Category Archives: Financial Independence

NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --National Debt Relief has announced "The Hidden Cost of Debt," a multi-pronged initiative to drive awareness for debt's mental and physical health implications, with the release of new data and launch of a dedicated Financial Wellness Board.

"National Debt Relief has helped hundreds of thousands of clients resolve unsecured debt and achieve financial independence over the past decade - so people get their lives back," said Natalia Brown, National Debt Relief's Chief Client Operations Officer. "We hear about the impact of debt from our clients everyday - how it is an isolating problem that also affects self-esteem, relationships, to their physical and mental wellbeing. As a result, we launched 'The Hidden Cost of Debt' to help destigmatize debt and empower people to take back control of their finances."

National Debt Relief issued a national survey among 2,000 Americans that uncovered staggering data on the "Hidden Cost of Debt" and how debt impacts a person'sphysical and mental health, along with their personal relationships. Key findings included:

To proactively drive the conversation about debt relief and inspire people to take control of their financial journey, the debt relief company has partnered with three thought leaders in the personal finance and wellness space to launch the National Debt Relief Financial Wellness Board.

The Financial Wellness Board's purpose will be to add an authentic, human voice to the debt narrative and provide people with the resources and support to take control of their finances by tackling their debt and getting back to living.

Each board partner was selected based on their experience with debt and finances. This includes two leading financial experts who have overcome personal debt and now use their social media platforms to advocate for financial empowerment, and a clinical psychologist to support with understanding debt from a mental health and wellness perspective.

National Debt Relief's Financial Wellness Board members include:

Marc Russell, BetterWallet

Dasha Kennedy, The Broke Black Girl

Dr. Regine Muradian, PsyD.

These new initiatives reinforce National Debt Relief's efforts to taking a whole human approach to debt relief by getting people out of debt and back to living.

For more information about National Debt Relief, please visit: http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com.

About National Debt Relief:National Debt Relief (NDR), a BBB A Accredited business that helps consumers get out of debt and is committed to empowering people on their financial journey, bringing them back to living their lives and away from focusing on debt. NDR offers a successful alternative to bankruptcy, credit counseling or taking on new loans. As a top-rated debt relief company in the U.S., NDR is proud to have positively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on their journey to become debt-free. NDR wants to make sure clients succeed and have the best chance to regain control of their finances. Founded in 2009, NDR is values-centric; built on integrity, growth and connection. For more information, please visit: http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com.

Survey MethodologyThis online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults was commissioned by National Debt Relief and conducted by market research company OnePoll, in accordance with the Market Research Society's code of conduct. Data was collected between December 13 and December 15. All participants are paid an amount depending on the length and complexity of the survey. This survey was overseen and edited by the OnePoll research team, who are members of the MRS and have corporate membership to ESOMAR and AAPOR.

SOURCE National Debt Relief

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National Debt Relief Draws Attention to the Health Impacts of Debt Announcing New Research and Launch of Financial Wellness Board - PRNewswire

(Photo: Black Classic Press/Adobe Stock)

Reginald F. Lewis became the first Black American to build a billion-dollar company and rose to prominence with his autobiography, Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun. His legacy of entrepreneurship, philanthropy and integrity lives through the Giving Gap organization.

Lewis daughter, Christina Lewis, co-founded Giving Gap in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd sparked public debate over how racial and economic disparities persisted in the United States. Giving Gap emerged as an organization that would amplify Black nonprofits addressing socio-economic inequities and connect the groups with donors online.

I think people read Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun because its about a Black person, but who sustained great financial independence, Lewis told theGrio. Thats what we need to ultimately close the wealth gap.

Aisha Alexander-Young, CEO of Giving Gap, contends that if the question posed by Lewis in his book title were applied to the racial economic issues of today, the question would evolve to ask, why should white guys have all the power?

The work that were doing, and its connection to his legacy, is ensuring that the power belongs with Black communities and Black-founded nonprofits that are building power in Black communities, Alexander-Young said.

The figures Giving Gap is challenging demonstrate that there are many ways in which Black-led nonprofits are in need of finding. According to the organization, the average revenue for Black-led early-stage nonprofits compared to white-led nonprofits is 24% lower. In comparison to white-led nonprofits, Black-led early-stage nonprofits have access to 76% less unrestricted net assets. Even programs geared toward helping Black men and boys have a racial funding gap that shows Black-led groups lagging in revenue by 45 percent.

I believe that these people whove chosen to do nonprofit work now and work directly in the community, helping people really deserve to be supported, Lewis highlighted.Too often, theyre working on threadbare budgets, you know, spending their own money on, you know, on supplies, because they care so much about this issue.

Online potential donors can log onto Giving Gaps website and select a specific area where theyd like to bridge the financial gap of philanthropy. For instance, if you are passionate about housing or food insecurity, Giving Gap identifies which organizations are addressing those disparities.

Throughout Reginald F. Lewis career, he acquired companies and invested in their growth. Similarly, Giving Gap provides donors an opportunity to invest in the growth of nonprofits that are providing services to Black communities in hopes of spurring sustainable economic stability.

We see that investments in Black-founded nonprofits are always connected in trauma, and then they go away. And its this kind of cyclical trauma, investment, and then lack of investment after the attention on that trauma dies down, Alexander-Young explained to theGrio.We fundamentally believe that that shift in culture should be that Black-founded nonprofits are important. Their work is important. It should be supported all the time, and not just connected to times of trauma.

Maybe some of those traumas wouldnt exist if we funded Black founded nonprofits fully all the time, Alexander-Young added.

To date, Giving Gap has more than 800 nonprofit organizations on their list and averages 20 submissions to add onto the list per day. Nonprofits can reach out to Giving Gap to be added to the list by going to their website and selecting at the top of the page submit a nonprofit.

In addition to raising awareness of Black nonprofits, Giving Gap exemplifies an emerging practice in philanthropy that has taken off since 2020 ethical investing. What you spend money on, who you financially invest in and what causes you decide to fund say something about who you are as a person and what you believe.

The concept of Giving Gap speaks to this shift occurring in philanthropic circles that its now a standard practice to put your money where your mouth is in a sense.

Even donor engagement makes a statement. Alexander-Young explained to theGrio that regardless of if Giving Gap achieved its goal of helping Black nonprofits access $1 billion in donations, shed still want to activate one million donors in reach.

Ultimately, this is about shifting the culture of philanthropy, and shifting the culture and mindset of people who are giving to organizations, Alexander-Young emphasized. We want to see, as many people participate in what is ultimately a movement to realize the value and importance of Black founded-nonprofits and supporting their work.

TheGrio is now on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

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Giving Gap, in the spirit of Reginald F. Lewis, aims to improve philanthropy for Black nonprofits - TheGrio

By Siby Varghese

What Is Funds Management? Fund Management Services is a professional management service offered by experienced fund managers and stock market professionals, to oversee your investment portfolio and make the necessary investments to provide you with the anticipated returns. Fund management aids in maximising profits while reducing risk. With perks like regular evaluations and excellent risk management flexibility, Fund Management Service relieves you of any monitoring responsibilities, making it an ideal investment outlet for high net worth investors.

What is the current and future scope in this sector?

Fund management sets a plan based on an individuals income, budget, age, and risk tolerance. It lowers the risks of investing while simultaneously increasing the probability of return. It covers portfolio diversity as a risk management strategy. Fund management can provide a spectrum of subjects that may be used to leverage various economic scenarios.

The current & future scope in this revolves around streamlining the whole system into techno-based to come out more effective.

Who needs these services?

Even skilled investors are challenged in todays complicated market to stay current, monitor their assets, and adapt to fast-changing conditions.

For investors whod like to free themselves from the need to constantly monitor asset allocation and portfolios, fund management services provide investors access to specialists with expertise in risk profiling, institutional asset allocation, money management selection, and investment policy formulation can help them navigate a continuously changing market.

Does the youth need to manage its funds?

Savings awareness and early investment are critical for long-term fund management. The two pillars of financial independence and financial planning are critical to living a better life today. Giving children a good understanding of finances at a young age is critical for appropriate financial management later in life. Every young person should learn how to invest as part of their life skills. Unfortunately, many kids enter adulthood without a complete understanding of financial management.

While there are lessons to be learnt from mistakes, financial literacy is about managing money consistently and intentionally.

Unfortunately, financial literacy is frequently left out of the official education systems curriculum for children and young pupils.

Money is a necessary commodity, and it is critical to learn personal fund management beginning in youth to acquire financial literacy. Parents are often concerned about providing adequate money for their youngsters. Theyll have to add another stage to their never-ending care and planning for their youngsters. They must instil financial literacy in their youngsters before they walk out into the world on their own.

How to start up a fund management fund: challenges to successful entrepreneurship

For Fund Managers, the most critical thing is to deliver returns to their investors. Keeping pace with the challenges of fund administration, accounting, and reporting while also adhering to regulatory compliance may distract your attention away from delivering value and keeping your investors satisfied.

Even the most experienced fund managers may find it difficult to maintain fund administration functions. Its no surprise that managing more complicated data and security procedures, as well as managing lean operating teams and reacting to regulatory requirements, may be challenging.

Thriving at this moment will require ambitious leaders who are not content to simply return the business to what it was, but willing to up-end convention & create their future.

(The author, Siby Varghese, is an award-winning portfolio manager, leading entrepreneur and expert wealth consultant. He is an experienced wealth creator & portfolio manager. The article is for informational purposes only. Please consult medical experts and health professionals before starting any therapy, medication and/or remedy. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)

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Funds Management and everything you need to know about it - The Financial Express

Alex Cooper gets another HUGE "of the moment" guest on this week's Call Her Daddy, and after the Jamie Lynn Spears episodes, I was excited to see how I'd feel after watching Julia Fox explain her life to us. A lot of people now know her as "Kanye's girlfriend" but despite some subtle shade I've thrown in blogs about Kim and Kanye, I've seen her around the scene for a long time. What made me start to think she was cool and normal, were a few tweets praising Julia from one of my favorites bitches ever, Cat Marnell (author of "How To Murder Your Life.) She's someone I respect, and she's always pumping up Julia on social. I was ready to give her a shot.

As far as the interview went, we really got a lot of good info. She doesn't shy away from talking about Kanye, or her semi fucked up past, and she's very open about having a much different experience than most growing up. Her parents were separated, living in different countries, and she spent most of her childhood/teen years with minimal supervision as an only child. Growing up in New York City, she explains that you "see a lot of adult things" at a young age. I've always said, city kids are freaks, mini hardened adults walking around like the run the place, because they do. Here are a few bullet points from the interview:

- growing up she was always interested in art, fashion and gaining her own independence. She wanted to start working as soon as she could - financial independence was paramount to her.

- she first went clubbing when she was 14 years old, she and her friends made shitty fake IDs that would get them in everywhere. She compares them to the girls in the movie "Thirteen" (big points with me, I love that movie.)

- She started smoking weed in 6th or 7th grade at her friend's house, because her friend's family was very casual about weed. She later experimented with harder drugs, eventually trying heroin (not a good look for the "weed isn't a gateway drug" crowd).

- She had her own clothing line (sold at DASH stores [which are Kardashian establishments] and worn by stars like Nicki Minaj)

- She got into the Dominatrix world. This part was fascinating. She told us in detail about her job at a "Dungeon," of which there are a handful in New York City, and explained that it felt a lot like acting to her. Men (she doesn't specify if women came) would arrive at the dungeon and choose where they would want to be; torture rooms, school rooms, doctors offices, and all of the "rooms" in the Dungeon would be decorated as such. Sometimes clients would pick certain women, other times Julia would find out last minute that she had to be playing the role of XYZ and would fulfill the fantasies of the clients. There was NO sex involved at all.

- After she was in a bad place, out of control with the drug use and unsure of where her life was going next, she fled New York to stay with friends in Louisiana and clean up her life. She was also on probation for 3 years, and gives credit to her probation officer and probation itself for "saving her life."

- Her role in Uncut Gems was made for her (she is very close with the director who has called her his "muse" for the movie), and the character's original name was going to be Sadie, but had to be changed because that's Adam Sandler's daughter's real name. They landed on Julia, because it just fit the best.

- She calls Kanye her boyfriend, and describes their relationship as this whirlwind situation that revolves around the fact that Kanye is wanting to dress her and "elevate" her. She's appreciates him for what he is, and to me it sounds like a pretty modern relationship with little expectations. She isn't "jealous" of Kim per say, but respects the fact that everyone has other relationships in their lives. She says "I know he's with me now, and that's all that matters." She sounds like she's very secure with herself, and with everything that's going on around her.

- She wants people to know she wasn't some random nobody before meeting Kanye, and she has the receipts. Even saying that the infamous party that included Madonna, was organized by her; NOT Kanye.

That's pretty much the bulk of it. I recommend watching yourself, the way she tells stories and the way she speaks is interesting to see. It's obvious that she's an artistic person, that she respects the industry and she even says that she feels she "deserves" this new level of fame. She explains that she feels she's earned it after many years of hard work, and honestly, I'm inclined to agree. I respect anyone who has hustled to her extent, overcome a lot of her own kind of adversity, and doesn't hesitate to be honest about her life. While I still don't really fuck with Kanye and how he's handled his life outside of his relationship with Julia, it doesn't seem so crazy that he's attracted to her at the moment. She's easy going, malleable, and eager to make her mark on society. She certainly has my attention!

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Julia Fox Finally Showed Us All Her Real Personality On Call Her Daddy And She Actually Seems Cool And Interesting - Barstool Sports

Louis Theroux is back with a new documentary in which he explores the impact of the internet and social media in some of the most controversial corners of American society.

Forbidden America will cover three themes across three episodes: far-right figures, rappers and porn performers.

Theroux has said the series will look at the way that social media has affected people in America who are in different ways involved in dangerous, extreme, or morally questionable lifestyles.

The documentarian said the three films were tough to make and feature scenes and confrontations that are shocking and upsetting.

He added: They are also powerful depictions of a world that has become strange in ways we could never have imagined just 10 years ago.

They show the dangers of the technotopia we all now inhabit, where extremist content can be piped directly into the phones and laptops of millions of children.

But they also illustrate some of the positive opportunities the new world has created by disrupting old hierarchies of power.

In the first episode, airing Sunday 13 February, Theroux meets the new, young influencers of the far-right who are promoting racist, misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic ideologies online, often under the guise of irony.

Capitol rioter Baked Alaska and Louis Theroux (BBC / Mindhouse Productions / Dan Dewsbury)

Among the figures he meets are some of those who were involved in the Capitol Hill riots. Theroux will interrogate their opinions and explore how they are stepping out from the shadows of the web to influence events in the physical world.

Episode two will see Theroux immerse himself in the new world of rap and hip-hop in the southern states of the US, particularly Florida.

Ratchet Roach, Louis Theroux and Boo Bon (BBC / Mindhouse Productions / Dan Dewsbury)

He will look at how rappers are now becoming successful through self-promotion online, and how internet feuds, opening up about their anxieties and fears, and live-streaming their lifestyles has connected them to their fanbases.

The third instalment will see Theroux delve into the porn industry as it grapples with its own #MeToo movement.

He will explore how the emergence of websites such as OnlyFans has given performers financial independence, while social media platforms have become a space to publish accusations of sexual misconduct. He will meet accusers and alleged perpetrators, and discuss the wariness around stigmatising sex work as a haven for predators.

Louis Theroux: Forbidden America begins on BBC Two at 9pm on Sunday 13 February.

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Shocking and upsetting: Everything we know about Louis Therouxs new documentary series Forbidden America - Yahoo News

Kira Loera is an 18-year Air Force officer transitioning to retirement. She equates investing with running a marathon. Both are challenging. But theyre both well worth the payoff at the end.

When Loera was growing up, her father would make major financial decisions without consulting her mother. The significant impact his choices had on the familys finances led to her parents divorce. And her mother had to work two jobs to support her and her brother.

This is why Loera decided that she will never, rely on anyone else to put food on the table or a roof over [her] head.

The divorce forced Loera to grow up fast. She had to help raise her younger brother because her mother often logged more than 60 hours a week at work. As a teenager, she rarely saw her. And this was one of the main reasons for Loeras determination to seek financial independence.

I never wanted my family to not see me because I was at work.

These experiences were also the catalyst that set her on the exact opposite financial trajectory of her father.

Now, Loera acknowledges that specific military retirement programs are in place mostly as a formality. They are more to check a box than actually help service members prepare for transition, she says.

Her advice is that its up to you to prepare yourself for life after the military. And she believes that finances should be talked about openly and often. In fact, as much as possible, she says.

The major tools that Loera has taken advantage of to establish financial security at transition are the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). And to boost her savings rate and decrease the gap between her income and expenses, she has saved and invested consistently.

To Loera saving and investing mean more than money. For her they mean having the ability to devote her time to the things that she values, cares for, and is passionate about. Thats her real motivator.

She says that in her perfect retirement she would travel around the world and care for animals. And that is why she has been laser focused on saving. It is also why she supports the Aloha Animal Sanctuary on Oahu. The nonprofit cares for neglected and abused farm animals, a mission that aligns perfectly with Loeras values.

She describes her approach to life in the words of great philosophers regarding the interconnection between habits, values, and destiny. The early habit of saving and investing for retirement set her up for financial freedom. And that created the opportunity for her to be with the people and animals she loves.

Loera advises that the best time to start investing is yesterday. The second best is today. Thats because time in the market far outweighs timing the market. Its a very long game, similar to a marathon. Youre not going to get rich overnight. But diligent saving and investment over many, many years will absolutely set you up for success.

This post was originally published by Victory Capital. Read more on VictoryCapital.com.

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Investing is more like running a marathon than a sprint - We Are The Mighty

Because of recent changes to existing law, Hoosiers with disabilities are now able to save even more under the states INvestABLE Indiana program.

Beginning January 1, 2022, the annual contribution limit for ABLE accounts increased from $15,000 to $16,000. This increase of over 6% will allow savers to deposit even more into their accounts and experience lower fees. The contribution limit is tied to the annual gift tax exclusion limit, which saw an increase this year.

ABLE plans have been making headlines across the country, too. The National ABLE Alliance, of which Indiana is a proud member, recently crossed a significant threshold, exceeding $250 million in program assets. That automatically reduced the Program Management Fee from 30 basis points (0.30%) to 28 basis points (0.28%), bringing further savings to the program and Hoosiers.

Im thrilled to announce that INvestABLE Indiana account owners can now not only contribute more annually toward their savings goals but also experience lower fees, said Amy Corbin, Executive Director of the ABLE Authority. The lowering of fees comes as a direct result of more individuals enrolling in ABLE and saving for their or their loved ones future. As INvestABLE Indiana continues to grow, it is heartening to see more individuals with disabilities achieving increased financial independence and economic empowerment.

INvestABLE Indiana offers seven investment options, including a checking account option with a debit card. Up to $16,000 per year can be saved in an account, with a maximum account balance of $450,000. For individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI), they can save up to $100,000 in their INvestABLE Indiana account and not risk losing their monthly SSI benefit. Money can be withdrawn and spent on qualified expenses or INvestABLE Indiana account holders can choose to grow their finances and create long-term savings with tax-free earnings. Contributions and earnings in INvestABLE Indiana accounts are not subject to federal or state income tax if spent on qualified expenses. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars.

More information about INvestABLE Indiana, including how to open an account, can be found athttps://in.savewithable.com.

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Hoosiers with Disabilities can Save More and Experience Lower Fees - WIMS AM 1420

In 2021, Iceland nabbed the top spot on the World Economic Forums Global Gender Gap Report for the 12th year in a row. A measure of gender parity in politics, the economy, education, health and other key areas, the report praised Icelands strong performance across the board, which enabled the island nation to close 89.2 percent of its gender gapan increase over 2020. The United States, meanwhile, ranked 30th on the list, well ahead of Russia (81st) and China (107th) but behind much of Europe, New Zealand, and a handful of African and Latin American countries.

Icelands high level of gender equality traces its roots to a remarkable period of rapid socioeconomic change. At the turn of the 20th century, herring fishing exploded in the North Atlantic, giving rise to boomtowns in northern Icelandthe equivalent of Gold Rush towns in North America. Seasonal influxes of fishermen fed roaring local economies and attracted herring girls, or women who came from across Iceland to take jobs gutting, cleaning and salting barrels of freshly caught fish. Known as sldarstlkur in Icelandic, they found autonomy and opportunity in places like Siglufjrur, the islands largest herring hub.

Herring girls helped secure the gender equality and economic agency that Iceland is known for today, fighting for equal pay and labor rights. In addition to financial independence, the boom years brought women a taste of life outside of their hometowns and farmsteads. [The period is] often referred to as the herring adventure, says Anita Elefsen, director of Siglufjrurs Herring Era Museum, because it was. Its just so very different from anything else in Icelands history.

Though herring fishing had long been practiced in Icelands waters, the countrys herring era only began in forcein 1903, when Norwegian fishing fleets showed up with massive drift nets capable of capturing huge caches of herring. The Norwegian fleets brought jobs, too, from staffing fishing boats to building docks to salting herring for sale in markets across the world.

Within a few years, Icelanders had not only mastered the same high-yield fishing techniques used by the Norwegians but also perfected their own. And the herring kept coming. Once-sleepy fjord towns began to fill up as more Icelandic men took to the sea, no longer as employees of the Norwegians but as captains and crew of locally owned boats. With the opening of Icelands first herring processing plant in Siglufjrur in 1911, the so-called herring boom was well underway.

As the men whod once processed the herring on the docks increasingly went out on the water, a labor gap emerged onshore. Who would be there to meet the boats when they came in and prepare the daily herring haul?

Enter the herring girls, who were referred to as girls no matter their age. They, too, came by the thousands from across Iceland, fulfilling a role so crucial that the industry couldnt have succeeded without them.

The herring girls did the essential work of taking those fish straight from the boats and turning them into a product that could be stored and sold, says naturalist and journalist Jennifer Kingsley, a cultural specialist with Lindblad Expeditions, whose Icelandic cruises often stop at Siglufjrur. It was such a simple act, but the scale was enormous, and it would be hard to overstate its importance.

Herring towns grew rapidly as salting stations, processing plants and warehouses sprung up along the ever-expanding docks. Home to some 1,200 residents today, Siglufjrur reached a population of more than 3,000 by the 1940s. When the fleet was in, 10,000 or more fishermen, workers and herring girls packed the streets and docks. By the time the boom ended in the 1960s, herring accounted for as much as 40 percent of Icelands exports; at least 20 percent of the countrys total exports were sourced in Siglufjrur.

A look at Icelands historic labor systems helps convey the tremendous significance of the herring era. Between 1490 and the late 1800s, poor, landless people in Iceland were subjected to vistarband, a law that obligated them to find work on farms and essentially live as indentured servants. Landowners were required to provide food and shelter, but only men were paid wages. Workers were not allowed to leave the farm without its owners permission.

Vistarband was a form of serfdom that made it extremely difficult to break free from poverty and subsistence living, especially for women, who earned no income. Because landowners were the only ones permitted to have children, women farm workers were largely single, penniless and even more dependent on landowners than their male counterparts. In the late 19th century, about 25 percent of Icelands population, or roughly 20,000 people, worked under the vistarband system.

For women who werent indentured, life still revolved around domestic chores and was largely rural, as sheep-rearing was the largest industry on the island. These women were used to being home alone all year round,cleaning, cooking and caring for their families, says Elefsen.

The herring boom upended this norm, effectively ending the vistarband system by providing jobs and freedom for farm workersfirst the men and soon after the women. Icelands economy shifted over the course of a few decades, from agriculture-dependent to fueled by fisheries. For women and men alike, the herring boom brought unprecedented personal wealth. A herring girl who worked quickly might earn as much as $10 a daymoney that she could spend, save or send back home. Modest as it may seem, this accumulation of wealth helped eradicate exploitative labor practices of the past and drive Icelands eventual independence from Denmark, which had long regarded the island as a sort of backward colonial outpost.

The legacy of the herring era, and especially of the herring girls, is vividly and tenderly recounted at the Herring Era Museum in Siglufjrur. Icelands largest maritime museum, it occupies five former fishery buildings, including a salting station that also served as a womens dormitory, a fish meal and oil factory, and a reconstructed boathouse. Attractions include restored dormitories with original dresses, work boots and personal effects still in place; artifacts that speak to the global reach of Icelandic herring products; historic fishing boats; and heavy duty equipment used in fish processing.

Though the museum offers a comprehensive history of the herring years, its the herring girls themselves who are the stars of the show. The museum hosts salting exhibitions on its front dock, where performersincluding some former herring girlsdemonstrate how freshly caught herring were gutted, salted and placed in barrels. Accordion music, singing, dancing and some lighthearted theatricality accompany the shows, capturing the lively spirit of the herring boom years.

Herring girls daily routines were much more grueling than suggested by these demonstrations. In the early boom years, women worked without aprons, gloves or waterproof boots in all weather conditions. They were always outdoors, Elefsen says. Some said the best weather was the worst, that standing in strong sunshine was worse than a cold or rainy day.

The museum director adds, They had to be ready to start working whenever the ships arrived. There were no shifts or pre-scheduled hours. As vessels approached, local boys ran or biked from house to house, knocking on windows to wake the women up.

Like many of her peers, former herring girl Birna Bjrnsdttir, now 78, began working on the docks with her mother when she was a child. I started on my seventh birthday, she recalls. From that day onward, I helped my mom with packing the barrels. By the age of 11, I had become an independent herring girl. Bjrnsdttir remembers the long hours as one of the most difficult parts of the job, withquite literallyno rest for the weary at times. When I had been working for over 12 hours and finally went home to rest, as soon as I fell asleep, there was a knock on the window and the next ship had arrived, she says.

According to Elefsen, this call to action could happen at any time of day. There are even a few stories [about] boats coming in during a dance. The boys would go on stage, stop the band and call the herring girls to work.

When storms or bad weather kept the ships in port, Siglufjrur became a hotbed of activity. There were always fishermen, herring girls and other workers strolling around town, says Bjrnsdttir. During its peak years, especially in the 1920s and 1960s, the town boasted dozens of bars, several dance halls, a cinema that screened multiple films per day, candy and soda factories, bakeries, and butchers.

The former herring girls interviewed by Elefsen recall the period with a gleam in their eye: My mothers neighbor is in her 90s, the museum director says, and shes told me that as a teenager, she remembers having to elbow her way down the main street, it was so crowded, and seeing couples kissing, people spilling out of bars, fistfights on the sidewalk.

The women also reflect fondly on the fishermen, whod roll into port for a few days before heading back to sea. I asked one woman what she missed the most about those days, adds Elefsen. She said shed love for it all to come back, and told me that the young men are just not as handsome today as they were back then.

In 1968, the Arctic Ocean herring fishery collapsed as a direct result of overfishing. The once-plentiful Atlantic herring was on the verge of extinction, and Icelands economy took a sharp tumble. Siglufjrur and dozens of towns like it emptied out. Fish processing plants were abandoned, boats sat idle in harbors and docks no longer hosted lively gatherings. But even as many herring girls returned to domestic duties, their impact on Icelandic politics and society continued to resonate.

The work market had developed enough that there were more opportunities for women, Elefsen says, and certainly more at the end of the herring adventure than at the beginning.

Toward the beginning of the boom years, the herring girls had capitalized on their sudden and dramatic economic power. They knew the industry could not function without them. The herring industry gave Icelandic women a much bigger sense of independence, says Elefsen. Because they were such a critical part of the herring supply chain, women workers learned to use their voices and fight for their rights. They unionized as early as the 1920s, held their first successful strike for higher wages in 1925 and regularly negotiated for improved working conditions. Herring girls were also pioneers in pay equity. Paid by the barrel, women who could cut, gut and salt quickly often earned more than the men working on fishing boats or on the docks. They made good money, and that money bought agency and independence from fathers, spouses and boyfriends.

Herring girls organizing efforts took place around the same time that women won suffrage in Iceland. The countrys first womens rights organization formed in 1894 and collected signatures on voting rights petitions. By 1907, 11,000 women and menmore than 12 percent of the populationhad signed on. In 1915, women over 40 were granted the right to vote, and in 1920, the country introduced suffrage for all citizens ages 18 and up.

Iceland, like every other nation in the world, has yet to close the gender pay gap. But its come closer than many, achieving a 14 percent disparity between mens and womens incomes (the U.S. wage gap is closer to 19 percent) and leading a concerted government effort to eliminate the pay gap. In 1975, 90 percent of women in the country went on strike, demandingand winningpassage of a law that prohibited gender discrimination in the workplace. As of 2018, the law also requires Icelandic companies to demonstrate that they pay their male and female employees fairly.

Progressive laws in Iceland mandate gender equality lessons as part of school curriculums, offer some of the worlds most generous parental leave policies, and require company boards and government councils to be comprised of at least 40 percent women. For nearly half of the past 50 years, Iceland has had a woman president or prime minister; in 2021, almost 50 percent of Icelands elected representatives in parliament were women.

Today, observers often cite Iceland as a model of gender parity for other nations to follow. The historical arc of those achievements leads back to a period of rapid change in the countryto the salting stations of Siglufjrur and towns like it, and to the hard work of the herring girls.

The herring girls were essential to this industry, says Kingsley. It couldnt have worked without them. And we are not used to thinking of womens labor in this way, especially not in a historical context.

Special thanks to Anita Elefsen, director of the Herring Era Museum, for her help with interviews and translations.

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How Iceland's Herring Girls Helped Bring Equality to the Island Nation - Smithsonian

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Entering into the crypto markets and the DeFi (decentralized finance) financial system can be a challenge. The crypto markets have been dominated by men until now, but this trend is changing. Women can make a big impact on a market that will be the next big driver of financial innovation.

DeFi is new, but it also represents a huge change in how money moves. The potential use cases for DeFi are global, as DeFi can make connections that no other form of financial technology is capable of. This opens up a new avenue for women around the world to participate in the DeFi ecosystem both as developers as well as users.

Because the blockchain industry hasnt cemented itself in society yet, most people dont have the general industry knowledge necessary to get started in DeFi. The new industry also has a fairly complex learning curve in regards to the tools used. Many fresh investors stick to mostly safe investments like Bitcoin or Ethereum. But as crypto slowly enters the mainstream, the public is beginning to want to know more about how blockchain technology, crypto and DeFi fit into an overall investment strategy, as well as how the market works.

This presents an even greater opportunity for women to get involved in an industry where men have led for over a decade. Some women are already taking advantage of this to bring education, technical know-how and the accessibility of DeFi to other women entrepreneurs. Some of these women are trying to change the way the blockchain and decentralization are utilized in underprivileged communities around the world, changing our perspectives and breaking fresh ground.

Related: Everything You Need To Know About Cryptocurrency's Next Big Thing: Decentralized Finance

Economic freedom, entrepreneurial pursuits, independence and security are empowered by decentralization. There are no gatekeepers, and public blockchains are open to all. While this is clearly powerful for larger financial entities, the unbanked masses may be the largest untapped market for DeFi.

Given these advantages, many people are turning to the blockchain as a way to get around restricted traditional monetary systems and gain more control over financial opportunities for themselves, their families and their enterprises.

Decentralized finance improves transparency, accessibility and equality. It maintains a borderless system that allows for equal access to anyone. As long as they have a connection to the internet.

Women are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency as a means of taking advantage of these strengths as well as avoiding a system that is designed to reward entrenched interests in a largely patriarchal society. DeFi use cases give broader access to financial tools to supplement their incomes without relying on their spouses or traditional banking institutions. In other words, the blockchain provides a mechanism for women to participate in an industry that allows them to take control of their financial independence. Access is open to all now. Its time for women all over the world to take notice and use this as a chance to fight back.

Female-led firms received only 2.3 percent of VC investments in 2020. That number is a mere 2.1 percent in the first eight months of 2021. As more women enter the startup and tech worlds, the demand for equality grows. Thats because data shows that diverse teams are more profitable, regardless of the field.

Only around one in ten people in America invest in crypto, and the market has yet to gain traction among women either. Thats especially strange considering that crypto has, in many other ways, delivered on its promise to spread equality. It is the only financial system in which young people actually have a higher participation rate than older people.

In the early days of Bitcoin, it was widely thought that cryptocurrencies would bring in a new era of diversity in the financial services business, which has been plagued by gender inequities for years. In spite of the ability and claims of crypto to address inequality, The State of U.S. Crypto Report found that 75 percent of crypto owners are men.

On the other hand, people of all races are roughly equally likely to hold cryptocurrency: 11 percent white, 11 percent Black, 10 percent Latino, 14 percent Asians own Bitcoin, with the remaining 13% of owners being undetermined. That means that Bitcoin has managed to break down barriers to investing based on race, but it has failed to do so in terms of gender. So far.

Related: How Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Can Revolutionize Businesses

The problem lies in investment opportunities, not in interest or aptitude. A 2016 report shows that women leave corporate tech jobs at twice the rate of men. The male-dominated culture tends to drive women out. But in spite of how difficult it seems to be for women to break into crypto, a few noteworthy women have shared their thoughts on how the industry is evolving. There is good news.

Kinjal Shah is a senior associate at Blockchain Capital and a backer of the Komorebi Collective, which supports female and nonbinary crypto entrepreneurs. She believes that this new financial system can be built in a different way, and she hopes that more women and minorities will enter the trillion-dollar industry. "If this is the future of finance," she remarked, "I want more women to be sharing a piece of that pie... From the outside looking in, the face of crypto is very male. Now that Im on the inside, I know so many women.

Related: This Is Why We Still Need Women's Networking Groups

Julia Rosenberg is one of the few female founders at Orca Protocol. While raising funds for her company, she realized that she hadnt spoken to any female investors for four weeks. The investor? Kinjal Shah.

Both Rosenberg and Shah saw an opportunity to influence the developing DeFi world in a way that was distinct from the traditional tech and banking systems they were used to.

That meant actively employing and recruiting women, especially on the technical side, for Rosenberg. Orca Protocol boasts a female co-founder, chief executive, adviser, and product design lead among its nine workers.

Another great example of how women are entering the blockchain industry is the launch of Defy Trends which is a women-led DeFi analytics firm. On September 30th, the four female founders were named as one of two winners at The Startup Showdown in Miami.

They were awarded a $120,000 USD investment from Panoramic Ventures, which was also one of the competition's judges. They were chosen as best company for the competition out of 200 promising applicants. This puts them in the above-mentioned 2.1 percent of women-led companies that got investment funds in 2021.

The platform is designed to assist investors in making smarter decisions with real-time data analytics and a social sentiment tracker for each coin. The data is crunched by machine-learning AI algorithms.

It even includes an environmental impact assessment to help investors make responsible decisions as well as profitable ones. This is combined with a worldwide analysis that tracks how each coin interacts with each other in a broader ecosystem.

In 2020, a survey by CoinMarketCap revealed a 43 percent increase in women in business. The earnings potential of investing in women-led firms is attracting the attention of blockchain companies. Women Who Code just received a $150,000 grant from Algorand to fund their blockchain deep-learning curriculum for women engineers. Gemini and The Giving Block, two companies that help others raise funds through cryptocurrency, have raised their own funds by reaching out to cryptocurrency donors on International Women's Day 2021.

The UNICEF Innovation Fund is an ambitious fund created to help children around the world. It is focused specifically on blockchain-based startups that help facilitate financial inclusion. Over 50 percent of the companies involved here are women-led. The goal is to make open-source, decentralized financial instruments and marketplaces more accessible to local communities and small business owners, allowing them to interact with these revolutionary systems in new, useful ways.

In fact, some studies suggest that the use of small-scale, informal lending in poor nations is extremely common. This implies that women could easily transition away from illegal lending, and use DeFi platforms that simply require the use of a smartphone, and cryptocurrency. In addition to helping the unbanked access credit at fair rates, illegal money lenders would be impacted negatively.

Having women at the forefront of the industry's early phases of development is a promising sign. Because this time around, education and access are much more important points of focus. It is reasonable to think that, moving forward, growth will begin to spread more evenly.

However, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. According to the World Economic Forum, it will take over 200 years to close the global economic gender gap at the rate were going. It is vital to ensure that women continue to have equal access to blockchain technologies and education and that great ideas like the ones mentioned above are given support.

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DeFi Will Help Women Take Back Control of Their Finances and Close the Wealth Gap - Entrepreneur

02.08.22

Senator Murray: Whats promising is that during this pandemic, weve seen a widespread use of inclusive practices that can make work more accessible This is great newsso we need to act on the lessons of this pandemic if we want to ensure that recent progress is a foundation for lasting change.

***WATCH SENATOR MURRAYS OPENING REMARKSHERE***

(Washington, D.C.) Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led a hearing on overcoming barriers to employment for workers with disabilities and building on recent progress, including the widespread use of inclusive practices to make work more accessiblelike flexible schedules and remote options.

The hearing marked the first hearing on disability employment since the Committee last discussed the topic in 2014but many of the challenges workers with disabilities faced then still persist today. In the hearing, Senator Murray highlighted how workers with disabilities c0ntinue to face unacceptable wage discrimination, inaccessible workplaces, damagingly lowand falseexpectations about what they can accomplish, and ableism and discrimination in hiring.

In the aftermath of this pandemic, workers with disabilities arent just grappling with lost wages, job loss, and long-term unemployment. They are still facing other longstanding barriers to joining the workforce, participating in their communities, and obtaining economic self-sufficiency, said Senator Murray. Barriers like ableism, damagingly lowand falseexpectations about what they can accomplish and discrimination in the hiring process . Barriers like inaccessible workplaces whether thats the result of a lack of physical accessibility or challenges accessing digital information and assistive technology. And barriers like unacceptable pay discrimination. People with disabilities are paid 87 cents on the dollar compared to workers without disabilitiesand thats not even accounting for workers who are paid subminimum wages.

But Senator Murray also highlighted recent promising progress including a steady rise in the employment rate of people with disabilitiesas weve seen a more widespread use of inclusive practices and innovations that can make work more accessible. She noted how these accommodationslike flexible scheduling, alternative work arrangements, and teleworkare some of the most requested, and according to a recent survey of employers, cost nothing to provide.

By embracing inclusive practices and improving accessibility, businesses can increase their talent pool by more than 10 million people. Whats more, employing people with disabilities has been shown to reduce turnover, and increase productivity. Whats promising is that during this pandemic, weve seen a widespread use of inclusive practices that can make work more accessible, and recently there has been a steady rise in the employment rate for people with disabilities, continued Senator Murray. This is great newsso we need to act on the lessons of this pandemic if we want to ensure that recent progress is a foundation for lasting change.

In addition to urging employers to embrace inclusive practices and continue providing reasonable accommodations, Senator Murray also noted that she hopes the Committee can work in a bipartisan way to address barriers to employment for people with disabilitiesas they have already done to advance the Assistive Technology Act out of Committee.

I continue to work with my colleagues to get this legislation passed into law and I hope we can work in a similar, bipartisan way on challenges like ending wage discrimination and workplace segregation for workers with disabilities, and providing them with the training and support they need to succeed in competitive, integrated employment, said Senator Murray.

The hearing included testimony from Dr. Lisa Schur, Professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ; Ms. Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft in Redmond, WA; Mr. Francis A. Kineavy, a Disability Advocate from Sea Girt, NJ; and Mr. Brian Dennis, Workforce Program Coordinator of Disability Services at Iowa Workforce Development in Des Moines, IA.

Senator Murrays opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:

This pandemic has been hard on workers across the country. They have been worried, they have been sick, theyve had to care for loved ones who got sick, or find child care after a school closed, theyve lost wages, jobs, and opportunities.

And while weve recently made great progress in our economic recoverywith unemployment down to four percentwe are far from done. Workers are still struggling to get the training, education, and support they need to find good-paying jobs.

And for workers with disabilities, these challenges have been even greater. Some people with disabilities are at even higher risk of severe COVID, and are over-represented in essential jobs that put them at higher risk of exposure.

And in the aftermath of this pandemic, workers with disabilities arent just grappling with lost wages, job loss, and long-term unemployment.

They are still facing other longstanding barriers to joining the workforce, participating in their communities, and obtaining economic self-sufficiency.

Barriers like ableism, damagingly lowand falseexpectations about what they can accomplish and discrimination in the hiring process. In 2020, disability discrimination was the basis for more than one-third of all charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Barriers like inaccessible workplaces whether thats the result of a lack of physical accessibility or challenges accessing digital information and assistive technology.

And barriers like unacceptable pay discrimination. People with disabilities are paid 87 cents on the dollar compared to workers without disabilitiesand thats not even accounting for workers who are paid subminimum wages.

These barriers add up to a devastating effect. The poverty rate for people with disabilities is a whopping 26 percent, thats unacceptable.

And the challenges that make it hard for people with disabilities to participate in the workforce arent just a problem for themthey are bad for working families, bad for our communities, and even bad for businesses too.

At the same time our economy is growing and demand for workers is high, there are millions of working-age people in our country who have a disability and want to participate in our economy, be financially independent, and get a good job but almost half of them report facing a barrier to employment.

By embracing inclusive practices and improving accessibility, businesses can increase their talent pool by more than 10 million people. Whats more, employing people with disabilities has been shown to reduce turnover, and increase productivity.

Whats promising is that during this pandemic, weve seen a widespread use of inclusive practices that can make work more accessible, and recently there has been a steady rise in the employment rate for people with disabilities.

This is great newsso we need to act on the lessons of this pandemic if we want to ensure that recent progress is a foundation for lasting change. This pandemic has shown how innovative practices can boost accessibility in our workforce programs and in businesses across the country.

Flexible scheduling has helped workers with disabilities and chronic illnesses adjust their work hours in order to take care of their needs. Remote options have helped address challenges with accessibility, helped workers who might struggle to commute and made technology like closed captioning for video meetings more common.

Accommodations like flexible scheduling, alternate work arrangements, and teleworkare some of the most requested. And according to a recent survey of employers, most accommodations cost nothing to provide. This is progress we should be building onand where we have a history of bipartisanship.

My friend, the late Senator Johnny Isakson cared deeply about these issues, and I was proud to work with him on this Committee to support people with disabilities through legislation like the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. And the spirit of bipartisanship he brought to these issues remains.

I know Senator Hassan, Senator Casey, Senator Cassidy, Senator Collins, and so many others remain committed to this work. As is shown by the Committees bipartisan vote last year to advance legislation reauthorizing the Assistive Technology Act which will help increase access to wheelchair ramps, screen readers, hearing aids, and other assistive technologies that help people live fully in their communities and access, obtain, and maintain employment.

I continue to work with my colleagues to get this legislation passed into law and I hope we can work in a similar, bipartisan way on challenges like ending wage discrimination and workplace segregation for workers with disabilities, and providing them with the training and support they need to succeed in competitive, integrated employment.

Ernesto, a worker with a disability from my home state of Washington, shared with me last year how this kind of support made a difference in his life. In August, he enrolled in the Basic Food Employment and Training program. With the new skills he gained through the program, he quickly managed to get not just one job offerbut two.

And Ernestos experience is just one example of how these programs help people with disabilities get competitive, integrated job opportunities, gain financial independence, and participate more fully in our communities.

There are so many more people in Washington state, and across the country, who care about this. Right now, one in four Americans have a disability, and more and more workers are identifying as having a disability due to long-COVID.

It should be obvious that we cant build back stronger, fairer and more accessible if we leave over a quarter of our nation behind. We must do everything we can to include everyone we can in our countrys future, instead of returning to a normal that didnt work for so many people in the first place.

And I look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses about how we do that. Now Ill turn it over to Senator Burr for his opening remarks.

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Senator Murray Leads Hearing on Boosting Employment for People with Disabilities | The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor &...