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Climate change continues to accelerate, affecting people’s near term expectations.

A recent World Resources Institute (WRI) study found that “147 million people will be hit by floods from rivers and coasts annually by the end of the decade, compared with 72 million people just 10 years ago.” (1)

Damages to urban property will soar from $174bn to $712bn per year. By 2050 the cost to cities will exceed $1.7 trillion.

Charlie Iceland of WRI said, “Now we’re actually seeing this increase in magnitude of the damages in real time. We’ve never seen these types of floods before.” By 2050, “the numbers will be catastrophic.”

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economy, interest rates, retirement, risk management

What is the Long-Term Economic Impact of nCov19?

May 6, 2020May 6, 2020 James Cox

In the Spring of 2020 the Coronavirus led to the quarantine of 800 million people in China. As the virus spread to other countries, economies were forced to close in order to limit the spread of the virus and protect populations.

As economies implemented social distancing policies and closed down, unemployment skyrocketed and GDP plummeted. The economic impact was faster and more severe then the Great Financial Crisis (GFC); some even compared conditions to the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

In April 2020 PIMCO sponsored a virtual forum with Dr. Ben Bernanke. Bernanke is a senior advisor for PIMCO and a policy advisor at Brookings. Bernanke was chairman of the Federal Reserve during the GFC and is an expert on the Great Depression. His insights during the current crisis are valuable on many levels.

Bernanke was asked how is this crisis different from the GFC?

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diversity, economy, ESG, risk management, Socially Responsible Investing, SRI

Diversity Matters… Especially In Business

April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 James Cox

Even before the economic crisis wrought by the Coronavirus, the economy is changing at a rapid pace. Companies in many sectors that have been pillars of the economy have fallen on hard times. Companies that were leaders in industrial America have seen their market cap fall by 2/3rds in the past year. Leaders in retail have closed hundreds of stores and laid off thousands of people. Even technology companies that started off strong in the past 10 years have suffered setbacks in the past year due to corporate governance issues.

As technology advances, the challenge for businesses to stay competitive becomes amplified. In the last 3 years, advances in robotics and AI (Artificial Intelligence) have significantly added to the bottom line of companies. That pace of change seems to be accelerating.

A recent Mckinsey & Company report titled Delivering Through Diversity reinforces the business case for diversity. “The statistically significant correlation between a more diverse leadership team and financial outperformance demonstrated three years ago continues to hold true on an updated, enlarged, and global data set.” (1)

Learning how to deal with this change is a crucial issue for businesses.

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Climate change, economy, environment, health, new economy, retirement, risk management, Socially Responsible Investing

How Will COVID19 Potentially Affect the Climate Change Debate?

April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 James Cox

As the severity of the COVID19 pandemic became clear to leaders in China in early 2020, the CCP announced the quarantine of over 800 million people and effectively closed down the economy of China. One of the effects of this shutdown was a dramatic drop in carbon emissions and air pollution.

Paul Monks, professor of air pollution at the University of Leicester, predicted there will be important lessons to learn. “We are now, inadvertently, conducting the largest-scale experiment ever seen,” he said. “Are we looking at what we might see in the future if we can move to a low-carbon economy? Not to denigrate the loss of life, but this might give us some hope from something terrible. To see what can be achieved.” (1)

“What I think will come out of this is a realization – because we are forced to – that there is considerable potential to change working practices and lifestyles. This challenges us in the future to think, do we really need to drive our car there or burn fuel for that,” said Monk.

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

US intelligence agencies warn about managing risks in a climate changed world

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 James Cox

A recent report by the US national intelligence agencies raised the issue of Climate Change and the impact they expect it to have on global stability.

“The nation’s intelligence agencies are warning, in the annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, of global instability if climate change continues unabated, according to a report submitted for a hearing Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.”

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entrepreneurship, new economy, Socially Responsible Investing, SRI

‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’: A Speech to Cooperative Impact 2015, Princeton 5/14/2015

March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 James Cox

Several years ago, I was asked to give an opening keynote speech to a gathering of social innovation entrepreneurs. The message I think is one that continues to be relevant…

We are on the edge of the greatest entrepreneurial revolution in the history of mankind.

The internet, the “cloud”, on-demand shipping, social media, Linked In… All are changing how we relate to each other economically and socially.

As entrepreneurs we are on the cutting edge. We all know entrepreneurs are a special subset of people and “social entrepreneurs” even more so.

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health, life insurance, protection, risk management

Diet, health, and the financial impact on life insurance

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020 James Cox

The purpose of life insurance is to manage risk. Individuals and families need protection in the event a primary bread winner passes away.

Several factors drive what life insurance costs for an individual. Women tend to live longer, so their cost for life insurance is lower than it is for men. The healthier a person is, the less expensive it is for them to obtain life insurance. People who smoke pay significantly more for life insurance.

Each person’s health situation is unique. Part of the process of obtaining life insurance is to collect medical samples for testing. The underwriter also reviews records from your doctors over the past 5 years. They also examine driving records.

Once all of the information is collected the underwriter evaluates the data at hand and assign the insured person a health rating. The better the rating, the lower the premium.

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economy, interest rates, retirement, risk management

The End of the 10 Year Bull Market

March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 James Cox

There is a Chinese curse… “May you live in interesting times.” (1)

Given the past month, we clearly live in interesting times. Twice this week the market has opened down more than 5% triggering circuit breakers. While these breaks helped, the market still declined.

As of March 12, 2020 the SP500 is down 26%.

On March 3, 2020 the Federal Reserve announced a 50 basis point rate cut and are expected to cut rates another 100 basis points at its March 18^th meeting. (2) On March 12, 2020 the Fed announced a $5.5 trillion program to assist in Repo operations. (3)

Yes… $5.5 trillion… The scale of the program is beyond anything ever attempted to stabilize markets.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES THAT ARE FEEDING INTO EACH OTHER? HOW DID WE GET HERE?

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charitable giving, life insurance, protection

A beloved relative has passed away and left me an inheritance… What should I do?

March 10, 2020March 10, 2020 James Cox

I have had several clients experience the passing of a beloved family member in the past 6 months. All ages, all walks of life. To a person they struggle with the desire to have their father or spouse or daughter back with them again, and how to move forward without them.

I have lost both of my parents; my mother passed away at 42 from lung cancer. I know the pain they suffer. Looking back, her illness and death really hurt my father and younger brother financially. She didn’t have life insurance. Due to the illness many of the family’s assets were exhausted. My father and brother did the best that they could do, but it was a difficult journey.

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

Climate Concerns Rise, but Energy Sector is Fighting Back…

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020 James Cox

In the past year Climate Change has become a focus of central concern for people worldwide. Warnings have been issued by IPCC that we need to collectively and drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels within 10 years in order to avoid the worst impacts of a rise in temperatures above 1.5 degrees.

Institutions are joining in the demand for change.

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