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Is Your Relationship With Money Holding You Back?

Mel H. Abraham, the host of The Affluent Entrepreneur Show, often hears clients tell him, “I’m having some money issues because …” What follows “because” could be any number of reasons, but in Abraham’s book, money issues are often a symptom and not the actual problem. “The fact is your current financial situation is a result of your past decisions,” he explains.

So, when his clients take a moment to honestly examine their decisions and habits surrounding money, he often sees some of the seeds of where they are today — things like how much they did or didn’t save, what they typically spend their money on, and whether their relationship with money is toxic.

The reality, says Abraham, is that we are often conditioned to have limiting beliefs about money from a very young age. Money is not something we talk about or are taught about in school. And unless you intentionally seek to learn about money, your primary source of learning is observation. “The question, though, is: Who are you observing?” Abraham asks.

Most of our money education comes from our surroundings, aka parents, friends, and neighbors, as well as conversations we’ve overheard or what the media has told us. “Were they the best source of financial information and financial education?”

Based on these observations, we unconsciously create beliefs about money, and these beliefs form what Abraham refers to as our “money identity.” That identity could spur from things as simple as hearing a parent say, “We can’t afford that,” which could lead you to start believing that money is scarce and that you need to be afraid of spending any money at all.

You could have grown up hearing that “people who have money are greedy,” which might make you not want to work as diligently, or that “money is not important,” which can lead to brushing off the financial side of your life.

As you get older, these limiting beliefs can intensify. And Thomas Creel, the founder and owner of Creel Financial LLC, says these common toxic money thoughts can lead to everything from preventing you from asking for a raise you deserve to overspending, putting off saving for retirement, or staying in debt. He shares the following as examples of limited money beliefs:

• “I’ll never be good with money, so why even try?”

• “My friends seem to be doing well with money; something must be wrong with me.”

• “As long as I can pay my bills every month, I can spend the rest on having fun.”

• “Life is too short; I’ll worry about retirement when I get older.”

• “Only going out with my friends and spending money is when we have fun.”

• “My friends wouldn’t want to hang out with me if we did something for free.”

• “My parents never talked about money, so I guess I won’t talk about it either.”

• “If I lose all my money, then my parents will just give me more.”

• “Money is the cause of all the world’s problems; therefore, I never want to be wealthy.”

When it comes to money conversations, Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, the chief science officer for Happy Money, sees many parallels to the evolving conversation about mental health. “In the past, there was more of a stigma that kept many from sharing openly about their mental health struggles,” she says.

“Thankfully, that is changing, but when it comes to conversations about debt, income, and other money topics, it seems that we are still very reluctant to discuss our finances.” Getting in tune with your financial beliefs is one of the very best ways to start repairing your relationship with money.

Here are some expert-backed ways to begin repairing your relationship with money:

View money as just a tool

Creel likes to look at money as a tool in the same way that you would view a hammer as a tool. “You can either use the hammer to build a useful shelf for your home, or you could use the hammer to break things. It’s the same thing with money,” he explains. And just like how you have to learn how to swing a hammer, you have to learn how to use money to build the life you want.

Let go of the belief that “money is complicated or confusing”

“This often leads to not trying to learn about money because you believe it is beyond you — which it isn’t,” says Abraham. But if you don’t do anything to increase your understanding of money, you cannot feel better about your relationship with money. “All money skills are learnable, but without effort, we can fall into complacency, and complacency with money, which is the first step toward crisis,” Abraham explains.

Creel says it’s likely that you weren’t ever formally taught how to handle your money, and this is probably the reason you aren’t managing it correctly. “No one is taught how to use their money, and that’s what gets us into trouble,” he explains. “So, give yourself grace and know that wherever you’re at in your journey with money, there’s always something you can do to get better with it and improve your situation.”

Challenge your upbringing

Creel asks clients to take inventory of their childhood perceptions of money and question any limiting beliefs that they may have formed about it. “Ask yourself, ‘When it came to how my parents handled money, what did I learn from them?’ Talk with close friends and see what answers come up,” he says. This will likely bring up some common themes, like “money is hard to save” or “only people with X type of job have the ability to have a lot of money.” Next, ask yourself, “Am I sure that these beliefs are true?” “What are some other possible outcomes that could be true?” asks Creel.

Create some positive money affirmations

Come up with several empowering affirmations that you can say to yourself every morning that can help change your thoughts around money. Creel suggests the following:

• “I am capable of overcoming any money obstacles that stand in my way.”

• “I’m not poor; I’m just low in wealth right now. That is changing.”

• “I can conquer my money goals.”

Realize that your money situation can change

You might be strapped for cash at the moment, but a new job, a period of diligent saving, or a raise could change all of that, and quickly. “Remembering that much of what feels overwhelming in life, and with finances, is temporary is a good first step to overcoming anxiety when managing your finances,” explains Lauren Anastasio, a certified financial planner at SoFi. Try to shift your mindset and remind yourself that debt doesn’t have to last forever. “Keep your eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel,” Anastasio says.

Find a budget buddy

Understanding that the emotions you are going through are very real, and most likely have been felt by people you know, can be a comfort. “Talking to your partner, a close friend, or family member about what is going on may help you let go of guilt, shame, and financial anxiety,” says Anastasio.

Your budget buddy can be your cheerleader when you need it and motivate you whenever you get frustrated or discouraged. “Whether this person is a financial professional or a trusted friend whose financial choices you admire, he or she can also offer tips to help you be savvier with your money,” Anastasio adds.

Don’t compare yourself to others

Nobody is perfect, and comparison, says Anastasio, is the thief of joy. “It can be difficult to avoid making assumptions about how others are faring financially based on our social-media intake, but just because a friend is posting about their exotic vacations or a neighbor seems to be doing one luxury home renovation after another does not mean they’re experiencing success while you’re not,” she says.

Find the joy

While making money technically involves work, it doesn’t have to be a miserable, nonstop hustle. “Part of healing our relationship to money is not only believing that we are capable of making it, but believing that pursuing money and pursuing happiness, balance, and peace are by no means mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re mutually constitutive,” says Rachel Rodgers, the author of We Should All Be Millionaires and the CEO of Hello Seven.

While it’s true that “money can’t always buy you happiness,” it can definitely fund things like travel, new classes, and other passions you may have, enriching your life, and it can ease stress and increase your freedom. So, as you work through your limiting beliefs and grow throughout your financial journey, Rodgers says to remember to have fun and enjoy yourself along the way.

Tune in to your spending emotions

“Track what you spend and how it makes you feel so you can decide what’s worth it to you and what’s not,” suggests Dunn. Pay attention to how purchases affect your mood in order to identify what Dunn refers to as your “happy and sad spends.” By understanding how your money choices impact your mental and emotional well-being, you can start to shift your spending toward what makes you truly happy — such as paying down debt, savoring a treat, investing in an experience, or helping another person. “This mindfulness approach will help you get even more joy from your happy spends,” Dunn says.

Focus on your goals, not the dollars

When it comes to priorities, money can help you get there but shouldn’t be your primary focus. Robin Saks Frankel, a personal finance expert at Forbes Advisor, says it’s important to take time to evaluate what your goals are, not just with money but also with your life as a whole. “If you want to have a partner and children, for example, or you want to make a career change, those goals cannot be attained or measured by how much money you do or don’t have in the bank,” she says.

By Nicole Pajer

Nicole is a freelance writer published in The New York Times, AARP, Woman’s Day, Parade, Men’s Journal, Wired, Emmy Magazine, and more. Keep up with her adventures on Twitter at @nicolepajer.

Source: Is Your Relationship With Money Holding You Back?

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What’s Happening With Clean Energy Fuels Stock?

Ecosystem/Clean Energy

Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE), a company best known for collecting and transporting renewable natural gas that is produced from the organic waste collected at dairy farms and related sources, has seen its stock rise by about 15% over the last month (about 21 trading days). This compares to the S&P 500 which has gained 4% over the same period.

The recent gains are driven by new contract wins, including a deal to build a hydrogen station and supply liquid hydrogen fuel for Foothill Transit, a southern California bus service. Moreover, Clean Energy Fuels also won a deal to supply about 78 million gallons of liquified natural gas to World Fuel Services for two container ships.

So is CLNE stock poised to grow? Based on our machine learning analysis of trends in the stock price over the last ten years, there is a 54% chance of a rise in CLNE stock over the next month. See our analysis on Clean Energy Fuels Stock Chance of Rise for more details.

Five Days: CLNE -1.9%, vs. S&P 500 4%; Underperformed market

(41% Event Probability)

Clean Energy stock declined -1.9% over a five-day trading period ending 10/20/2021, compared to the broader market (S&P500) which rose 4%.
A change of -1.9% or more over five trading days has a 41% event probability, which has occurred 1021 times out of 2516 times in the last ten years.
Clean Energy stock rose 14% over a ten-day trading period ending 10/20/2021, compared to the broader market (S&P500) which rose 4%.
A change of 14% or more over ten trading days has an 11% event probability, which has occurred 287 times out of 2516 times in the last ten years.

Twenty-One Days: CLNE 15%, vs. S&P 500 4.3%; Outperformed market

(17% Event Probability)

Clean Energy stock rose 15% over a twenty-one-day trading period ending 10/20/2021, compared to the broader market (S&P500) which rose 4%.
A change of 15% or more over twenty-one trading days has a 17% event probability, which has occurred 424 times out of 2516 times in the last ten years.

See our theme on Hydrogen Economy Stocks for an overview of U.S. companies that sell hydrogen fuel cells, related renewable energy equipment, and supply hydrogen gas.

[8/17/2021] Is Clean Energy Fuels Stock A Buy?

Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE), a company best known for collecting and transporting renewable natural gas that is produced from the animal waste collected at dairy farms and related sources, has seen its stock decline by about 8% over the last five trading days and remains down by about 5% over the past month (21 trading days).

In comparison, the S&P 500 was up by roughly 1% over the last week. The recent decline follows the company’s mixed Q2 2021 earnings that were published in early August. While revenues rose 29% year-over-year to $79 million, on the back of higher delivery volumes, net losses widened due to some one-time charges.

So is the stock likely to correct further, or is a rally looking more likely? Per the Trefis Machine Learning Engine, which analyzes historical stock price data, CLNE stock has a roughly equal chance of a rise or a fall over the next month. See our dashboard analysis on CLNE Stock Chances Of Rise for more details.

Now is CLNE stock a buy for longer-term investors? We think it’s worth a look. Although Clean Energy Fuels’ performance in recent years has been mixed, with the company posting little or no revenue growth, things are poised to only get better from here.

There is increasing urgency to fight climate change among governments and big businesses, and this should play to Clean Energy Fuels’ strengths. The company supplies conventional natural gas as well as renewable natural gas, which can be used to power heavy-duty trucks and buses while effectively producing negative greenhouse gas emissions.

Clean Energy’s RNG sales are projected to rise driven by more favorable regulation as well as deals with top energy companies such as Total, and BP, and retail behemoth Amazon, which has a five-year contract to buy RNG from the company. Clean Energy is also investing in bolstering its RNG supply, with plans to increase RNG production to 100% of the total supply mix, up from about 40% last year.

Although the stock trades at a relatively high 5.5x forward revenue, the company’s leading position in the RNG space, the sizable market opportunity, as well as potential regulatory tailwinds could make the stock worth considering.

[6/1/2021] Why Clean Energy Fuels Stock Is Up 3.5x Over The Last Year

Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ NDAQ +1.4%: CLNE), a company best known for supplying natural gas, has seen its stock price rally by over 270% over the last 12 months, with the stock now trading at levels of close to $8 per share, although it remains down from levels of around $18 seen in February.

This compares to the S&P 500 which is up by just about 37% over the last 12 months. The rally comes despite a weak financial performance, with the company recording no growth between 2017 and 2019 as sales stood at levels of around $340 million, with sales declining to about $290 million in 2020.

Clean Energy Fuels has also remained largely unprofitable over its 14 years as a public company. However, the markets are valuing the company much more richly, with its P/S multiple, based on trailing sales, rising from 0.9x in 2017 to about 5.4x currently. So is Clean Energy Fuels stock still a buy? We think it is, for a couple of reasons.

See our analysis on What’s Driving Clean Energy Fuels Stock’s 270% Rally? for an overview of how CLNE’s key financial and valuation metrics have trended.

Clean Energy Fuels is best known for its fueling network of over 540 stations across the United States, engaged in the supply of compressed natural gas, liquified natural gas, and renewable natural gas. However, much of the company’s surging valuation likely comes from its focus on expanding its RNG business.

RNG is produced when organic waste from landfills, dairy farms, and other sources decomposes and releases methane gas, which is then further processed and purified. RNG is viewed as a clean fuel and is classified as a carbon-negative in states such as California, considering its feedstock such as dairy cow waste is a key source of greenhouse gas emissions, and by using this it takes more carbon out of the environment than it produces.

This makes the fuel very attractive from an environmental standpoint and governments are incentivizing this via potentially lucrative federal and state-level renewable credits.

While about 40% of the Clean Energy Fuels gas sold in 2020 came from RNG, it is targeting a 100% mix of RNG at all its fuel stations within the next five years. Major corporations have also shown a lot of interest in the RNG space with Clean Energy Fuels recently signing deals to build renewable natural gas fuel facilities and infrastructure with energy giants Total (NYSE: TOT) and BP (NYSE: BP).

While RNG is used predominately in the transportation sector, powering heavy vehicles, it could eventually be used for electricity generation and even as a raw material for hydrogen production, giving it a massive addressable market.

The outlook for Clean Energy Fuels financials is also looking better. Sales are projected to grow by about 10% each year over 2021 and 2022, per consensus estimates, with the company also likely to break even in 2022. Now although a 5x plus forward revenue multiple is somewhat high, the company’s leading position in the renewable natural gas space, the sizable market potential, regulatory tailwinds under the Biden Administration, and the recent correction make the stock worth a look.

What if you’re looking for a more balanced portfolio instead? Here’s a high-quality portfolio that’s beaten the market consistently since 2016.

Invest with Trefis Market Beating Portfolios

See all Trefis Price Estimates

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Led by MIT engineers and Wall Street analysts, Trefis (through its dashboards platform dashboards.trefis.com) helps you understand how a company’s products, that you

Source: What’s Happening With Clean Energy Fuels Stock?

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LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman on ‘Blitzscaling’ and Unintended Consequences

Linkedin Study/Strategy

“You can’t anticipate everything. You can’t prep for everything,” said LinkedIn co-founder and former CEO Reid Hoffman during an interview Thursday at the 2021 Inc. 5000 Vision Conference. Entrepreneurship, he adds, is like “running really fast through the fog,” so the best thing you can do is equip yourself with learned wisdom from others who have been down the path before you.

Hoffman, who today is a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock, has had a hand in many fast-growth companies that have achieved enormous scale. In addition to LinkedIn, he was a top executive at PayPal, along with Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and others who’ve gone on to become household names. And he’s been an investor in Facebook and Airbnb, among others.

Hoffman also is a three-time bestselling author whose newest book, Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths From the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs, which he co-wrote with June Cohen and Deron Triff, builds on the success of their podcast by the same name. Both the podcast and the book feature stories and lessons drawn from deep interviews with dozens of famous founders, along with tales from Hoffman’s own career. In short: Few people understand the art of scaling a business better than Hoffman.

In his conference appearance, Hoffman highlighted a few of the top takeaways from the new book and discussed the ethics of Silicon Valley-style blitzscaling at a moment when the type of tech giants he has helped create have come under increasing scrutiny.

Beware unintended consequences

One of the most memorable moments of Hoffman’s presentation came when he addressed the ethical complications that can come when scaling as quickly as possible brings unintended consequences. Especially as a growing organization moves “from single-threaded to multi-threaded,” Hoffman says, it can be hard as a leader to both maintain the speed to scale and keep on top of all the new threads–let alone anticipate all potential scenarios.

He recommends hiring “somebody whose responsibility is to say, ‘What could possibly go wrong? What would have the wrong impact with our customers or with society, and what are the things we could do now to prep against it?'” Nothing is fail-safe, he cautions, but the more you think ahead, the more nimbly you can respond when necessary–“because if things start going wrong at scale, that can be even more challenging.”

Let some fires burn

As Hoffman knows well, running a fast-growth company can feel like an exercise in constant crisis management. Rather than trying to put out every fire immediately, he advises, establish a triage system that allows you to, in his words, “let some fires burn.” An entrepreneur should ask herself a series of questions: “Which thing is most likely to kill us first, or limit our scale? Which thing, if we don’t start now, won’t be controllable later?”

The answers aren’t always obvious, he points out–some fires, though harder to control later, will be manageable because you’ll have more resources as you grow. “Generally speaking, you have a limited amount of resources to focus on some fires,” he says. “If you try to do them all at the same time, maybe you won’t get any of them sufficiently.”

It all comes back to mission

It’s not enough, Hoffman says, for your company to provide jobs or for people to love your product. “Those are important things, true, but sometimes your product might be questionable–like cigarettes.” So you should also ask, “Why is society better with your product in it?”–and invest in growing that direction.

That isn’t anti-business, he adds, it’s long-term brand building. It builds cohesion and clarifies decision-making in the company. It’s great for attracting talent. “It can be great capitalism. I think it’s really fundamental to great entrepreneurship and helps through the entire company,” he says.

By Tom Foster, Editor-at-large, Inc.@tomfoster2

Source: LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman on ‘Blitzscaling’ and Unintended Consequences | Inc.com

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Pfizer Says Its Vaccine is 90.7% Effective Against Symptomatic Covid-19 In Children Ages 5 To 11

Covid19

In a new document posted ahead of a key meeting of the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisers, Pfizer says its vaccine is safe and 90.7% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 in children ages 5 to 11.

In the trial, which included around 2,000 children, there were three Covid-19 cases among the group that received the vaccine and 16 cases in the placebo group. In the trial, twice as many children received the vaccine as the placebo.

Pfizer/BioNTech are seeking FDA emergency use authorization of a two-dose regimen of their 10-microgram dose for children ages 5 to 11. The two doses would be administered three weeks apart. Last month, Pfizer released details of a Phase 2/3 trial that showed its Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a “robust” antibody response in children ages 5 to 11. The trial included 2,268 participants ages 5 to 11.

Participants’ immune responses were measured by looking at neutralizing antibody levels in their blood and comparing those levels to a control group of 16- to 25-year-olds who were given a two-dose regimen with the larger 30-microgram dose. Pfizer said the levels compared well with older people who received the larger dose, demonstrating a “strong immune response in this cohort of children one month after the second dose.”

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet October 26 to discuss whether to recommend the vaccine for authorization for those ages 5 to 11.

If authorized, this would be the first Covid-19 vaccine for younger children. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is approved for people age 16 and older and has an EUA for people ages 12 to 15.

The data summarized from this Phase 2/3 study, which is enrolling children 6 months to 11 years of age, was for 2,268participants who were 5 to 11 years of age and received a 10 µg dose level in a two-dose regimen. In the trial, the SARS-CoV-2–neutralizing antibody geometric mean titer (GMT) was 1,197.6 (95% confidence interval [CI, 1106.1, 1296.6]), demonstrating strong immune response in this cohort of children one month after the second dose.

This compares well (was non-inferior) to the GMT of 1146.5 (95% CI: 1045.5, 1257.2) from participants ages 16 to 25 years old, used as the control group for this analysis and who were administered a two-dose regimen of 30 µg. Further, the COVID-19 vaccine was well tolerated, with side effects generally comparable to those observed in participants 16 to 25 years of age.

Pfizer and BioNTech plan to share these data with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and other regulators as soon as possible. For the United States, the companies expect to include the data in a near-term submission for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) as they continue to accumulate the safety and efficacy data required to file for full FDA approval in this age group.

A request to the EMA to update the EU Conditional Marketing Authorization is also planned. Topline readouts for the other two age cohorts from the trial – children 2-5 years of age and children 6 months to 2 years of age – are expected as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.

By: Jamie Gumbrecht CNN Newsource

Source: Pfizer says its vaccine is 90.7% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 in children ages 5 to 11 – ABC17NEWS

Other Sources:

Patients should always ask their healthcare providers for medical advice about adverse events. Individuals are encouraged to report negative side effects of vaccines to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Visit http://www.vaers.hhs.gov or call 1-800-822-7967. In addition, side effects can be reported to Pfizer Inc. at www.pfizersafetyreporting.com

or by calling 1-800-438-1985.

Please click here for full Prescribing Information (16+ years of age). Please click here for Fact Sheet for Vaccination Providers (12+ years of age)

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Wikipedia and the Wisdom of Polarized Crowds

Sociology

In 2013, James Evans, a University of Chicago sociologist and computational scientist, launched a study to see if science forged a bridge across the political divide. Did conservatives and liberals at least agree on biology and physics and economics? Short answer: No. “We found more polarization than we expected,” Evans told me recently.

People were even more polarized over science than sports teams. At the outset, Evans said, “I was hoping to find that science was like a Switzerland. When we have problems, we can appeal to science as a neutral arbiter to produce a solution, or pathway to a solution. That wasn’t the case at all.”

Evans started his study on Amazon. You know the heading that says, “Customers who bought this item also bought”? Evans and his colleagues analyzed the top 100 items in this list for two “seed” books: Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father and Mitt Romney’s No Apology. They repeated this process for each book in the top-100 list until they ran out of new titles.

“The resulting ‘snowball sample,’ ” Evans and company wrote in their 2017 Nature Human Behaviour paper, “contained virtually all books in the largest strongly connected component in Amazon’s directed co-purchase network,” or 1,303,504 unique titles.

After performing a co-purchase network analysis—the sort used to study co-citation and co-author networks—on this dataset, the scholars concluded that political ideology guided people to science books. With some curious results. Liberal readers preferred basic science (physics, astronomy, zoology), while conservatives went for applied and commercial science (criminology, medicine, geophysics).

“It seems like conservatives are happy to draw on science associated with economic growth—that’s what they want from science,” Evans said. “Science is more like Star Trek for liberals: traveling through worlds, searching for new meanings, searching for yourself.” Science turned out to be “a huge example of confirmation bias,” Evans said. “You expect something to be true, you want it to be true, you read books that affirm and confirm those truths.”

The thing most disturbing to me is the onslaught of claims about fake information and fake news.

Looking at the polarized results, Evans had an idea. What would happen if you put together a group of diverse people to produce information? What would the results look like? Evans knew just the place to conduct the experiment: Wikipedia. Evans and Misha Teplitskiy, a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, and colleagues, studied 205,000 Wikipedia topics and their associated “talk pages,” where anybody can observe the debates and conversations that go on behind the scenes.

The scholars judged the quality of the articles on Wikipedia’s own assessments. “It’s based on internal quality criteria that is essentially: What do we want a good encyclopedia article to be? We want it to be readable, comprehensive, pitched at the right level, well-sourced, linked to other stuff,” Teplitskiy explained.

In their Nature Human Behaviour paper, “The Wisdom of Polarized Crowds,” Evans and Teplitskiy concluded that polarization doesn’t poison the wells of information. On the contrary, they showed politically diverse editor teams on Wikipedia put out better entries—articles with higher accuracy or completeness—than uniformly liberal or conservative or moderate teams. It’s a surprising result and so I caught up with Evans and Teplitskiy to offer their interpretations.

What does Wikipedia tell us about diversity?

James Evans: People talk about the importance of diversity. It’s not diversity in general; it’s diversity in specific. If you have these different ideologies, it’s associated with different filters on the world, different intakes of information, and so when it comes to constructing reference knowledge on an encyclopedic web page that’s supposed to thoroughly characterize an area, you do a much better job because you have a lot more information that’s attended to by this ideologically diverse group.

Editors working on a social issues page said, “We have to admit that the position that was echoed at the end of the argument was much stronger and balanced.” Did they begrudgingly come to that? They did, and that’s the key. If they too easily updated their opinion, then they wouldn’t have been motivated to find counter-factual and counter-data arguments that fuel that conversation.

We found that more diversity is associated with longer conversations. If they were immediately willing to give up on these things, then it wouldn’t have produced the sustained competition that ended up generating the balance that they, themselves, came to appreciate.

Which pages on Wikipedia benefit most from political diversity?

Evans: Political pages. The second most are social issues pages, which have a substantial political content. Even science pages benefit because sciences resonate with different political ideologies. And there’s no question that the science articles that benefited the most were the science articles that are associated with political polarization.

I would be surprised if we didn’t see that across the science pages associated with the environment, which include climate change, but likely a lot of other things, including biodiversity. Those are kinds of science articles that benefited the most from political polarization because they’re the ones, unsurprisingly, for which diverse political perspectives end up offering really different filtered information.

Misha Teplitskiy: Psychologists and organizational scholars call this “task relevance.” It’s the idea that diversity in ideas should help only for tasks for which diversity is relevant. You expect ideological diversity to be most relevant for politics, less so for social issues, and less so for science. The surprising feature there is that it’s at all relevant to science, but generally we expect it to matter less and less the farther you get away from task relevance.

The evidence for our contribution to climate change is unimpeachable. So might a Wikipedia entry that encouraged diverse opinions not produce a high quality result? Would that run counter to your study, to the importance of diversity?

Evans: You’re saying there are some things where diversity can just generate noise. In general, one could imagine this, and there’s a wonderful book called Merchants of Doubt which explores precisely this issue, that companies in a number of areas increased the amount of apparent diversity in a decreasingly diverse consensus about, for example, smoking’s influence on lung cancer.

That’s certainly taking place in the world. But for some reason, and this is a tribute to some of the standards in the context of Wikipedia, people discipline each other and are effectively disciplined by higher-level editors. There’s also a whole host of different perspectives that people might take with respect to global warming.

Even though there might be general agreement that human activity is increasing greenhouse gases and higher temperatures, it could be one assumption has you thinking there are human solutions to human problems, and another one has you thinking of the importance of human stewardship over the earth. So different perspectives aren’t just generating artificial conflict in these contexts.

At the same time, our experience is for broad topics. There are few places where there’s enormous amounts of certainty in the sciences. My guess is in places where there is strong certainty, we’re not going to see a big effect from political diversity. Political diversity is not a magical substance. If the distribution of political perspectives aren’t correlated with useful information about the topic at hand, then you’re not going to see a benefit. You’re going to see noise. You might even see a detriment.

What do you think about fake news?

Evans: The thing most disturbing to me is the onslaught of claims about fake information and fake news. In some sense, all information is fake. All of it has a purpose, an angle. But the fact that now it’s just so easy to claim that it’s fake without any particular support for that claim, and it’s popular to do so, means it’s easier to discount alternative information than ever before.

Angles are useful. They motivate people to look in a certain place, to search out information that you probably wouldn’t have searched out if you weren’t motivated by the possession of a belief. Angles end up having a lot of value, unless you discount them all. It begins with Trump arguing that everything’s fake news and then people arguing that Trump’s producing fake news all the time.

There’s this cloud of fakery out there, and, of course, it’s exacerbated by the proliferation of bots and other things generating noise. I see that in mass media news in the same way I see it online. It’s a new level. It’s like we’ve just discovered that there’s bias in the system and so everything is biased, categorically, and we can agree or disagree with it at will.

I hope that we can begin to persuade people to really value the importance of bias, that bias is critical to how we view things, that there isn’t an unbiased position.

Why are the highest quality articles overseen or written by an ideologically diverse group of people?

Evans: More collective insight is generated when you draw people who have non-random and minimally overlapping sets of information or knowledge exposures and you put them in a forum that’s well-regulated by a set of norms, which can be appealed to and are, in fact, appealed to. I was really struck by the fact that people often experience this. When they experience balanced debates on these sites, they really described the process as painful and beleaguered but the outcome as satisfying.

Teplitskiy: Ideologically diverse teams end up debating more. These people are carrying different bits of knowledge. When they bring it together, they’re spending more effort to aggregate it into good content. Even aside from increased effort, we’re also finding that the kinds of debates they have are a bit more focused. They zero in on a smaller set of issues and really hash out those issues that are presumably most problematic.

They end up having more conflict and rely on policies more for regulating what we call their “task conflict,” or conflict that’s oriented around creating content, and they also have a lower relational conflict—they gang up on each other less and harass each other less on a personal level compared to more unbalanced teams. Those that are more balanced have a lower harassment prevalence.

What happens when editor teams are politically unbalanced, or overwhelmingly left- or right-wing?

Evans: When you have a single person going in and describing a set of pages as, “They look like Russian propaganda,” those people don’t recognize that they are entering a system of 30 or 40 people who have constructed this page in conversation, and they are coming in and really just trashing that characterization.

Almost invariably, they just got beaten up, labeled as trolls, sent out of the community on a rod with tar and feathers. The homogenous group has a sense of, “We’ve built the social contract and then this person is coming in from the outside.” We found empirically, in our study, that there was a lot more toxic language when you have these imbalances.

Teplitskiy: Our data is suggestive. You would prefer diverse teams that are in a moderate position. Shifting in either direction away from the middle or the moderate position as a team is negatively associated with quality.

Are there some key lessons that groups that produce or evaluate ideas can take from your Wikipedia study?

Teplitskiy: One lesson that our work raises is around branding or creating a culture and letting people know about it, and letting it be the mechanics of how you organize a platform. One interesting thing about Wikipedia is it’s got a very strong culture. If you want to play in the sandbox, you should be ready to back up your claims, cite your sources, cite sources that are reasonable, listen to others.

That clearly discourages some people from joining, people who are not willing to play by reasonable rules. They do more filtering up front on who can play, not in a heavy handed way, but more by signaling their culture strongly, and people who don’t like it don’t stick around.

Compared to the science-book study, the Wikipedia paper sure seems to hold out hope for consensus.

Evans: Yes, and I hope that we can begin to persuade people, with this kind of paper, to really value the importance of bias, that bias is critical to how we view things, that there isn’t an unbiased position. Only when we begin to demonstrate the value of bias can we battle the cloud that bias is bad. Everything’s biased, so we have to reach into our core values and use those to guide our way through this world. There’s a strong scientific value behind bias, so our hope is to begin a conversation about the value of polarized crowds.

What can scientists learn from your results?

Evans: My hope is that not just scientists, but people with opinions and political stakes in general, can seriously consider the fact that people who don’t share their political viewpoints have something valuable to say—and even if they don’t have something valuable to say about a particular political topic, that their different experience and perspective has likely given them access to other kinds of information that will be valuable and new to you.

That’s the key to unlocking the potential of polarization: to allow people to constructively contribute to knowledge projects and other projects together. If you know enough about Wikipedia to open up the talk page, which anybody can do but almost nobody does, you’ll see extensive discussions going on. You’ll see people carefully, painstakingly employing diverse perspectives that are perceived by experts as being systematically better. It just produces more robust knowledge because there’s less ideological filtering going on.

By: Brian Gallagher

Brian Gallagher is the editor of Facts So Romantic, the Nautilus blog. Follow him on Twitter @BSGallagher.

Source: Wikipedia and the Wisdom of Polarized Crowds

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Abrams, D.; M. Wetherell; S. Cochrane; M.A. Hogg; J.C. Turner (1990). “Knowing what to think by knowing who you are: Self-categorization and the nature of norm formation, conformity and group polarization”. British Journal of Social Psychology. 29 (2): 97–119. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.1990.tb00892.x. PMID 2372667.
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Using Digital To Address The Mental Health ‘Silent Epidemic’

Mental Health

Digital tools and platforms are a natural fit for overcoming the top barriers to getting mental healthcare: accessibility, cost and social stigma, says Emily Thayer, a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Consulting’s Healthcare Practice.

Untreated mental health conditions have long been a top healthcare concern. In 2019, fewer than half of Americans with a diagnosed mental illness received treatment for that condition, according to the US National Institute of Mental Health.

Not only is untreated mental illness detrimental to patients’ health — it’s also a strain on national healthcare costs. In fact, mental health disorders cost the US economy an estimated $4.6 billion per year in unnecessary ER visits and $300 billion in lost workplace productivity, making mental health disorders among the most costly untreated conditions in the US.

The pandemic has only accelerated the need for care — according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, over 40% of US adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in January 2021, compared with 11% in the first six months of 2019. Given the well-documented therapist shortages that have resulted, the concern of connecting patients with care has only grown more acute.

It’s no wonder, then, that interest and investment are growing in digitally oriented mental healthcare, from platforms that match therapists with patients, to chatbots, to online cognitive behavioral therapy tools. Although emerging digital solutions are nascent and will inevitably encounter friction, virtual remedies show great promise in lowering the barriers that both practitioners and patients face.

Consider how digital tools can address the top three factors that have historically kept patients from seeking mental health care: accessibility, cost and social stigma.

Improving accessibility to mental health treatment

As of May 2021, over 125 million Americans live in a behavioral or mental health professional shortage area. This gap will continue to widen as the pandemic exacerbates the therapist shortage.

To expand accessibility to behavioral health services, companies like Quartet and Talkspace are using telehealth platforms to connect patients and therapists. By leveraging clinical algorithms, these platforms identify available therapists based on the patient’s symptoms, state of residence (due to cross-state licensing restrictions), insurance carrier, preferred mode of communication (synchronous video or audio and asynchronous text messaging) and desired appointment cadence.

In other words, if you have a connected device, you can receive on-demand care for your behavioral health condition. Digital accessibility also addresses physician shortages and burnout on a national scale.

As these entities are still relatively new to the market, challenges and questions remain, such as the fundamental disconnect between virtual treatment and physician intervention in a clinical setting. As patient adoption grows, enough accurate data will be generated to prompt when physician intervention is necessary.

Additionally, these telehealth platforms are more geared toward mild cases, as these services do not replace the necessary stages of the care continuum that may be needed for more serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Lowering behavioral healthcare costs

An estimated 47% of US adults with an untreated behavioral or mental health illness do not seek treatment due to high costs.

Many entities in the private and public sectors are turning to virtual services to help patients better afford behavioral and mental health services. For instance, traditional in-person therapy ranges from $64 to $250 per hour, depending on patient insurance, whereas digital solutions can cost under $32 per hour.

Accordingly, many workplaces are incorporating digital solutions into their employee-sponsored health plans through health platforms like Ginger, which offers 24×7 access to behavioral health coaches via asynchronous texting for low-acuity conditions like anxiety and depression.

Recent moves by the federal government further bolster the effort to make behavioral healthcare affordable. In addition to the US Department of Health and Human Services announcing an additional $3 billion in funding to address pandemic-related behavioral and mental health issues, the Biden administration has signaled commitment to expanding access to telehealth services for underserved communities. Such efforts will need to be combined with further work in the private sector to ensure mental healthcare affordability through virtual means.

Overcoming negative social stigma

Perceived social stigma is an additional barrier for many people seeking mental health treatment. In a study of patients with schizophrenia, 86% of respondents reported concealing their illness due to fears of prejudice or discrimination.

To circumvent these challenges, some mental health providers have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) tools. Although chatting with a bot may seem counterintuitive to the “high-touch” nature of the healthcare industry, the anonymity of this approach can ease patient anxiety about opening up to another potentially judgmental human.

In a randomized control trial with a conversational agent that delivers CBT treatment, patients reported a 22% reduction in depression and anxiety within the first two weeks. This study shows promise for the effectiveness of chatbot-based therapy, particularly for younger generations, many of whom already share many intimate details of their lives on digital forums and hence have a higher level of acceptance of these tools. Older generations may view the adoption of this new behavioral care model with more incredulity and hesitancy.

A virtual future for behavioral healthcare

It is clear that the virtual care industry is poised for future growth, as there is a clear correlation between our understanding of behavioral healthcare challenges and the evolution of treatment modalities to bridge those gaps.

While digital services may not be a cure-all remedy for behavioral health, they certainly offer a promising long-term solution to one of the country’s most prominent and costly diseases.

To learn more, visit our Healthcare solutions section or contact us.

Emily Thayer

Emily Thayer is a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Consulting’s Healthcare Practice, who specializes in driving digital transformation. Emily has a proven track record in both the private and public sectors, most notably in health plan strategy and operations, business development and project management. Emily earned her bachelor’s degree in business management and psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Oxford, and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. She can be reached at Emily.Thayer@cognizant.com

Source: Using Digital To Address The Mental Health ‘Silent Epidemic’

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“Mental health informatics – Clinfowiki”.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2017/different-approaches-to-understanding-and-classifying-mental-disorders.shtml
https://sdqinfo.org
“Dawba”.
Aledavood, Talayeh; Triana Hoyos, Ana Maria; Alakörkkö, Tuomas; Kaski, Kimmo; Saramäki, Jari; Isometsä, Erkki; Darst, Richard K. (2017). “Data Collection for Mental Health Studies Through Digital Platforms: Requirements and Design of a Prototype”. JMIR Research Protocols. 6 (6): e110. doi:10.2196/resprot.6919. PMC 5483244. PMID 28600276.
Kenny, Rachel; Dooley, Barbara; Fitzgerald, Amanda (2016). “Developing mental health mobile apps: Exploring adolescents’ perspectives” (PDF). Health Informatics Journal. 22 (2): 265–275. doi:10.1177/1460458214555041. hdl:10197/6275. PMID 25385165. S2CID 21044041.
Ben-Zeev, Dror; Scherer, Emily A.; Wang, Rui; Xie, Haiyi; Campbell, Andrew T. (2015). “Next-Generation Psychiatric Assessment: Using Smartphone Sensors to Monitor Behavior and Mental Health”. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 38 (3): 218–226. doi:10.1037/prj0000130. PMC 4564327. PMID 25844912.
LiKamWa, Robert; Liu, Yunxin; Lane, Nicholas D.; Zhong, Lin (2013). “MoodScope: building a mood sensor from smartphone usage patterns”. Proceeding of the 11th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services – MobiSys ’13. doi:10.1145/2462456.2464449. S2CID 14419803.
Luxton, David D.; McCann, Russell A.; Bush, Nigel E.; Mishkind, Matthew C.; Reger, Greg M. (2011). “mHealth for Mental Health: Integrating Smartphone Technology in Behavioral Healthcare” (PDF). Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 42 (6): 505–512. doi:10.1037/a0024485. S2CID 33228597.
Slack, Donovan (March 3, 2017). “Inaccurate VA wait times preclude thousands of vets from getting outside care, probe finds”. USA Today. WASHINGTON. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
Kruse, Clemens Scott; Krowski, Nicole; Rodriguez, Blanca; Tran, Lan; Vela, Jackeline; Brooks, Matthew (2017). “Telehealth and patient satisfaction: a systematic review and narrative analysis”. BMJ Open. 7 (8): e016242. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016242. PMC 5629741. PMID 28775188.
Kruse, Clemens Scott; Mileski, Michael; Moreno, Joshua (2017). “Mobile health solutions for the aging population: A systematic narrative analysis”. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. 23 (4): 439–451. doi:10.1177/1357633X16649790. PMID 27255207. S2CID 206705210.
Hyatt, Jen (May 9, 2016). “How Big Data is Improving Mental Healthcare”. Youtube. Wired UK. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
Lam, Megan (July 24, 2018). “How Your Digital Data Can Help Mental Health Research”. Youtube. TEDxWanChai. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
Sims, Hannah; Sanghara, Harpreet; Hayes, Daniel; Wandiembe, Symon; Finch, Matthew; Jakobsen, Hanne; Tsakanikos, Elias; Okocha, Chike Ify; Kravariti, Eugenia (2012). “Text Message Reminders of Appointments: A Pilot Intervention at Four Community Mental Health Clinics in London”. Psychiatric Services. 63 (2): 161–168. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201100211. PMID 22302334.
Ardis Hanson and Bruce Lubotsky Levin. Mental Health Informatics. Oxford University Press USA, 2013, 288 pp, ISBN 9780195183023.
Smith MF. Computer Systems in Healthcare: Management and Strategy. Kindle (2012) ISBN 978-1-301-36918-8.
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http://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/news/newsfiles/Netta_Hollings_61.pdf
Rotheray, Sebastian; Racey, Daniel; Rodgers, Lauren; McGilloway, Sinead; Berry, Vashti; Ford, Tamsin (2014). “Innovations in Practice: Further evidence on the effectiveness of the strengths and difficulties added value score as an outcome measure for child and adolescent services” (PDF). Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 19 (4): 270–273. doi:10.1111/camh.12059. PMID 32878351.
Stringaris, A.; Goodman, R. (2009). “Longitudinal outcome of youth oppositionality: Irritable, headstrong, and hurtful behaviors have distinctive predictions”. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 48 (4): 404–412. doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e3181984f30. PMID 19318881.
“Interview med Robert Goodman”.

iPhone 13 Pro Hacked, Tianfu Cup, China Hackers, iOS 15 jailbreak

iPhone Tools

Ever since the Chinese government invoked regulations to prevent security researchers from taking part in international hacking competitions such as Pwn2Own, the annual Tianfu Cup, held in Chengdu, has been the place for the best hackers in China to demonstrate their collective prowess.

This past weekend saw the latest competition take place and the newest iPhone, the iPhone 13 Pro running the latest and fully patched version of iOS 15.0.2 to be precise, was hacked in record time. Twice.

The Kunlun Lab team, whose CEO is a former CTO of Qihoo 360, was able to hack the iPhone 13 Pro live on stage using a remote code execution exploit of the mobile Safari web browser. And do so in just 15 seconds flat.

Of course, months of preparation were likely involved in getting to this point, but the result was devastating and devastatingly fast. However, full details of the vulnerability or vulnerabilities exploited have yet to be revealed.

Kunlun Lab wasn’t the only team to hack the iPhone 13 Pro, though. Team Pangu, which has a history of Apple device jailbreaking, cemented its reputation in this regard by claiming the top $300,000 cash reward for remotely jailbreaking a fully patched iPhone 13 Pro running iOS 15.

While, again, the full detail of how this was achieved has not been made public, reports suggest it involved a one-click link triggering a remote code exploit that bypassed Safari security mechanisms.

The good news is that hacking is not a crime, as I have repeated time and time again.

Indeed, these hacking teams will turn the details of their exploits over to Apple so that it can release patches for these vulnerabilities. I would expect to see these in either iOS 15.1 or a forthcoming iOS 15.0 security update.

The not so good news is that there have been reports in the past of Chinese state actors using some of these exploits for espionage or surveillance purposes before patches can be released.

It should also be said that Apple products weren’t the only target at the Tianfu Cup 2021 event. Security researchers also successfully launched exploits against Windows 10, Microsoft Exchange and Google Chrome, among others. I’ll bring you more news of those as detail emerges.

I have reached out to Apple for comment and will update this article in due course.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

Davey Winder

Davey is a three-decade veteran technology journalist and has been a contributing editor at PC Pro magazine since the first issue in 1994. A co-founder of the Forbes Straight Talking Cyber video project, which has been named ‘Most Educational Content’ at the 2021 European Cybersecurity Blogger Awards, Davey also won the 2020 Security Serious ‘Cyber Writer of the Year’ title. A three-time winner of the BT Security Journalist of the Year award (2006, 2008, 2010) I was also fortunate enough to be named BT Technology Journalist of the Year in 1996 for a forward-looking feature in PC Pro called ‘Threats to the Internet.’ In 2011 I was honored with the Enigma Award for a lifetime contribution to IT security journalism. Contact me in confidence at davey@happygeek.com if you have a story to reveal or research to share.

Source: iPhone 13 Pro Hacked, Tianfu Cup, China Hackers, iOS 15 jailbreak..

Related Contents:

“iPhone 13 Mini to Be Assembled By Pegatron and Foxconn [Updated]”. Macrumors. July 6, 2021.
“iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini – US Technical Specifications”. Apple.com. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
“iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini – UK Technical Specifications”. Apple.com. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
“iPhone 13 Models Have the Same Amount of RAM as iPhone 12 Models”. MacRumors.com. September 20, 2021.
Miller, Chance (May 29, 2021). “Report: Samsung begins production of LTPO 120Hz displays for iPhone 13 Pro”. 9to5mac.
Purcher, Jack (May 6, 2021). “As Expected, Samsung and LG Display are to get the Lion’s Share of Display Orders for Apple’s iPhone 13”. Patenly Apple.e
Hardwick, Tim (October 13, 2021). “China-Based BOE to Supply OLED Panels for iPhone 13 Model”. MacRumors.
Miller, Chance (May 29, 2021). “Report: Samsung begins production of LTPO 120Hz displays for iPhone 13 Pro”. 9to5mac.
Purcher, Jack (May 6, 2021). “As Expected, Samsung and LG Display are to get the Lion’s Share of Display Orders for Apple’s iPhone 13”. Patenly Apple.e
“About Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) requirements for iPhone”. Apple Support. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
“Apple launched the new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini | Programming Nation”. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
“iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini”. Apple.com. Retrieved September 14, 2021. Espósito, Filipe (2021-09-15). “iPhone 13 Pro’s A15 Bionic chip has more powerful GPU than regular iPhone 13”. 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2021-09-15
Zhang, Jane (August 26, 2021). “As the iPhone 13 launch nears, Apple supplier Foxconn rushes to hire 200,000 more workers”. South China Morning Post.
“Luxshare Precision Brought Into ‘iPhone 13’ Supply Chain as Apple Strives to Meet Targets”. IPhone in Canada. August 24, 2021.
“iPhone 13 Models Have the Same Amount of RAM as iPhone 12 Models”. MacRumors.com. September 20, 2021.
“Apple iPhone 12 OLED display panel Samsung & LG”. Gizmochina. October 15, 2020.
“Samsung Reportedly Begins Production of 120Hz Display for Upcoming iPhone 13 Pro Models”. Macrumors. May 29, 2021.
“iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max – Technical Specifications”. Apple.com. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
Fathi, Sami (May 29, 2021). “Samsung Reportedly Begins Production of 120Hz Display for Upcoming iPhone 13 Pro Models”. Macrumors.
“About Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) requirements for iPhone”. Apple Support. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
“iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max”. Apple.com. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
“iPhone 13: All the Details! Reviews, Features, More”. MacRumors. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
Garrett, Alexandra. “Every difference between the iPhone 13, Mini, Pro and Pro Max”. CNET. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
“iPhone 13 Models Feature 20% Smaller Notch That’s Just a Tiny Bit Taller”. MacRumors. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
Michaels, Philip (2021-09-14). “iPhone 13 colors — here’s all the new options”. Tom’s Guide. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
Espósito, Filipe (2021-09-15). “iPhone 13 Pro’s A15 Bionic chip has more powerful GPU than regular iPhone 13”. 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
“iPhone 13 Pro Teardown”. iFixit. 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
“iPhone 13 Pro Max Repair”. iFixit. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
“iPhone 13 Pro Battery Larger Than of iPhone 12 Pro, Reveals Teardown Video”. NDTV Gadgets 360. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
Brookes, Tim. “How Apple’s Photographic Styles Work on iPhone”. How-To Geek. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
“iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max”. Apple. Apple. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
“iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max – Technical Specifications

Shine on Sustainable Bonds Wears Off, Especially for Riskiest Borrowers

Loans/Bonds

Rising regulatory scrutiny is damping investor appetite for sustainable bonds, especially those issued by riskier companies. Bonds sold to fund environmentally friendly projects and companies generally fetch higher prices and lower yields than conventional bonds. This “greenium,” though, has been shrinking in recent weeks as global regulators forge ahead on new disclosure rules and investors start to look more closely at companies’ claims about sustainability.

The selloff is sharpest for high-yield sustainable bonds, whose price premium over comparable conventional bonds has nearly halved since early September, dropping to 0.17 percentage point from 0.30, according to ICE bond indexes. The yield on a broad index of sustainable junk-rated bonds has risen to 3.82% from 3.33% over the same period. Yields rise when prices fall.

The greenium for investment-grade bonds has shrunk, too, though more slowly, halving since April to 0.03 percentage point.

Sustainable investing—also known by the acronym ESG for its environmental, social and governance factors—has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars, but until recently there has been little consensus about what qualifies as a green asset. Money managers are increasingly worried about being duped by companies exaggerating their sustainability bona fides. They are also having to prove the claims they make to their investors about how they evaluate green investments.

In a bellwether case, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Deutsche Bank AG’s asset-management arm lived up to claims it made about its ESG investing criteria. A whistleblower and internal emails say that only a fraction of its assets went through a sustainability assessment, contrary to the firm’s public statements. DWS has said it stands by its disclosures.

This new scrutiny is prompting some investors to be more careful when assessing sustainable bonds, particularly those sold by lower-rated issuers, which tend to be smaller and disclose less about their businesses, said Tatjana Greil Castro, a credit portfolio manager at Muzinich & Co.

“There is definitely an understanding that you cannot just slap on your tick-box approach,” she said. Market dynamics may be partly to blame, too. Inflows into sustainable-investment funds haven’t kept pace with a flood of new issuances.

Investors put $95 billion into ESG funds in the second quarter, down from $142 billion in the first, according to the latest available data from Morningstar. Meanwhile, issuance of sustainable bonds stayed relatively stable, with $295 billion in the second quarter and $299 billion in the first, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

With less money earmarked for green assets spread across more deals, investors can be choosier about which to buy and can negotiate higher yields.

Sustainable debt sold by higher-rated issuers are still finding strong demand. The yield on the European Union’s first-ever common green bond has fallen from 0.45% when it was issued Oct. 12 to 0.37% as of Wednesday. Investors piled into the U.K.’s debut green bond last month, which priced at a yield of 0.87%.

But corporate borrowers, especially those with lower credit ratings, are finding less appetite for their debt in the secondary market. A green bond issued by Daimler AG was yielding 0.51% on Wednesday, compared with 0.52% for the German auto maker’s comparable conventional bond. In February, the green bond was yielding 0.16 percentage point less.

A green junk bond issued by Ardagh Metal Packaging SA was yielding 2.20% on Wednesday, up from 1.81% in mid-September.

By: Anna Hirtenstein

Anna Hirtenstein is a reporter at The Wall Street Journal in London, covering financial markets. She was previously a reporter at Bloomberg in London, an investment banker at Greentech Capital Advisors in Zurich and has also worked as a field correspondent with a focus on oil in Northern Iraq and West Africa.

Source: Shine on Sustainable Bonds Wears Off, Especially for Riskiest Borrowers – WSJ

Related Contents:

Explaining green bonds
Climate bonds Standard v2
“Green Bond Principles”. http://www.icmagroup.org. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds
Yves Hulmann, “2016, l’année de l’essor des obligations vertes”, Le temps, 20 December 2016 (page visited on 20 December 2016).
“Record 2019 GB Issuance $255bn! EU largest market: US, China, France lead Top 20 national rankings: Sovereign GBs & Certified Bonds gain momentum”. Climate Bonds Initiative. 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
“San Francisco Envisions a Solar City”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2001-05-17.
“San Francisco Proposition H Flyer referencing Global Warming”. local.org. Retrieved 2001-06-13.
“San Francisco Board of Supervisors ordinance authorizing issuance of revenue bonds under the solar bond authority, charter section 9.107.8” (PDF). sfbos.org. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
“European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press release – EIB launches largest EUR Climate Awareness Bond (CAB) ever”. europa.eu. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
“Green Bonds Access Investor Capital to Fight Climate Change”. World Bank. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
Climate Bonds Initiative (2017). https://www.climatebonds.net/files/files/2016%20GB%20Market%20Roundup.pdf
“Poland becomes first sovereign state to issue a green bond”. businessgreen.com. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
Fieldhouse, Stuart (2020-10-15). “UK’s first local government green bond issue closes five days early”. The Armchair Trader. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
Stubbington, Tommy (21 September 2021). “UK’s debut ‘green gilt’ sale draws blockbuster demand”. Financial Times. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/solarshare-grows-as-green-bonds-heat-up/article20594840/
https://tapestrycapital.ca/community-bonds-that-turned-waste-into-power/
https://hallbar.org/the-community-bond-finds-new-relevance-as-a-green-bond
Environmental Theme Bonds: a major new Asset Class brewing, excerpt from Sustainable Banking – Risk and Opportunity in Financing the Future, edited by Joti Mangat, published by Thomson Reuters 2010
Mathews, Kidney, Mallon, Hughes. Mobilizing private finance to drive an energy industrial revolution. Energy Policy 38 (2010)
Mackenzie, C and Ascui. F. Investor leadership on climate change: an analysis of the investment community’s role on climate change, and snapshot of recent investor activity Archived 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine. Published by the UNEP Finance Initiative and UNPRI, 2009.
Iggo, C. Climate Bonds: a major new asset class brewing http://www.axa-im.com/index.cfm?pagepath=research/ri_inside_research/green_initiative&CFNoCache=TRUE&servedoc=82A0C89C-1708-7D7E-1BEE7FCB1BA8F25F Archived 2011-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. Published by Axa Investment Managers
GUIDE: New markets for green bonds, the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, accessdate 25 July 2017
Global green bond issuance could rise to USD206B in 2017 after record in 2016, New York, NY: Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. accessdate 25 July 2017
Better business, better world: The report of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission Archived 2017-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, accessdate 25 July 2017
Sustainable development bonds Archived 2017-02-23 at the Wayback Machine EIIL, 2016
Finance gap: the adaptation report, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), accessdate 25 July 2017
The role of the Green Climate Fund in providing the missing “clean trillion”, COP Blog, Environmental Finance, accessdate 25 July 2017
“AIFC documents on green finance”. AIFC Green Finance Center.
Matsuzaki, Yusuke. “Environmental bonds stained by ‘green washing‘“. Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
Whiley, Andrew. “An oil & gas bond we knew would come eventually: Repsol: Good on GBPs, not so sure on green credentials”. Climate Bonds Initiative. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
Whiley, Andrew. “An oil & gas bond we knew would come eventually: Repsol: Good on GBPs, not so sure on green credentials”. Climate Bonds Initiative. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
“The Vigeo Eiris shock: from ethics to occupation”. Western Sahara Resource Watch. Retrieved 4 October 2018.

How Cultural Forces Shape Parenting Around the World

Parenting

So much parenting advice focuses on the slog of the early years: How to manage sleep, feeding, tantrums, and the like. And while much of these efforts are in service of a long-term goal—raising an adult human you can be proud of—there’s much less out there that addresses life with that human as they come into their own.

Novelist Yang Huang explores that space in her latest book, My Good Son, allowing the reader to observe how parenting has shaped father and son, especially as some of the more complex, even morally questionable questions arise in the son’s burgeoning adulthood. Add in the setting—post-Tiananmen China—and a cleverly-positioned American father-son relationship to serve as the foil, and it’s a loving and intricate study of what it means to be a good Chinese parent.

Here, Huang turns her gaze to how different cultures approach the measure of being a “good parent,” sharing her research on how geography and traditions inform the many ways families grow and thrive. She explains:

“Although all of my fiction talks about parenting from both the parents’ and children’s perspectives, I have not read a book on parenting before! Finding parenting stories around the world opens my eyes and also affirms my values in many ways.”

A Lost Secret: How to Get Kids to Pay Attention

Yang Huang: “Don’t just blame a child’s short attention span on video games. Perhaps we can learn from Maya parenting—they motivate children to pay attention by giving them autonomy. When a child is setting the goal, they also learn to manage their own attention, rather than relying on adults to tell them what to do.”

I Spent 7 Years Studying Dutch Parenting—Here Are 6 Secrets to Raising the Happiest Kids in the World

YH: “Dutch parents raise the happiest children, in no small part helped by the government policies. Still, there are many things Americans can learn from, such as the family eating breakfast together, and children biking in all weathers. The Dutch have high ambitions for their children and see happiness as a means to success, the gateway to self-awareness, intrinsic motivation, independence, and positive ties with their communities.”

The Peril of Surplus Safety: Giving Kids Room to Become Adults [WATCH]

YH: “Children are drawn to things that we adults fear. We want to protect them and childproof their lives away. But does it work? People in Norway, Japan, and many other cultures, believe that the greatest safety precaution you can give a child is to let them take risks, so they can hone their judgement about what is safe and what is not, physically, emotionally, and socially.”

L’éducation “à la Française” [WATCH]

YH: “Here, an American journalist and mother speaks about what she learned from French parenting. (She’s speaking French, but the subtitles are in English.) She appeals to a French audience without pandering to them, and admits that American parenting aims to speed up the stages of our children’s development, calling it ‘a giant race from the cradle.’ Fortunately, she learns to parent with conventional French wisdom, which she summarizes into eight phrases: Hello, wait, be wise, you have to try it, balance, autonomy, it’s my decision, and poop sausage. Simple, right? Hear how she interprets them with glee and humility.”

Toilet Training at 2 Is Normal in U.S. But Very Late in China and Other Countries

YH: “Toilet training is a milestone in child-rearing. Compare the practices in first vs. third world countries, and gain a sobering perspective on nature vs. nurture, economics, and politics.”

A Chinese-Canadian to His Parents: ‘Privately, I Yearned for Your Love’

YH: “Before becoming Marvel’s first Asian superhero, Canadian actor Simu Liu had a childhood strikingly similar to mine, although we are not the same generation and grew up in different continents. His teenage angst mirrors my character Feng in my novel My Good Son. In broad strokes, Liu tells a timeless Chinese parenting story where a child learns to transform their anger and resentment into understanding and admiration for their parents. And that is a superhero feat.”

By: Yang Huang

Source: How Cultural Forces Shape Parenting Around the World

Related Contents:

Jane B. Brooks (28 September 2012). The Process of Parenting: Ninth Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN 978-0-07-746918-4. For the legal definition of parenting and parenthood see: Haim Abraham, A Family Is What You Make It? Legal Recognition and Regulation of Multiple Parents (2017)
Bernstein, Robert (20 February 2008). “Majority of Children Live With Two Biological Parents”. Archived from the original on 20 April 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
Johri, Ashish (2 March 2014). “6 Steps for Parents So Your Child is Successful”
“20th Century Evolution of American Parenting Styles”. Retrieved 11 May 2015..
Weiten, W.; McCann, D. (2007). Themes and Variations. Nelson Education Ltd: Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-17-647273-3.
“Social class in parenting”. Budingstar. 7 January 2020.
Doob, Christopher (2013) (in English). Social Inequality and Social Stratification (1st ed. ed.). Boston: Pearson. p. 165.
*Spera, C (2005). “A review of the relationship among parenting practices, parenting styles, and adolescent school achievement” (PDF). Educational Psychology Review. 17 (2): 125–46. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.596.237. doi:10.1007/s10648-005-3950-1. S2CID 11050947.
Rubin, M.; Kelly, B M. (2015). “A cross-sectional investigation of parenting style and friendship as mediators of the relation between social class and mental health in a university community”. International Journal for Equity in Health. 14 (87): 1–11. doi:10.1186/s12939-015-0227-2. PMC 4595251. PMID 26438013.
Hedstrom, Ellen (2016). Parenting Style as a Predictor of Internal and External Behavioural Symptoms in Children : The Child’s Perspective.
Joseph M. V., John J. (2008). Global Academic Society Journal: Social Science Insight, Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 16-25. ISSN 2029-0365 “Impact of Parenting Styles on Child Development”.
Fletcher, A. C.; Walls, J.K.; Cook, E.C.; Madison, K.J.; Bridges, T.H. (December 2008). “Parenting Style as a Moderator of Associations Between Maternal Disciplinary Strategies and Child Well-Being” (PDF). Journal of Family Issues. 29 (12): 1724–44. doi:10.1177/0192513X08322933. S2CID 38460545.
Friedson, Michael (1 January 2016). “Authoritarian parenting attitudes and social origin: The multigenerational relationship of socioeconomic position to childrearing values”
“The Influence of Parenting Style on Academic Achievement and Career Path”. Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism. 4 (3): 130–134. PMC 4927255. PMID 27382580.
Lassonde, Stephen (2017). “Authority, disciplinary intimacy & parenting in middle-class America”. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. 14 (6): 714–732. doi:10.1080/17405629.2017.1300577. S2CID 151783083.
“permissive parenting”. MSU.EDU.
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Finkelhor, D.; Ormrod, R.; Turner, H.; Holt, M. (November 2009). “Pathways to Poly-Victimization”
Comparative Study into Social Skills of Five-six Year Old Children and Parental Behaviors”. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Science. 141: 976–995. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.167.
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Sanders, Matthew R. (2008). “Triple P-Positive Parenting Program as a public health approach to strengthening parenting”
Day, Nicholas (10 April 2013). “Parental ethnotheories and how parents in America differ from parents everywhere else”. Slate. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
Day, Nicholas (9 April 2013). “Give Your Baby a Machete”. Slate. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
Bolin, Inge (2006). Growing Up in a Culture of Respect: Child Rearing in Highland Peru. University of Texas Press. pp. 63–67. ISBN 978-0-292-71298-0.
Robert K. Thomas. 1958. “Cherokee Values and World View” Unpublished MS, University of North Carolina Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert_thomas/40Day, Nicholas (10 April 2013). “Parental ethnotheories and how parents in America differ from parents everywhere else”
“Cultural Pride Reinforcement as a Dimension of Racial Socialization Protective of Urban African American Child Anxiety”. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. 90 (1): 79–86. doi:10.1606/1044-3894.3848. ISSN 1044-3894. PMC 2749692. PMID 20046919.
Huguley, James P.; Wang, Ming-Te; Vasquez, Ariana C.; Guo, Jiesi (May 2019). “Parental ethnic–racial socialization practices and the construction of children of color’s ethnic–racial identity: A research synthesis and meta-analysis”
“Sensitive parenting is the foundation for secure attachment relationships and positive social-emotional development of children”. Journal of Children’s Services. 9 (2): 165–176. doi:10.1108/JCS-12-2013-0038. ISSN 1746-6660.
SS, Hamilton. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 October 2008. Web. 13 March 2013.“Teaching Kids to Mind Their Manners: How to Raise a Polite Child”

Historic Bitcoin Futures ETF Debuts On New York Stock Exchange

Cryptocurrency News

The first bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund in the United States today debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, presenting new investment opportunities for holders of brokerage accounts.

Though the offering, called the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (trading as BITO), falls short of what the cryptocurrency industry has long advocated for—funds that invest directly in bitcoin—its launch marks another watershed moment for the nascent market.

The anticipation propelled the world’s largest cryptocurrency to break above $62,000 for the first time since April on Friday, just below its all-time high of $64,957, set in the spring. At press time, it is trading at $62,903.

“BITO will open up exposure to bitcoin to a large segment of investors who have a brokerage account and are comfortable buying stocks and ETFs, but do not desire to go through the hassle and learning curve of establishing another account with a cryptocurrency provider,” says ProShares CEO Michael L. Sapir. He adds that the vehicle will help those who are hesitant about “creating a bitcoin wallet or are concerned that these providers may be unregulated and subject to security risks.”

Bethesda, Md. firm, an ETF provider with more than $64 billion in assets, filed an updated prospectus with the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday after Thursday reports signaled that the SEC wasn’t likely to block a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund.

ProShares will not invest directly in or hold the cryptocurrency but instead will be purchasing cash-settled, front-month CME bitcoin futures—monthly contracts with the nearest expiration date that trade on the Chicago-based CME exchange—and will charge a management fee of 0.95%, to be paid each year as a percentage of investment’s value, ProShares’ global investment strategist Simeon Hyman confirmed to Forbes. ProShares estimates annual expenses for those investing in the fund at $97 per $10,000 invested—less than half of the 2% world’s biggest bitcoin fund, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, charges.

Many hope that the futures-based ETF will pave the way to ultimately launching a full-fledged bitcoin ETF. Industry participants have sought to launch one since 2013, when Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, billionaire founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, filed the first bitcoin ETF application. The SEC has rejected every previous filing to date.

Forbes’ director of data and analytics, Javier Paz, thinks this “SEC experiment” will help “absorb much of the popular demand for bitcoin without causing the cryptocurrency to skyrocket overnight.” Nearly 40 bitcoin ETF applications, including those from Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management, Galaxy Digital, VanEck, and Valkyrie, are pending the Commission’s review.

ProShares, which had previously filed with the Commission for two bitcoin ETFs in 2017, keeps its finger on the pulse. “As other ways to access bitcoin mature, we’ll keep an eye on it,” said Hyman. “We’re always ready to consider additional solutions for investment.”

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Nina Bambysheva

I report on cryptocurrencies and other applications of blockchain. A Russia native, I am a graduate of NYU Abu Dhabi and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism

Source: Historic Bitcoin Futures ETF Debuts On New York Stock Exchange

Related Contents:

“ETFs 101”. Fidelity Investments.
“Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)”. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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“17 CFR Parts 239, 270, and 274 Exchange-Traded Funds; Proposed Rule” (PDF). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 18, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
“Largest ETFs: Top 100 ETFs By Assets”. ETFdb.
“SPDR ETFs: Basics of Product Structure”. State Street Global Advisors. July 30, 2014. Archived from the original on February 20, 2017.
“ETFs Changing the Way Advisors Do Business, According to State Street and Wharton Study” (Press release). Business Wire. June 10, 2008.
Wursthorn, Michael (August 12, 2021). “Global ETF Assets Hit $9 Trillion”. The Wall Street Journal.
“Market share of largest providers of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in the United States”. Statista.
“Benefits of ETFs”. Fidelity Investments.
“Benefits and considerations of ETFs”. Charles Schwab Corporation.
“How ETFs Work” (PDF). WisdomTree Investments.
“ETFs vs. mutual funds: Cost comparison”. Fidelity Investments.
Iachini, Michael (January 28, 2020). “ETF vs. Mutual Fund: It Depends on Your Strategy”. Charles Schwab Corporation.
Wallace, Karen (December 5, 2019). “What You Need to Know About Capital Gains Distributions”. Morningstar, Inc.
McGowan, Lee (July 7, 2020). “What Are Mutual Fund Capital Gains Distributions?”. Dotdash.
Iachini, Michael (August 6, 2019). “ETFs and Taxes: What You Need to Know”. Charles Schwab Corporation.
Culloton, Dan (February 14, 2006). “Are ETFs Really More Tax-Efficient Than Mutual Funds?”. Morningstar, Inc.
Johnson, Ben (January 15, 2020). “Vanguard’s Unique ETF Structure Presents Unique Tax Risks”. Morningstar, Inc.
Mider, Zachary R.; Massa, Annie; Cannon, Christopher (May 1, 2019). “Vanguard Patented a Way to Avoid Taxes on Mutual Funds”. Bloomberg News.
“System and method for supporting a new financial instrument for use in closed end funds”. 1997 – via Google Patents.
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