In the era of Covid-19, many charitable organizations find themselves in a precarious financial position while experiencing unprecedented demand, and they could benefit greatly from the generosity of those in their community.
This may present an opportunity to instill the value of giving to others in your child. If you’re a parent, here are some ways you can encourage your kids to become budding philanthropists.
Talk about why you giveHelp your child understand the importance of giving to others in need. Talk early and often about why sharing your knowledge, abilities, possessions or wealth matters to you. Instilling a culture of giving in your family is a process—not a one-time event. Remember to embrace the joy of giving, doing your best not to make giving back feel like a homework assignment or chore.
Find causes your child cares aboutYour child is more likely to develop a habit of giving back when he or she is passionate about the cause. Start by brainstorming the possibilities of who your child can help, such as their classmates, animals, the homeless, or the environment. Then, encourage him or her to identify what talents to offer in service. Does he love to bake? Does she enjoy music or caring for animals? Next, help your child choose one or two charities whose missions reflect his or her interests. Involve older children in the search and vetting process, teaching them how to have confidence that a charity is doing its best to help the cause.
Give and volunteer togetherWhen your children see you volunteering your time, talent and treasure, they see your values at work. Find ways to involve your children in your own giving. Your children will learn first-hand how rewarding giving to others can feel, and you’ll have the bonus of creating family memories to cherish too.
Encourage disciplined savingKids need to learn how to manage their own money in order to become responsible givers as they grow older. When your children get an allowance, or otherwise receive money, they can practice making responsible choices. Introduce the idea of “save, share and spend” — setting aside a portion of their money for the future, a portion to help others and a portion for fun spending.
Create a family foundationConsider establishing a foundation to fund causes you care about. Formalizing your giving in this way creates ongoing opportunities for you and your children to make a lasting impact on the community. Talk to your financial advisor for advice regarding establishing a foundation and leaving a legacy of service to the next generation.
Holley Smaldone-Cragg, CMFC, is a Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial in Geneva. She specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for over 35 years. Her website is ameripriseadvisors.com/holley.com.
Stocks traded mixed to pause after a two-day rally, as investors further considered updates around the Omicron variant and weighed a potential policy pivot by the Federal Reserve.
A day earlier, technology stocks outperformed to pull the Nasdaq higher by more than 3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, in its best day since March. As of Tuesday’s close, the S&P 500 was less than 0.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} below its levels from Nov. 24, or the session before the World Health Organization’s announcement of the Omicron’s discovery.
Treasury yields steadied after a jump on Tuesday, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note traded just below 1.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude oil futures hovered around $71 per barrel, while Bitcoin slipped back near $50,000.
Investors have snapped up risk assets so far this week amid prospects that the Omicron variant may not pose as severe a health threat as previously feared. And elsewhere, the latest developments in Washington, D.C., indicated lawmakers were on track to raise the debt-ceiling before a Dec. 15 deadline, which if not extended would leave the U.S. Treasury without sufficient funds to repay U.S. debt holders. The House of Representatives voted Tuesday night to approve a bill paving the way for Senate lawmakers to raise the limit with a simple majority vote.
Pfizer (PFE) shares traded slightly higher after the company said that three doses of its Pfizer-BioNTech (BNTX) vaccine “neutralize” the Omicron variant, while noting that two doses “may not be sufficient to protect against infection” with Omicron. Other recent developments around the virus have also been upbeat, with Dr. Anthony Fauci telling the AFP on Tuesday that Omicron infections are “almost certainly” not more severe than those caused by the previous Delta variant.
“Economic growth is going to be strong. Certainly the Omicron variant could possibly push some of that out, but it won’t eliminate it given the underlying fundamentals,” Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual, told Yahoo Finance Live. “And the Federal Reserve certainly will focus a bit more on tapering — that kind of spooked the market — but ask yourself: What impact is that going to have on growth? The answer to us is not much. You are still going to have a strong U.S. economy next year on the back of reopening, on the back of all the cash that is still available on the consumer balance sheet.”
Other strategists echoed these sentiments.
“We do think that there is fundamental support there for markets to continue to move higher here,” Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock investment management, told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday. “Obviously we had a couple of things spook us over the last week or so, the emergence of the Omicron variant as well as this pivot from the Fed, potentially seeing them accelerating their tapering of asset purchases here. But the bottom line is that the economy is strong.”
“So until it looks like we’re inching closer to a recession here, which we’re nowhere near at this point, it’s hard for us to get too defensive,” she added. “We continue to embrace equities, we like the U.S. the most, that’s where we’re seeing the best relative economic growth, that’s where we’re seeing the best relative earnings growth. And again, the other element here is that there is a ton of cash on the sidelines that’s looking to get put to work.”
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4:09 p.m. ET: Stocks eke out third straight day of gains after Pfizer says third dose of vaccine neutralizes Omicron
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:09 p.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): +14.46 (+0.31{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 4,701.21
Dow (^DJI): +35.32 (+0.10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 35,754.75
Nasdaq (^IXIC): +100.07 (+0.64{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 15,786.99
Crude (CL=F): +$0.54 (+0.75{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $72.59 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +$2.10 (+0.12{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,786.80 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): +2.9 bps to yield 1.5090{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}
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11:11 a.m. ET: Crude oil inventories dropped less than expectedT last week: EIA
The sum was much less pronounced than the drop of 1.521 million barrels consensus economists were expecting, based on Bloomberg data. The weekly report also spotlighted that crude imports fell by 105,000 barrels per day, while crude production increased by 100,000 barrels per day.
U.S. West Texas intermediate crude oil futures ticked down by about 0.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} Wednesday morning, to give back some gains after jumping by 3.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} on. Tuesday and 4.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} on Monday. Brent crude oil futures, the international benchmark, edged lower by about the same margin to hover above $75 per barrel.
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10:00 a.m. ET: Job openings climb to near-record high in October
Job openings in the U.S. jumped by a greater-than-expected margin in October, underscoring the still-widespread mismatches in labor supply and demand as shortages abound.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that U.S. job openings totaled 11.033 million in October, coming in above consensus economists’ expectations for 10.469 million, according to Bloomberg data. Job openings in September were upwardly revised to 10.602 million, from the 10.438 million previously reported.
The quits rate came down only slightly in October to reach 2.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, versus September’s all-time high of 3.0{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.
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9:30 a.m. ET: Stocks open higher amid Pfizer vaccine news
Stocks traded mixed and came off the highs of the overnight session as investors continued to digest new updates on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and its efficacy against the Omicron variant.
The Dow traded higher by more than 100 points, or 0.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. The S&P 500 was little changed, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.
Small-cap stocks continued to jump, with the Russell 2000 index up another more than 2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.
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7:32 a.m. ET Wednesday: Stocks head for third straight session of gains
Here’s where markets were trading ahead of opening bell:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +13.5 points (+0.29{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 4,698.50
Dow futures (YM=F): +114.00 points (+0.32{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 35,827.00
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +39.75 points (+0.24{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 16,357.75
Crude (CL=F): -$0.01 (-0.01{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $72.04 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +$1.00 (+0.06{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,785.70 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -0.8 bps to yield 1.472{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}
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6:06 p.m. ET Tuesday: Stock futures open higher after rally
Here were the main moves in markets in late trading on Tuesday:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +3 points (+0.06{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 4,688.00
Dow futures (YM=F): +9 points (+0.03{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 35,722.00
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +21.5 points (+0.13{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 16,339.5
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 02: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on December 02, 2021 in New York City. The Dow rose over 500 points today after falling yesterday due to fears of the omicron strain of the Covid-19 virus. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Holiday plans could be interrupted by COVID-19, but travel insurance would keep the financial burden from hinging on the generosity of airlines and hotels.
What You Need To Know
Fear of COVID is not cause for reimbursement
Policies basically the same as any other insurance
Airlines and resorts are adhering more to their rules
Some plans cover the need to quarantine
While travel insurance did not help travelers when the pandemic hit in 2020, policies now treat COVID-19 the same as any other medical condition. Carol Mueller, a vice president at Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, told The New York Times that fear of the virus is not a reimbursable claim, but illness is.
“If you become ill before your trip, you’ll need a doctor’s note confirming your illness and that you are unable to travel to be eligible for benefits,” she said. “The benefits are the same regardless of whether you contract omicron, another variant of COVID, or any illness for that matter.”
Most policies do not offer coverage if a foreign destination closes its borders to visitors, as Israel did recently. A few exceptions also go for a government-issued travel warning to a destination, which is generally not a covered reason to make a claim.
“When people deal with me to plan their travel, I always explain to them why travel insurance is important,” said Robin Cline, owner of Cline & Co. Travel Consulting in Lexington. “I would say 95{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of the people I deal with do buy it because they realize it’s important.”
Travelers not using a travel agent may add insurance at the end of buying airfare, through their supplier, whether a cruise, consolidator, AAA, etc., or go to various websites that sell direct to the public. A simple Google search for travel insurance will provide endless choices. Cline said people that do their own travel planning typically do not purchase a travel insurance policy because of assumptions their insurance or credit card will cover it.
“The other thing a lot of people will do if they’re like buying an airline ticket, or if they’re working directly with a supplier or something; they’ll just accept their plan or insurance coverage and take it as it is, not really exploring how covered they are,” she said. “Clicking the button at the end of purchasing is not always the best protection on an investment.”
Travel delay coverage can cover the cost of accommodations and meals during quarantine if a traveler contracts the virus. If travelers are forced to stay beyond their expected return date due to a positive test, this coverage can be extended for up to seven days.
Trip interruption coverage will reimburse travelers for missed portions of their trip if they are forced into quarantine due to a positive COVID test. Cline said it could cover 100{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 200{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of your prepaid and nonrefundable trip costs, depending on the policy.
“The plans are tiered like any other insurance,” Cline said. “There are many different companies out there that you can deal with and they all kind of have their own little spin on specific packages. You can buy anything from what we call a zero-cost medical policy, all the way up to what we call a cancel for any reason policy, so your rates are going to vary.”
The “cancel for any reason” policy will return between half and three-quarters of expenses and is generally purchased when people buy tickets or make reservations.
Cline said costs also vary depending on age.
“They’re not going to insure somebody who’s 85 years old at the same rate they’re going to insure somebody who’s 25 years old,” she said.
Cline said she rarely travels without some form of travel insurance.
“I might do a domestic plane trip without it, but that’s it,” she said. “Let’s say you’re on your way to the hotel, and you’re not going to check in until 10 p.m. and your check-in time is at 4 p.m. If you have an accident on the way and you lose your hotel for the night or something like that, you have to weigh all the pros and cons of that. If it’s not an expensive hotel, maybe it’s not worth it because of the premium.”
Cline said another reason travel insurance has become more critical because of COVID-19 is that the pandemic has caused airlines and resorts to adhere more to cancelations.
“Cancelations have become more frequent, and they’re also running them out a little further as well,” she said. “Whereas it once was 48 hours now, it might be seven days because they need that chance to rebook. I don’t begrudge them that at all; they have to be able to pay their people. I think that there’s a lot of people out there that think the airline should just forgive everything and the hotels and everybody else because COVID is not their fault, but it’s not the hotel’s or the airline’s fault, either. If they’re going to stay in business for us for the future, they’ve got to protect themselves as well.”
WATERFORD, Ireland, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Infosys BPM, the business process management arm of Infosys (NYSE: INFY), today announced that it is expanding its presence in Ireland, creating 250 jobs locally with the development of a new delivery center in Waterford.
Infosys Logo
Infosys BPM started its Ireland operations in Dublin in 2014, delivering exceptional service offerings across telecommunications, manufacturing, social media, healthcare, edtech, and fintech sectors. The company has since then, further expanded in Ireland through its offices in Waterford, Wexford, Clonmel, and Craigavon.
The new center in Waterford will provide voice support, customer service and technical support operations for large global enterprises. The new roles will cover several functions across various job levels, spanning a multitude of skills from customer and technical support roles to subject-matter-experts in the areas of finance, HR, planning, and capacity management.
The employees will be working at the cutting edge of innovation in the digital space, consistently providing anytime-anywhere experiences to empower some of the world’s largest organizations in navigating their digital transformation journeys. In line with the company’s mission to develop the workforce through continuous learning, Infosys will provide critical training and growth opportunities to nurture the next generation of digital talent.
The 250 new roles in Ireland will build on Infosys’ recently announced 1,000 jobs in the UK, reinforcing the company’s commitment to supporting post-pandemic economic growth in the region.
Leo Varadkar TD, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ireland, said: “Congratulations to the entire Infosys BPM team, on this impressive expansion which will result in the creation of 250 new jobs in Waterford. This is a great boost for the South East and demonstrates the attractiveness of Ireland as a location for investment from leading companies from around the world. Best of luck to the team, I trust you will be very happy in Waterford.”
Anantha Radhakrishnan, MD & CEO, Infosys BPM, said, “The launch of the new center is a testament to our continued focus on the workplace of the future, grounded in building a robust talent pool with strong digital skills. This investment in Ireland builds on our long-standing commitment to developing a highly skilled workforce in Ireland and our focus on achieving breakthrough innovation for our clients in a collaborative environment. Hiring the best of talent will not only offer a significant boost to the regional economy, but also substantially enhance growth opportunities for us. This will further enable us to deliver amplified business value for our clients with agility and a superior stakeholder experience.”
Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland, said, “As one of the largest employers in the South East, this announcement by Infosys BPM for 250 new roles at its new delivery centre in Waterford is very welcome. Infosys’ continued investment in their site in Waterford, as well as their other sites in Wexford and Clonmel, represents a strong endorsement of the talent available in the South East region – particularly in the IT sector. It should serve also as an example for other large international IT companies looking to expand into Europe that Ireland remains a premier location for doing so. I wish Infosys BPM the utmost success with their future operations.”
About Infosys BPM
Infosys BPM Ltd., the business process management (BPM) subsidiary of Infosys Ltd. (NYSE: INFY), was established in April 2002. We offer integrated end-to-end transformative BPM services, and have journeyed through the table-stakes of effectiveness and efficiency with an ever-increasing focus on enhancing stakeholder experience and empathy. We enable clients to navigate their digital journey, operating from 35 delivery centers across 14 countries, with over 48,800 people from 120 nationalities.
Visit www.infosysbpm.com to learn how Infosys BPM can help your enterprise navigate your next. For more information contactbpm.pr@infosys.com
About Infosys
Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.
Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the ‘safe harbor’ under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.
For media enquiries, contact:
Dena Tahmasebi Head of Communications EMEA, Infosys dena.tahmasebi@infosys.com
HONG KONG — For months, as a troubled property company called China Evergrande spooked global markets with its financial problems, Beijing sat on the sidelines.
Now, the government is taking a more hands-on role.
Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, said officials from several state-backed institutions had joined a risk committee that would help the company restructure itself. The committee, led by Evergrande’s founder, Xu Jiayin, will “play an important role in mitigating and eliminating future risks,” the company said in a filing late on Monday.
The formation of a committee with an apparent government imprimatur reassured investors who had worried about the potential impact, in China and beyond, of a chaotic Evergrande collapse. Its huge real estate empire includes millions of apartments in hundreds of Chinese cities, but Evergrande also has more than $300 billion in obligations it needs to pay back — and perhaps even more off the books.
“It looks like the government will intervene in some way to avoid a large crisis,” said George Yu, an economist at Renmin University in Beijing. “But the whole society should learn a lesson from this incident.”
Evergrande appeared to have missed payments to some of its bondholders of an affiliated company, Scenery Journey, that had been due on Monday. But its shares rose in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday as investors reacted to news of official backing for the company and broader measures to support an ailing property sector. Investors were also cheered by the Chinese government’s loosening of lending restrictions on Monday amid signs of broader economic slowdown.
Like other conglomerates before it that borrowed until they could no longer pay their bills, Evergrande will now be advised, in part, by officials from Guangdong, the province where the company first began selling apartments to a fledgling Chinese middle class in the late 1990s.
Evergrande said last week that it might no longer be able to meet its financial obligations. The disclosure was made against the backdrop of a worsening property market and tough operating conditions for developers. At least 11 developers have defaulted on their bond payments this year.
Investors worried that Evergrande might be next. The grace period for payments on two of its bonds, worth more than a combined $82 million, expired on Monday. If bondholders were not made whole, it would mark the beginning of a formal default, something the company has managed to narrowly avert for several months. Some bondholders had yet to receive any payment on the bonds on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said.
Evergrande did not respond to a request for comment.
Another distressed property giant, the Kaisa Group, faced a potential default on Tuesday. Bondholders sent it a proposal that would give it more time, according to Bloomberg.
On Wednesday, the company halted trading in its shares in Hong Kong pending new disclosures. It wasn’t clear when Kaisa might release additional information. The company’s shares had already lost three-quarters of their value over the past year.
Kaisa did not respond to requests for comment.
The authorities have been trying to rein in the reckless borrowing of corporate giants by pledging not to step in to save companies that can no longer pay their bills. Last year, officials turned their focus to property developers, among some of China Inc.’s biggest borrowers.
The central bank began by restricting bank lending to real estate companies and making access to new cash contingent on the ability of companies to start paying off their debts. With their traditional channels of financing drying up, and facing pressure from authorities to get their debt levels down, many developers found themselves in a tight spot. A slowing property market has made things worse and put strain on the entire sector.
Understanding China’s New Economy
Card 1 of 5
An economic reshaping. China is enacting new measures to change how its business works and limit executives’ power. Driven by a desire for state control and self-reliance, these changes are the end of a Gilded Age for private business that made the country into a manufacturing powerhouse and a nexus of innovation.
Xi Jinping is expanding control. Where executives once had a green light to expand their businesses at any cost, officials now want to dictate which industries boom and which ones go bust. The Chinese government has tightened supervision of the country’s internet Goliaths, declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal and detained top executives.
A real estate giant is at risk. China’s largest developer, Evergrande, spooked global markets with its financial woes, as the government sat on the sideline. In December, the company said that officials from state-backed institutions had joined a risk committee to help restructure the business.
The long-term outlook is unclear. Some analysts say Mr. Xi’s measures and the push to curb excess borrowing have already made a big difference to Chinese business. But China’s economy is slowing, and Beijing may have to work harder to rekindle it.
In recent weeks, defaults in the property market have set off panic in the bond market, raising the cost of borrowing to record highs. Many developers have struggled to keep their operations running, to complete work on apartments they have sold and to pay their employees and contractors. China Central Television, the state-owned broadcaster, reported on Monday that Kaisa had failed to pay some of its workers for months and was having trouble finishing a luxury project in Guangzhou that was supposed to be delivered last year.
Evergrande’s call for help last week prompted a flurry of comments from China’s regulators assuring the market that its financial problems would not spill over into the broader economy. The Communist Party’s Politburo also weighed in to say the government would help support the property market.
Evergrande’s new risk committee will include top officials from China Cinda Asset Management, Guangdong Holdings, Guangzhou Yuexiu Holding and Guosen Securities — entities that are either owned or backed by the state. Evergrande said on Friday that it planned to “actively engage” with its foreign creditors.
One question now is whether investors in Evergrande’s U.S. dollar bonds will be willing to consider cutting a quick deal to roll over the company’s roughly $20 billion in unpaid bonds before the restructuring begins, or if they will chose to wait until the rest of the company’s more than $300 billion in debts are resolved.
The Chinese authorities have made clear that social stability is crucial, indicating that they may put priority on the home buyers, suppliers and contractors still awaiting payment from Evergrande. And the company is on the hook for some 1.6 million uncompleted apartments that buyers have already paid for.
But officials advising the developer may also be concerned about how foreign investors are treated in the restructuring process, said Han Shen Lin, an assistant professor of practice in finance at New York University Shanghai. Developers have become heavily dependent on access to international markets for funding. Over the next few months, they will need to make payments totaling $17 billion, according to one estimate.
“While addressing social downside is a priority,” Mr. Lin said, “how the offshore U.S. dollar debt investors are treated will be an important signal of future China risk pricing.”
Keith Bradsher contributed reporting from Beijing.
This fall semester is the beginning of my 25th school year in middle schools, high schools and colleges making financial literacy presentations. Regular readers know that I frequently make, and often refer to, these CARE presentations. In fact, in the school year before the pandemic shutdowns, I made over 250 presentations in 56 different schools.
What I want to do in this two-part series is set out a history of my work in financial literacy, and then talk about my recent experiences at Canandaigua Academy with the students in Tammy Franz’s Career and Financial Management first-semester classes, as well as some of my past experiences both there and with Kimberly Connal in the Middle School.
It all started in 1997, five years after I was sworn in as a Federal Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of New York. Although I sat in Rochester, my jurisdiction included Canandaigua and all of Monroe and Ontario counties. In those five years, I found myself every day dealing with individual debtors. It was something that I had not done much of in my 18-year commercial practice before taking the bench, during which I represented 11 different banks at one time or another.
I was absolutely shocked by what I saw. People from every demographic, every age group, income level, educational level and geographic area, were making the same financial mistakes that they could not have, and would not have, made in the 1960s and early 1970s when I was growing up. Of course those were the days before credit cards, home equity loans, and 7 seven-year car loans. They didn’t have budgets to track their spending, so that they could make good choices about their spending, and they didn’t have savings for emergencies or anticipated expenses, let alone for a retirement with dignity. They didn’t know the difference between a need, on the one hand, and a want, wish, luxury, or convenience on the other hand, and they were willing to go deeply into unaffordable credit card debt for those non-needs. Furthermore, they didn’t really understand how they were being taken advantage of by the financial industry every day, like with those seven-year car loans.
So, by 1997, I had concluded that we had a National Epidemic of Financial Illiteracy, and that financial institutions were no longer bound by the same laws, rules and regulations that once often protected consumers. I felt that I could no longer just sit there cleaning up everyone’s messes every day, and not reach out and try to help the young people in my community. That is when I started going into the schools to share with students the unique knowledge, experiences, and stories about finances that being in the bankruptcy court every day teaches you.
In 2002, when my court was so busy I couldn’t get into all of the schools I wanted to, I went to the Monroe County Bankruptcy Bar Association and asked the members to join me in my crusade. They agreed, and the Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE) Program was born. We called it CARE, because we care about young people. At the urging of many in the bankruptcy community, I went on national media, wrote articles, and spoke at conferences to spread the word, and by 2009, CARE was in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To learn more about CARE today visit Care4yourfuture.org.
So that’s my story and CARE’s story, as we try to end our National Epidemic of Financial Illiteracy.
As I began my 25th year this fall semester, I recently went to present to Tammy Franz’s Career and Financial Management classes at Canandaigua Academy, one of my favorite teachers and schools to visit. The students are always respectful, attentive, eager to learn, and they always have great questions and comments. But that is equally true of Kim Connal’s students in the Middle School. Canandaigua is definitely doing something right, and I am honored to write this weekly column for this community.
In Part II, I will include the Top Ten Lessons that I teach to in the high schools and some others in the middle schools, so that readers who have children can review them with their children. For now, here are some comments from the Academy.
Molly Urlacher: ”Think twice before buying food or drinks under $20 with a card.”
Makenna Crouse: “Don’t pay for anything with a credit card that you couldn’t afford with cash.”
Grace Corbett: “Using digital payments like credit cards and phones are turning money into a concept, cash is like an object.” “I learned to always save 20{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of any money I get.”
Mrs. Tammy Franz: “I feel that having Judge Ninfo come in to speak to my personal finance classes gives my students a truer sense of authenticity on this topic. This new perspective comes from someone who has seen the real-life consequences of people mismanaging their money in his bankruptcy courtroom.”
Leiana Baker: “I learned that I should never have more than one credit card.”
George Spinelli: “I learned that saving, good spending habits, hard work, and knowing the real value of money can keep you being the successful version of yourself.”
Grace Davis: “I learned that credit cards are the #1 cause of bankruptcy.”
Sarah Yoder, pictured with me and Tammy Franz, took more notes during a presentation than any student I can remember. She was kind enough to share them with me. Here are some of them. “Learn as much about finances as possible. You need a lot of Financial IQ. You need to revisit your budget all of the time. Be frugal not cheap. MONEY = HARD WORK. Everything you get – save part of it!!! Credit card debt = the worst debt. Avoid impulse buying by using more cash – CASH ON THE BARREL.”
She got it!
John Ninfo is a retired bankruptcy judge and the founder of the National CARE Financial Literacy Program. Find his previous weekly columns at http://www.mpnnow.com/search?text=Ninfo.
