Category Archives: Financial Independence

Many things have changed in the United States in the past four years, from a new administration in Washington to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted work, financial security, family structures and even the ability to move around freely to say nothing of its impact on public health.

Alongside these shifts, Americans have evolved in where they find meaning in their lives, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of surveys conducted in September 2017 and February 2021. In both years, the Center asked a representative sample of U.S. adults to answer the following question in their own words: What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why?

Based on these surveys, here are six facts about where Americans find meaning in life and how those responses have shifted over the past four years. The analysis also examines how attitudes in the U.S. compare with those in 16 other advanced economies surveyed by the Center in 2021.

This Pew Research Center analysis examines Americans responses to an open-ended question about what gives them meaning in life and explores how responses in the United States have changed over time as well as how they differ from those elsewhere in the world. Details about the over-time analysis can be found in the Methodology for comparing 2017 and 2021 U.S. surveys on the meaning of life.

For this analysis, we conducted nationally representative surveys of 4,867 U.S. adults from Sept. 14 to 28, 2017, and 2,596 U.S. adults from Feb. 1 to 7, 2021. Everyone who took part in both surveys is a member of the Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all adults have a chance of selection. The surveys were weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.

In both surveys, respondents were asked to answer the following open-ended question: Were interested in exploring what it means to live a satisfying life. Please take a moment to reflect on your life and what makes it feel worthwhile then answer the question below as thoughtfully as you can. What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why?

We also conducted nationally representative surveys of 16,254 adults from March 12 to May 26, 2021, in 16 advanced economies. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Responses are weighted to be representative of the adult population in each public. Respondents in these publics were asked a shorter version of the question asked in the U.S.: Were interested in exploring what it means to live a satisfying life. What aspects of your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? Responses were transcribed by interviewers in the language in which the interviews were conducted.

Researchers examined random samples of English responses, machine-translated non-English responses and responses translated by a professional translation firm to inductively develop a codebook for the main sources of meaning mentioned across the 17 publics. The codebook was iteratively improved via practice coding and calculations of intercoder reliability until a final selection of 20 codes was formally adopted (read Appendix C of the full report).

To apply the codebook to the full collection of 18,850 responses, a team of Pew Research Center coders and professional translators were trained to code English and non-English responses, respectively. Coders in both groups coded random samples and were evaluated for consistency and accuracy. They were asked to independently code responses only after reaching an acceptable threshold for intercoder reliability. (For more on this, read Appendix A of the full report.)

Here is the question used for this analysis, along with the coded responses for each public. Open-ended responses included in the analysis and in the accompanying interactive have been lightly edited for clarity (and, in some cases, translated into English by a professional firm). Here are more details about our international survey methodology and country-specific sample designs. For respondents in the U.S., read more about the ATPs methodology.

Americans have become more likely to mention society as a source of meaning in life, but much of this emphasis is negative. The share of Americans who mention society, places and institutions which includes references to ones local area, as well as to broader notions of the U.S., the government and social services grew from 8% in 2017 to 14% in 2021. The increase was especially pronounced among those ages 65 and older (24% this year, up from 10%) and those without full-time jobs (17%, up from 8%).

As was the case in 2017, about half of adults who mention society (49%) bring up something negative, such as personal frustrations or difficulties. The nature of these complaints ranges widely, from economic concerns, distrust of government and partisan animosity to more general fears about the direction of the country. As one woman put it while reflecting on what she views as growing political extremism in America, My hope is dimming because I see no light at the end of the tunnel.

The U.S. stands out as one of only three publics surveyed in 2021 where mentions of society significantly coincide with greater negativity. The other two are Italy and Spain, but in neither of them is the relationship between society and negativity as strong as it is in the U.S.

Americans especially Republicans have become more likely to mention freedom and independence as a source of meaning in life. Among Americans overall, 9% now mention issues such as freedom, independence and their ability to do what they want to do, including financial independence, having free time or a good work-life balance, or political freedoms like freedom of speech. This is up from 5% in 2017.

Much of this increase has occurred among Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party. This year, 12% of Republicans mention freedom or independence, up from 5% in 2017. There has been no significant change among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents during this period (6% this year vs. 5% in 2017).

While Republicans in the U.S. are much more likely than Democrats to mention freedom or independence as a source of meaning in life, similar ideological divides are not evident elsewhere in the world. Mentions of freedom are not associated with right-leaning ideological views in any of the other 16 publics surveyed in 2021; in fact, in two other publics (Italy and Spain), such mentions are more common among those on the ideological left.

Mentions of freedom in the U.S. have become more common among other demographic groups, too. For example, while just 4% of parents mentioned the topic in 2017, 9% do so in 2021, matching the share of non-parents who currently mention freedom or independence as a source of meaning in life. Similarly, Americans without a college degree have become more likely to refer to the subject, now mentioning it at roughly the same rate as those with a college degree (9%).

Compared with 2017, fewer Americans now mention spouses or romantic partners as a source of meaning in life. Around one-in-ten U.S. adults (9%) now mention their spouse or romantic partner or their romantic or dating life, down from 20% in 2017. This represents one of the largest decreases across all of the sources of meaning coded as part of this project. While both married and unmarried people are now less likely to mention partners or romance, the decline has been greatest among married adults. Just 13% of married adults mention their spouse in 2021, down from nearly a third (31%) in 2017.

Despite the decline, Americans are among the most likely to mention their spouse or partner among all 17 places surveyed. Outside of the U.S., mentions of romantic partners are most common in the Netherlands (8%) and Italy (7%). But no more than 5% of adults in most other places mention their spouse or partner.

Fewer Americans now mention finances, jobs or travel as a source of meaning in life than in 2017. The share of U.S. adults who bring up their material well-being including references to feeling safe, secure, able to cover the basics, living comfortably or being well-off has dropped from 29% to 18% over the past four years. This decline has been concentrated among two groups in particular: married adults and White Americans. In 2017, both groups were among the most likely to point to material well-being as a source of meaning.

The share of adults who mention their job, occupation or career as a source of meaning has declined from 24% to 17% since 2017, perhaps reflecting the fact that many Americans working lives have been upended during the coronavirus pandemic. While Americans with higher incomes and those with a college degree remain the most likely to bring up their jobs, both groups have become less likely to do so, with a decline from 37% to 27% among those in the upper-income tier and a decline from 39% to 26% among the college-educated.

The widespread travel restrictions in response to the pandemic may have also affected the share of Americans who derive meaning from travel, which declined from 6% in 2017 to 3% in 2021. But the topic of travel remains more common among college graduates and those with a total family income of $100,000 or more per year.

Older Americans have grown less likely to mention their physical or mental health as a source of meaning in life. The overall share of Americans who mention their physical or mental health or wellness fell from 19% in 2017 to 11% in 2021. And this shift has been especially pronounced among older Americans. This year, only 12% of those ages 65 and older mention their health as a source of meaning, down from 30% in 2017.

The emphasis on health has also fallen significantly among White Americans, who now mention the topic at a similar rate as Black and Hispanic Americans. In 2017, by contrast, White adults were more likely than Black and Hispanic adults to mention their health.

Most Americans are no more likely to mention difficulties or challenges than they were four years ago, although older adults are an exception. Between 2017 and 2021, the share of Americans who mention some sort of negative circumstance or difficulty when describing where they find meaning in life has remained stable 17% of all adults. But older Americans have become more likely to mention difficulties or challenges when answering this question. Roughly a quarter of those 65 and older (27%) mention a difficulty or challenge in 2021 more than any other age group and more than the 20% who did so in 2017. This pattern does not appear to be unique to the U.S.: In many of the other publics where the Center asked the same question in 2021, older people are also more likely to mention these kinds of difficulties.

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How Americans' views of meaning of life have changed - Pew Research Center

This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Depositphotos.com / Cortesa

When we talk about entrepreneurship, we are not only talking about innovation and blue oceans , but also about an investment opportunity and profitability in the medium and long term. Even more important, we talk about stories of people who have decided to venture into their own business and greater financial independence. For them, there are several alternatives when deciding to start a business. On the one hand, they have the possibility of starting a company from scratch with their own means, or exploring a franchise model, which stand out for offering a proven bet which represents a support when undertaking. That there are around 1,500 franchises operating in Mexico proves it .

Although uncertainty has defined the economic and financial conversation for the past two years, the outlook is encouraging for Mexican women. Certainly, the way to go is long, and there are still things to change; However, the achievements of women entrepreneurs in the country are worth celebrating within and outside the framework of the International Day of Women Entrepreneurs.

In a study carried out by the Mexican Franchise Association (AMF) , it was detected that, at the end of 2019, the franchise sector in Mexico contributed 4.2% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with an annual growth of 8% . That is to say, it presents a growth greater than that of the national economy. Likewise, it was identified that franchises are capable of generating around 900,000 jobs per year. Finally, of the total number of franchises that exist in the country, 85% are national, while the remaining 15% come from abroad.

According to INEGI, in Mexico only 19% of entrepreneurs are women. However, its participation in economic sectors such as commerce the sector with the greatest weight within the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP ), social services, restaurants, and accommodation services, exceeds 50%; women are a pillar of the national economy.

Araceli Meraz is one of the many Mexican women who have decided that her own business was the next step in her development, and she has done it with the help of a franchise model. That is how after 15 years of dedicating himself to Human Resources, he decided to investigate the best options to achieve it, and finally came up with Subway 's proposal: It was born from a feeling of wanting to undertake, of wanting to spend more time with my family and of keep working, he says. At that time, Subway was showing strong growth both nationally and locally in Ciudad Jurez , and the creditworthiness it offered was what helped her make a decision. The versatility of this model and her flexibility to be close to her children led her to open her restaurant in 2009.

Araceli, from Ciudad Jurez, worked for many years in the Human Resources area in the maquiladora industry, which helped her recognize that personal relationships are an important pillar for professional growth, something that would be key in her new adventure. I wanted to continue growing, and being in charge of an area like Human Resources helps you understand that people are the most important thing. At Subway, more than collaborators we are a family .

The closeness with the client and with the members of her team has been one of her hallmarks, which has undoubtedly made her a great leader and entrepreneur. I really enjoy being aware of the restaurant and accompanying the team. Every time I have the opportunity, I like to offer a tasting to our clients and look for an excuse to be able to live with the boys and that we grow as a team. The essential thing is to always be there and take care of everyone .

If adversity teaches us anything, it is that we can always face them. Hygiene measures that were taken in the wake of the pandemic greatly impacted the economy and the lifestyle of everyone in front of and behind the counter. "Making the team feel safe in the midst of uncertainty and offering a good service avoiding contagion was the most important thing in recent years," said Araceli. In addition, Mexico and the world are navigating an economic recovery process, so supporting customers is an aspect that every business must take care of. Against this background, Araceli continued to see a profitable model in Subway: "One of the main achievements that I like to celebrate is having been one of the places with the most sales."

According to INEGI figures, of the total number of women entrepreneurs that exist in the country, 29% sought to have their own business and greater financial independence, while 20% did so to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families.

Without a doubt, Mexican women are workers, and for Araceli success is also measured by the lifestyle that she leads. Financial independence and labor flexibility are elements that make service-oriented franchises prosper: Being in charge of this restaurant adapts very well to a woman with a family in time and schedule, in such a way that even on days of inventory, I have time to get everything ready, spend time with my children and go to work .

Leading a business implies facing challenges and always being willing to identify and bet on the opportunities that may arise. Women have many opportunities to undertake; my advice for them is that they find what they are passionate about, sow it and make it grow , concludes Araceli. Without a doubt, adverse situations are going to be present, whether it is started from scratch, it seeks to innovate in the market, or it replicates a pre-existing model.

This International Day of Women Entrepreneurs, the stories of tenacious and passionate women, such as Araceli's experience, can serve as an example for all those who have a dream, a motivation and want to prosper from the hand of their own business.

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He worked in a maquiladora in Ciudad Jurez for 10 years. This is how he forged a new path with a franchise - Entrepreneur

Modern grandfather sitting with granddaughter having fun and relaxing, childcare, connections, role ... [+] model

Thinking of joining the Great Resignation crowd and dumping your 9-to-5 gig? Lets talk about how you can do it with outsized 7%+ dividends that easily keep the bills paid.

Im going to show you the powerful secret some of these quitters are using today. It all turns on a unique kind of asset called a closed-end fund (CEF) thatll be our source for those rock-steady 7%+ dividends (paid monthly, to boot!).

First off, a funny thing is happening as people dump their day jobs: theyre investing more, with the number of new investors jumping 15% in 2020, and scores of folks who already invest building out their portfolios further.

Some of that cash has flowed into CEFs, and its easy to see why: these potent income plays yield 6.9%, on average. As evidence of their new-found popularity, CEFs also trade at some of their narrowest discounts to net asset value (NAV) ever: just 1.5%, compared to 7.2% a year ago. Well delve into three specific CEFs with outsized dividends up to 10.8% below.

(By the way, the discount to net asset value, or NAV, is a quirk of CEFs that refers to the fact that these funds market prices often differ from the per-share value of their portfoliosand most trade at discounts.)

The investors whove found their way into CEFs are finding true financial freedom! Drop $100K into the typical CEF and youre looking at $6,900 paid out every yearand most CEFs (around 350 of the 450 or so out there) pay dividends monthly, so your payouts align with your bills.

An income stream like this changes the equation, because as soon as your passive income exceeds your bills each month, you can quit your job. This is, after all, how retirement works. And the more you save, the earlier you can retire.

Passive Income for Financial Independence

If we consider a worker who invests 10% of their wages in a CEF that gets them a 7% income stream, after one year, their passive income will cover 0.7% of their salary.

That doesnt sound like much, but look at how it goes up the more you save: 70% of your income invested means 4.9% of your salary is covered by passive income in a year. Add in a rate of return based on historical stock-market performance and reinvested dividends, and financial independence would come in just five years for someone saving that much.

Years to Retire on Passive Income

Of course, these numbers arent absolute. As mentioned, Im basing this on the long-term average return of the S&P 500, but youll want to diversify and focus on groups of assets that outperform the benchmark index (one of the funds well touch on below did just that, doubling up the S&P 500 since inception).

Second, most people dont need to cover 100% of their paycheck with passive income. Retirees dont need to spend money on commuting, for example. As well, they can often move to an area with a lower cost of living. Their tax burdens will often be smaller, too.

If you factor those into your own personal situation, you might find that saving half your income will get you financially independent much faster than the 9.1 years you see in the chart above.

The crux of all of this, of course, is that 7%+ income stream, so lets dive into three CEFs thatll get you there.

Our first pick is the BlackRock BLK Science & Technology Trust (BST), which, as the name says, is run by BlackRock, the worlds biggest investment manager, with $7 trillion of assets (and the top-notch management talent that such scale attracts).

BST, as the name also suggests, focuses on tech stocks, particularly large cap techs, with Apple AAPL (AAPL), Microsoft MSFT (MSFT) Amazon.com (AMZN) and Mastercard MA (MA) populating its top-10 holdings.

If we reinvest our payouts in BST while were taking our fast track to financial freedom, we can expect it to grow our nest egg (and future income stream) fast: as you can see, BST has doubled up the total return (or price gains plus reinvested dividends) of the benchmark SPDR S&P 500 Trust (SPY) SPY since its inception in 2014!

BST yields 5.4% today, which is a bit light for CEFs, but its dividend has grown 150% since inception in 2014 (it most recently hiked payouts in October). And we can expect that to keep coming, thanks to the funds soaring NAV, which is up 377% since inception and roughly 35% in the last year alone. A healthy slice of those portfolio gains will likely flow our way as dividend hikes.

Best of all, BST trades at a 4.5% discount to NAV as I write this, so youre essentially getting its portfolio of strong tech names for 95 cents on the dollar! That may not sound like much, but in todays pricey market, well take any deal we can get.

To diversify beyond the tech names BST holds, consider adding the Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund (RA), which yields an impressive 10.8%.

RA splits its portfolio roughly three ways between bonds, mortgage-backed securities and shares of infrastructure companies. Utility NextEra Energy NEE (NEE), its largest equity holding, stands to benefit from the Biden Administrations infrastructure and environmental spending. RA also holds growing mobile-network operators like T-Mobile USA (TMUS) and Crown Castle International (CCI).

This CEF does trade at an 8.9% premium to NAV, so we cant expect a whole lot more price upside here. But it has traded at higher premiums of 10%+ in the past few months, and were getting a baked-in 10.8% return from the dividend (which is paid monthly). This payout is also as solid as they come, having held steady through the COVID-19 crisis, giving shareholders the reliable income stream they needed to weather the storm.

Finally, well add exposure to government and corporate bonds through the 9.7%-yielding PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund (PDI), which has a broad mandate to invest in the fixed-income securities management sees as best positioned at any given time. Right now, PDI holds about a third of its portfolio in high-yield corporate debt; another third is in mortgage-backed securities; and the rest is held in emerging market, investment-grade and municipal bonds.

PIMCO is a leading name in CEFs, with the talent and expertise to produce some of the strongest funds on the market. Trouble is, everyone knows it, which is why PDI trades at a 9.2% premium as I write this. But this fund has traded at premiums as high as 16% in the past year, so we could still grab some nice upside to accompany our 9.7% payout.

That gets you a portfolio that yields 8.6%, which brings a passive income stream that could make you financially independent even faster than suggested in the scenario above. Someone saving half of their income now, for example, would only have to wait 6.1 years to retire, going by our earlier figures. Thats a lot better than the decades youd have to wait by investing in a low-yielding index fund.

Michael Foster is the Lead Research Analyst for Contrarian Outlook. For more great income ideas, click here for our latest report Indestructible Income: 5 Bargain Funds with Safe 7.3% Dividends.

Disclosure: none

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How To Retire In Just 5 Years With These 3 Funds - Forbes

What has long been a dream for student organizations more self-service management of their finances may become reality in fall 2022 if all goes according to Student Government Boards plan.

Brennan Conway, a member of SGB, said the board is working hard with stakeholders from across the University to set up private bank accounts for student organizations by next fall. He said while SGB originally planned for a pilot program to be introduced this semester, it wont be implemented until the spring.

Conway, a senior economics and political science major, announced at the Sept. 14 SGB meeting his plan to implement a pilot program to provide student organizations with their own PNC bank accounts. The program will run with 13 student organizations and aims to smoothen transaction processes and give student organizations more financial independence.

Currently, student organization money is held in a Student Organization Resource Center bank account that the organizations cannot access without SORC approval. But through SGBs proposed program, student organizations could deposit and withdraw money from their own PNC bank accounts. This gives students the option to use debit cards and mobile payment platforms like Venmo and Paypal.

Conway said participating business managers of student organizations will help provide feedback for SGB to improve the program before official implementation.

SGB was set to launch the pilot program at the beginning of this fall semester, but because of what Conway calls legal and taxation issues, SORC gradually pushed back the start date to spring 2022. Conway hopes to launch the official program during the fall 2022 semester.

Conway said SORC requested he redraft parts of his proposal in late September. According to Conway, SORC wants to ensure that donations made to Pitt student organizations are tax-deductible.

They wanted those donations to count for the donors so they can get the tax credit, Conway said. But, also because when the University has more donations, that improves their alumni engagement metrics which helps to raise the U.S. News ranking. So, we just had to make sure that it worked on all fronts.

Conway said some donations made to student organizations have a specific spending intent, such as for travel and scholarships. Students cannot spend donor money on anything outside of the specific intent and must provide SORC with documentation of their spending. With personal PNC bank accounts, proving spending intent is more difficult, as SORC cannot access the account and keep track of transactions.

Conway currently has two proposals he believes will remedy this issue and hes currently working on getting one of them approved by SORC SORC will hold donor money in a gift account or a University SORC bank account to transfer into student PNC bank accounts.

Theyre going to be reviewing it next week so if everything looks good it could [get approved] next week, Conway said. If we need to reconvene, well work a few things out but were really close and weve been making a lot of good progress.

Conway decided to spearhead this program after several student organization business managers approached him with their financial frustrations during his campaign.

I think the biggest frustrations are just with the inefficiency and how it takes a while, and also the inability to use things like a debit card and a checkbook, or certain mobile payment platforms, Conway said. Also, student groups feel that, money they raise themselves, they should be able to manage however they want which I think is certainly reasonable.

Lynne Miller, SORC coordinator, said managing finances for the more than 600 student organizations on campus is difficult.

Managing 500 plus student organization accounts and thousands of financial transactions per fiscal year certainly has its challenges, Miller said.

Though she is excited for the pending program, Miller wants to ensure a smooth transition for students into the responsibility of financial independence.

Our hope is that a potential move to outside accounts will allow students more flexibility in their spending and timelines, Miller said. However, with it will also come greater responsibility on the behalf of the students to manage their accounts with minimal University assistance.

Isabel Weir, chair of SGBs allocations committee, said she hopes the program launches as soon as possible.

I know things like this can get challenging to pass through administration, but Im excited to see it up and running, Weir, a senior mathematics and economics major, said.

Conway said this idea has been on the table for SGB for a long time and that Ben King, a former high ranking SGB official, met once with SORC to discuss a similar program. Conway said SORC supports the programs current iteration.

We talked to the people at SORC and they were supportive as well because there are only a handful of people who work in that office and they dont want to have to spend all of their time dealing with transactions so, its really a win-win situation. Conway said.

But SORC had a condition for Conway before they agreed to his proposal running a pilot program.

Launching this pilot program was one of the conditions SORC had before actually making this happen, Conway said. You can imagine there are hundreds of student organizations on campus. If we just gave everyone their own bank account right away and didnt figure out what problems we had beforehand, that could be a challenge.

George Shiarella, senior computer science major and business manager for the Club Running Team, said although SORC has been great to [club running] this year, its system is honestly a bit convoluted.

This year, SORC estimated that Shiarellas outgoing checks at the start of the semester would take eight weeks to process. Shiarella said this was unreasonable for his club, but SORC was able to remedy this issue by using a credit card.

Thankfully SORC has a credit card they can pay over the phone or online with, which is what we have done a few times now, Shiarella said. But this makes me wonder why we even have [this system] if it takes so long.

Madison Danfield, business manager for Pitts Habitat for Humanity chapter, said the main reason she registered her club up for the pilot program was because she wants to use mobile payment platforms. She said she looks forward to efficiency, more financial freedom and cutting out the middleman with the pilot program.

Shiarella agreed and said hes excited about more autonomy and efficiency, as well as the fact that he wont have to bother the SORC workers as much anymore.

Weir said she had no difficulties with SORC in her position as allocations committee chair.

I find [SORC] to be responsive and helpful, and they do a good job of spending the money that we allocate, Weir said. I dont find SORC to be slow to respond, but I am also serving in a student leadership role and may have a bit more leverage than other students on campus do.

Danfield said it was frustrating to hear that SGB pushed back the pilot implementation date.

We had really looked forward to utilizing this outside financial account, Danfield said. Its kind of a shame that we cant use this outside bank account this semester. Were still restricted by SORC.

Danfield said she has had no issues with SORC this semester, but added that they have taken a very, very long time to reimburse club members in the past. Danfield also said it took SORC a while this semester to update her club finances in their system. She added that she believes all these issues could definitely be mediated if [her club] had a PNC bank account.

Shiarella said he is not frustrated with the delay he barely noticed it.

Honestly, I barely realized that this was a setback, we had never originally gotten a date for the launch so I had been under the assumption that it would start at the beginning of the spring term, Shiarella said. When I finally heard from SGB and SORC, I was not surprised. Im just excited to utilize this program, and Im not upset as long as it is implemented in time for me to utilize it.

The details of the pilot program may change before it runs, according to Conway. He said he wants to streamline the process as much as possible, but that its a work in progress and needs time.

We have to be deliberative with our process and take our time with things, Conway said. Im just glad that were finally making progress with it.

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SGB working to launch PNC bank account pilot program this spring - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

I wonder if it ever strikes urban educated singles that while they are stressed about finding a partner, they are actually missing out on enjoying the only phase of life where emotional and financial independence comes together, without any responsibility of a spouse, children, or parents. As a child you are both emotionally and financially dependent on your parents. Once you are married there is of course, emotional dependence and in cases where one partner does not work, there is financial dependence. Once you have children and enter your 40s there are others dependent on you children and parents.

R, 42, has lived by the mantra that marriage is not equal to happiness. Raised in a progressive environment by a single mother, R was always told to marry for the right reasons - that you want to be with that person and not just because its the right time to settle down. A successful entrepreneur now, R is an experience-junkie, who juggles work and play with ease, from spontaneous travel to going on food trails to bungee jumping in New Zealand. She is fluent in Spanish, French and German and when the pandemic struck, she was in Barcelona. Her plan now is to rent a long-term place anywhere in Europe and work from there. She dates a lot and has been in two committed relationships, but R is not interested in changing her single status.

Also Read: Most single Indians believe they can fall in love online

D, calls it his quirk. He has been maintaining a list since his early 20s of the nationalities of women he has dated. He is 37 now and has never once travelled out of the country. He thinks the universe conspires to give you what you are seeking and his job as a relocation specialist serves right into this desire of his. D has never been in, nor is seeking a long-term relationship. He wears his Casanova status with pride whenever his friends start teasing him. In his words, its just his friends being jealous of his lifestyle. I ask him how he handles the situation if the woman falls for him. Apparently, it has happened on a few occasions, he said its tough as his intent is never to hurt anybody. But the fact that he is honest from the beginning and states up front that he is not interested in a committed relationship helps. D lets the woman decide whether she wants to continue meeting him and never pushes them. This eases his moral responsibility to a large extent.

Its not always smooth sailing however. The part society plays in adding to the stress of being single is substantial. The constant pressure to settle down, from parents and relatives even as there is discrimination against singles in seeking rental homes can make life tough. With all this noise, and possibly an innate desire for companionship, it can indeed seem tough to enjoy this golden phase of life.

Also Read: Why rising number of single men is a matter of worry

My champion in all this, is S. She adopted a baby girl 10 years ago as a single woman when she was 37. For a decade before that she was on every matrimony website and dating app. Two hours every weekday and four hours on the weekends were dedicated to searching for a partner. She really wanted to get married and have a baby. It just wasnt happening. In desperation she applied as a single woman to adopt. It took her two years and intense visits by the adoption agencies for her to get her 10-month-old daughter. Thankfully, her parents were very supportive throughout the process. The trouble started when her daughter turned two. The neighbors in the Gurgaon community she lived in, started asking questions like Where is your father? The nanny was asked if S was a divorcee or a widow. S took a call that this was not the environment she wanted her daughter to grow up in. She moved mountains and managed to get a job in Frankfurt, where she has been living for the last 7 years with her daughter. She has not been on a single date since her daughter arrived. Do you miss not having a man, I asked her. She said no. I push her and ask about her physical needs. At 47, she has never had sex. She annually upgrades her gadgets and gizmos from the sex shop, and they lie in her bedside drawer.

These examples make me think it is worth letting go of the stress of being single. There are only upsides to it. You discover your own potential and who you really are when you follow your own heart and mind. Where your decisions are solely made by you and not for you (e.g., by parents) or because of the influence on others (partner/ children). You live your life with fewer regrets. It does not mean that you must remain single forever, but by enjoying your singledom you increase the chances of finding the right person for you. A stress-free positive vibe is extremely attractive. Either way, its very likely that you will get what you really want to get married or stay single, but you will be a lot happier should you choose this path to get there.

This is a limited series by Simran Mangharam, a dating and relationship coach, who can be reached on simran@floh.in

Go here to read the rest:

On the joys of being single - Livemint

The perception that crypto is just for men the so-called crypto bros touting advice and opinions in spades is rapidly being challenged by the growing number of women not just entering the industry, but assuming C-suite positions.

In 2020, there was a 43% increase in women working within the crypto economy, reports CoinMarketCap, a statistic that reflects a changing industry bucking against its own stereotypes.

Women are founders, co-founders, chief strategy officers, professors specializing in blockchain, executive directors, CEOs, and beyond, fulfilling all manner of roles as they lead their companies and the industry forward in the crypto revolution.

Perhaps one of the best-known women in crypto, both within the industry and outside of it, is Blythe Masters, former executive at JPMorgan and the creator of the credit default swap. She was the first major banking executive to leave Wall Street in favor of crypto, where she was CEO of Digital Asset Holdings for four years before stepping down (but remaining as a board member). Digital Asset Holdings is a financial technology firm that is a leader in smart contracts.

Currently, Masters serves as the CEO of Motive Capital Corp, a SPAC that is sponsored by Fintech private equity firm Motive Partners.

Catherine Coley is another woman to hold the CEO position as the former head of Binance.US, an online platform, cryptocurrency marketplace, and subsidiary of the largest global crypto exchange. As CEO, she strove to fill the roles under her with diverse hires, including bringing in Rena Shah, who is currently the head of exchange at Binance.US. Shah began as a petroleum engineer for oil rigs, before transitioning to the crypto world as a crypto miner.

I feel confident that digital asset management roles will help more people underrepresented in past industries have the chance to define the digital future on their way to financial independence and freedom, Coley said in a piece for Business Insider.

Earlier this year, Katherine Dowling joined Bitwise as general counsel and chief compliance officer. Dowling brought over a decade of experience as a prosecutor in the United States Attorneys Office, where she worked on financial crimes, as well as leadership experience in wealth management firms before transitioning to Bitwise, one of the leading crypto asset managers, according to a press release earlier this year.

Every day theres an evolution for crypto, theres so much going on in this space, Dowling told Blockworks in an interview.

Other notable women in crypto include Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares; Elizabeth Stark, CEO and co-founder of Lightning labs, which works to bridge the gap between open source software and next-generation bitcoin financial software; Joyce Kim, co-founder and executive director of Stellar.org; and Dr. Sally Eaves, emergent technology CTO, professor of blockchain, global strategic advisor, and founder of Aspirational Futures.

Women advocates for crypto come from outside of the industry as well. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has been dubbed crypto mom by the crypto community and is a vocal advocate and proponent of the potential that digital assets present, reports Blockworks. She is one of five Commissioners for the SEC, having been appointed in 2018, and has done everything from advocating for a spot bitcoin ETF to criticizing the regulatory agencys approach to fining exchanges, arguing that the enforcement-first approach isnt the right way to work to regulate the crypto space.

The spotlight on the gender gap in crypto, however, shines a little brighter these days; DCS 2021, a part of Blockchain World, announced in a press release that it will be featuring Women in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency at the festival that takes place December 1517. The goal is to be an inspiration for women joining the crypto ecosystem, promoting diversity as well as challenging the long-held status quos within finance.

A recent survey by CNBC and Acorn found that men are currently investing in cryptocurrency at a rate more than twice that of women (16% of men compared to 7% of women). This dichotomy is seen broadly within the financial world, one in which women and people of color typically lag their white, male counterparts by significant margins, both in investing as well as within company leadership.

Women have a real opportunity to lead, create, and define how the world will operate and how the money will move. This freedom contrasts the start of my career on Wall Street, which took about 200+ years since the first American bank opened to place a woman at the highest leadership level. There is so much potential for growth and diversity of leadership and thought, Coley said.

For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Crypto Channel.

Continue reading here:

The Women Leading the Crypto Crusade - ETFdb.com

Below is a lightly edited transcript of the podcast:

HELTMAN: Alright here I am at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I'm walking on the expo floor. There are many people here wearing masks. That's good. And a lot of companies here so looking around, I'm seeing something called Trustly, there's something called DriveWealth. Facefi, Cardtronics, Array, Callsign, unlim ... Unlimint. It's like a tech ... fintech paradise here.

HELTMAN: Financial technology companies, or fintechs, have been around for a long time, and they do all sorts of different things. Some of those things are essentially providing services that banks can employ hosting back-end services like customer onboarding or AI services for risk management, for example. But as I walked around the floor of the Money 20/20 conference last month, it seemed like a lot of these businesses were geared toward providing financial services directly to customers and specifically low- and moderate-income customers.

HELTMAN: What is DailyPay?

DAILYPAY: DailyPay is an on demand pay provider. So have you Are you familiar with on demand pay?

HELTMAN: Is this like earned wage access?

DAILYPAY: Yes, essentially that that is the thing. So you typically get paid every two weeks or maybe once a month. But you've earned that pay, it just hasn't arrived in your bank account. So what DailyPay does is we partner with employers in order to make your pay available as you earn it.

HELTMAN: Who's this for? I mean, what kind of consumers you think would best benefit from something like DailyPay?

DAILYPAY: It's it's actually for primarily hourly workers and for those who are just starting out, maybe on a salary scale. It's a, it's about people who are juggling their budgeting and, and, and their finances and need this in order to manage their household.

DRIVEWEALTH: Drivewealth is an API-based global brokerage infrastructure. So we work with over 100 different partners around the globe, from fintechs, to large brands, neobanks, super things like that, to embed our technology into their existing apps so that their customers can benefit from fractional investing. So instead of buying a whole share of Starbucks, they can buy $1. So we're really working to democratize investing globally, because, you know, investing in a share of Amazon can be a lot, you know, not everyone has $3,000, ready to invest. But now we're making it really easy to enter into the investing ecosystem, through our technology.

TRUST SCIENCE: We're Trust Science. So we go by Credit Bureau 2.0. We help the, the lenders find what we call the invisible primes. So, the conventional credit bureaus are scoring people, often wrongly for the scores below 700, approximately 35 to 40% of those scores below 700 would actually be prime and super prime borrowers above 700. If you could act, you know, properly evaluate these people, and by these people, I mean young people, or immigrants, or self employed people and so on. And that's our expertise, we find that the invisible primes.

HELTMAN: All of these companies and many others are using technology specifically to provide services to the sizeable portion of Americans who are unserved or underserved by the traditional financial system people with lower incomes who might not qualify for affordable credit from banks or credit unions. Thats a noble goal, because, as James Baldwin famously observed, it is extremely expensive to be poor. But it is also true that lower-income Americans by definition have lower incomes, and that means they pose greater credit risks, at least in the aggregate. So are these claims legit? Have fintechs cracked some kind of code that makes them better able to provide the services lower-income households need? And if they have, can banks do the same thing or should they?

From American Banker, Im John Heltman, and this is Bankshot, a podcast about banks, finance, and the world we live in.

JENNIFER TESCHER: I just have to say, as someone who like you, like talks to a lot of people and gets interviewed or interviews, people, it's so refreshing to have a conversation with someone who's actually like, you know, thinking about something and has a thesis and an idea. As opposed to just, "Which is better, fintechs or banks?"

HELTMAN: Yeah, right. Right. That's, that's the Bankshot difference. You know, like we ...

TESCHER: There you go.

HELTMAN: This is Jennifer Tescher.

TESCHER: I'm Jennifer Tescher. I'm the founder and CEO of the financial health network.

HELTMAN: The Financial Health Network is a nonprofit group whose mission is to improve peoples financial health. And for many working people, financial health is not a straightforward thing to attain.

TESCHER: We all kind of want the same things in life, right. And the way we think about financial health is having a day to day system that enables you to build resilience and pursue opportunity. Those are things we all need, we all need to be resilient in the face of challenge. And we all need the the capital and the systems behind us to be able to take risks in good times. If the pandemic has demonstrated anything, it's that the majority of Americans aren't set up to be financially healthy. And the pandemic has, in some cases made that even make people's financial health even more precarious.

HELTMAN: Not having a lot of money in and of itself isnt necessarily a problem if you can still make your rent and put food on the table and have some left over. But low- and moderate-income households are susceptible to a whole range of financial difficulties when the landlord raises the rent, prices go up, hours get cut, someone gets sick, the car breaks down, or any other unforeseen expenses or circumstances arise. And this lack of financial resilience isnt even necessarily confined to what we might think of an low- or moderate-income households.

TESCHER: Our research demonstrates that there are plenty of people making over $100,000 a year who are in financially precarious positions. And there are some people who are making less than $30,000 a year who actually have excellent financial health. And so income is just not enough of a scalpel. And when we are trying to understand people's real financial lives, we have to get beyond the headline numbers. And we have to get beyond averages and annuals. So as an example, think about a family who if you looked at their tax return for the year, they'd be making about $52,000, that's about the median income in this country, a little shy. But if you looked at their, at their pay stubs, at at their cash flow over the course of a given month, you would see that they have lots of spikes and dips, both in the amount of income they're bringing in. And in their expenses. There's this myth that you know, expenses are largely fixed. That's not true. And their income is increasingly volatile. As people work multiple jobs, as people participate in the gig economy where there's not a set paycheck, as people are filling in with self employment. And income, volatility is increasing for everybody. It's not just a low income persons phenomenon.

HELTMAN: But while financial resilience is not exclusively a low-income problem, financial access that is, access to basic services like check cashing, money transfers and credit tends to be something that low-income consumers lack. And that in many ways is because of choices that banks make about who to offer services to and under what terms.

TERRY FRIEDLINE: I think, banks and financial institutions, set the terms in such a way that it is really expensive to do something that that seems even simple or for if it's, it's something that we already have access to, we probably take for granted.

HELTMAN: This is Terry Friedline.

FRIEDLINE: I'm Terry Friedline. I'm an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan. And so my research areas in banking and finance broadly how how people get access to banking and finance, how the institutions, like banks, and lenders and fintech companies kind of create barriers that prevent people from accessing the things that they need to have, like dignified participation in our current economy.

HELTMAN: According to the FDIC, there were roughly 7.1 million households in the United States that have no bank account in 2019 that accounted for roughly 5% of all households. The FDIC conducts that survey every two years, and the number of unbanked households has been declining steadily over the last decade or so. That may not seem like good news, but keep in mind that those numbers are derived from surveys conducted by the Census Bureau, and surveys are by definition inexact the true number could be higher. And the number one reason unbanked households give for not having a bank account is an inability to maintain a minimum balance or pay required fees.

There are also millions more underbanked households that is, households that perhaps have a checking account but also rely on check cashers, payday lenders and other nonbanks for financial services. The FDICs 2017 survey estimated that another 24 million households or 18.5% of the population fell into this category.

FRIEDLINE: So you mentioned kind of the banked and underbanked, which is, you know, generally defined as having access to a checking account or some form of bank account. And, and that ends up to be really costly. So, so banks, make those expensive for folks. And so when we think of like the low- to moderate-income group, you know, that can't pay the costs, and the fees that are that are set for those products means that you have to like patch together, right kind of piecemeal, your your financial life in ways that can be really difficult. And, and I'll say that, like the low to moderate income group is most of the United States, right? So that's, that's a pretty significant chunk of our population in this country, given you know how income and wages have have stagnated over time.

HELTMAN: All of this is to say theres a pretty significant need for financial services among a significant segment of the population, and those needs are currently being met through services that are more costly and less favorable than what banks routinely offer qualified customers. And there are many different barriers to becoming a qualified bank customer to getting the kinds of favorable interest rates and low-cost services that many of us take for granted.

One of those barriers is just physical proximity to a bank. The number of bank branches per capita has been declining pretty steadily since the 2008 financial crisis, but those branches are disappearing most rapidly in rural areas and low-income neighborhoods in major cities. In cold economic terms theres a logic to that pattern: if more people are doing their banking without a branch and you need to close branches, youll start with the ones that are least profitable. But just because a bank moves out doesnt mean the need for financial services goes away.

FRIEDLINE: So an example of this might be in rural Alabama. So rural Alabama, in particular counties, you know, have pretty high percentages of black populations in the rural south, and in some of these counties, some of these communities, saw pretty large decreases in their bank branch population, and their, you know, bank branch kind of density over the last 10 years. So, you know, banks were closing their branches, presumably not profitable. But But payday lenders and check cashers were, you know, being retained in those same places, and even expanding, you know, increasing their physical storefronts. And so, and so that dynamic suggests that it's not that there's not profit there. But its profit that can be had in a way that I think can be exploitative.

TESCHER: I think the biggest reason for that in terms of the incumbent institutions, we tend to think of as the financial system, right, banks and credit unions, their business model is such that they make more money when their customers have more money. I mean, it's that simple. Think about just the basic checking account. The basic checking account is predicated on the customer having a balance. So when you walk into the bank with a paycheck, and you want to cash that check, they're not really cashing that check, they're gonna give you essentially, what's available in your account right then and there. So you if you only have $100 in your account, but the check is for $500, they're only going to give you $100. And then they're going to wait a day or two, for that check to clear. So it's predicated on slack. And as we know, the majority of Americans don't have slack. So even just the basic banking account, and then we can certainly talk about the credit side of the house banks make money between, you know, the spread, between what they charge for loans and, and what they pay people to keep their money in the bank. And we all know the challenges that lots of people have, either without ... who don't have any credit score, or whose credit isn't pristine. And traditional financial institutions have historically had a very hard time filling that need.

HELTMAN: So theres a need here that traditional finance isnt meeting. And a lot of fintechs, as we saw earlier, see potential in meeting those needs and have actually been meeting this market for a while.

DAN HENRY: So I'm Dan Henry, CEO of Green Dot.

HELTMAN: And what's Green Dot?

HENRY: Green Dot is a pioneer in the fintech space brand that's been in business for 20 years, we have served over 30 million customers, we really are the pioneer, if you will, of prepaid card space in the United States, and really the first to, to kind of to break the industry to provide an alternative to traditional bank accounts for the consumers here in the U.S.

HELTMAN: Green Dots approach to offering services to lower-income consumers relies on reducing their overhead costs and making up for lower margins with higher volumes. So in other words, the profitability of any one Green Dot customer is relatively low, but if you have a large customer base, those small profits add up to an attractive business model. And they keep their overhead down by not having branches.

HENRY: So through our partners such as WalMart, Walgreens, CVS, 7-11, Family Dollar, Dollar General, we distribute not only our, our, our plastic cards, but through those 90,000 locations, we have the Green Dot network. So customers can add those 90,000 retail locations, they can load or deposit cash into their Green Dot accounts. Or they can come in those locations and pull cash off of their accounts. We have more locations and all the bank branches in America combined. But we don't have the overhead of carrying those locations. So you think about the advantages that we have to serve the low- to moderate-income consumer, they come from the standpoint of initially, we don't have a large cost structure that we have to support. And we're focused on serving a customer who does not have access funds So we don't ... our business model isn't about taking deposits and making loans. Our business model is about helping that consumer with a transaction device to be able to that they can get paid quickly, reliably, they can then pay their bills easily. They can have access to some short term credit if they need it. And that's that's our, our business.

HELTMAN: And that kind of agility is being applied to other barriers facing lower-income consumers as well. Consumer credit reports have been a mainstay of credit risk for decades, and they famously track and weight certain kinds of payments over others. So if you pay your car loan or your mortgage on time every time, that leads you to having a great credit score and access to more credit. But if you pay your phone bill or rent every time on time, it doesnt necessarily build your credit in the same way.

JOSEPH BAYEN: The problem with those consumers who have a hard time getting access to credit, they are using debit cards, you know, and card to pay for the subscriptions, and debit cards don't do any credit. So what we're doing, we're basically enabling them to basically leverage their existing, you know, multi subscription payments to essentially up, you know, turn and turn them into a credit building opportunity.

HELTMAN: This is Joe Bayen.

BAYEN: Yes, my name is Joe Bayen, and I'm the CEO and founder at grow credit. We are a financial inclusion platform, we recently raised $106 million to expand nationwide, you know, we offer a limited usage, MasterCard, that is restricted to paying subscriptions, and cell phone bills.

HELTMAN: GrowCredit is kind of like a widget that latches onto peoples existing buying patterns and helps build credit without putting them or the company at any significant risk of loss. So if you have a Netflix account and you pay that $17 bill every month, you can sign up with GrowCredit and they will extend you a line of credit for Netflix $204 per year. Your bill comes due, they pay Netflix, and you pay them. Everything is the same, except the consumers credit improves.

BAYEN: Consumers with no credit whatsoever, you know, ended up with scores ranging from 620 to 719 over a nine month span. Basically the platform is effective, and it's delivering on the mission of helping consumers become credit visible in the United States.

HELTMAN: And like Green Dot, they make a profit from this service through volume. Each transaction brings a small transaction fee to them, much the way Visa or Mastercard charge a service fee when you use their networks to settle payments. And they also offer the consumer more credit to cover higher-ticket subscriptions for a small fee so instead of your Netflix account, you can also pay your cell phone bill through the same mechanism, giving your credit report that much more positive payment history.

And fintechs are finding ways to meet the needs of other corners of the market that banks and credit unions have historically neglected, including small business lending. Building a business is one of the main ways people develop wealth and financial independence, and historically banks have had a hard time offering loans that smaller companies can really use.

KATHRYN PETRALIA: Historically, banks have focused on larger businesses not because they're bad people, they just can't they don't have the tools and the technology to automate that process. And it costs as much money for them to make a $50,000 loan as it does a $5 million loan, because it's all manual. So they focus on the $5 million loans. And small businesses are more volatile. They they're, you know, they just are. I'm Kathryn Petralia, the co founder of Kabbage.

HELTMAN: Kabbage is another name you know they hung their shingle as a nonbank small business lender in 2011. Banks in many ways see the same problems with lending to small businesses that they see in lending to lower-income consumers: the risks are high and the rewards relatively low. But, as with lower-income consumers, donut shops and plumbers still needs to handle payments and manage payroll and make capital investments. Kabbage found a way to extend credit while managing its risk by tying its loans to a business cash flow.

PETRALIA: We started Kabbage, because there was this API that was launched by eBay that gave third parties access to seller- and transaction-level data. And my co founder, Rob was like, Huh, that's really cool data. I wonder if you could use that to make a loan to a small business selling on eBay. And I mean, at the time, imagine, like 12 years ago, walking into a bank and saying, "Hey, I'm an eBay seller. I sell Pez dispensers, don't you want to make me a small business loan?" Hell no! No one's gonna make that loan. So you know, we didn't start the business to improve on what was already there. We wanted to use this technology to do something interesting and unique and, you know, serve businesses.

HELTMAN: So if fintechs are finding ways to use technology, data, lower overhead and agile business models to reach lower-income consumers, why havent banks thought of that first? Or if they havent thought of it first, why havent they just copied those models and done it themselves? More on that after this quick break.

HELTMAN: Weve heard a lot from fintechs about fintechs, but how do banks feel about fintechs?

WILLIAMS: I think when early on people said fintech, you know, the banking community was extremely nervous, like, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna lose to the fintechs.

HELTMAN: This is Darrin Williams.

WILLIAMS: Darrin Williams, CEO, Southern Bancorp. We're now evolving as an industry away from fintechs are taking our customers, our competitors, and some, in some senses, they are competitors. Now you're saying, like fintechs have learned, there's power in the bank charter, right. And you get to have a bank charter, something powerful about that. It's something you can or can't, you can't do without that. And so now, these fintechs are saying, we .. and the banks are saying, We need a partner.

HELTMAN: Southern Bancorp is a Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI, whose mission is to serve low- and moderate-income customers that traditional finance has left behind, but its also a bank and approaches these problems as a bank. And the reason banks havent been able to be as agile as fintechs in thinking through how to reach lower-income customers is because many of them particularly small banks are constrained to an extent by their core service providers.

WILLIAMS: As a small bank, community bank, you just don't have much leverage with your core processor. There are four or five big legacy processors that really control how banks and So if I want something I call them up. And if I'm, you know, small bank, I wait a year and they call me back. I mean, it's just it's just the model right you get the very limited attention. All these core processors, these legacy processors, are built in an era where there was no internet. They were built ... they're built on IBM mainframes right there. I mean, no matter what they tell you, they're built on old systems. And you're trying to marry that with this open architecture of today's technology. It might seem to work well on the outside, but behind it's kind of held together by duct tape and twine. It just doesn't work.

HELTMAN: Southern partnered with Smiley Technologies, Inc. of which Southern is a minority owner to build their own core. That decision paid off when Southern wanted to try something new and different, for example when they wanted to create a program for bank employees to get a 12-month no-interest loan against their future earnings.

WILLIAMS: It's no underwriting, right, there's no human hand touching that. And we give it 12 months to pay it back. And it's automatically withdrawn from your, from your from your account. So you'll go from having to pay back in two weeks to pay it back in 12 months, or as soon as you want to where you have that access. That's, I could only do that through technology. So now human hand and have to touch that I can replicate that. And I can and that that that's an example, you know, of the positive technology can play.

HENRY: There's countless examples of the entrenched player didn't innovate, you know, and didn't didn't change their DNA fast enough, and they missed out on an opportunity.

HELTMAN: Blockbuster.

HENRY: Yeah. Netflix is one of my favorite companies of how they've been able to, like evolve over time, and stay ahead of things. But there's countless examples of that. But there's also countless examples of well, Netflix is a great example they evolved. They went from mailing DVDs to streaming. So there's no reason why our established financial institutions shouldn't be able to evolve and compete with quote, unquote, all the new fintechs that are out there. So it's, you know, God bless a free market. So I, the, but because we're moving money, you know, the role for banks and bank regulators is critical.

HELTMAN: Part of the reason disrupting finance isnt as straightforward as disrupting television or taxicabs or newspapers is because everything in the economy depends on an orderly, fair and accountable financial system. That means it requires rules and regulations and, to some extent, barriers to entry to ensure that everything is working as it should and is on the level. But is that regulatory oversight keeping banks from engaging in the kinds of innovation that could bring more customers into the financial system and enjoy the convenience and low costs that come with that?

JELENA MCWILLIAMS: When you really look at the type of credit that these fintechs are able to provide to these segments of population, you you realize it's actually it's probably some of the cheapest form of credit available to those consumers. And fintechs, you know, you identified some of the reasons that they're able to do so.

HELTMAN: This is Jelena McWilliams.

MCWILLIAMS: I'm Jelena McWilliams, the 21st, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. So these fintechs will look at alternative data, they will use their proprietary algorithms to analyze the the creditworthiness in quotation marks of potential customers, and are able to actually produce the underwriting models that even for unsecured credit, produce a very low loss rate. And so when you look at that, banks are not able to be in that space. And here's why they have regulatory expectations that they will produce good quality credit underwrite based on the underwriting requirements, and if they want to play in that space, if they would like to go below 620 credit scores, and, and no credit history, etc, etc, they have to substantiate to regulators why that's the case and why they're lost modeling can actually account for potential losses, and they can mitigate that risk. In a lot in a lot of cases, banks are not they don't have the requisite agility.

HELTMAN: But if banks lack the requisite agility, bank regulators really lack the requisite agility to determine whether alternative credit assessments or credit products are good for the consumer and safe for the bank.

MCWILLIAMS: I will say that the regulators, in particular, our regulatory framework for banks, is not as agile as you would want want it to be, given how quickly the technology develops. So if if a bank is going to be, you know, we're actually issued guidance on alternative data use to basically allow banks ... to give them a green light to play in that space. But it takes two years for a bank to develop a product that they would offer to consumers. And then they want to test it with the regulators and say, Hey, what do you think about this?

HELTMAN: Well, you're not the only regulator.

MCWILLIAMS: And we're not the only regulator, if it's a large bank, they will also have the CFPB. For a lot of the banks were not the primary supervisor. So a lot of these large banks that really have the resources to develop a new product or service. You know, the big banks that have the money are usually not regulated by the FDIC, we only have a handful of really large banks. And then you're looking at smaller banks, which don't have the resources. And they're not going to spend several hundred thousand dollars to develop a product that the regulars may not look favorably upon. So it's a far more complex ecosystem for banks to succeed in that space, versus the fintechs that are more agile, they don't have the same type of restriction. They're regulated on a state-based ... on a state level. And so yes, we have tried to do a number of things. We have issued guidance on how banks can partner up with fintechs, third party partnerships. We have told bank, we get issued guidance on artificial learning and artificial intelligence and machine learning. But all of these things are, you know, you issue guidance it takes some time for for interagency guidance, it takes six months at least to get it done ...

HELTMAN: And its still a guidance.

MCWILLIAMS: And it's still a guidance, and you still have to go to a regulator, not for a greenlight really, or permission, but at least a nod, like, Go ahead. And you know, regulators are not even willing to engage frankly, into, you know, what people call sandboxes. You know, give me an opportunity, a test pilot, you know, it just takes takes a while. And so if it takes you two years to develop a product that fintechs can offer in a month, then it's a long time and the efficiency is not there for you as a bank.

HELTMAN: Its also worth noting that just because some fintechs can offer quality services to lower-income consumers doesnt mean they all do. There have been some spectacular cases of fintechs failing either because of compliance issues, problems with the technology, capitalization or any number of other problems. And even if a fintech is well-capitalized and passes regulatory muster doesnt mean its necessarily good for consumers. This is Jennifer Tescher again.

TESCHER: I think a lot of fintechs, particularly on the payment side of the house, the neobanking side of the house, are making money off of interchange. You know, that's an interesting that creates an interesting set of incentives. It's built into what the customer is paying. But, you know, when when and then when a fintech is offering an account for free. They're making money every time you swipe. And so they need you to swipe more. So, you know, I think it's, I think it's particularly business models, particularly challenging for no-credit-oriented fintechs. Now, I think the last thing I'll say is, you know, we went back in the very earliest days of fintech. I've been doing this a long time, before it was even called fintech 2007, 2008. And then fintech got going on, there was all this, "Oh, my God, they're bad. They're gonna outcompete us." And then there was this era where banks and fintechs realized, "Hey, we need each other. We each do something different. There's real opportunities for interesting partnerships." And that era has passed. And we're now back to the the tension and the fighting, in part because of the valuations and of the customer share and banks starting to feel more threatened by fintechs. And so you hear these arguments about how, Oh, well, fintechs aren't regulated. The fact is, most of them are because we regulate in this country, by ... by product. But it is true that as a depository, as a chartered financial institution, you are supervised, and there is a much greater burden.

PETRALIA: Jamie Dimon has talked multiple times about you know, the fintechs are gonna eat us alive.

HELTMAN: Thats JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon that shes referring to.

PETRALIA: And I think that they know that I think their risk that you run, what I will say about FinTech overall I think thirty years from now you're going to look back and say fintechs democratized access to the movement of money. I think it really all boils down to that at the end of the day. And so I think, you know, what you're seeing is banks are losing their connection with the customer, because fintechs are coming in and giving customers what they need when they need it. And banks aren't doing that yet. They just can't. And so what happens is banks run the risk of being utilities. And people think that fintechs are like the wild west from a regulatory perspective, but they're really not. They are licensed, they are have bank partners, they are banks, they're getting big charters. These are all regulated entities, they're just generally doing fewer things than a bank is a bank does a ton of stuff for the regulator for a ton of stuff. And fintechs, you know, move into it with one product, and then they add more products, but they're still controlled and regulated. And I think that's important to note. And that means that they can keep that customer relationship and banks are just utilities, just providing pipes that move money at the end of the day.

HELTMAN: But is financial access in and of itself a good thing? In many cases when we talk about financial access, what were really talking about is access to debt, and debt can be good or debt can be bad depending on what you get for that debt. Student loans, for example, can put you on a career path that leads to higher earnings and more financial independence thats good or they can not do that, in which case you just have more debt than you had before. Buying a home can be a wise investment, or it can be a nightmare that ends in foreclosure. And debt that cant be repaid isnt just bad for consumers, its bad for lenders as well. So how do we know that fintechs arent either putting consumers or themselves at risk of default?

TESCHER: I think what fintechs excel at is being customer-centric. Right? Their entire design process is really focused on what's the customer need? Who is the customer? How can I solve a problem that they have? Forget about what the what my product suite is, right? And some of that's just it's not fintech. It's just we're new. We can we can we can think with a blank slate, I don't have legacy technology, I don't have decades of history, you know, let me start afresh. The fintech community has been particularly good at that. I think, the we have to be careful not to confuse customer centricity in product and experience design, with a focus on outcomes. So it's one thing to say, I've really thought about the customer, when I design with this product, and here's all the ways in which that's, that manifests, it's another to say, oh, and as a result, my product actually helps people more, right, or help them at all. And so, I do think that fintech has wrapped itself in the, in the flag of inclusion, and access, and I would say all of the technology world has done the same. It's all about democratization and access, and we can serve more people. And I would say that that's a yes, but and that we have to interrogate that at the company level at the product and experience level, because not all fintechs are created alike. And they have very different outcomes for customers. So it gets back to financial health as an outcome, and are you designing for that outcome?

WILLIAMS: I say all the time, wealthy people have Wealth Advisors, right? It's low wealth, people who actually probably need Wealth Advisors. And so what, what technology is allowing you to do and allowing us to do is to use the tool to provide the financial education and financial services to people at in ways and at times, and in places that are just much much more accessible. And so we believe through, you know, through bots and all these other ... chat, there are a lot of things you can do from a financial education standpoint, again, fintechs are not good or bad, just depends on the intention. So you can use those channels and technology to reach people in positive ways.

HENRY: The same technology that basically allows all these financial services that we've taken for granted for years to put it that allows them to all be within reach and affordable now, for the masses that same technology is what prevents my opinion, bad operators from ever getting out of the gate. So I don't know if you were around however many years ago when the Kardashian card got launched. But in the prepaid space, the Kardashians launched the Kardashian card. And it was met with, Oh my gosh, this thing has too many fees. And nobody liked the Kardashians at the time. And so I don't know how much you want to put in there, but ... But I mean, it was in the media for months. They issued 12 cards.

HELTMAN: Fact check: It was actually more like 250 cards, but the point stands.

HENRY: And that's like eight years ago, 10 years ago, okay. So nowadays, where you rate your Uber driver, and vice versa, Okay? You and consumers are trained to go online and check the reviews. So if you are egregious player, in any industry, especially financial services, I don't think you get out of the gate. Because we now have with technology, you know, word of mouth, spreads at the speed of light. And so if you are taking advantage of a consumer, those consumers get online, they speak up, and you're out of business.

HELTMAN: As I was reporting this story, this image popped in my head of a castle with a high wall. Inside the castle are creditworthy borrowers, and for them financial life is straightforward and credit is cheap and readily available. Outside the walls, credit is more expensive and scarce. And the walls of the castle are where they are to protect the castle itself they are designed to ensure that only creditworthy borrowers are inside the walls even if some creditworthy borrowers are outside. Its a system designed to protect lenders even if it is not ideal for consumers outside the walls. Fintechs are finding ways to smuggle out some of the services inside the walls to people outside, or help them climb the walls, but the walls are still there, and perhaps its worth asking the broader question of how we assign credit and services in the first place.

FRIEDLINE: What is the goal, I think, is a good question. And for me, I mean, I want to a fundamental kind of revisioning of what the financial system is, and does and who it works for. And so that's a, that's a long term goal, though, I don't think that, you know, we should have to wait kind of decades and centuries to kind of realize that, given that, I think, you know, we all could benefit from and there are folks now that, that need that revisioning to happen more quickly. And at the same time, I think that there are steps on the path to ... to getting there that we can attend to so if one of the goals is to ensure that everyone who wants one can afford a bank account, then that's a goal that we can work toward, I think through a variety of means. But if that's one of the goals is for everybody who wants a bank account, to be able to have one and afford one, then, you know, banks can lower their costs fintechs can make their products available, the United States Postal Service can offer postal banking, we can offer regulation and policy guidance that that, you know, requires establishes some of these accounts for free, so that the Fed accounts proposal is is on the table. And those are, those are all real steps that I think can happen kind of simultaneously to achieve that goal. And so I think there's always a series of goals that we are working toward, because once once we address kind of one concern, there will be others that arise and so I think that requires us I'm kind of being planful and having foresight and not sitting back once a change has made because we need to pay attention to kind of what new what, what new practices, what new opportunities and what what new potential for discrimination will arise after we've made this change. And then going about the same process again, right with that next step, and working, you know, working across those goals, toward that re-visioning of a financial system that that works, and is built for everybody.

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Have fintechs cracked the financial inclusion code? - American Banker

Start today and allow yourself to be a smart, long-term investor, and youll start to make the unbelievable magic of compounding a reality.

It was my summer school holiday. I was lazily reading comic books in the corridor. My grandfather called me to the balcony and asked me to sit next to him. He took out a magnifying glass, fixed its position, and started converging the sun rays on the paper until it started to burn.

It was one of the best science experiments Id seen as a little kid. Soon he handed me the glass, Now you try it, Videsh. I took the glass and started slowly moving it all over the paper, but nothing happened.

No dear, you have to focus the rays of the sun into a beam at the right angle, hold the glass at one point and keep patience till the beam becomes so strong that it erupts into a small flame, and soon the flame will turn into a fire, he said.

Why Im telling you all this is because this simple lesson holds the secret to harnessing the mightiest force ever to amass wealth and financial freedom buy safer, profitable investment, and keep it for the long term till it starts compounding.

The Secret To Growing Rs 10 Lakh To Rs 100 Cr By The Time You Retire

Just have a look at this graph. If you invest Rs 1 lakh at the age of 20 and it compounds at the rate of 20%, by the time you turn 65 years, your investment will grow to Rs 99 crore thats the magic of compounding.

Now lets be more conservative. Say, you invest Rs 1 lakh at the age of 30, and it compounds at 15%, so by the time you turn 60, your investment would have multiplied to crores. In fact, you do not have to be a financial expert to make this happen! Literally, anyone can use the power of compounding to ones advantage and attain complete financial independence.

In fact, at Archers Wealth, we educate people to start sooner and then help with consistently better compounding profits because even a tiny difference creates a difference of multi-millions in the long term.

With The Right Investment Strategies, You Can Speed Up the Process And Retire Much Sooner And More Wealthier

Now, imagine, instead of getting a profit of 5-8% on your real estate asset / FD investments, what will happen if you allocate your investment in high-quality stocks, mutual funds and SIPs (systematic investment plan)?

Youll consistently boost compounding profit to 20%, 25%, 30% or even more (as I have been helping my clients for over a decade now). You will safely and predictably reach your financial freedom goal in half the time or even less.

Ready for some mind-boggling example?

Lets say your father had invested Rs 1 lakh in Eicher Motors in 2001. Do you know how much its worth is today? It has skyrocketed to Rs 1,45,19,274.

Or lets say your father invested Rs 10000 in Wipro shares in 1980. Can you guess its value today? A whopping Rs 801 cr with just a 41% compound annual growth rate.

I know these are like generation-alerting opportunities. However, in the last 10 years, we have suggested 100 plus companies that have been consistently producing 15% to even 50% profits.

What Makes the Rich Richer and The Poor Poorer?

Theres a reason, Albert Einstein said. People who understand the Magic of Compounding earn it, Those who dont, pay it.

And there are five main reasons why most people pay it, and thats also why the poor get poorer.

1. Bad Financial Habits People work hard to earn, steal time from their family and friends. But the sad truth is, they spend most of their hard-earned income on buying liabilities that depreciate over time instead of assets that appreciate like Eicher Motors and Wipro stocks etc. Worst is, they buy things on credit cards and repay at 35 interest rates, which is quite literally a tragedy.

2. Lottery Approach or Lack of Patience Most people want to build a fortune overnight out of thin air. But the process of compounding starts with a minimal, negligible change theres no immediate result. So, people think, why bother? And they stop investing and start withdrawing it.

3. Poor Investment Strategy Because of the lack of knowledge, people settle for 5% or max 10% returns when they can get 18% or 25% or even more boost on return in profits year on year. And even a slight difference of 2% or 5% can create a difference of multicores in the long term.

4. Delaying it for tomorrow to make a big investment altogether When I ask people, have you started investing, many of them say, Let me save some big amount and then I will invest. Listen, you wont need lakhs to start today. In fact, under top-up SIP, you can start with Rs 5000 monthly (or even less), and as your income grows, you can add Rs 2000 or Rs 5000 every 6 months depending upon your financial planning.

5. Neglecting experts help: If you have a broken tap, you call a plumber. If you have a broken tooth you go to the dentist. However when it comes to planning and investing finances, most people avoid taking an experts help even though your lifestyle, wealth, retirement income and ability to compound and multiply your wealth depend on how expertly you use your investment. One of the reasons is your hesitation and feeling a lack of transparency in so many experts.

This is the reason when we educate the clients, we always back it up with over a decade of our track record and time tested profit-making systems and processes producing consistent compounding results.

Today you have so much flexibility and the right opportunities to safely and efficiently grow your wealth. But you have to act, starting today!

And do you know why most people never act and stay stuck in bad financial situations? Because they do not believe they will ever be rich. And if you ever feel the same, its not your fault. It is because of your upbringing and society.

You deserve to be rich. You deserve to enjoy the finest things of life. Give yourself permission to invest and think like a rich person, and youll start to see the difference.

Its time to erupt your wealth flame and turn it into an automatic, ever-growing and ever-multiplying fire of wealth

Consider this: Recently, stock markets hit a record high, i.e. Sensex 60109, Nifty 17,810.

Twenty years ago, NIFTY was at the 900 mark, and now it has zoomed to the mark 17910, which means a staggering 1755% appreciation. Thats the astonishing power of compounding.

Over the last 20 years, the stock market has grown at a CAGR of 17.1 %, giving the greatest return than any asset class in India. Fabulous, isnt it?

So, start today and allow yourself to be a smart, long-term investor, and youll start to make the unbelievable magic of compounding a reality.

Youll be astonished to see when your investment starts to make profits, and those profits produce profits, and those profits produce more, triggering an unstoppable chain reaction.

And as this happens, you cant help but feel a sense of pride, happiness, confidence and security about your investment, your future income and your familys life. Isnt it a wonderful feeling?

Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest person in the world known for his exemplary investing gut, has an average compounding growth rate of 21% p.a. (per annum) in his portfolio.

(By Videsh K Totaare, MD & CEO, Archers Wealth Management Pvt Ltd)

Disclaimer: These are the authors personal views. Investors are advised to consult their financial planner before making any investment.

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How to grow your wealth to Rs 100 cr by investing Rs 10 lakh - Financial Express

Tallinn, Estonia, Nov. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) GreenGold Project is a revolutionary new blockchain technology project that allows you to have the best of both worlds; Investment in cryptocurrencies and green projects that improve the planet.

GreenCrypto Corporation has unveiled its groundbreaking green fundraising crypto project that aims to become the next big thing in the sector. Never before has there been such a unique, interesting project presented to investors, many of whom missed the train on major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others.

What is GreenGold Project?

GreenGold Project is a crypto ecosystem like no other. allows the raising of massive funds from millions of people around the globe with the intention of investing them in green and sustainable projects, the GreenGold project will be releasing different tokens that will be used to fund underlying projects that will improve the lives of humans and the planet.

Its name derives its roots from the Avocado industry which has turned into a literal green Gold for everybody involved in it. According to the WBOC, the Avocado sector alone is worth more than $10 billion right now and is likely to reach more than $16 billion by 2026. This single industry has transformed agrarian economies across Central America from Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Indonesia. Therefore it is often referred to as Green Gold.

Inspired by the Success of Avocados

The GreenGold project is inspired by the rapid progression of the Avocado sector and aims to provide a new platform that systematizes the rapid development and fundraising of new green initiatives in countries across the globe. At the heart of the GreenGold project is a blockchain-driven ecosystem that uses disruptive technologies to deliver safe, sustainable and traceable green products. The use of IoT and Agro4.0 technologies is the solution to decrease waste, care for natural resources and protect the planet. It is essential to double and improve food production for the coming years and GreenGold Project enables massive investment to people from all over the world to achieve it.

Story continues

Powered by GreenBlocks Blockchain Ledger (Solana)

The platform is powered by the GreenBlocks blockchain Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT) which is a Blockchain 4.0 system, way ahead of the conventional 3.0 (PhS) systems currently under development in much of the crypto world. GreenBlocks utilize the full power and sustainability of the only blockchain that uses Proof of History (PoH) as consensus. eliminating power-based consensus (PoW) and delivering the lowest fees and maximum transactional power, SOLANA.

Why the Need for the GreenGold Project?

Such a revolutionary system is the need of the hour as the farming sector is still often reliant on decades old technology and funding sources that are outdated and designed to suppress farmers and deprive them from financial independence.

The GreenGold ecosystem is powered by a fast, reliable and cost effective mechanism. Transaction costs are set at the lowest among all such token-based fundraising systems in place.

The GreenGold project is a completely open, transparent and decentralized approach to human enhancement. Its points without borders approach, enhanced privacy features and instant transactional capability make it a lucrative option for investors.

According to a UN statement:

It is essential to double food production, reduce waste and take care of the planets environment

The Green Gold Project allows to redirect the trillions of dollars that are currently in crypto market capitalization and direct them to solve food production, food security and world hunger, taking care of the planet and sustainability... our invitation to the world is to invest in our crypto tokens which improve the lives of humans on earth enjoying the benefits of crypto disruption, profits, capitalization, secondary markets, and decentralized trust. Are you going to invest in Bitcoin that destroys the planet because of the need for energy, or in AvocadoCoin, Green Token that helps world hunger and gives you profits from the avocado industry? - Gonzalo Arajo Cabarcas, co-founder and CTO GreenCrypto Corporation.

What is GreenGold Project Backed by?

GreenGold is backed by several tokens from all successful industries. These are security tokens and are backed by real-world investments and agricultural innovation including Avocado Coin (AVDO), Lemon Coin, Berry Coin and others. Currently, the Avocado Coin is being promoted by the GreenGold project in a first offering.

Coinmetrics

While the platform itself is primarily supported by GreenGoldCoin (GGLD), various other security tokens as mentioned above also come into play for raising funds and other economic purposes.

Avocado Coin

Avocado Coin is the first one of these digital security tokens to be offered by the company. The total supply of AVDO is set at 21 million coins, which is exactly the same as Bitcoin itself. If you missed the chance to become a millionaire through Bitcoin, this is a good option.

AvocadoCoin starts with a value of $1,000 and is expected to surpass the current value of bitcoin in the next few years.

GreenGold Coin

The platform itself is primarily the circulating supply of the fundraising ecosystem. Due to its nature, it is a much more liquid option than AVDO and its total supply is set at 21 trillion GGLD tokens.

The current price of one GreenGoldCoin is set at $0.02. But this is only the launch price of the new token. The price is expected to rise strongly in the coming months as early harvest projects are funded and executed.

Visit the official GreenGoldCoin: http://www.greengoldcoin.com/

Visit the official AvocadoCoin: http://www.avocadocoin.com/

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The GreenGold Project Proposes To Redirect Trillions Of Dollars From The Crypto Industry Into Sustainable Investments That Eliminate World Hunger -...

The MoU will focus on empowering rural women with livelihood and financial independence under Uttar Pradeshs rural livelihood missionThe two-year partnership will promote and nurture the significant development goals of states upliftmentUttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM) a registered society promoted by the state government, mandated to implement the National Rural Livelihoods Mission today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rajasthan based social commerce startup Frontier Markets to support rural women with livelihood and income generation. The MoU was inked between Mehdi Rizvi, Chief Operating Officer of Frontier Markets and Shri. Bhanu Goswami, Managing Director (MD) UPSRLM in the presence of Hon. Minister of Rural Development, Uttar Pradesh, Rajendra Pratap Singh Moti Singh, Panchayati Raj Minister, Sri Bhupinder Singh, Government of Uttar Pradesh; Sri Alok Sinha, Agriculture Production Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary I.A.S Manoj Kumar Singh.

UPSRLM collaboration with Frontier Markets will help rural women entrepreneurs earn enhanced income as Sahelis and diminish poverty. Committed to empowering rural women with dignified livelihoods and employment opportunities, the initiative will lead to an overall development of the rural communities in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The partnership will focus on institution and capacity building with technical and implementation support to promote women entrepreneurship, accelerate financial independence through job creation at scale and facilitating door-step delivery of rural friendly products and services. The partnership also aims to onboard 2000 rural women as Frontier Markets Sahelis with Self Help Groups (SHGs) and train them to leverage technology through the Frontier Markets e-commerce platform Meri Saheli and generate an income of 50K - 60K per annum. Leveraging Banking Correspondent Sakhi (BCs), the organic part of the SHGs trained in conducting financial transactions will be trained to generate sales leads and data collection. These tech-savvy women entrepreneurs will also support the implementation of government's schemes and programs in the catchment areas.

For a continued state development, this MoU addresses the challenge of poverty reduction and quality life through women empowerment. It will further ensure a continued financial independence and inclusion making way for holistic development in Uttar Pradesh.

Commenting on the partnership, Ajaita Shah Founder and CEO Frontier Markets said, We are on a mission to onboard 1 million sahelis and this partnership reflects our commitment and collective efforts to strengthen women entrepreneurship and economic development in the country. Rural women are trusted influencers of the community driving change and development and through this expansion we are focusing on enhancing livelihood with our gender centric approach.

With its gender and digital inclusive approach, Frontier Markets is known to amplify the voices of rural India, by leveraging customer insights to serve the evolving needs of rural customers while, also, creating economic gains for women in the same communities. Under this partnership with UPSRLM, the two parties will partner with SHGs and NGOs to build the capacity of the Sahelis through workshops and provide them with insights into the world of marketing, sales, digital tools, products and communication skills to empower them as financially independent entrepreneurs.

More here:

Social Commerce Platform Frontier Markets Partners With Govt of Uttar Pradesh to Promote Rural Women Entrepreneurship in the State - IndianWeb2.com