholes that a senator could steer a houseboat through. For one thing, despite Manchins sanctimonious answer, his money is not in a traditional blind trust in which all assets are liquidated and a manager invests the proceeds without the beneficiary knowing what stocks or funds that theyre buying. As Holman explained, members of Congress hold qualified blind trusts in order to comply with other financial disclosure rules so while an outside manager might be making investment decisions, a lawmaker often knows where his money sits.

READ MORE: Joe Manchin beats his chest for D.C. elites while struggling W. Va. waits for help | Will Bunch

It seems an assault on the English language to call Manchins coal stake a blind trust especially when the nations most prominent newspaper, the New York Times, reported in 2011 Sen. Manchin Maintains Lucrative Ties to Family-Owned Coal Company. Presumably Manchin noticed the name Enersystems or a second coal company, Farmington Resources, as he cashed their checks for $4.5 million since getting elected to the Senate.

And yet Senate rules have held over the years that lawmakers can not only retain their investments but dont have to recuse themselves from votes broadly affecting that industry only from very narrow legislation that would only affect their specific company (such as a federal contract specifically for Enersystems). The rationale is that a senator like Manchin should be able to vote on coal legislation since he represents mine owners and their employees back in West Virginia, but the sizable amount of Manchins income raises questions.

Virginia Canter, who was White House ethics counsel for presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton before becoming chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, repeatedly used the word stunning when describing Manchins conflict of interest, noting that his coal income a reported $491,949 in 2020 is nearly triple his Senate salary of $174,000.

Canter said she fears that because of his blatant conflict, Manchin may not be able to see the forest for the trees and see whats in the best interest of his constituents, because the dollar signs have blinded him.

It doesnt have to be this way, of course. But currently Congress is such an ethical quagmire that the legislation seen as having the best chance of passing like the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, to prevent members and their staff from selling individual stocks while in office is the lower hanging fruit. A bill backed by the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, that would address the Manchin problem head on by requiring elected representatives to liquidate their holdings into actual blind trusts or index funds is seen as having little support.

Its something of a clich to say that the Founders who drafted the Constitution here in Philadelphia didnt anticipate this or that, but, seriously, could James Madison or Alexander Hamilton ever have dreamed that humankinds industrial pollution would cause droughts, wildfires, or floods, or that one U.S. senator with a stunning conflict of interest could block any legislation to save civilization from that problem? Serving as a U.S. senator is a privilege, not a right. Anyone seeking the job must be required to sacrifice a bit of their (financial) independence to guarantee that their greed wont threaten your independence, or mine.

Brian Eno said, most famously, that only about 5,000 people bought the first LP from The Velvet Underground the avant-garde 1960s Manhattan rock band godfathered by Andy Warhol and fronted by Lou Reed but that every one of them went out and started a band. Which makes it weird that the band never got a documentary worthy of their legend ... until now, streaming on Apple TV+. Acclaimed filmmaker Todd Haynes shuns the predictable MTV Behind the Music framing to instead tell The Velvet Underground story in the trippy, Warhol-like pop art style from which these rock and roll icons were spawned.

As anyone whos followed the last few years of climate protests particularly the 2016 fight against the Dakota Access pipeline at the Standing Rock Reservation knows, the moral power of Indigenous culture and politics is thriving in modern America. Which makes it hard to explain why the publics fascination with the Native American story tends to fall off after the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890, and the end of Americas frontier days. In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, writer David Treuer fills in the gaps in the saga so deeply threaded through our national narrative, such as the American Indian Movement of the 1970s.

Question: Why does Pennsylvania stagger its elections for AG and governor? Via Ira Goldman (@KDbyProxy) on Twitter

Answer: I cant tell you exactly what Pennsylvanias Founders (and the subsequent tinkerers, such as those who, in 1968, began to allow two terms for governor instead of one) were thinking. But staggered elections are one of the best features in the Keystone States mixed bag of modern democracy. The ballot mix including state Supreme Court justices and big-city mayors in so-called off-year elections, and statewide row offices separated from the gubernatorial race has the laudable goal of encouraging citizens to stay engaged with annual voting. As for governor and attorney general, staggered races has meant the two officials are often (although not currently) from separate parties, or at least not ticket-mates. This promotes independence, which is always a good thing.

In a week where most of the American political chatter centered on the fate of President Bidens economic agenda or the extreme radicalization of the Republican Party, the biggest story of the 21st Century may have flown under the radar. I mean, literally. Im talking about the Financial Times report that China caught U.S. intelligence and the rest of the world off-guard by testing a hypersonic missile that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons and would be more difficult for Beijings would-be adversaries to intercept. (China denied the test, as one does.) Its no secret that China has ratcheted up its worst evil-world-domination tendencies, from Uighur concentration camps to crushing democracy in Hong Kong. But the scariest part is the Xi regimes aggressive posture toward Taiwan, the densely populated island survivor of Chinas 1949 political partition that the United States has, to quote Bruce Springsteen, a vow to defend.

READ MORE: Does Never Again! mean anything if we do nothing about Chinas concentration camps? | Will Bunch

As a child of the baby boom born in 1959, I arrived just 41 years after the end of World War I and 14 years after World War II. I grew up assuming there was a darn good chance Id see World War III in my lifetime. Instead, the accumulated decades of avoided global conflict have brought complacency ... perhaps too much? The rising authoritarianism and middle-class angst of the 1930s flowed into World War II, so how should we reconcile the similar developments of the 2010s and 20s? History isnt always fated to repeat, though. Global trade, for all its flaws, provides the Biden administration and our allies with ways to pressure Beijing economically before the first bomb, hypersonic or otherwise, drops. Similar to Europe in 1939, Chinas bad behavior cant be ignored. But at the end of the day, avoiding World War III at any cost needs to trump the foolishness of macho superpower posturing.

The protests after the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis were nothing like the world has seen before, with estimates that as many as 17 million to 26 million people joined marches. And yet 17 months later, the changes wrought by those rallies havent measured up. There have been scattered local reforms, but the federal bill collapsed and were seeing a trend toward spending more on traditional policing, not less. In my Sunday column, I asked if the marches were too white, too educated, and too transient to bring real change.

The growing vibe surrounding 2021 is that the sense of hope that launched with President Bidens inauguration is dissipating. Thats in part because of the growing extremism of a Donald Trump cult on the right, and in part because the corruption of key Democrats is thwarting Washington from changing those bad dynamics. Over the weekend, I urged those who were energized during Trumps presidency to get back at it, in the off-year voting booth and in the streets, if need be.

The Inquirers tireless Samantha Melamed, who covers criminal injustice in a city overflowing with it, is one of the best beat reporters in America. Last week, she paid homage either to Donald Trumps ice cream addiction or those old Raisin Bran commercials with two scoops. Her shocking expose of the violence, uprisings, and dangerous conditions in the Philadelphia jails dropped at roughly the same time as a longer investigative report on the citys wrongful-murder-conviction racket of the 1990s, and the new allegations of perjury against the detectives who perpetrated it. In the 21st Century, this old-fashioned kind of accountability journalism can only survive if readers like you will support it. Please consider subscribing to The Inquirer today.

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Joe Manchin's 'blind trust' is an utter farce | Will Bunch Newsletter - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Astra Protocol to Ensure Regulation For Blockchain, Crypto, and DeFi By CoinQuora – Investing.com

The world has seen the rise of blockchain-based platforms and virtual currencies. Astra Protocol says this teaches one valuable lesson that humans love to maintain control over their assets and everything else; that it is engraved in human nature. The COVID-19 outbreak also caused a shift to consumer behavior, which brought forth setbacks in global capital markets. If one can recall, the financial markets crashed drastically since the pandemic started. As a result, investors and average people looked for reliable ways to save their assets from crippling inflation.

This is how other cryptocurrencies aside from (BTC) rose take (ETH) and (SOL) for example. The astronomical increase of the prices of digital assets, as well as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), is evident today. However, important regulatory challenges are yet to be addressed.

Furthermore, decentralized projects (DeFi) have also emerged as a high-potential financial services sector. In detail, it aims to fully decentralize how people transact and carry out business activities. DeFi Prime data states that there are around 243 DeFi-related initiatives currently listed. Here, Ethereum takes up most of the market shares with 220 projects developed on top of the Ethereum platform.

The steady rise of crypto projects, moreover, has one key drawback according to Astra Protocol the lack of legal certainty and adequate measures to ensure consumer protection. Sure, crypto-asset ownership offers financial independence and well-being but it also comes with serious potential risks.

Crypto Regulations, Sanctions, and Other Compliance Measures

Today, legacy systems have maintained a firm grip on how consumers and businesses perform monetary transactions. Along with regulatory frameworks, the two oversee global currency exchange, loans for business, insurance services, and other business activities. These laws are supported by jurisdictional requirements, which makes them confined and limited to a single physical territory.

Because cryptocurrencies are permissionless and borderless, consumers are allowed to engage in cross-border transactions sometimes without relying on intermediaries to finalize transactions. The entire ecosystem of cryptocurrencies does not have strict regulations, sanctions, and other measures; which could somehow result in losing access to funds.

The rising popularity of DeFi adoption entails an increase in malicious hackers consequently along with damaging exploits and other types of illicit activities. This is one of the reasons why regulatory authorities are keen on regulating the nascent sector. Regulatory authorities have been working on taking disciplinary measures against projects that engage with financial crimes.

Providing a Robust Peace of Mind Assurance Layer

DeFi is considered a very high-risk industry for big companies. There are inadequate measures in place to ensure that consumers are protected from abusive activities. Hence, what the nascent sector needs is a high level of trust and robust peace of mind assurance layer this can bridge the gap between the crypto industry to the broader financial sector.

This is where Astra Protocol comes in.

According to Astra Protocol, the team aims to add an on-chain layer of assurance and safety. They explained, smart contracts which automate business logic in a decentralized manner, are now the key aspect of almost all decentralized blockchain platforms.

To clarify, smart contracts are key components in any decentralized system like DeFi. It helps in establishing trust in a safe investment. However, it is yet to have a regulator or an oversight function for monitoring decentralized protocols that effectively eliminate doubt, potential fraud, and a proper dispute resolution system. All these features, moreover, would make a way to have public, permissionless, blockchains for everyone this is exactly what Astra Protocol wants to give.

The Astra Protocol team further stated that they,

Here, the team also noted that the funds will arrive safely at their promised destination because of ASTRA. To add on, the protocol can also quickly address problems and return the money with minimal friction if and only if there is a mishap.

Astra Protocol offers an innovative, on-chain dispute resolution system by adding a legal assurance layer to blockchain-based smart contracts. The explained that before a transfer is finalized, the parties have to agree to work with Astra protocol hence, making it a default mechanism in handling any conflict. This protocol indeed leverages human expertise and the latest tech to secure all transfers.

Moreover, by integrating a dispute resolution clause on a platform, along with smart contracts, often dubbed as Proof of Trust, projects will be able to manage disagreements amicably.

The emergence of new forms of money is expected to create challenges. In fact, this is a natural part of the adoption and transition phase. With Astra Protocol, decentralized companies will be able to adhere to regulations that are outlined by the U.S. SEC and other regulatory authorities worldwide.

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Astra Protocol to Ensure Regulation For Blockchain, Crypto, and DeFi By CoinQuora - Investing.com

How F.I.R.E. investors are managing through the pandemic – The Globe and Mail

F.I.R.E. followers, who are in their 30s and 40s, need to be extra vigilant as their retirement nest eggs need to last decades longer than those who retire in their 60s and 70s.

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The stock market fallout during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic put retirees living off their investment income at risk. That was especially the case for those following the financial independence, retire early (F.I.R.E.) movement.

F.I.R.E. investors are largely people in their 30s and 40s who save aggressively and invest early to build up a seven-figure portfolio to retire early or work way less as they get older. Those plans can be thwarted when stock markets tank, as they did last March.

Investors who stuck it out were rewarded as stock markets roared back to record highs months later. Still, F.I.R.E. followers need to be extra vigilant as their nest eggs need to last decades longer than those who retire in their 60s and 70s.

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You may need to over-save and underspend longer than you might think when youre pursuing the F.I.R.E. movement, says Jason Heath, an advice- and fee-only certified financial planner at Objective Financial Partners Inc. in Markham, Ont. When youre retiring at age 40 versus age 65, theres so much more margin for error.

For example, Mr. Heath says someone can do a great job of saving, but see those funds quickly disappear because of costs associated with an extraordinary event, such as a serious injury or illness that requires long-term care or having a child with a disability.

If you dont budget for the unexpected, that could really compromise your early retirement plan, he says.

F.I.R.E. investors do have time on their side to regain any investment losses should the next downturn not see the same quick recovery. Many also have the option to go back to work.

In addition, just having a plan puts them ahead of many investors, Mr. Heath says, citing various industry surveys showing investors with a financial roadmap are more prepared for retirement.

There is something to be said about F.I.R.E. [adherents] and how much long-term planning these people do, he says. Someone who is pursuing F.I.R.E. and really knows their numbers is more likely to have more confidence with something like stock market volatility or sustainable spending in retirement as a result.

Mathieu Martin of Quebec City started his F.I.R.E. journey in July, 2019, at the age of 41, about six months before the pandemic hit.

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He was inspired to retire early, instead of at age 60 as previously planned, after reading an article showing how it was possible through the simple strategy of spending less and investing more, taking advantage of the power of compound returns.

To me, the key really is the spending: The less you spend, the more you save, says Mr. Martin, now 42, who had a career as a safety engineer in France and the Middle East before moving with his wife and two young children to Canada in 2019.

Even when stock markets dropped in February and March of 2020, Mr. Martin wasnt too worried because his F.I.R.E. plan includes having about one years worth of cash set aside to live on.

We felt more confident because of that, he says. When it comes to early retirement ... even when youre not retired, whats important is your available cash. You can have the biggest investment in the world, but if you have no cash, youre screwed. ... We put our plan to the test and it passed.

He believes his background in crisis management and emergency preparedness also helped him stay calm as the markets went into panic mode.

I wasnt surprised. It was sort of expected, he says of the market drop.

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Mr. Martin didnt adjust his investment portfolio or asset allocation, either, which was a smart move in hindsight given the markets record run.

In fact, he and his wife are planning to buy a house this year instead of next year, as originally planned, thanks in part to the additional savings from the pandemic and the stock market comeback.

Today, Mr. Martins retirement life includes doing things he loves, such as building furniture for the new house, playing sports and walking his kids to school each day.

Furthermore, while his financial plan says he doesnt need to work, Mr. Martin did take on a short-term government contract last spring to help municipalities with their business continuity amid the pandemic.

I wanted to be part of it and to use my skills to do what I could to help the community, he says.

Bob Lai, 38, a married father of two who works in Vancouvers technology industry, says his F.I.R.E. journey remains on track amid the pandemic.

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For Mr. Lai and his wife, financial independence means having the option to work when they want and for as long as they want.

It might not mean full retirement in the near future, but they do have options such as taking a year off to travel when its safe to do so again.

Its about being financially independent, he says. Thats the empowerment behind the F.I.R.E. movement that we like, to not be tied to your paycheque every two weeks.

Mr. Lai says his family will be financially independent when its dividend income is greater than its expenses, which he notes is a bit different than the F.I.R.E. movements technical definition of when your net worth reaches 25 times your expenses.

The family got closer to that goal after investing about $115,000 in the markets last year, including a big chunk of money after equities dropped in the spring. A good portion of those funds was from money saved from having to stay home during the pandemic, as well as some investments the couple sold in February, just before the market crash.

Mr. Lai says he wasnt worried about his existing investments being down significantly at the time, particularly after seeing the bounce back during the global financial crisis.

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I knew the market would recover eventually; it was just a matter of time, he says. It was a good opportunity; [stocks] went on sale.

Most of his investments, which he makes on his own, are in stable, dividend-paying stocks such as banks and in diversified exchange-traded funds.

For others interested in being financially independent, Mr. Lai suggests sticking to their plan and not making bets on risky investments such as Bitcoin.

If you are always jumping back and forth between investment strategies, you may not get there, he says of financial independence.

And while he and his wife dont have a specific date for meeting their F.I.R.E. goal, we are enjoying the journey.

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How F.I.R.E. investors are managing through the pandemic - The Globe and Mail