Featured Articles Blog

0

Italy to Tap Banks, Insurers for €3.5 Billion in Budget Plan

Article 0 Comments Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet is tapping Italy’s banks and insurers to help finance its budget, according to a new plan designed to deliver on giveaways pledged to voters. “As we promised, there will be no new taxes for citizens,” Meloni said in a post on X on Tuesday. “€3.5 billion from banks and insurance companies will be allocated to healthcare and the most vulnerable.” She didn’t specify how that money would be collected or over what time frame. The Treasury confirmed that the financial sector will help cover spending, but also failed to provide details. Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti is set to hold a press conference on Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Rome. Oggi, in Consiglio dei Ministri, abbiamo varato la legge di bilancio, un intervento che mette al centro i cittadini, le famiglie e il rilancio della nostra Nazione.Come avevamo promesso, non ci saranno nuove tasse per i cittadini. Inoltre, rendiamo strutturale il taglio delle… pic.twitter.com/scgmgnzBw9— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 15, 2024 The budget was agreed by ministers at a gathering late on Tuesday, just in time to meet a deadline to submit the plan for European Union scrutiny. The measures still need to be...

0

10 of John Buckingham’s Favorite Overlooked Stocks

We think that demographics and health care are favorable over the long haul. So health care is a growth area we like to invest in. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): In the businesses of pharma and medical devices, the diversified company has a super-high-quality triple-A credit rating, a 3% dividend yield and a terrific balance sheet. It’s taken a meaningful step toward final resolution of the multi-year litigation — which will cost $13.7 billion payable over 25 years — concerning the pending talc lawsuits against the company and its affiliates in the U.S. The MedTech segment is expected to grow revenue north of 6% in each of the next few years. We think the litigation will eventually play out, and that certainly could be a catalyst for the stock to come back. The multi-year consolidation in shares offers a great entry point for investors to pick up a defensive, long-term growth opportunity at a reasonable P-E. Molson Coors (TAP): An amalgamation of three brewing companies, Molson, Coors and Miller, the company offers brands across the value spectrum. The stock is inexpensive, trading for less than 10 times earnings per share projected in each of the next few years, though management is faced with...

0

Honda Recalling 2 Million Vehicles Over Steering Issue

Article 0 Comments Honda Motor said it is recalling 2 million cars and SUVs in North America over an issue that can make steering more difficult and increase the risk of a crash. The recall by the Japanese automaker includes various 2022 through 2025 model vehicles including some Civic and Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V and Acura Integra and Integra Type S vehicles. Honda said Oct. 9 it has received 10,328 warranty claims related to the issue since 2021. There are 1.7 million U.S. vehicles, 240,000 in Canada and 58,000 in the Mexico covered by the recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe into the issue in March 2023 and upgraded the investigation in November. The steering gearbox assembly may have been manufactured incorrectly, which can cause excessive internal friction and lead to difficulty while steering, abnormal steering noise or increased steering effort. Dealers will replace the worn gear spring with an improved part and add grease if needed. Honda plans to notify owners by mid-November. Drivers told NHTSA of “sticky steering” issues that occurred mostly at highway speeds after driving for a period of time. Most complaints said the issue occurred with low vehicle mileage. Honda...

0

The Future of Financial Advice Looks a Lot Like Life Coaching: Daniel Crosby

Behavioral finance uncovered investors’ weaknesses. That’s helpful, as long as their vulnerabilities aren’t subjected to exploitation. Regrettably, that isn’t always the case. “There’s a dark way to use behavioral finance that emphasizes the foibles of the individual investor en route to selling them expensive products and telling them that that’s the only way forward,” Daniel Crosby, psychologist and chief behavioral officer at Orion Advisor Solutions, argues in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. The latest book from Crosby, the bestselling author and ThinkAdvisor 2024 Luminaries finalist who focuses on the intersection of mind and markets, is “The Soul of Wealth: 50 Reflections on Money and Meaning.” While its theme is how love and money coexist, the tome also offers practical financial solutions. Only 33% of Americans have a written plan, the psychologist writes. That’s because “people take a, sort of, ostrich mentality” with their money, he maintains in the interview. With automation’s increasing capabilities to create financial plans and design portfolios, together with clients’ need for their financial advisors to understand them, “the role of an advisor will look a lot more like a life coach,” forecasts Crosby, rather “than someone who deals strictly with people’s money.” Here are excerpts from our conversation:...

The Exodus of Expertise: A Strategy for Documenting and Safeguarding Your Company’s Specialized Knowledge 0

The Exodus of Expertise: A Strategy for Documenting and Safeguarding Your Company’s Specialized Knowledge

By Joseph D’Souza, Founder & CEO, ProNavigator — Pretty much every company has a Greta. Greta is a valued and experienced staff member who possesses a great deal of institutional knowledge. Unfortunately, that knowledge has not been documented. Greta is eager to be helpful and answer questions, but the one-on-one format is inefficient which makes it difficult to scale. And due to the informal nature of these direct interactions, the questions (and answers) are not tracked. So she ends up answering the same sort of questions over and over and over again. In fact, the founding of ProNavigator was inspired by a frustrating 90-minute phone call with the customer service department of my insurance company. That’s one-and-one-half hours of time that, I, a business person, really couldn’t afford to lose — and all because they could not find information about me and my situation which I had already provided to them! You would think someone like Greta would be an asset to an organization and be a solution to the problem I encountered. You would be correct . . . except that Greta is about to retire, and much of what she knows is not documented! So once Greta retires...

Duck Creek Technologies Acquires Risk Control Technologies to Deliver Comprehensive Risk Management and Mitigation Solutions 0

Duck Creek Technologies Acquires Risk Control Technologies to Deliver Comprehensive Risk Management and Mitigation Solutions

Risk Control’s platform will be fully integrated into Duck Creek’s comprehensive suite of SaaS solutions for P&C and general insurers Boston, MA (Oct. 10, 2024) – Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property & casualty insurance, is pleased to announce it has acquired Risk Control Technologies, Inc., a Toronto-based provider of risk management and loss control solutions. This strategic investment is set to transform how insurance carriers prevent loss and manage risk, enabling deployment of advanced AI and machine learning capabilities at the forefront. “As the world faces increasing risks—whether from climate change, cyber threats, or other emerging challenges—having advanced tools to manage these exposures is crucial. Risk Control is a leader in not only identifying potential loss, but preventing it through preemptive risk mitigation,” said Mike Jackowski, Chief Executive Officer of Duck Creek Technologies. “In addition to sharing Duck Creek’s core values, Risk Control’s leadership and team members bring a wealth of insurance knowledge and experience. Together, we will help insurers work closely with their policy holders to prevent losses, improve safety and better prepare for the future.” The RCT RiskHub platform will enhance the Duck Creek SaaS suite of insurance technology products, further...

0

Medicare Plan Annual Enrollment Period Begins Tuesday

What You Need to Know In some markets, agents and brokers are coping with big waves of plan withdrawals or shrinking benefits. Consumers appear to be weighing their plan options earlier in the period than usual. The future of Medicare is a top priority for voters, a survey finds. The annual enrollment period for Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans starts Tuesday and runs through Dec. 7. The question of the moment appears to be, “Is it really going to be that bad?” In some markets, agents and brokers are coping with big waves of plan withdrawals. In other markets, the main effect is shrinkage in extra dental and fitness center membership benefits. But the Google Trends tracker shows that recent search activity for the term “Medicare Advantage” has been very high. For Google, the all-time search activity peak for “Medicare Advantage” came during the week ending Oct. 21, 2023, when the annual enrollment period had already started and people were rushing to shop for coverage. Google gives “Medicare Advantage” search activity for that week a score of 100. The trend tracker tool rates activity for other weeks in terms of how they compare with the all-time peak week. For...

0

Biden Sees Hurricane Milton Damage at $50B

Biden on Friday said the U.S. Coast Guard was leading efforts to reopen the port and he said work was underway to help restore power to communities hit by Milton. About 2.2 million customers are without power across the state of Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. Trump on Friday said that if elected he would provide a tax break for consumers who purchase a generator for their homes, allowing them to fully deduct the total cost for tax purposes. The break would be retroactive to Sept. 1, 2024 and be available until August 31, 2025, Trump said, announcing the proposal in a post on his Truth Social network and citing it as a step to help parts of the country prone to storms. Florida Trip The White House announced Biden’s plans to travel to Florida in a statement on Friday. It’s unclear if Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will meet with Biden during his visit Sunday, but when asked about the possibility, Biden said “if he’s available, yeah.” “He’s been very cooporative, we’ve gotten along very very well,” Biden said. DeSantis joined the president in 2022 when they surveyed the damage from another powerful storm, Hurricane Ian, and in 2021 after the Surfside building...

0

BlackRock Enters New League With $450B in Alternative Assets

What You Need to Know The closing of the firm’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners adds $116 billion in assets to the firm. With the boost from GIP, BlackRock’s alternative assets tally now puts it closer to industry leaders like Blackstone, Apollo and KKR. BlackRock also is sitting on a $70 billion opportunity to grow in private credit if it flipped just 10% of its insurance clients’ money. BlackRock Inc. reaching $450 billion in alternative assets is putting a finer point on a case it has been making all year: it’s not just an ETF powerhouse. The closing of the firm’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners adds $116 billion in assets to the $334 billion that the firm managed at the end of September in real estate, private equity, hedge funds and illiquid infrastructure, as well as liquid credit funds. With the boost from GIP, BlackRock’s alternative assets tally now puts it closer to industry leaders like Blackstone Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc. and KKR & Co. BlackRock’s $375 billion in fee-paying alternative assets ranks above Carlyle Group Inc.’s $307 billion at the end of the second quarter. The four alternative investment firms have yet to...

0

Wisconsin Recycling Company Fined $202K for Exposing Workers to Lead, Cadmium

Article 0 Comments A follow-up inspection by federal workplace safety investigators in April 2024 found a Janesville, Wisconsin recycling company continuing to expose employees to unsafe levels of lead and cadmium while they dismantled cathode ray tubes from older TVs, despite being cited for the same violations in April 2023. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined Universal Recycling Technologies LLC failed to implement adequate engineering controls and did not keep surfaces as free as practicable from lead and cadmium accumulations. “Chronic overexposures to these toxic metals may cause severe damage to blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems,” said OSHA Area Director Chad Greenwood in Madison, Wisconsin. “Universal Recycling Technologies cannot solely rely on personal protective equipment as the primary source of protection. The company must focus on continuous improvement of engineering controls to reduce employee exposures to hazardous air contaminants.” OSHA cited the company for two repeat and six serious violations and one other-than-serious violation and proposed $202,820 in penalties. Based in Janesville, Universal Recycling Technologies LLC also operates facilities in Dover, New Hampshire; Clackamas, Oregon; and Fort Worth, Texas. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply,...