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HOUSTON, TX, Dec. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - AIRO.LIFE founded in 2018 by Doug Mochrie has announced a name change to OHANA Inc. ("the Company") in Canada and OHANA OATH Inc. ("the Company") in the United States. Trademark applications are pending. The Company has already successfully trademarked "Be Free."

OHANA's Be Free enabled devices are Free smartphones and data plans: the world's first quality smartphone and data plan free for the end-user.

Founder Mochrie says the reason for the official name change, which has been in the works for over a year, is two-fold "The primary driver is the word OHANA is more on-brand for us. OHANA is a Hawaiian word that means extended family, which speaks to the interconnected nature of what we, as a company are doing and speaks to our four pillars people, planet, passion, and profit. The secondary driver is that we were finding the AIRO.LIFE brand was not resonating in international markets, which is where we see a great amount of potential for growth in the coming years."

The Company's logo and foundational principles remain the same, as does its commitment to disrupting the telecommunications, fintech and content marketing verticals, with its Be Free Enabled devices. Its Be Free Enabled devices represent the democratization of data and a breaking down of the digital divide, with free access of information with a means to education with the hopes of less consumption and more environmental awareness. Mochrie believes strongly that "If people no longer have to spend money on phones and phone plans, that will help foster financial independence, and combined with free access to information, people become more aware of the world around them, enabling the potential for further education."

Illustrating the Company's commitment to the planet, OHANA has partnered with a major tree-planting entity in the US and to date has planted 66,472 trees through this partnership.

Story continues

Mochrie is excited about what the future has in store for the Company, as the team at OHANA plans to launch his Seed funding in the US with Vedaslabs.io in Q1 2022. For a limited time you can sign up to learn more about the upcoming investment round: https://ohanaoath.com/pages/investor-relations

About OHAHA Inc.OHANA Inc. based in Hamilton, ON, and Houston, TX has a mission to create economic transformation by flipping the script on who pays for smartphones and data plans. Founded in 2018 by Doug Mochrie, whose vision for OHANA and the Be Free device is to advance the lives of our Community and the Planet Free smartphones and data plans with the commoditization of data and providing content makers and brands with the highest visibility in the worldthe world's first quality smartphone and data plan free for the end-user. https://ohanaoath.com/

New OHANA Name (CNW Group/OHANA Inc.)

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AIRO.LIFE Announces Name Change & More in the New Year - Yahoo Finance

Shawna Hodgson speaks at a Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs meeting.

Every year on her birthday, Shawna Hodgson and her brother drive out to East Texas, and they visit her grave.

Hodgson was adopted soon after birth. Her biological brother is older than she is, and when their pregnant mother didn't come home from the hospital with a baby one day, he asked questions. Their grandmother took him out to their family cemetery plot, and showed him a grave marked "(Infant) Marshall."

That's your sister's grave, she told him.

"They told my brother that I had died," she said. "He grew up 40-something years of his life believing he had a little sister that had died, so imagine his surprise when I showed up."

The "Marshall" grave in the East Texas cemetery is next to generations of Texans. But Hodgson didn't connect with her roots or birth mother until much later.

It's something she said her adoptive parents haven't been thrilled about.

"They were told at the time she's never going to know her birth family,'" Hodgson said. "'They're never going to come back in the picture. She's yours. She's a blank slate. Make her your own.'"

Like many states, Texas adoptees are issued a new birth certificate with their adoptive parents' names. Their original birth certificate, which lists their birth parents, is sealed. And Texas born adoptees can't access their original birth certificates until they're 18. Even then, they have to already know the names of both of their birth parents. Otherwise, the adoptee will have to petition the court.

And adoptees say that creates confusion and sets up roadblocks later in life.

Hodgson, who grew up in Cypress, said it took years for her to access her birth records. Her birth mother was 24 years old and recently divorced when she was pregnant with Hodgson in the 1970s. Because Hodgson's maternal grandmother refused to help care for both Hodgson and her then three-year-old brother, Hodgson's birth mother gave her up for adoption. Feeling pressured by her family, her mother later told her she would have raised her if she had more of a choice.

Not knowing where she came from made Hodgson feel less grounded in her identity. When she turned 18, she expected that gaining access to her original birth certificate to get answers about her history would be easy.

Instead, she had to wait decades to find her birth family through DNA testing.

Struggling to access birth records isn't uncommon for adoptees. Gregory Luce, an adoptee who founded the Adoptee Rights Law Center, had to go through a five-year court case to access his original birth certificate. Luce, an attorney based in Minnesota, said he finally felt tethered to the earth when the story of his birth was no longer a secret.

"The idea that your birth is secret and can not be known is something that many adoptees internalize," Luce said. "They feel that they should be ashamed about their birth."

According to the Adoptee Rights Law Center website, Texas is one of 17 states that restricts adoptees' access to original birth certificates. Hodgson who now works with a number of Texas adoptee organizations, including the Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition has tried and failed since 2015 to to lobby the Texas Legislature to get a bill passed that would make original birth certificates more accessible in Texas.

In the 87th Legislative Session, Texas House republican Cody Harris, R-Palestine who is also an adoptive father wrote House Bill 1386 to provide adult adoptees access to their birth records without restrictions. The bill had bipartisan support, but failed to make it out of committee in the Texas Senate.Hodgson said state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, is a key reason for that. Campbell has blocked the bill in the senate since 2015.

"We come back year after year," Hodgson said. "We work so hard for this, and we got this one person with so much power."

Campbell, herself a mother of an adopted child, did not comment for this story. But she has previously cited concerns about birth parents' privacy as her reason for not supporting the bill.

Hodgson, meanwhile, said the bill would allow adult adoptees private access to the information and would not make the birth records public.

Even if the state Legislature made it easier to access birth records, adoptees would still not have any legal relationship with their birth family, according to Karlos Dillard, an adoptee advocate and author of the memoir "Ward of the State."

That's common in states across the country. Dillard said he was abandoned by his adoptive family at 15, and spent two years on his own.

"We all think adoption as this wonderful thing, and this life-changing thing, but what about the adoptions that go bad?" Dillard said.

When he decided to go to college, Dillard hit a roadblock: in order to get financial aid, the federal student aid application required his adoptive parents' tax information. He had to go through a lengthy process to prove his financial independence.

Later, as an adult, Dillard reunited with his birth mother and siblings. When his birth mother and sister died in a car accident, Dillard said he couldn't be listed on their death certificates or help plan their funerals. Legally, his adoptive parents are still his parents.

Having his adoptive mother instead of the woman who gave birth to him listed as a parent on his birth certificate is hurtful, Dillard said. Changing an adoptees birth certificate, he said, can impact their sense of self.

Dillard has now made it his mission to annul his adoption, to remove his adoptive parents from his birth certificate and to restore his original birth certificate. But not every adoptee is able to do so, and the legal process is lengthy.

In Texas, adoption annulments have to be petitioned for through the courts. The court clerk forwards the information to the state registrar. If the Texas Department of Health and Safety determines the petition has merit, it will mail it to an attorney of record, who will return the corrected birth certificate to the department.

Jacob Cohen, an attorney at the Rainwater Firm in Houston, said he hasnt seen an adoption annulment case in his ten years of practicing law, nor had he ever heard of his firm handling an adoption termination case in its 25 years.

As a family law practitioner, Cohen said there are certain laws he references in almost every case involving a child.

Then theres the other set, the rarely used, rarely cited statutes that dont really come up because theyre for situations that are just so rare, Cohen said.

Some child advocates argue that birth certificates shouldnt be reissued when a child is adopted; In some cases, the process can essentially erase an adoptee's origins, said Will Francis, the Texas chapter executive director of the National Association of Social Workers. Reissuing a child's birth certificate with the adoptive parents' names, he said, is a misguided attempt to create a new family.

"I think an adoptive family is a beautiful, wonderful entity by itself," Francis said. "But it does not need to erase history to exist."

If an adoptee wants to annul their adoption, Francis said, it should be an option.

Children adopted out of the foster care system in Texas retain access to their benefits as wards of the state even after they're adopted. These benefits include access to Medicaid until age 26 and state college and trade school tuition assistance.

However, those benefits only apply to youth adopted from foster care. Children who are adopted privately or internationally who weren't wards of the state prior to their adoption must have their adoptions annulled in order to receive those benefits, or their adoptive parents would have to terminate their parental rights and relinquish the adoptive child to the state.

Even though there are resources for current and former foster children, few of them use those resources. Francis said the foster care system doesn't prepare them to take advantage of free college or trade school tuition, or other resources.

"We have all these things that are no cost, and yet we don't give them the guidance, knowledge or resources to actually obtain those," Francis said. "Just because you have free access to school doesn't mean you have anyone teaching you how to write an application. It doesn't mean you know where you're going to live and stay on campus."

Child advocates say it should be easier for adoptees, foster youth and their families to access resources without having to jump through the systems hoops. Resources for families in poverty whose children are removed for neglect would ease the strain on the system, making adoption and foster care a rare resource for more serious cases of abuse, they argue.

If Hodgsons birth mother had more resources, she wouldnt have given her up for adoption.

Now Hodgson, who today has a close relationship with both her birth family and her adoptive family, believes people should take all of these factors into consideration.

Its the big question," Hodgson said. "Who deserves to be a mother?'

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This week, Gastro Obscura is looking at wondrous wintertime cocktails. Yesterdays recipe was Moose Milk, the sweet, potent eggnog of the Canadian military.

In addition to being an accomplished poet, playwright, and royal spy for King Charles II, Aphra Behn threw a hell of a party. A cultural maverick in 17th-century England, Behn didnt care much for the norms imposed on the women of her day. She was married just long enough to snatch her husbands last name and relied on her blistering wit for financial independence, writing plays every bit as bawdy as her male counterparts. She also loved a good drink. When entertaining her fellow London literati, Behn didnt serve just any kind of punch. Rather, she opted for a concoction of brandy, lemon juice, and dairy that would be miraculously transformed into a glass-clear cocktail.

Clarified milk punch is the kind of scientific sleight of hand that feels far too contemporary to be centuries old. Despite what its ingredient list might imply, the end result is not only glass clear but dangerously easy to drink. Slightly sweet, full of spices, and velvety-smooth on the palate, the punch made an impression on Behns guests.

One of her contemporaries wrote about consuming this delicious milk punch made by Aphra Behn in the 1600s, says Eamon Rockey, who helped introduce a new generation to clarified milk punch while he was bartending at New Yorks Eleven Madison Park in 2008. Since then, hes gone on to become something of a clarified-milk cocktail evangelist, making versions with everything from goats milk to beet juice and, in 2018, launching his own line of bottled milk punch called Rockeys Botanical Liqueur.

Given that the earliest written record of the drink belongs to Behn, she may have come up with the idea, although it could also simply have been a popular drink of the times. According to David Wondrich, who writes about the history of the cocktail in his book Punch, the oldest surviving recipe belongs to another woman: Mary Rockett, a housewife who wrote down her clarified milk punch recipe in 1711. Benjamin Franklin, who enclosed a recipe in a 1763 letter, was a fan, as was Charles Dickens, who left a few bottles of the stuff in his cellar after his death. Queen Victoria liked Nathaniel Whissons version so much that in 1838 she made his company the official purveyors of milk punch to Her Majesty and President Grover Cleveland most likely served it to guests, if the 1887 edition of The White House Cookbook is any indication.

Unlike New Orleansstyle brandy milk puncha creamy, nog-adjacent cocktail that came along much laterthe clarified cocktail is shelf-stable. You can pop a cork in it, put it in your cellar, and age it like wine, Rockey says. Its a quality that would have made the punch especially appealing during the lean winter months prior to the invention of refrigeration. This ensured that you could drink it all year long. Until you get the next seasons fruits and whatnot, you would still have milk punch. Many [milk punches] actually get better in time.

Even before Behns wild soires, the English were already sipping curdled-milk cocktails called syllabubs and possets. The latter would have been poured from a special tea kettle or ornate porcelain glass with a straw, so that the drinker could sip the boozy whey below, then spoon up the curds as a dessert. Both drinks were popular enough among wealthy Brits to make cameos in works by Jane Austen and William Shakespeare. Im near certain those are the precursors [to clarified milk punch], Rockey says. If you look at how possets and syllabubs are made, its the same. Theres acid, theres sweetener, theres spices, and theres milk.

Rockey first encountered clarified milk punch in the early aughts when Cameron Brogue, then head bartender at Bar Pleiades, stumbled across the recipe in The Bartenders Guide, an 1862 classic by Jerry Thomas (also sometimes called The Bon-Vivants Companion). On paper, the recipe had all the hallmarks of a terrible idea: a literal hot mess of curdled dairy, citric acid, pineapple juice, tea, and booze. When milk comes in contact with acid and alcohol, it curdles. The magic happens when the revolting-looking mixture passes through a filter. The curds settle to the bottom, forming a nest, and the milk proteins, called casein, strip the liquid of both its color and harsh tannins.

As a former chef, I looked at it from a technique perspective and thought there was something very special about this recipe that could be adapted and riffed on, Rockey says. Nowadays, variations ranging from milk-clarified mezcal Old Fashioneds to ube-tinted numbers with yuzu have become so widespread that some wonder if the trend has jumped the shark.

Yet for something that looks so unmistakably chef-y, clarified milk punch requires zero centrifuges or other molecular-gastro contraptions. All amateur mixologists need to make it at home is a loose-mesh filtera jelly strainer used for making preserves works great, as does a clean pillowcase or T-shirtand enough faith to trust the process.

Milk punch is always stressful, Rockey says. Ive probably made more milk punch than anybody alive at this point and every time I see all these ingredients, Im like, Theres no way this shits going to work. Youre looking at dark black tea and brown liquor. The milk is completely opaque. But if you do it right, it will come through perfectly clear.

If made using his and other modern-day bartenders suggestions, milk punch is a two-day, multi-step, many-dish affair. Why go to all the fuss? Because milk punch is undeniably festive, not to mention a visual show-stopper. Plus, as Behn knew, its ideal for entertaining. Make it a day, a week, or a month in advance, then pop it out of the fridge and leave your guests wondering just how you did it.

Adapted from How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivants Companion by Jerry Thomas

Serves 1216

Ingredients

6 lemons juiced, 2 zested2 cups granulated sugar1 pineapple, juiced (or 500 milliliters pineapple juice)6 cloves20 coriander seeds1 stick cinnamon2 cups cognac2 cups rum cup Arrack1 cup of strong, brewed green tea1 quart boiling water1 quart whole milk (preferably organic and not ultra-pasteurized)Freshly grated nutmeg for garnish (optional)Instructions

The finished cocktail. AARON JOEL SANTOS FOR ATLAS OBSCURA

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Make the Crystal-Clear Milk Cocktail Loved by a Spy and a Founding Father - Atlas Obscura

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If youve Googled how to become a millionaire, even in half jest, youre one of tens of millions who dream of becoming financially independent, yet may not be sure where to start or whether you have the capacity. I was at that place doubting my ability to break through the mental barriers that kept me from my goals. In early days of becoming financially independent, one of the things I had to work hardest at was creating a better mindset quieting that negative voice in my head (or the voices of those around me) that injected doubt.

The simple and happy truth is that we are all capable of becoming rich in our own way, and its not as daunting a task as many are raised to believe. But first, its vital to develop the mindset of a millionaire and to start thinking about financial independence as something already created all thats needed is the time and focus required to get there.

Here are a few tips to help you train your brain to that end.

The majority of people live in the now. World-changing traumas such as the pandemic added fuel to this outlook as billions shifted into survival mode, but if you want to become wealthy, its vital to consider where you need to be five, 10, 30 years from now. A 2017 Institute for the Future survey found that a staggering 53% of respondents didnt think at all about what will happen to them in 30 years, and that 60% thought only about the close future (one month). Such an approach makes building wealth virtually impossible.

There are a number of assumed prerequisites about becoming wealthy, including that the process must feature a formal education (a Ph.D. or Masters in Business, say). But a significant percentage of worlds wealthiest people taught themselves how to earn moneywithout the assistance of a textbook, or via avenues that had nothing to do with prior schooling. Jeff Bezos graduated with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, yet grew a giant online retail business from his garage and became the worlds wealthiest man. Steve Jobs, meanwhile, was a university dropout who often said that leaving higher learning was one of the best decisions he ever made.

If you want to learn more about business or investing, you dont need to go to school for it. Buy books, take online courses and otherwise teach yourself the skills needed to succeed, so theres no time spent learning things youre never going to apply.

Related: 11 Mindset Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

A micro-percentage of students are taught how to invest as a part of high school or college curriculum, but one thing we'recertainly shown is how to spend. The consumerism lifestyle is ubiquitous in North America, and relentlessly advances the idea that having more is a marker of being rich. If you can save up to buy a Tesla, then you must be wealthy, right?

Actually, if you want to be financially independent, its critical to resist the temptation to spend money on materialistic things at the expense of savings and investments. A corollary of that mindset is investing any spare cash in stocks, property, etc anything that will pay you in the future.On average, the stock market provides about a 10% return each year. Even a buy-in as modest as $500 or $1,000 a month can quickly turn into significant returns, but remember to choose stocks that will pay out in the long term, and dont be afraid to take a little risk. If you choose to invest money you would have spent at McDonalds on a volatile stock without the fear of losing it, youre likely to see bigger returns.

Buy a notebook and carry it everywhere. While sitting on the bus, having lunch, or wherever and whenever an idea strikes, grab that little volume and write it down. (Deciding to do so later almost certainly means forgetting it). Then take each idea and consider how you could make money applying it.Perhaps one involves starting a side hustle that could generate enough money to invest say an online tutoring gig, freelance graphic design, writing or photography.An average side job like these earns about $200 per month, but can easily ascend to $500 and up with focus and time all the while training your brain to think like an entrepreneur.

Related: Examples of Writing Business Ideas

Odds are, if you think $500 million is a lot, then $1 million will be, too. Both are significant, of course, but if weve decided that its impossible to attain $500 million, its far more likely the same outlook will apply to $1 million. These roadblocks in our minds might then keep us from earning even $200,000. Believe me, once you break through any invisible ceilings youve kept yourself under, youll start seeing change. If you never thought earning $100,000 was possible, then suddenly broke through the barrier and saw it sitting there in an account, suddenly $200,000 doesnt look that hard. Soon enough, youll be in the millions, and look back thinking how much you could have earned during the time you didnt believe you could.

Most of the worlds wealthiest people dont credit a set of skills or mechanics to how they became self-made. Instead, theyll likely report that it had more to do with the mindset and values they chose to focus on. They saw what most people dont that there is a way to become rich while doing what you love.

You dont need to stick to a tolerable 9-to-5 job in order to make yourself financially independent. In fact, thats one of the worst ways, because theres no ability to move above and beyond unless someone higher up decides to allow you to do so. Its time to take your money into your own hands and start seeing yourself as someone ready and able to shake the belief that there are only a select few able to grow in prosperity.

Related: This Is Why You Should Start Setting 'Unrealistic' Goals

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If You Want to Be a Millionaire, Start Thinking Like One - Entrepreneur

PHILADELPHIA & IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: IRT) (IRT) and Steadfast Apartment REIT, Inc. (STAR) today announced the completion of the merger transaction between the two companies, forming a combined company with an equity market capitalization of approximately $5.6 billion and a total enterprise value of approximately $8.3 billion, as of market close on December 15, 2021. The transaction was previously approved by both companies stockholders at their respective special meetings held on December 13, 2021. The combined company, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will retain the Independence Realty Trust name and will trade under the existing ticker symbol IRT on the New York Stock Exchange.

We are excited to announce the successful completion of our merger with STAR, together forming a leading public multifamily REIT focused on the high-growth U.S. Sunbelt region, said Scott F. Schaeffer, IRTs Chairman and CEO. Our combined company creates a best-in-class operating platform, further redevelopment opportunities and notable economies of scale in markets where we expect to benefit from strong growth fundamentals. We remain on-track to generate approximately $28 million in annual synergies and realize the immediate accretion to Core FFO per share. Our future is bright as we unite two high-quality portfolios in attractive non-gateway markets, and look to strengthen and expand our business, while delivering long-term value for our stakeholders.

Leadership and Organization

Concurrently with the completion of the merger, the number of directors on IRTs Board of Directors was increased to 10, and five incumbent directors of the STAR Board of Directors, Stephen R. Bowie, Ned W. Brines, Ana Marie del Rio, Ella S. Neyland and Thomas H. Purcell, joined the following five incumbent directors of the IRT Board of Directors, Scott F. Schaeffer, Richard D. Gebert, Melinda H. McClure, DeForest Blake Soaries Jr., and Lisa Washington. Scott F. Schaeffer continues to serve as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors.

James J. Sebra continues to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the combined company. Farrell Ender continues to serve as President of the combined company. Jessica Norman, formerly IRTs Executive Vice President and General Counsel, serves as Chief Legal Officer of the combined company. Ella S. Neyland, formerly STARs President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, joined the combined company as its Chief Operating Officer.

The Merger

As a result of the merger, each former share of STAR common stock has been converted into 0.905 shares of newly issued IRT common stock, and cash in lieu of fractional shares. On a pro forma basis former STAR common stockholders hold approximately 47% of the combined companys common equity, with continuing IRT common stockholders holding approximately 53% of the combined company.

Portfolio Optimization and Capital Allocation Update

As part of the merger, IRT identified nine assets to sell in order to manage market concentrations. In the fourth quarter of 2021, five assets were sold, two from the legacy IRT portfolio and three from STAR, while the remaining four legacy IRT assets are expected to be disposed of during the first quarter of 2022. IRT expects to receive total gross proceeds of approximately $404 million for the nine assets sold, representing an economic cap rate of approximately 3.8%. Proceeds from these non-core asset sales, along with proceeds received from IRTs July forward equity offering totaling approximately $271.8 million will be used to pay down debt of the combined company.

Advisors

Barclays is acting as lead financial advisor and BMO Capital Markets is acting as financial advisor, and Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP is acting as legal advisor to IRT. RBC Capital Markets and Robert A. Stanger & Co. are acting as financial advisors, and Morrison & Foerster LLP is acting as legal advisor to STAR.

About IRT

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE: IRT) is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates multifamily apartment properties across non-gateway U.S. markets, including Atlanta, Dallas, Louisville, Memphis, Raleigh and Tampa. IRTs investment strategy is focused on gaining scale within key amenity rich submarkets that offer good school districts, high-quality retail and major employment centers. IRT aims to provide stockholders attractive risk-adjusted returns through diligent portfolio management, strong operational performance, and a consistent return on capital through distributions and capital appreciation. More information may be found on IRTs website http://www.irtliving.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry and markets in which the combined company operates and beliefs of and assumptions made by IRT management, involve uncertainties that could significantly affect the financial results of the combined company. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, seeks, estimates, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the anticipated benefits of the merger, including future financial and operating results, and the combined companys plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. All statements that address financial and operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur or be achieved in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained and therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that may affect outcomes and results include, but are not limited to: risks related to the impact of COVID-19 and other potential future outbreaks of infectious diseases on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and performance and those of our residents as well as on the economy and real estate and financial markets; changes in market demand for rental apartment homes and pricing pressures, including from competitors, that could limit our ability to lease units or increase rents or that could lead to declines in occupancy and rent levels; uncertainty and volatility in capital and credit markets, including changes that reduce availability, and increase costs, of capital; inability of tenants to meet their rent and other lease obligations and charge-offs in excess of our allowance for bad debt; legislative restrictions that may delay or limit collections of past due rents; risks endemic to real estate and the real estate industry generally; impairment charges; the effects of natural and other disasters; delays in completing, and cost overruns incurred in connection with, our value add initiatives and failure to achieve projected rent increases and occupancy levels on account of the initiatives; any effects of the completion of the merger, including failure to realize the cost savings, synergies and other benefits expected to result from the merger; the ability to successfully integrate the IRT and STAR businesses; unexpected costs of REIT qualification compliance; unexpected changes in our intention or ability to repay certain debt prior to maturity; inability to sell certain assets within the time frames or at the pricing levels expected; costs and disruptions as the result of a cybersecurity incident or other technology disruption; and share price fluctuations those additional risks and factors discussed in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by IRT from time to time, including those discussed under the heading Risk Factors in our most recently filed reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

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Independence Realty Trust and Steadfast Apartment REIT Complete Strategic Merger - Business Wire

After a rough few weeks in the stock market, Motley Fool podcast host Chris Hill has a question he hopes you can answer.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. To get started investing, check out our quick-start guide to investing in stocks. A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on Dec. 6, 2021.

Chris Hill: It's Monday, Dec. 6. Welcome to Market Foolery. I'm Chris Hill. It's just me again. We'll get other people in the mix tomorrow, I promise.

But right now, it's just you and me. Because there is a question I need to ask you, but first, how are you doing? Are you all right? How is the holiday shopping going? Did you find that thing you wanted to get for what's his name? Or what's her name? You know who I'm talking about. O.K., well, then you got to keep looking. Hey, how is Hanukkah? Was it good? Good latkes and all eight candles lit last night? Good, pack the dreidel away until next year then. Hey, how's school going? Are you ready for final exams? I know, but you know what, you're not alone. Everyone in your class feels like that. Everyone in your grade feels like that. You're not alone. But look, you've got to take breaks. You can't just lock yourself away and say, well, I'm going to be in my room studying for the next five hours. That's not going to work. You're going to fry your brain and you're not going to be as productive, so build in some breaks. Take some study breaks, take a walk, watch a show, get outside with other people. Go look at some decorations. You're going to do fine. You're going to do well in your finals, and then it's winter break and you can relax. Do you study, but seriously, get outside every day and look around. Did you get a Christmas tree this weekend? I did, too. Yeah, normally, I'm like a mid-December guy with the tree. But after last year, I had to go early. It's crazy, right?

Hey, speaking of crazy, can we talk about last week? Yeah, let's talk about that for stock investors. Holy cow, Friday was a bad day, at the end of a bad week, at the end of a bad month. That was the worst four-week stretch in over a year. You weren't imagining it. That really happened. That was just for the market in general. If you want to get a little more specific, we can talk about the Nasdaq, 3,300 stocks on the Nasdaq. Last week, 20% of them hit 52-week lows -- 20%. So much red. Last Wednesday, every stock I own was down, everyone. Wait, no, I had one that was up, I had one in the green, but when the market closed on Wednesday afternoon, I looked at my holdings and it was the sea of red and one tiny dot of green because one stock I own was up 3%.

I know you have questions. I have questions, and there's a good chance a lot of the questions you have are the same ones I have. Because I had stocks getting whacked last week and with some of them, I just kept thinking, O.K., so do I buy more? I believe in the business and the stock is 25, 30, 40% cheaper now, do I buy more? Maybe you had similar thoughts about your stocks. Do I sell this? Do I double-down on this? Do I look at my watch list or there are other stocks on my watch list that I should be buying instead? Again, 20% of the Nasdaq hit a 52-week low last week. Chances are if you're keeping a watch list, some, if not all of the stocks on that watch list went on sale last week. So much red, so much emotion, so many questions. I know today was better. I know the headlines tonight and on Tuesday morning will be about how the Dow was up, 600, 700 points or whatever. But after a week like that, that came after three other weeks like that. After a month of gut punches and seeing red, there's really only one question, when it comes to stock investing: Are you in or are you out? At the time like this, right now that's the No. 1 question that matters. The only person you need to answer that question for is yourself.

The good news is, there is no wrong answer. There really isn't. I've said it before and I will continue to say it. There are plenty of smart people whose paths to financial independence have been, are and will continue to be paved with index investing. After the last few weeks, I'm sure wherever [Vanguard Group founder] John Bogle is, he's smiling. I like John Bogle. Anyone who ever met John Bogle couldn't help but like John Bogle. But you and me, we're stock investors, and it's perfectly natural to feel scared or confused or just down or any other emotion after the past four weeks that we've had because this isn't fun. This is not the fun part of stock investing. Just like March 2020 was not fun. That was a scary month. Although we came out of that O.K. Thomas Paine wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls." He was writing about war. This isn't war, so I'm not suggesting that this rough patch we've gone through as stock investors is trying anyone's soul. But these are definitely the times that test people's stomachs. Which is also not a fun time. Even if something good is attached to it, any endeavor that tests your stomach is going to be rough. It could be a roller coaster, it could be a 72-ounce steak that you get for free if you eat the whole thing, running a marathon, investing in stocks.

All four of those are going to test your stomach. I want to be clear. I'm not talking about the process of picking which stocks to invest in. There are a lot of factors that go into that. There's a lot of nuance. Some of it is about us as individuals. How old you are, your financial situation, what your priorities are, whether you're married or you have kids or other people that you're supporting. There are so many things that are just about you as an individual. Then there's the whole other category, the stuff that's about the businesses. The research that we do around companies, their industry, competition, the management. Who are the people running this business? Picking which stocks you want to invest in, that is nuanced, that is layered, and I am not talking about that. I'm not asking you a question that involves nuance. This is binary. Either you're a stock investor or you're not, and either is fine. But if you are, if you choose to be a stock investor, then days like last Friday and weeks like last week, and months like the past month or months like March of 2020, that's part of the deal. That's the price of admission. We're on the ride, and that's what the ticket costs.

In the same way we talk about knowing why you bought the stocks that you bought, being able to tell someone in a few sentences, this is why I bought shares of company X. Being able to do that is helpful for us as investors for a lot of reasons, including the fact that knowing why you bought what you bought is probably going to help you sleep at night, no matter what direction the stock is going in. In that same way, being able to answer this question is going to help you move forward on whichever path to financial independence you take. When it comes to stock investing, are you in or are you out? I hope you're in. I want you to be in. But I also know that only you can answer that question in a way that works for you, so please do that. If you're in, well, I'll be here on your podcasts machine talking with other Fools and we'll work our way down the path together. In the meantime, here's the Ramones. I'll see you tomorrow.

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You Must Know This About the Stocks You Invest in - Motley Fool

Isaac Galvan remembers the exact moment he fell in love with Mexico.

The 23-year-old visited Quertaro, a bustling city in central Mexico, two years ago with his family and was instantly captivated by the city's pink, stucco buildings and friendly locals. "That's when I knew I wanted to move there," he tells CNBC Make It.

Galvan was born and raised in Lufkin, Texas by his Mexican mother and stepdad. Growing up in the small town "wasn't that exciting," he recalls, and Galvan spent most of his childhood building campfires, swimming in the lakes with friends and taking the occasional family trip to Mexico.

As Galvan got older, he yearned to connect more with his Mexican heritage and learn about his family's culture: his mother had grown up in Coahuila, Mexico and some of his relatives lived in Quertaro. Galvan had always dreamed of moving abroad and having a remote job, but he "wanted to explore other career paths" before taking the leap.

After graduating high school, Galvan spent two years working 60 hours a week with his stepdad as a pipe-fitter in Texas's oil refineries, but he quickly realized the "unstable" work schedule wasn't the right fit for him.

He moved to San Antonio on a whim when he turned 20 to work as a real estate assistant and line cook, a hectic lifestyle that saw him living "paycheck to paycheck," he says, and left him with little free time.

But when the coronavirus pandemic hit in spring 2020, Galvan lost both of his jobs, and had to move back home with his parents. He decided to use that time off to finally pursue his dream of living and working in Mexico.

Isaac Galvan and his family

Photo: Isaac Galvan

First, he researched what skills he could learn to land a full-time remote job and taught himself how to code through Code Academy, YouTube tutorials and other online resources. Then Galvan applied to open remote roles through Indeed Mexico's job board, and received an offer in February 2021 to work as a website developer.

With $3,500 in savings and his parents' blessing, Galvan packed his bags and moved to Quertaro in April 2021. Galvan considers himself part of a "reverse migration" of young Americans moving to Mexico and other less expensive countries in search of the "American Dream," an ideal of financial independence and comfort he says is difficult to achieve with a low-wage job, as living costs continue to spike in the United States.

Moving to Quertaro was "much easier" than Galvan expected: he found a fully furnished studio apartment on Facebook Marketplace and got approved for dual citizenship in Mexico with his mother's ID and birth certificate. His start-up costs included an airplane ticket from Texas to Mexico, a 4-night stay in a local Airbnb as he waited to move into his apartment, as well as the first month of rent and a security deposit for his studio apartment, which totaled about $1,095.

The biggest challenges Galvan has faced transitioning into his new life abroad have been setting up his Mexican bank account, driver's license, voting ID and buying a car, which took him about two months. "The process is much lengthier and slower than in the U.S., where you can get a car in one day!" he says.

As for the ongoing pandemic, Galvan says that Mexico is taking similar precautions as the United States to curb the spread of the virus, so living through the crisis in Quertaro "hasn't been hard." "When you go to a store, for example, people take your temperature and give you hand sanitizer," he adds. "Masks are also mandatory [in public places], so you feel much safer going out."

Since moving to Mexico, Galvan has been able to boost his savings and make great strides in paying off credit card debt he accrued during the pandemic.

As a website developer, Galvan earns about $22,000 per year, a salary he says has been "more than enough" to live in Quertaro and start building wealth. His biggest expenses are his rent and car payments, which together are about $651 each month. The studio apartment and utilities cost Galvan about $403 each month, a living space that would have cost him a minimum of $700 per month in Texas. He saves about $400 per month, which he is putting toward a travel fund.

"It's insane that I can live on my own for much less than it would cost me in Texas," he says. "But living in Mexico is a lot cheaper than living in the U.S., which has allowed me to have a better quality of life." Galvan adds that he's able to spend more money in Mexico on traveling, eating out at restaurants and getting drinks with friends, luxuries he didn't have when he was working in Texas.

Another large expense Galvan has taken on is a six-month coding bootcamp offered by a local university, which he started in November and will cost him about $5,500 dollars. Galvan made an initial payment of $1,000 for the classes and is now paying about $750 per month. "These classes will lead to better job opportunities, a resource that I wouldn't be able to pay for myself if I still lived in the U.S.," he says. His long-term career goal is to become a software engineer and increase his earning potential.

Isaac Galvan's average monthly spending

Gene Woo Kim | CNBC Make It

Here's a monthly breakdown of Galvan's spending (as of September 2021):

Rent and utilities: $403

Food: $564

Car payment: $248

Transportation: $50

Phone: $7

Subscriptions: $46

Health insurance: $15

Recreational travel: $100

Total: $1,432

After living in Mexico for nearly a year, Galvan says he doesn't see himself ever moving back to the United States. "It was definitely worth the gamble to move to Mexico," he notes. "I love it here, I am so much happier, more fulfilled and independent."

Most mornings, Galvan wakes up around 7:00 a.m. to exercise and eat breakfast before logging on to work at 8:00 a.m. He works until 4:00 p.m. and will spend his evenings walking around a local park or going out with friends to a bar or restaurant. Galvan met most of his friends through Facebook groups for expats like himself or through his church in Mexico.

Isaac Galvan

Photo: Isaac Galvan

Read more here:

This 23-year-old left the U.S. for Mexico and now lives on $1,400 per monthheres how he earns and spends his money - CNBC

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Department of Workforce Services building, May 1, 2020.

By Casey Cameron | Special to The Tribune

| Dec. 10, 2021, 8:00 p.m.

The state of Utah has always taken seriously the responsibility to care for Utahns in need, and many great community organizations support and supplement these efforts. But contrary to claims in a recent article and subsequent editorial published by The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah does not pass off its welfare responsibilities to community organizations.

Through the states nationally recognized TANF program, we work with the whole family to find services that will best help them on their way to financial independence, including education, on-the-job training, work readiness, child care and physical and mental health treatment. For those who find themselves in a financial crisis, we provide not only cash assistance, but our licensed clinical therapists provide short-term clinical services as well.

We also help qualifying low-income families avoid eviction and maintain housing, in addition to helping refugee families with training, housing, education and English as a Second Language training.

Part of the confusion in recent reporting has to do with the benefits application process administered by the Department of Workforce Services. The ProPublica report claims the state rejects 1,300 applications per month but ignores the fact that we receive about 20,000 applications per month for assistance.

Over the last 20 years, Utah has led the nation in consolidating assistance programs to create a one-stop experience for customers. People can fill out a single application either in person or online to apply for SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), medical assistance, child care assistance and other financial assistance. Many people simply choose to check all the boxes just to see what they might qualify for. That means many are not eligible for TANF cash assistance because they dont meet income requirements or dont have children, making up the majority of those rejected applications.

TANF is just one part of a larger set of available public assistance programs in Utah, and many people who are not eligible for TANF cash assistance qualify for other aid. More than 250,000 Utah households receive medical, food, child care or cash assistance.

When a customer is not eligible for a program or chooses not to participate, we try to connect them to other community resources that may be available to them. Some examples are the Utah Food Bank, United Way of Utah, Jewish Family Center, homeless resource centers and many more local community-based resources. Of course, not every person is eligible for government assistance and not every person is the right match for every community resource.

That leads to another gross misrepresentation in the ProPublica reporting and The Tribune editorial: the relationship between the state and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The article asserts the state is avoiding its welfare responsibilities by relying on the church to provide welfare instead. This is simply not true.

There is no agreement or practice to steer people to any religious organization to supplant the states services. The ProPublica article itself quotes a former Workforce Services employee stating that he always gave applicants other nongovernmental options to consider, and there was no coercion to go the religious route, which the article and editorial then proceed to completely ignore.

Federal rules allow states to utilize the efforts of local community organizations in order to meet the states maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements. Meeting MOE requirements allows the state to access all available federal TANF funding. At least 29 states have used this budget strategy. In the case of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreement, we only count a small portion of the value of volunteer hours at the Humanitarian Center, not cash. This agreement does not reduce the amount of TANF funding that is spent helping families out of poverty, nor does it impact referrals to community resources in any way.

At the end of the day, the state of Utah is eager to help Utahns in need. Thats our job. But Utahns also understand that local families, neighborhoods and community organizations are equally important in creating a social support network for when an individual or family falls on hard times.

We are lucky to have this feeling of community, volunteerism and support in Utah. Utah is among the best places in the country for upward mobility, has the second lowest poverty rate, and was recently ranked in the top five best states for economic opportunity. It takes more than just one entity in Utah to achieve this type of economic prosperity, and likewise, more than just the government to step in and support those still on their own path to success.

Casey Cameron | Executive Director Utah Department of Workforce Services

Casey Cameron is executive director of the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

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It is not accurate to say the state of Utah dodges its responsibility to the poor. - Salt Lake Tribune

The cost of travel is inevitably higher during the holiday season but there are a handful of ways to save a few bucks on your rental car.

Starting early and looking for anything from rewards programs to bundle deals are great ways for consumers to save on rental cars this holiday season.

"The most important thing that holiday travelers can do is to plan ahead and book their rental as early as possible," said Jonathan Weinberg, CEO of AutoSlash, a site dedicated to helping travelers find the best deals on rental cars.

Newsweek has compiled a list of tips to help save a few bucks on car rentals this Christmas.

The car rental industry has a bit more flexibility than hotels or airlines which renters can use to their advantage. Some rental cars can be booked with a "pay-later" rate that does not include credit card information meaning customers can lock in a lower rate early while continuing to shop around for better prices.

Choosing this option can relieve some of the stress of the cancellation or vehicle change fees that can really rack up should renters find a better deal elsewhere.

As much as it can be managed, renters should avoid booking their car rentals at the airport. Although it may be more convenient to rent at the airport, according to Tripsavvy, a vacation planning site, airport car rental prices are higher on average than what can be found off the airport's property.

Tripsavvy explains that airport car rentals involve several fees that off-airport rental facilities don't have most notably are the taxes. Airport taxes are sometimes twice as much as the tax bill elsewhere. Though the taxes tend to be high, another significant fee is the general costs of operating a business on airport property. Renters can look forward to lower fees elsewhere, where parking lots and office space are not at a premium.

Enrolling in a rental rewards program is also a good way to cut costs according to Finance Buzz, a financial independence site. Many rental car companies have rewards programs that give travelers upgrades and lower daily costs.

According to The Points Guy, an American travel site, rewards programs like Alamo Insiders, Budget Fastbreak, Dollar Express Rewards, Enterprise Rewards and Hertz Gold Plus are among some of the best rewards programs to look into. That latter offers perks like vehicle upgrades and the ability to add a second driver to a rental at no cost.

Bundling your flight with hotel and/or car rentals are supposed to be designed to save renters money, but make sure to crunch your own numbers as it may actually make the car rentals cost more on their own.

Travel sites like Kayak or Expedia allow travelers to compare various bundle deals and calculate the best options.

When renting a car, the key to obtaining the best rewards deals lies in choosing the right credit card or airline with mile credits. The Points Guy found that Chase offers triple points on all travel, which includes car rentals while Citi Business and AAdvantage offer double points on rentals.

According to the site, some cards also offer primary car rental coverage, which will cover any loss, theft or damage to a rental without you needing to file a claim with your insurance company meaning renters can save on purchasing separate renters insurance though the rental company.

Although purchasing auto insurance is not technically a money saver, it is a preventative way to save in case of an accident which can be pretty expensive on its own. There are several types of rental insurance including liability coverage, personal accident insurance, collision or loss damage waivers and personal effects coverage.

According to Finance Buzz, the key to saving money here is making sure you aren't purchasing redundant coverage. They suggest double checking that your auto insurance policy or credit card doesn't already provide a specific type of protection.

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How To Save Money on Your Car Rental During the Holiday Season - Newsweek

December 14, 2021 Leonardtown, Md. St. Marys County Library is pleased to announce the Thinking Money for KidsExhibition is currently visiting Lexington Park Library. This special traveling exhibition is designed to teach kids and their families about money, thanks to a competitive national grant from the American Library Association (ALA) and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

Thinking Money for Kidsis a new multimedia experience for children ages 7 to 11, as well as their parents, caregivers, and educators. The interactive exhibit uses games, activities and a fun storyline to help children understand what money is, its function in society, money choices, and money values, such as fairness, responsibility, and charitableness. Stop by the Lexington Park Library through January 21, 2022, to see this fun and interactive exhibit.

The 1,000-square-foot exhibit will be on display at the Lexington Park Library along with a series of related special events, from December 2021 through January 21, 2022.

We are thrilled to bring this exhibit to our community, said Amy Ford, Branch Manager, Lexington Park Library. Money management is a life skill that will set children up for financial independence and smart money choices in the future. Along with the exhibit, our childrens librarians have planned special events teaching kids financial literacy skills. Check out our website to register.

We strive to provide life skills for all ages, and this exhibit will help children develop financial literacy in a fun way, said Library Director Michael Blackwell. Were delighted to offer this informative family program.

St. Marys County is one of 50 sites selected to host Thinking Money for Kids on its two-year tour of the United States. Nearly 130 public libraries across the country applied for the opportunity, according to ALA. In addition to the traveling exhibition on loan, St. Marys County Library has also received $1,000 to hold public events related to the exhibit. Check the Library event calendar on http://www.stmalib.org to find upcoming Thinking Money events throughout December and January.

For more information about Thinking Money for Kids, visit http://www.stmalib.org/kids/kids-events/thinking-money-for-kids/

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St. Marys County Library Welcomes Thinking Money for Kids Exhibition - The Southern Maryland Chronicle