Author: James Cox

James' firm, Devon Financial Partners, LLC, is an agency of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America®. Devon Financial Partners was founded on the principles of integrity, financial skill and commitment to uncompromising client service. We help our clients achieve optimal financial balance by addressing the underlying risk in their current financial plans. Devon Financial Partners has brought together specialists from leading regional firms to address the unique needs of our clientele. Guardian® is a 155-year-old mutual company, which means it is owned by its policyholders. As owners, policyholders share in Guardian’s actual financial results through annual dividends. Guardian has paid dividends to policyholders every year since 1868. Being a mutual company allows Guardian to invest for the future with the collective interests of all of our stakeholders in mind. The company’s focus is always on its customers and building a strong financial foundation that will serve them well today and into the future. Guardian Life is rated A++ by A.M. Guardian has received exemplary ratings from the major rating organizations. Contact information: Devon Financial Partners, 744 West Lancaster Av, Suite 235 Wayne, PA 19087 Phone 610-293-8300, Cell 215 768 5883 Registered Representative and Financial Advisor of Park Avenue Securities, LLC (PAS), 7 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004. Securities products/services and advisory services offered through PAS, a registered broker-dealer and investment advisor, (888) 600-4667. Financial Representative, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY. PAS is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian. Devon Financial Partners, LLC is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Guardian. PAS is a member of FINRA, SIPC. Guardian, its subsidiaries, agents or employees do not give tax or legal advice. You should consult your tax or legal advisor regarding your individual situation. Dividends are not guaranteed. They are declared annually by Guardian’s Board of Directors. Financial information concerning The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America as of December 31, 2014 on a statutory basis: Admitted Assets = $45.3 Billion; Liabilities = $39.6 Billion (including $34.9 Billion of Reserves); and Surplus = $5.7 Billion. GEAR no. 2015-11608 Exp 10/17
Climate change, economy, environment, ESG, retirement, risk management, Socially Responsible Investing, SRI

Divestment From Fossil Fuels Gathers Steam

James Cox

As an investor in todays economy, you have a say in what companies you invest in and support. By investing in a company, you are effectively voting with your dollars.

By the same token, as an investor you also have the right to the purposefully refuse to invest in a specific company or industry. Perhaps you disagree with their business model or you oppose the negative impacts they are having on society. This act of withholding investment is at the core of “Divestment”.

Without access to capital markets, fossil fuel companies cannot finance their operations. As fewer buyers come in to buy shares of fossil fuel companies, the potential value of these companies decline.

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Climate change, economy, environment, health, new economy, Socially Responsible Investing, SRI

Pending Meat Tax Could Change Economic Behavior

James Cox

In recent weeks plant-based meat products have made real inroads into many popular restaurant chains. Many plant-based brands have developed models that make them cost competitive and flavor competitive with animal-based meat products.

Animal-based meats have been criticized on several levels. The role that CAFOs (concentrated animal farming operations) play in deforestation, methane release, pollution and accelerating climate change. In addition, several recent studies have shown that meat products have many negative health consequences, including cancer. (1)

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economy, new economy, risk management

New Employment Realities As Recession Risks Rise

James Cox

“I’VE BEEN LET GO…”

It’s a terrifying experience… being fired or laid off from a job you have done well for a number of years. It seems daily that you see headlines of such announcements.

While the monthly jobs numbers are heralded as a sign of a strong economy there are undercurrents of weakness. More than half of all American’s have little or no savings.(1) Many companies report a weakening expectation for revenue and growth.(2) CEOs are concerned about the effects the trade war and it has caused many companies to delay capital investments and expansion.(3)

Many analysts have already indicated that Europe is in a recession. Some expect a recession in the US within the next 6 to 12 months.(4)

With that being the case, it pays to be prepared and understand what unemployment means in this new economic environment.

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income, interest rates, retirement, risk management

Being Too Fearful Can Hurt Financial Security

James Cox

I have spoken to many people in the past year who are fearful in the current market environment… High market valuation, trade war fears, warnings from pundits, Fed policy moves, volatility… Because of fear, many people have decided to sit in cash or even liquidate their retirement savings.

In a recent study the World Economic Forum examined the savings shortfall around the world… the situation where due to increasing longevity people are expected to outlive their savings. One of the key findings was the demonstration that Japanese savers are extremely conservative in their investing style, avoiding equities and only using cash and bond equivalents for saving. The result is Japanese women face a savings shortfall of 20 years compared to American women who have a savings shortfall of 10.9 years. A lack of growth in assets hurts financial security. (1)

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AI, economy, new economy, retirement

Productivity and Robots

James Cox

For decades the US economy has suffered from stagnant wages and stifled productivity. While the economy has grown in GDP since 1970 growing from $1 trillion to $18.5 trillion in 2016 and $20.513 trillion in 2018, the American worker has not enjoyed commensurate benefits. Wages have remained flat for decades. 

In the past, studies have shown that part of the reason for this was the development of the computer and its influence on businesses improving efficiency. 

In a new study from London’s Center for Economic Research, the analysis offered by George Graetz and Guy Michaels of Uppsala University and the London School of Economics, respectively, offers some of the first rigorous macroeconomic research and finds that industrial robots have been a substantial driver of labor productivity and economic growth. (1)

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Climate change, economy, environment, interest rates, retirement, risk management, SRI

Climate Change impacting Economic Growth

James Cox

In the past decade the global economy has struggled to produce sustained economic growth. While the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and the Great Recession left a lasting impact on companies and decision-makers, the structural changes to the economy since then have been substantial.

Companies have adapted by changing the employment structure of how they operate. Many companies, to cut costs, have changed many jobs from w2 positions to contractor or out sourced positions. This has allowed large companies to pay less in terms of benefits to their workers; benefits such as health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance and retirement savings.

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economy, income, interest rates, retirement, risk management

Negative Yielding Bonds and Risk

James Cox

Bonds are traditionally used within investment portfolios to reduce equity risk and generate income through the yields they carry. For example, a 10 year bond with a face value of $10,000 with a 5% yield generates $500 in income. Most recently the US 10 year yield was 2%.

However, over the past few years central banks in Europe and Japan have experimented with Quantitative Easing and driven rates below zero%. In late June 2019, the amount of negative yielding bonds reached over $12 trillion. Yields in Europe continue to fall as the ECB in June indicated its plans to lower the discount rate further in upcoming meetings. A slow-down in the European economy and low inflation has left businesses and economists frustrated. (1)

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Climate change, economy, environment, interest rates, retirement, risk management

Rising global temperatures will hurt global GDP

James Cox

A study released by the science journal Nature makes the connection between the rise of global temperatures and the negative impact this has on GDP around the world. In the study, titled “Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production”, researchers found that “fundamental productive elements of modern economies, such as workers and crops, exhibit highly non-linear responses to local temperature even in wealthy countries.” Meaning as temperatures rise, the effect is much greater and accelerates in ways that are potentially disastrous. (1)

One of the lead authors, Marshall Burke of Stanford’s Department of Earth System Science, calls their study “the first evidence that economic activity in all regions is coupled to the global climate.”

The study continues, “If future adaptation mimics past adaptation, unmitigated warming is expected to reshape the global economy by reducing average global incomes roughly 23% by 2100 and widening global income inequality.”

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Climate change, economy, environment, ESG, new economy, risk management, Socially Responsible Investing, SRI

David Hume, “State of Nature” and Climate Change

James Cox

When you examine the behavior of corporations today you begin to wonder… Is there a moral philosophical underpinning to their behavior? What determines right and wrong? And in an age of anthropogenic climate change what is the responsibility of business to the larger society?

I decided to revisit the philosophy of David Hume and see if I could scrape together some clues to better understand what we are experiencing. Hume was an English philosopher in the 18th century. Along with John Locke, Hume wrote several treatises that became the foundation of philosophical thought in England, but also importantly, for the United States. Hume’s insights can be found in the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. As a result, his thinking played a crucial role in the development of business and industry, and the policies that supported their development.

To understand how government developed and the role it played in regulating behavior, Hume and others described an original condition (prior to government) he called the “State of Nature”.

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Climate change, environment, ESG, Socially Responsible Investing, SRI

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

James Cox

People are becoming increasingly aware of the consequences of climate change. In October of 2018 the UN Panel on Climate Change stated we have 12 years to halt the growth of CO2 if we hope to avoid the worst possible consequences of global warming. (1)

This awareness has led to many projects that are working to effect change. Greta has raised the awareness of students and led to student walkouts on Friday’s to protest the inaction of adults on Climate. John Lui and others have organized eco-restoration camps to foster regenerative agriculture and to plant many more trees in degraded environments. Many foundations and pensions are pursuing divestment strategies from fossil fuel companies to reduce the capital available to produce carbon intensive projects. More people are turning to socially responsible investing as a way to have their own investments impact what the future will look like.

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