Monthly Archives: May 2020

Appellate Rulings Not Argued By Any Party; Or Too Many Fingers In The Pie – JD Supra

Posted: May 14, 2020 at 5:07 pm

Last year, I blogged about State v. Elliswhere a passing motorist gave a Highway Patrol trooper the middle-finger salute and was arrested for his trouble. A divided Court of Appeals allowed the defendants conviction to stand. The case made it to the Supreme Court, which recently issued an opinionreversing the conviction.

A quick recap of our story. A trooper was assisting motorists when he noticed that the passenger in a car driving by had extended his hand out the window and was waving. After the vehicle passed, the trooper kept watching and saw that the waving stopped but the passengers middle finger remained extended. The trooper pursued and stopped the car. The passenger would not identify himself until cuffed and placed in the patrol car. Having determined that no one was in distress, the trooper issued a citation to the passenger for resisting, delaying, and obstructing an officer.

At trial, the defendant moved to suppress evidence of his refusal to identify himself, arguing that the facts did not establish reasonable suspicion to justify the stop. After hearing evidence from the trooper, the trial court orally denied the motion without making written findings of fact or conclusions of law, stating instead that [b]ased on a review of the evidence, the Court does find reasonable suspicion for the stop. In addition, based upon the totality of the evidence the Court does find probable cause for the arrest. The defendant then pled guilty, but reserved his right to appeal the denial of his suppression motion.

In its first opinion, filed on 6 August 2019, the Court of Appeals majority found no error. In the absence of written findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Court of Appeals inferred findings based upon the trial courts oral ruling and assessed de novo whether those findings supported the trial courts legal conclusion.

The Court of Appeals noted that the issue was not whether shooting the bird was a crime and that the defendant was not charged on the basis of that behavior. Instead, the issue was whether the trooper, when initiating the stop, had reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. The majority concluded that the defendants actions reasonably could alert an objective officer to a pending breach of the peace. In dissent, Judge Arrowood argued that no reasonable suspicion existed for the stop.

Heres where it gets interesting. The majority noted that the States brief did not argue that the stop was predicated on reasonable suspicion. Instead, the State had contended that the community caretaker exception, whose application does not require reasonable suspicion, justified the stop. The majority disagreed, finding the community caretaker exception inapplicable. However, the court went on to observe that, because the State was the appellee, the majority could still affirm the trial courts decision on an alternative reasonable suspicion theory. In so doing, the Court of Appeals stated that it is our duty to affirm the trial courts ruling if there is any legal means to justify that trial courts ruling, even if that reason was not argued by the appellee. Indeed, it is our duty to consider all possible legal bases to affirm the trial court even if the State, as appellee, had not filed a brief at all.

This language caused a bit of a stir in the appellate practitioner world. Questions arose as to whether the issue of reasonable suspicion had been fully argued and preserved below or whether the issue merely had been noted in the trial courts ruling, abandoned by the State in its appellees brief, and then invoked by the Court of Appeals majority sua sponte. Also, the language about the Court of Appeals duty to affirm was generating debate. Just as I completed a blog post discussing the original opinion, the Court of Appeals withdrew it and filed a new opinionon 20 August 2019.

In its reissued opinion, the majority again affirmed the trial court, but with two significant modifications. First, the reissued opinion specifically stated that the question of reasonable suspicion had been raised and argued before the trial court, thereby quelling any question whether the issue had been preserved under Appellate Rule 10, even if it was not argued on appeal as contemplated by Appellate Rule 28. Second, discussion of the States brief was relegated to footnote 5, where the opinion stated that the State argues, as an alternative legal basis justifying the stop, that the troopers traffic stop was justified under the judicially-recognized community caretaking exception, then noted that exception was inapplicable. The footnote could be read to suggest that the State had argued both reasonable suspicion and community caretaker, though as we will see below, the States sole contention to that court was the latter. Judge Arrowood maintained his dissent, modified in light of the revised majority opinion.

Taken together, these two Court of Appeals opinions suggest some limit on a reviewing courts ability to strike out on its own when resolving a case. As indicated in the first Court of Appeals opinion, an appellee can prevail on appeal without filing a brief. The burden is on the appellant to convince the reviewing court that the trial court committed reversible error; a bold (or broke) appellee can just sit by and watch. So the reviewing courts opinion in favor of such a silent appellee will be based on a premise that was not briefed, at least not by the prevailing party. May the reviewing court reverse based upon a theory no one ever argued? The original opinion emphatically said yes. The revised opinion suggests a more limited approach, that a reviewing court may rely on an issue that was preserved, even if not presented on appeal.

The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court on the basis of the dissent. The States brief to the Supremes makes unusual reading, to say the least. The State advised the Supreme Court that while the Court of Appeals found that the trooper had reasonable suspicion that justified the stop, [t]he State did not assert this argument in its appellate brief or raise it during oral argument. Rather, it solely contended that the community caretaking exception to the Fourth Amendment applied. The State added that it does not believe that the specific articulable facts included in this record established reasonable suspicion of the crime of disorderly conduct. Lest there be any doubt, the State closed its brief by stating that the decision of the majority of the Court of Appeals should be reversed.

In a unanimous opinion filed on 1 May 2020, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the Court of Appeals opinion. The matter was determined on the record and briefs without oral argument. The Supreme Courts straightforward opinion reviewed the inferred facts and concluded that no reasonable suspicion existed to justify the initial stop.

Think about what happened here. Recall that the State, to its credit, candidly acknowledged the limited basis of its appeal and conceded that it had never argued the theory on which the Court of Appeals relied. Even so, the Supreme Court, without discussion, followed and analyzed the reasonable suspicion argument that the State did not argue but the Court of Appeals embraced. The original blog post in this chain discussed cases where the reviewing court found that the trial court reached the right result while using the wrong rationale. Here, in a bit of a twist on that earlier post, the Supreme Court found that the Court of Appeals reached the wrong result but had based that result upon a misapplication of the right rationale.

Various permutations of this process are not hard to find. Another prime example where a reviewing court decided issues neither briefed nor argued is Nelson v. Freeland, 349 N.C. 615, 507 S.E.2d 882 (1998). In that case, the Supreme Court abolished the distinction between invitees and licensees in premises liability case. This result came as a surprise to the litigants, none of whom had advocated for such a significant jurisprudential shift.

Similar events can be found in the Big Leagues. Ever-vigilant Beth has pointed me to United States v. Evelyn Sineneng-Smith, U.S. Supreme Court case number 19-67, issued this month, reversing a Ninth Circuit opinion. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Ginsburg remanded the case for an adjudication of the appeal attuned to the case shaped by the parties rather than the case designed by the appeals panel. Ouch. RBG noted the issue addressed in this post when she added A court is not hidebound by the precise arguments of counsel, but the Ninth Circuits radical transformation of this case goes well beyond the pale. Ouch again.

Often, these appellate gyrations may be a practical necessity. Trial courts and litigators need to know the bases for the reviewing courts decisions. Thats why we have written opinions. The reviewing courts obligation to oversee the states jurisprudence and reach sound conclusions will sometimes lead it to a rationale that those below did not see coming. It only makes sense for the ultimate reviewing court to be explicit in those rationales. As Beth and Matts treatise notes, the ultimate responsibility for jurisdictional oversight lies with the jurisdictions court of last resort, though intermediate reviewing courts also have a role. Elizabeth Brooks Scherer & Matthew Nis Leerberg, North Carolina Appellate Practice and Procedure, 2.05[4].

Unanswered is the question how far a reviewing court may (or must) go to reach a correct result. Ellis illuminates the risks inherent in a courts decision to reach what it sees to be the right outcome. The Court of Appeals majority found for the State on a legal basis that the State deliberately had not argued on appeal and later explicitly rejected when in the Supreme Court. In other words, the Court of Appeals majority reached beyond the issues briefed for a result it thought correct, but no one else did, including the beneficiary of the courts reaching.

Litigants and trial judges would surely like to know the limitations, if any, on the reviewing courts ability to look beyond the issues the parties have chosen to present. The process illustrated here in Ellis can be frustrating for those involved in a case who were giving it their best effort but were unexpectedly second-guessed by the reviewing court.

Should the parties be notified and given the opportunity to be heard when the reviewing court is considering a theory that no one argued? While that sounds sensible, implementing it would be a jolt to the cultures of both of North Carolinas appellate courts, at least as existed when I was there. The judges and justices rarely discussed cases before they were calendared, so the panels did not know the outcome and rationale of a case until the judges or justices discussed it in conference and voted on the resolution. Only then could supplemental briefing be ordered if the court was considering going in a direction unanticipated by the parties.

What are the lessons from this case? For one, if you are of a mind to tell a trooper or officer that they are Number 1, use your index finger.

Has something like this ever happened to you? Can you recall any opinions where the appellate courts admitted that they were deciding the appeal based on a theory not argued in any of the appellate briefs? Or where the reviewing court went off on a frolic of its own sub silentio?

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How to achieve financial independence in your small business – Business MattersBusiness Matters

Posted: at 5:04 pm

The COVID19 pandemic has affected lives and economies at an astonishing pace.

Although experts predict an unprecedented economic recession, challenging times should be no more than opportunities for small business owners.

With this goal, making a strategy should be a natural response to events. From creating an emergency support fund to hiring employees and get the help you need, all options should be considered. This includes the federal low-interest loan, although it can be hard to repay. Crisis management requires staying focused as a vital step. This will allow you to make objective decisions and fill yourself and your team with confidence.

The ultimate goal when owning a small business is achieving financial independence. This is when you will start to feel that this is truly your business and that you are on the path to success.

In order to get there, its necessary for you to overcome obstacles and adjust the way in which you see things and change your perspective. Here are eight instrumental steps to get the financial freedom you have been looking for in your small business.

The decision to start saving money to attain financial freedom should be a no return point as a small business owner. Every risk and measure taken to achieve that goal shall be executed with effort and determination. You might have to apply for an online payday loan or business cash advance which is a form of short term financing used to help with a companys immediate financing needs. A small business can usually apply and get a preapproval within an hour or two by providing a minimal amount of personal and business financial documentation. A small business payday loan can then be funded very quickly, with the money deposited into your companys account within days, if not the same day.

It is crucial to not get carried away by external influences because these sacrifices are not easy to do, and not everybody is up to it. It would be like adapting to a fitness nutritional lifestyle.

The first few steps are small changes in your daily meals and later on, the necessary strategies will come naturally.

A vital thing is the acknowledgment of yourself and your business. All the info you can gather will help you know best what are your strengths and weaknesses for this process.

Taxes and investment sheets, financial balances, insurance outcomes and covering, and other business documents will help you develop a plan that suits you according to your expenses and incomes. This is how those adjustments become truly effective.

You must set your goals and objectives in a way that these can be met. Your financial business goals -and the way to achieve them- should be as clear as water is.

Establishing savings accounts and investments should be the number one priority. Moreover, take everything (profits, expenses, clients and employees satisfaction, pricing of your product or services) into consideration while planning.

Smart decisions require preparation. For a goal to be achieved, small goals need to be reached first! Fill all the gaps along the way.

Despite experts recommending to keep minimal insurance cover (to lower the business expenses rate), the truth is that it is wise to constantly review your coverage to protect all of your assets.

Another good way to keep long-term savings is through retirement plans. If you dont have full-time employees, a solo 401k plan could be a great start.

However, if your small business doesnt qualify for a solo 401k, a Simple IRA will do the job.

Retirement plans have also a great plus; they are the best way to shield your business income from excessive taxes.

If feeling unsure while choosing a retirement plan or if you dont understand their implications- hire an insurance agent and get professional advice.

Dont just wait for something to happen to start saving. Whether you are waiting on market growth or buying resources for your business, if in your current situation you handle a tight budget, try to find a way to raise your income.

Marketing experts convinced us of the necessity of having good debt. However, there isnt such a thing. Financial independence implies you dont owe anything, to anyone, independently of if it is for a good reason. Try to pay-off debts as soon as possible.

Do not focus on a single action; it should be a whole system in motion. Analyze your expenses pattern and control unnecessary spending. Determine which investments are better for your business, find new clients, avoid problematic clients and employees, and renew your sales plans.

Design a whole plan for managing your small business with the lowest expenses rate possible and a high income.

Make sure your career is on its path to success. As Benjamin Franklin said, An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You should become knowledgeable about financial matters so that you can invest in yourself and see the fruits of your effort.

Eventually, your income will increase because youll diversify how you make money. Gaining more and maintaining a low expenses rate will take you closer to the main goal.

Set up a system, a way you and your business can run with a monthly or weekly budget. Continuously refocus your goal and keep track of your accomplishments, and above all, build attainable goals.

Smart investing creates second, third, and infinite sources of additional financial income. It is risky because of market fluctuations, but it is important to invest despite what other businesses might be doing.

If the market feels unstable, reduce your investments in equities and diversify across several types of investments like stocks, cash, and real state. This is a great way to protect yourself from unexpected loss

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Easy Investing Secrets to an Early Retirement – May 14, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:04 pm

Building sufficient financial resources to retire early may sound like a dream, but making that dream come true is not as hard as it may sound. The main thing is simply to save more money each month. No big deal, right? Well ...

Typically, advisors peg 15% to 20% of total income saved each month as a goal - but if you want to retire earlier, you probably have to ratchet that number up to 40% or 50% of your income. Not a feat easily accomplished when you review your take into account that a good portion of your paycheck goes to essential, non-negotiable lifestyle items. However, if you are willing to make some serious lifestyle changes and sacrifices, it's possible.

A relatively new movement called Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) has been developed around this "sacrifice and over-save now to retire early" concept. FIRE followers develop strict savings programs (up to 75% of income) and make associated sacrifices like living in small apartments, walking to work every day, restrictive diets, and so on. This path may be too restrictive for many, but the mindset offers some takeaways that might be worth considering.

First, stick with the fundamentals of long-term growth investing: Choose a diversified portfolio of stocks with exposure to different styles, sizes, sectors, and regions.

To accelerate the retirement investment cycle, you can construct a portfolio designed with more risk - and the potential for higher returns - but it should still be appropriately diversified to protect against larger than average market drawdowns that can be difficult to recover from and ruin any chance to accomplish your early retirement goal. There are numerous ways to diversify a portfolio, and how you do so should depend on your age, your risk tolerance, your growth and income needs, and your long-term goals.

After accelerating your savings and setting up an ongoing plan, invest your savings into your portfolio at the earliest opportunity. Try not to attempt to time the market. Stay put, and let the compounding characteristics of the markets do its work to help grow your retirement wealth exponentially over time.

Growth stocks with low beta, strong earnings estimates, positive sales growth, and expected future growth are an excellent way to determine investable growth stocks for your retirement.

Zacks offers investors useful rankings for lower risk growth stocks for retirement portfolios. The following are a few selections that merit a closer look: Meridian Bancorp (EBSB), Virtu Financial (VIRT) and H&R Block (HRB). Earnings and revenue has seen growth of at least 5% or higher over the last five years, with a beta of 1 or lower.

Do You Know the Top 9 Retirement Investing Mistakes?

Whether you're planning to retire early or not, don't let investing mistakes derail your plans.

If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more, click the link to download our free report, 9 Retirement Mistakes that will Ruin Your Retirement.

This report will help you steer clear of the most common mistakes, like trying to time the market, lack of diversification in your portfolio, and many more. Get Your FREE Guide NowHR Block Inc (HRB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMeridian Bancorp Inc (EBSB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportVirtu Financial Inc (VIRT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.

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Advisor Group And Woodbury Financial Recruit Financial Professionals Joseph Di Biasi And Gregory McElheny, Facilitate Succession-Driven Merger With…

Posted: at 5:04 pm

OAKDALE, Minn., May 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Advisor Group, the nation's largest network of independent wealth management firms, and Woodbury Financial Services today announced the successful recruitment of two independent financial professionals with combined client assets of $170 million. The financial professionals, Joseph Di Biasi and Gregory McElheny, joined Woodbury as part of a transaction in which they acquired Life Certain Wealth Strategies, a five-person Woodbury-affiliated practice with $240 million in client assets. The transaction will enable Life Certain's President and Founder, Herb White, to execute his succession plan and successfully retire from active management of the business according to his preferred timeline.

Woodbury Financial Services is part of Advisor Group, which also includes FSC Securities Corporation, Investacorp, Inc., KMS Financial Services, Inc., Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., SagePoint Financial, Inc., Securities America, Inc., Securities Service Network and Triad Advisors, LLC.

The combined practice, which will retain the name Life Certain Wealth Strategies and now has total client assets of $410 million, has offices in Greenwood Village, Colorado (in the Denver area) and Colorado Springs and comprises the following financial professionals:

Advisor Group's Succession & Acquisition team, led by Senior Vice President of Succession & Acquisition Todd Fulks, JD, played a key role in facilitating the transaction and recruitment of Mr. Di Biasi and Mr. McElheny, as did Woodbury Regional Vice President Nathan Anderson.

Mr. White began identifying and evaluating potential merger partners in hopes of bringing strong successor candidates to his practice in 2019. Mr. Di Biasi and Mr. McElheny were clearly drawn to the resources, support and flexibility provided by Advisor Group and the Woodbury platform, and signaled that they would be open to joining Woodbury in order to minimize potential disruptions to Mr. White's practice and clients. Mr. Fulks and Mr. Anderson worked closely with the principals to help structure the transaction, assist in securing financing, facilitate a seamless transition for Mr. Di Biasi and Mr. McElheny, and resolve questions and concerns along the way.

Rick Fergesen, President and CEO of Woodbury, said, "Welcoming two seasoned independent financial professionals such as Joe Di Biasi and Greg McElheny to the Woodbury family is a tremendous win in itself. In addition to this great news, we are very pleased that we were able to play a critical role in facilitating a win-win transaction that will enable one of our highly-successful veteran financial professionals, Herb White, to realize his succession planning goals while ensuring that his clients are well cared for. We're in the business of providing financial professionals with the support they need to grow and succeed over the long term. This merger and recruitment do just that, and we are proud to have helped it reach completion."

Mr. White said, "From my perspective, it was crucial to find succession partners who were a great fit for the culture we had built over the years at Life Certain Wealth Strategies, both within our organization and with our clients. At the same time, it was equally important for me to stay with Woodbury, which has been an indispensable part of our success since we joined their platform nearly two decades ago. This transaction and succession plan gives me the reassurance of knowing that my clients will be in great hands after I retire, and I could not be more thrilled to work with Joe and Greg moving forward."

Mr. Di Biasi said, "Transitions can be difficult without the right expert resources and guidance to smooth the process. In this case, we went through both an affiliation move and a merger at the same time, and we could not have done it without the teams at Advisor Group and Woodbury empowering all of us to stay focused on our clients and businesses from start to finish. Woodbury and Advisor Group's experience, expertise, and responsiveness were invaluable to us and helped us establish a powerful combined business that will help our clients effectively pursue their goals for years to come."

Jamie Price, President and CEO of Advisor Group, concluded, "We are very pleased to bring Joe Di Biasi and Greg McElheny to Advisor Group and Woodbury, and to contribute to the success of Herb White's succession plan. This was a complex transaction that would never have been possible without the diligent collaboration of both parties, the support of Nathan Anderson and other senior Woodbury executives and the guidance of Todd Fulks and his experts on Advisor Group's Succession & Acquisition team. At Advisor Group, we stand, as always, in our financial professionals' corner, and our teamwork and dedication were on full display here as we worked to ensure that this transaction was a win for all involved."

About Woodbury FinancialWoodbury Financial Services, Inc. is part of Advisor Group, the nation's largest network of independent wealth management firms, and is a Registered Investment Advisor, member FINRA and SIPC. Woodbury Financial has nearly 1,600 affiliated independent financial advisors and is headquartered in Oakdale, MN. Woodbury employs a client-driven approach focused on meeting the unique demands of businesses and individuals. For more information visit https://www.joinwoodbury.com/.

About Advisor GroupAdvisor Group, Inc. is the nation's largest network of independent wealth management firms, serving approximately 11,300 financial professionals and overseeing over $450 billion in client assets. The firm is mission-driven to support the strategic role that financial professionals can play in the lives of their clients. Securities and investment advisory services are offered through its affiliated broker-dealers: FSC Securities Corporation; Royal Alliance Associates, Inc.; SagePoint Financial, Inc.; Woodbury Financial Services, Inc.; Securities America, Inc.; Triad Advisors, LLC.; Investacorp, Inc.; KMS Financial Services, Inc.; and Securities Service Network, LLC, members FINRA and SIPC, and Registered Investment Advisers. Cultivating a spirit of entrepreneurship and independence, Advisor Group champions the enduring value of financial professionals and is committed to being in their corner every step of the way. For more information, visit https://www.advisorgroup.com.

Media InquiriesJoseph Kuo / Chris ClemensHaven Tower Group424 317 4851 or 424 317 4854jkuo@haventower.comor cclemens@haventower.com

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Advisor Group And Woodbury Financial Recruit Financial Professionals Joseph Di Biasi And Gregory McElheny, Facilitate Succession-Driven Merger With...

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LesLTC Announces a Virtual Educational Seminar on May 21st to Remove the Threat of Medicaid, Nursing Homes, and Long-Term Care Event – Press Release -…

Posted: at 5:04 pm

Les Robinson created a virtual education seminar on May 21st that will emphasize on How to protect Money from Medicaid.

Les Robinson CLTC, the founder of LesLTC, is pleased to announce that he will be conducting an virtual educational seminar on May 21st at 6 PM to tackle the topic of the threat of Medicaid, nursing homes, and long-term care on your money.

This planning structure aims to bring together long term care and retirement planning to safeguard people from losing their money and independence to long-term care as well as Medicaid event. This is the goal of Les Robinsons virtual education seminar on May 21st at 6 PM. Click on link to sign up for the seminar https://calendly.com/les-robinson/may-21-remove-the-threat-of-medicaid-to-your-money?month=2020-05

A person can start their path to secure and more fruitful retirement and long-term care plan that will enable them to profit from pre-planning. This is important rather than waiting to begin the plan much later that could take longer to execute, waste valued time, and would cost clients a huge amount of their money.

The outcome will be more fruitful retirement, reducing the future care expenses of the client, and lessen the distress of the unknown. One can safeguard their legacy, family, income, and money, not depending on their family for money in a long-term care & Medicaid event.

The LesLTC Process helps to reduce the greatest threat to a persons retirement plan and will protect their personal choices and financial independence; remove the hidden financial threats to their money by Medicaid and inflation; understand the consequences of not having a plan on your money and income stream; how to avoid Medicaid spend down mistakes and maintaining eligibility for Medicaid; what other long -term care options available and so much more.

According to Les Robinson, For more than twenty-five years in the industry, I have been helping a lot of people reduce their emotional and financial liability to their loved ones from a care event. I developed the LesLTC Process to deliver long-term care and retirement planning together into one planning process.

People looking to set up an information meeting with Les Robinson CLTC: click here to set up a 10 minutes meeting.

About Les Robinson

Les Robinson, CLTC is a long-term care agent, special care planner, educator, media resource, recent board member of FPA. He was also the co-author of Essentials of Long-Term Care Planning. Robinson also was part of the Genworth Long Term Care E application development team New York State insurance instructor at Bryant and Stratton College, for CE and licensing for Life and Health.

To learn more about the educational seminar, call Les Robinson at 1-800-875-1040 or send him an email at les@lesltc.com. Visit his official website at http://lesltc.com/ to get a long-term care quote.

Media ContactCompany Name: LesLTCContact Person: Les Robinson CLTCEmail: Send EmailPhone: 1-800-875-1040Country: United StatesWebsite: http://lesltc.com

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HTK Adopts AdvicePay to Support Enhanced Financial Planning Solutions – Business Wire

Posted: at 5:04 pm

BOZEMAN, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AdvicePay, the leading fee payment-processing platform designed exclusively for financial professionals, announced today an enterprise online billing and payment solution for top broker-dealer and registered investment adviser (RIA), Hornor, Townsend & Kent, LLC (HTK). The solution and partnership supports the expansion of HTKs fee-based financial planning platform and is available to HTK financial professionals who are investment adviser representatives (IARs).

As part of this ground-breaking solution, AdvicePay is enabling a new era for HTK financial professionals to offer subscription-based services as well as conveniently accept online credit card payments for traditional financial planning.

Financial planning is undergoing a fundamental shift from being compensated to implement products, to being paid for the advice itself, said veteran financial advisor and AdvicePay co-founder, Michael Kitces. Alternative pricing arrangements, such as subscription models or hourly arrangements, are becoming increasingly prevalent to compensate financial professionals for their advice, which is why we designed AdvicePay. We are excited to be working with HTK to implement this next-generation approach.

As financial planning services gain momentum, HTK has prioritized the enhancement and expansion of these service offerings within our RIA program, said Tim Donahue, president and CEO, HTK. We knew we needed the right technology to support the growth of financial planning and found that in AdvicePay. We are proud to offer our financial professionals and clients the ability to use this efficient and secure payment solution. In particular, we see tremendous value in the potential to leverage AdvicePay for subscription-based services, which are expected to become increasingly in demand within our industry.

Most online retail billing platforms have significant limitations for the financial advice industry. AdvicePay built its system specifically to meet compliance requirements and serve financial professionals and their clients.

The AdvicePay Enterprise platform provides dedicated tools built specifically for organizations that support large numbers of financial professionals and must manage key oversight and compliance requirements, said Alan Moore, co-founder and CEO, AdvicePay. We are seeing growing demand across the industry from both clients and financial professionals who want to engage in financial planning, and be able to simply charge and get paid directly for the advice being delivered. AdvicePay is uniquely positioned to enable these types of relationships, and we will continue to invest in the AdvicePay platform to make it even more useful and valuable.

To learn more about HTKs flexible platform, visit http://www.htk.com. To learn more about AdvicePays billing and payment solution, visit http://www.advicepay.com.

About AdvicePay

Established by well-known financial advisors Michael Kitces and Alan Moore, AdvicePay is the only billing and payment processing platform created specifically for fee-for-service financial planning. Financial advisors benefit from efficient invoicing and payment workflows designed exclusively to support their businesses, including up-to-date compliance and data security management. Users can issue agreements for client e-signature, accept ACH and credit cards, bill hourly or one-time fees, or establish recurring retainer or subscription billing compliantly all through the AdvicePay system.

About HTK

Hornor, Townsend & Kent (HTK) is a broker-dealer and registered investment adviser supporting independent financial professionals across the U.S. For more than 50 years, HTK has been the trusted partner supporting financial professionals on their path to success. HTK is committed to offering financial professionals with the independence to build their practice their way through the delivery of a flexible platform, leading solutions and personalized service. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Hornor, Townsend & Kent, LLC (HTK). Member FINRA/SIPC. HTK is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. 600 Dresher Road, Horsham, PA 19044, 800-873-7637, http://www.htk.com.

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In San Francisco, Working From Home Is Here To Stay. The Techies Might Not Be. – BuzzFeed News

Posted: at 5:04 pm

When Twitter, a $22 billion company with a headquarters in the center of San Francisco, told employees they could work from home permanently on Tuesday, techies in the Bay Area began to wonder why they were there at all.

After all, why put up with one of the most expensive places in the country to live, where the streets are famously unclean and vomiting anarchists block the tech shuttles, when you could keep your job and not do that?

Moved to the Bay Area just weeks before quarantine; can't meet new people, team was already remote, tech mindspace lives on Twitter, SF streets be sketchy, rent is ridiculous, I still use straws, Eva Beylin, who works on ecosystem strategy and is an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Graph, which builds APIs, tweeted Tuesday afternoon. Why am I even here?

Tech workers who have grown up in or migrated to San Francisco and its environs enjoy access to jobs, venture capital, and networking. Their numbers and wealth have changed the region, contributing to rent increases, the proliferation of pricey restaurants, and tax receipts that have enriched local governments. But as shelter-in-place continues, some are wondering why they remain in the Bay Area and an outward migration may follow.

I am definitely thinking of leaving the Bay Area for the next three to six months during quarantine, Beylin told BuzzFeed News. I still think being in San Francisco is valuable at least while you're trying to meet new people in tech, expand knowledge, cowork, etc. so I will likely come back to the Bay Area for at least a short period, but I don't feel the urgency to be here as much.

The region is expensive with rent in San Francisco more than double the US average, and Oakland and other surrounding cities only somewhat more affordable and a tech workers salary could go much further elsewhere. Beylin said she was looking at a three-bedroom Airbnb in Palm Springs that costs as much as her one-bedroom apartment in San Franciscos Mission district.

Joseph Flaherty, a director at the VC firm Founder Collective, told BuzzFeed News he could see tech workers leaving the Bay Area for more affordable cities if they no longer have to be physically in their offices.

The average call center manager in Houston, probably has a higher material quality of life than does a director-level executive in Boston or certainly in San Francisco, Flaherty said. If there's an arbitrage opportunity, at least for a while, where you could get the San Francisco salary and live in Nashville or Minneapolis, or any of these cities that have a cool cultural vibe, but extraordinarily affordable housing it doesn't strike me as implausible.

On Tuesday, Flaherty tweeted that local governments outside of the Bay Area might take advantage of tech workers newfound ability to work from anywhere: If I were a mayor of an up and coming, mid-sized city I'd offer $500K housing credits to the top 10 VPs at Twitter, he said. If Twitter is just the first domino, imagine the power of being able to kickstart a regional talent hub?

After Twitter's news, people on Hacker News, a forum popular among tech workers, spoke about their desire to leave the Bay Area. If I could keep my current compensation and move to the low cost of living area where my family is located, I would reach financial independence 10-15 years ahead of my current trajectory with Bay Area rents/costs, one said. I'll settle for the minor inconveniences of WFH any day in order to get a decade of my life to spend with family or to work on my own projects.

I couldn't agree more, said another. If I could work from home permanently I would move far far away from where I am currently living. I would get myself a nice condo or small house, and settle in. Currently, where I live, despite the fact that I make almost 30k/year more than the average income, [but] I still can only just afford a one-bedroom apartment spending the suggested 30% of my income.

Not all were convinced. Calling this a trend would be stretching this a bit, another person said. A lot of employees prefer to work from office and are not liking the current WFH situation.

Despite the chatter, there's no indication that Twitter employees are ready to decamp en masse quite yet. I will still work in SF, one Twitter employee told BuzzFeed News. Love it here too much to leave. This is home for me. Though this [decision] allows more flexibility and even playing field for many to be anywhere and get our work done.

Still, if salaries remain high and working from home takes hold, the appeal of the Bay Area could dwindle, and the nature of the region may change as well. I thought moving to SF meatspace would be more valuable to learn more, broaden my perspective of tech and make new connections, Beylin said. But I don't think I actually have to live here to do that, whereas maybe 10 years ago you did.

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The chore wars were about to go nuclear and then a pandemic hit – Women’s Agenda

Posted: at 5:04 pm

As an observer, campaigner and writer on all things domestic democracy (or lack thereof), I have long predicted that the so-called chore wars, the endless battle within heterosexual couples with children about who does the unpaid domestic and care work, were about to go nuclear, culminating in a new reckoning on the home-front.

Not so fun fact: In 2019, a new report released by Men Care, a fatherhood campaign working towards childcare parity in 45 nations, found that the unpaid care gap between men and women had decreased by just seven minutes over the last 15 years. Thats right, just seven minutes.

While women have been making strides to close the gender pay gap, the power gap, and other long-standing gaps, the care gap has barely shifted in a generation. At the current rate of change, it will be another 75 years before women as a group achieve so-called domestic democracy, according to the same report.

For women around the world who consistently do more unpaid care and domestic work than men sometimes up to ten times as much thats alongtime to wait.

Resentment has been bubbling away beneath the surface. More recently, it has boiled over, culminating in a series of viral essays and best-selling books giving voice to womens growing frustration. And that trend led me to conclude that the so-called chore wars, long a series of skirmishes on the feminist frontline (or in pretty much every average household, gender politics aside) was about to go nuclear, bringing about a new reckoning on the home-front.

If #MeToo was a reckoning prompting us to believe women, challenge mens privilege in the workplace, and re-evaluate our cultural tendency to discredit and sideline womens inconvenient stories of abuse, I theorised we were working up to a new reckoning of sorts in regards to the barely shifting unequal distribution of work at home.

And then the pandemic hit.

What will that mean for that much-longed for revolution on the home front? Will it speed up the pace of change, or send most women, particularly those in heterosexual relationships with children, back to the 1950s?

The answer, I suspect, is that it will be a little of both.

Early indications are that the pandemic while it affects men more physically will have a more devasting impact on women in the workplace and in the home. They make up the lions share of so-called front-line essential workers, jobs that tend to be female dominated, undervalued and put them at greater risk. And they have been more affected by virus related job losses, leading the New York Times to claim the looming financial and economic crisis will be a shecession.

In homes, the mass closure of schools, childcare facilities and stay at home orders have contributed to what some are now calling a third shift of unpaid caring and domestic work, a play on sociologist Arlie Hochschilds famous concept of the second shift.

Anecdotally, were hearing that it is women in Australia who are picking up that third shift, though well have more concrete evidence in a few weeks when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases some data on time use as part of its Rapid COVID-19 data dives. Researchers Professor Lyn Craig and Dr. Brendan Churchill at the University of Melbourne are also conducting a survey. (Do your civic duty and take part here.)

In the US, we most certainly know that is the case. Last week, the New York Times published the results of a bombshell survey. Seventy percent of women say theyre fully or mostly responsible for housework during lockdown, and 66 percent say they are responsible for childcare. No great surprise there, at least to no woman I know. Heres the interesting bit: Nearly half of men say they are spending more time home-schooling their children, while only 3 percent of women agree. I know, the cheek! Perhaps you read my column last week telling men to put their home-schooling where their mouth is.

In the short to medium term, I do believe the pandemic will, as some have suggested, send women back to the 1950s, particularly in Australia where women still experience a 14 percent gender pay gap and have some of the highest part-time work rates of women in any OECD country. At this time of great stress and uncertainty, families will make what I have called an economically rational decision to preserve at least one partners full time, higher earnings, which, statistically speaking, is more likely to be the male partners.

And thats an indication of how long-standing structural inequalities that we never shifted are combining with the pressures of the pandemic a time when women can no longer outsource caring and domestic work to (usually female, undervalued) cleaners and carers to demonstrate just how fragile progress is, even those meagre seven minutes.

Jennifer Medina and Lisa Lerer wrote in the New York Times in a piece entitled, When Moms Zoom Meeting Is The One That Has to Wait that the way weve been able to MacGyver a career as a woman is completely under attack by a global pandemic. Very true.

That said, some have economists have theorised that its not all bad, and I agree. Much like World War II and the advent of Rosie the Riveter gave women a taste of what it was like to enter the workplace and have financial independence, which helped pave the way for the major changes of the 70s and 80s when women entered the workforce in large numbers, the longer term impact of large numbers of men now at home with their children (especially those who are genuinely carrying the lions share of the domestic load because their partners are now essential workers) could prove equally transformative.

Ina new research paper, Matthias Doepke and Jane Olmstead-Rumsey of Northwestern University, Titan Alon of the University of California San Diego and Michle Tertilt of the University of Mannheim predictthat this historic moment could forever shift dynamics in families, leading to greater gender equality down the road.

Down the road, emphasis mine.

Will that be swift enough to satisfy the countless women who were already hankering for a revolution long before the pandemic added insult to injury by saddling them with an additional third shift. Maybe. Maybe not.

Kristine Ziwica is a regular contributor. She tweets @KZiwica

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Chess Thrives Online Despite Pandemic – The New York Times

Posted: at 5:03 pm

It was 8 a.m. Tuesday in St. Louis when the American chess grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, ranked second best in the world, moved his pawn to E4.

It was 6:30 p.m., and over 8,000 miles away in Nashik, India, when his opponent, Vidit Gujrathi, responded from his home, just seconds after Caruanas opening: pawn to E5.

And so began the Online Nations Cup, an unprecedented international team chess tournament borne of the coronavirus pandemic.

While the outbreak has forced most sports around the world to shut down, chess has not only found a way to carry on it is thriving in some ways. In the past several weeks there has been a surge in grass roots participation in chess to go along with a few high-profile professional events online.

This past week, the Online Nations Cup brought 36 of the worlds top players together in their homes across multiple time zones, from Brooklyn to Beijing. They have been moving pieces on their laptop chessboards in a competition that, at its core, is the same game they would contest under normal conditions.

The tournament can be seen on multiple platforms, has a record purse of $180,000 and is being broadcast in a dozen languages.

It is one of the biggest things weve ever done on chess.com, said Daniel Rensch, the co-founder of the site, who commentates on the action live.

Video game versions of most sports entail entirely different skill sets from the real thing; manipulating a remote device from a couch bears little resemblance to being sacked by a 300-pound lineman. But online chess is essentially the same game, and when other sports were halted in March under a worldwide shutdown, fans were left starving for something to watch and do.

With newfound time on their hands, people have turned to online chess by the millions.

Participation online has doubled, at least doubled, said Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of FIDE, chesss world governing body, which is co-hosting the Online Nations Cup with chess.com.

The flood of enthusiasm has left chess.com and the other big chess websites like Chess24 and Lichess scrambling to keep up. Nick Barton, the director of business development for chess.com, said server capacity had to be increased to meet demand, technicians and engineers were asked to work overtime, and others were hired to handle the global crush.

The servers twice went down briefly once by design and officials could virtually track the spread of the virus through the geography of the new sign-ups.

It has been sad in a way, because you could see it move country by country, Rensch said. Italy went from 4,000 per day to 10,000 and it just swept across as different countries dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Barton said chess.com is on target to experience five years of growth in three months. In April, 1.5 million joined, compared to the more typical 670,000 new members recorded in January.

Local clubs moved online after their physical locations closed, drawing new members.

There has been a huge flock to chess clubs, Barton said. People can build virtual communities as a way of emulating real life.

The shutdowns meant that most live tournaments that are usually held in arenas, hotel ballrooms and convention halls were canceled, and for most there was no replacement. When the biennial Chess Olympiad a major team event scheduled for August in Moscow was scrubbed until next year, FIDE and chess.com ramped up a concept they had been discussing for years: a new online team event.

They put it together in roughly three weeks, and most of the best grandmasters in the world signed up, save for Magnus Carlsen, who is ranked No. 1 and just finished hosting his own unique online event recently.

Carlsen won that event on May 3, and when it was over, Jan Gustafsson, the grandmaster who was commentating, signed off by thanking fans for watching. He added: Not that you guys have any other choices. Lets face it, theres no other sports going on.

But there is real chess and two days later, the Online Nations Cup began as the richest online team event ever, with the winning team sharing $48,000. It is a double round robin that runs over six days with six teams the United States, China, India, Russia, Europe and one called The Rest of the World. The top two teams meet in the final on Sunday.

There have been a couple of minor glitches, such as when Team Europes Zoom conferencing went down briefly on Day 2. But after four rounds with 24 games per day 12 at a time this tournament, and the Carlsen event before it, have helped to quench a chess enthusiasts thirst.

Theres a lot of games, a lot of drama and thats amazing, a somewhat exhausted Rensch said on Wednesday, after broadcasting the third and fourth rounds. Sometimes it can get a little crazy, but its been super exciting.

Four players from each team compete in each round, seen via webcam in their offices, bedrooms and kitchens. The format is rapid chess with the same 25-minute time control used in world championship tiebreakers. The starting time was designed to accommodate so many different times zones: Rensch is in his studio in Phoenix, ready to broadcast before play begins at 6 a.m. there, but for the players in China, it is 9 p.m. when play starts.

Each team has a captain Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, captains Europe and they decide each days roster. One woman must play in each round for each team, and each team also has one male and one female alternate.

Involving women in tournaments like this is a great idea, Dinara Saduakassova, a former junior champion, wrote in an email before her first match for the World team on Wednesday. I would like to see more and more girls and women playing chess.

Her opponent in that first match was the U.S.s Irina Krush, who played from her home in Brooklyn. Saduakassova is playing from her home in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, where she set up a mobile router as backup. Wi-Fi is as important to these events as bases on a baseball diamond.

Anish Giri, a Dutch grandmaster playing from his parents home in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, said that he is obsessed with his connectivity.

I was playing in a smaller online tournament and the Wi-Fi went out, Giri said in a telephone interview recently. I was furious. I did a lot of research and I upgraded everything. Now my Wi-Fi is absolutely insane.

Another key issue is fair play. No one expects the top players to cheat, but FIDE and chess.com, which invest heavily in anti-cheating methods, still must ensure the integrity of the tournament. So, an arbiter and a proctor are assigned to monitor every player, and multiple cameras can show every angle, including all the laptop screens, at all times.

At live tournaments, players are permitted to walk around and go to the bathroom, but in online competitions players are all but glued to their laptops. That affected the tactics in at least one game.

I was just trying to play as quickly as possible because I kind of had to use the restroom, Caruana told Rensch in an interview after his win over Gujrathi.

There are other subtle differences, too. Some of the intensity is lost in online chess with opponents sitting thousands of miles apart.

Dvorkovich, the FIDE president who is also the captain of the World team, said that makes it harder for some players to concentrate.

We are missing the emotional part when people meet and shake hands, Dvorkovich said. People love when they look over the board into the eyes of their opponent. People are missing that. But this is a very good substitute.

It has been for millions of amateurs, too.

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The TD Show Episode 3 – Triple Occurrence of Position – uschess.org

Posted: at 5:03 pm

The TD Show

This weeks The TD Show topic will be Triple Occurrence of Position and will air at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific on Thursday, May 14 on the US Chess Twitch channel at twitch.tv/uschess.

The show will be hosted by NTD Chris Bird and this weeks guest will be NTD Brian Yang. We will discuss triple occurrence of position claims, commonly known as three-fold repetition, Chapter 1, Section 14C of the US Chess Rules. Well go over the claims procedure, understanding when a valid claim is being made, verifying the claim and many other important aspects along with providing some examples of valid and invalid claims.

For folks tuning in live, Twitch will provide some interaction between the show and the audience, allowing you to ask questions in real-time and well also finish each episode with some light-hearted fun in the form of trivia based on the topic discussed. However, if you cannot tune in live, each episode will be archived in the TD Videos playlist at the US Chess YouTube Channel.

Replay last weeks episode here:

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