Open Vistas Financial Solutions’ Post

Test your financial know-how with the latest edition of The Financial Riddler! Can you solve these challenging financial puzzles? Sharpen your skills and have some fun along the way! Read more: https://ow.ly/jpJC50Tn9JW #FinancialRiddler #Finance #Puzzles #LarryKotlikoff #FinancialEducation

An estate plan is a key part of a bigger financial plan. With current tax laws changing soon, preparing for your transfer of wealth should be a bigger priority. Get in touch if you need help getting started.

Data from the Office of the Public Guardian reveals 50,000 power of attorney applications were rejected in last financial year. Common reasons for this were: misspelling names, signing in the wrong order, omitting information or giving illegible information, making sloppy corrections and making confusing or conflicting instructions. Read more here: https://zurl.co/WwsA At arken.legal, we know that accuracy is everything. Our estate planning solutions help professionals draft LPAs with confidence, reducing errors and rejections. Ensure your clients' futures are in safe hands. Find out how we can help: https://zurl.co/ulnt

We are proud to unveil this year's U.K. A-List! This is a ranking of law firms based on their revenue per lawyer, pro bono commitment, racial diversity, gender diversity and associate satisfaction. In other words, it takes into account financial performance but also a whole lot more. Lawyers often complain they shouldn't be judged by profit per equity partner alone, and I agree, so here is an empirical measure that demonstrates how they compare across a series of U.K. rankings. It goes against perceived wisdom though... most of the firms that made the grade are U.S.-based. New firms feature at the top this time around. Well done to Covington & Burling LLP, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and the other 18 firms to make the list! #Ranking #LawFirms #Diversity #ProBono #Culture

The 2023 Report Card on the Diversity of California’s Legal Profession provides insights into the demographic changes among California's attorneys since 2019, introduces new analyses on Latino and Asian subgroups, examines the diversity and reasons behind attorneys transitioning to inactive status over the past decade https://lnkd.in/gqPZUSJj

The folks dedicated to maintaining inequity in the US have been BUSY, y'all. https://buff.ly/3V5eSAs Earlier this month a federal judge ruled that a federal agency, the MBDA which focused on addressing in historical inequitable access to capital and information for businesses owned by people of color and women, cannot no longer focus on this inequity and must open up its services to all races. This agency was created in 1969 by President Nixon (surprise surprise!) and has help countless businesses owned by women and people of color get started and get access to capital and contracts. Despite research that shows there are real structural barriers for businesses owned by people of color https://buff.ly/49FSKRr https://buff.ly/4c7m3Ov some people seem to want to dismantle ANY and ALL efforts to address these inequities. If you study history, you know these inequities were created and supported by government laws and policies. The government has a duty to repair the harm it created. Agencies like the MBDA were one (small) attempt at repair. But even though an overwhelming amount of capital flows to businesses owned by White men, there are some that seem to believe they deserve ALL of it. https://buff.ly/3NqyglO And I think with all the push back and blow back we're seeing about programs like the MBDA, I think its time to remember what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If financial organizations that are "open to all races" somehow manage to give 95% of their capital to white men, then these programs can take a note from their book. If the Wells Fargos and the Goldmans and the B of As can "objectively" under -esource communities of color and over-resource White men, these programs focused on people of color can also objectively "over-resource" people of color. Let 95% of the capital from these programs flow to people of color. If these VC firms can do it, so can these programs. Time to shake things up.

https://lnkd.in/ga2yvRGu "In this divided era of American politics, the nation turns its eyes toward an unprecedented presidential election, with two of the oldest leading candidates in history — one of whom is facing federal and state indictments related to efforts to overturn the previous election. The 14th Annual American Values survey, conducted by PRRI in partnership with the Brookings Institution, examines Americans’ attitudes about the leading candidates for president, potential support for third-party candidates, and the issues that define these partisan and cultural fault lines. The survey illuminates Americans’ concerns about the overall direction of the country, the state of the economy and inflation, public education, social connectedness, and the broader health of our democracy. Additionally, the survey highlights attitudes about abortion, gender and LGBTQ issues, immigration, foreign policy, Christian nationalism, and support for QAnon, among other issues. State of the Country The Right or Wrong Direction? More than three-fourths of Americans (77%) believe that the country is going in the wrong direction, compared with only 22% who believe the country is going in the right direction. The vast majority of Republicans (90%) and independents (81%) say the country is going in the wrong direction, compared with 59% of Democrats. Most Americans, regardless of religious tradition, see the country as going in the wrong direction: 92% of white evangelical Protestants, 82% of white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants, 79% of white Catholics, 75% of religiously unaffiliated Americans, and two-thirds of Black Protestants (68%), non-Christian religious Americans (66%), and Hispanic Catholics (64%). There are no significant differences with respect to views on the direction of the country by gender, race, generation, education, region, or whether respondents live in rural, suburban, and urban areas."

This summary was an interesting read - a “What If” thought experiment of designing a society from scratch based on two key principles, protecting fundamental rights and liberties for all and ensuring inequalities benefit everyone, especially the least advantaged. https://lnkd.in/gPipU2wd

A Superb Analysis of Advance Notice Bylaws https://conta.cc/3XANuK8

#racism https://lnkd.in/erzfjhW4 Project 2025, a widely criticized policy document, is a conservative blueprint for a second Trump term.