Over-50

Childless Boomers - Remember How We Had Been Harrassed ...

"More American Adults Say They Don't Expect to Have a Child," Bloomberg, November 20, 2021.

The reality dawns: Rearing a child to adulthood is expensive. The US Department of Agriculture puts that at $245,348. Also, childcare is not only costly. It's hard to find. And if it falls through you're in a pickle with the boss or clients expecting you to be on duty.

If only the financial and professional implications of being a parent had been aknowledged when we childless boomers were struggling for acceptance in society and even within our own families. The attitude vacillated from censure - selfish us, not having children - to condescending (we will invite you for Christmas dinner since we don't want you to be alone).

In addition, once our close friends became parents and we didn't opt into the lifestyle, the Great Divide kicked in. Instead of going to the movies together, they were locked into children's activities. Back then parenting was extremely child-centric. 

Will we boomers get over our resentment about how we had been perceived and treated? Likely not. However, with the new mindset those in the loop probably won't be asking us this holiday season if we regret not having children.

Marketing communications. You want results. And that’s exactly what you get partnering with Genova Communications. Clients range from crypto to industrial trades. Fees customized for your unique budget. Complimentary consultation - janegenova374@gmail.com.

They Don't Know Us

"‘Meet a Jew’ Program Aims to Tackle Rising Anti-Semitism in Germany. A new program seeks to fight stereotypes by inviting some Germans to meet Jews for the first time" - Ian Lovett, The Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2021

America's stereotype of the older worker is just as embedded. And so negative in its effect on aging professionals. This is at a time when inflation has made remaining in the workforce downright necessary. In fact, last month, 2.5% of those who had retired boomeranged back into the labor market. 

Yet, as AARP documents, ageism remains an acceptable bias. Allude to age in a negative way in a work context and those doing that expect to get away with it. Actually they probably don't even think about it. On the other hand, allude to any other attribute which can be interpreted as bias and there's bound to be a national flashpoint.

As part of the ESG push, corporations can join with public relations agencies to launch a "Meet an Older Worker" program. For that they may be able to attract celebrity participation - ranging from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to Clint Eastwood. 

Marketing communications. You want results. And that’s exactly what you get partnering with Genova Communications. Clients range from crypto to industrial trades. Fees customized for your unique budget. Complimentary consultation - janegenova374@gmail.com.

Aging Can't Let Down Their Guard

Euro winter of discontent: Now Germany locks down unvaccinated!
Norway tightens entry rules, urges dropping handshake...
Dutch delay care for cancer, heart patients...
STUDY: Death toll could soar by 300,000...
Lockdown fears rattle investors, spark dash for safe-havens...
Army Forcing Out Unjabbed Soldiers...
NFL star accused of obtaining fake card...
Millions May Have Permanently Lost Sense of Smell...
Boosters authorized for all adults...
FDA wants 55 years to process FOIA request over data...
Fauci office flooded with attacks over beagle experiments...
Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster...

AUSTRIA NATIONAL LOCKDOWN
MANDATORY VAX FOR ALL
GERMANY NEXT?

Maybe Not Crowing, "My Grandchild, Lawyer in Elite Firm X or Y"

Karen Sloan, Reuters Legal, November 18, 2021 

That headline showcases the current one-dimensional focus on Big Law as where those focused on acquiring wealth can - and often do- pull it off.

No surprise, on Bloomberg Law, Roy Strom reflects on how law firms should use their riches.

And, horrors, Abovethelaw deconstructs a study which documents that the roar of profits could be muted by rising associate compensation.

All this confirms this: Law is a game that, unlike pinball, is not about the experience of sheer joy and satisfaction of playing the game. It's about the relentless task of acquiring, holding, and increasing wealth.

In an interview with Reuters Legal, Paul Hastings Chairperson Seth Zachary hammered that practicing law was less and less a profession and more and more businesslike. Forget loyalty. Partners will depart for a better deal. 

And in a recent conversation with Bloomberg Law Paul Weiss Chairperson Brad Karp explicitly indicated this: PPP could reach or exceed $6 million. Was that necessary to say? Tellingly, the headline for that interview had read:

"Paul Weiss Set to Crack Rare $6 Million Profit Per Partner Mark"

The implications of Big Law's being increasingly branded as The Big Wealth-Building Machine can be huge - in mostly negative ways.

In court, opposing counsel not from Big Law or from the prosecution can nuance it all. That is, leverage that image of total capitalism against the little guy or the victims of alleged wrongdoing. Big Law primarily consists of defense lawyers. 

In social-justice outreach, there can be smirks. Yeah, sure.

What about the large donations to good causes? Do they come from the heart? 

With the crowing about revenue/profit, surging market share, and more, Big Law could attract the attention of antitrust regulators.

There could be a nudge at the FTC for Lina Kahn to investigate Big Law as a kind of monopoly. Does it unfairly raise prices and push competitors out?

Interestingly, in that same Bloomberg Law interview, Karp noted that the very elite law firms have the resources to hire and retain the star power. That could force out those law firms which don't.

If all that sounds, walks, and smells like the dynamics of a monopoly, maybe it is. Has Big Law become the analogue of Big Tech? Those in Congress can enhance their visibility and power by getting the ball rolling on probing this question.

And in recruiting the idealistic (are there any of those in the T-14) there could be the awful stink of only-all-business. 

Obviously, in this era of extreme public relations, Big Law firms have to hire a top public affairs firm to soften their capitalistic image.

The first bit of advice given will be this: Stop talking about money. Not in terms of PPP. And not in terms of associate compensation. Yesterday, Sidley changed that conversation. It introduced a comprehensive professional development program for midlevel and senior associates. The Sidley branding is about investing in its people. That's beautiful, isn't it. 

In the corridors of the large law firms, money seems to have become the loudest voice in the room. This comes out in the expose about Big Law, as well as Wall Street, "The Caesar Palace Coup." 

Marketing communications. It’s about results. And that’s exactly what you get partnering with Genova Communications and Coaching. Clients range from crypto to industrial trades. Fees customized for your unique budget. Complimentary consultation - janegenova374@gmail.com.

Buy Nothing Trend - Time Travel Back to Counterculture, Accelerate Minimalism

"With inflation hitting a 31-year high and supply-chain issues making it difficult for people to get the goods they want on time, some have found an answer in online groups where members give things away free. Such groups have risen in popularity in recent months, and one effort known as the Buy Nothing Project hit 4.27 million members as of August." Veronica Dagher, The Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2021.

This movement could catch fire, just as frugality as a political statement did during the counterculture.

Back then, we political activists would achieve living on almost nothing through dumpster diving and going to coops. At the latter we could pick up what we needed - free - and leave off what we no longer did. The objective was not having to become a cog in the wheel of capitalism and labor at jobs which exploited us.

Such a mindset is in sync with the antiwork movement and overall worker unrest. In addition, a minimalist ideology had taken root among those who intended to retire early (FIRE) and we aging who were beyond our peak earning years. 

The share philosophy has been reaching deeply. In the common room where I reside in southwestern Arizona recently there have been items which are available at no charge. They range from clothes to books to canned goods. 

Obviously, Buy Nothing also reinforces the push for the sustainability part of ESG. Landfills are mighty full. 

Intuitive guidance about your next. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Intuitive Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Encore Careers - Beware When Purchasing a Franchise

In following the race bias lawsuit "Christine Crawford v. McDonald's USA" I became interested in the pros and cons of franchising.

While it is possible - as had many McDonald's franchisees - to become wealthy, the potential is also there for financial ruin. Here is Law and More's analysis of that litigation. And, here is a copy of the complaint.

In this exclusive article for ST Magazine, I highlight what purchasers of a franchise should examine.

At the top of the list is the contract between the corporation and the franchisee. Yes, loop in a lawyer before signing it.

Secondly, do due diligence on the location. What's the competition in the area? How about the crime? 

Next on the list is the skill to manage a business. For that it might be smart to contract with a business advisor to assess one's ability as well as drive. 

Intuitive guidance about your next. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Intuitive Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Booster May Be Good Idea

Covid Outbreak in Party Town Shows How Pandemic Could End...
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MI LEADS NATION IN NEW CASES...
VIRUS 'BLIZZARD' IN MN...
PFIZER, BIONTECH, MODERNA MAKING $1,000 PROFIT EVERY SECOND...
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FOX TV STAR CANNED FOR NOT GETTING JAB...
WHITE HOUSE WON'T FOLLOW GUIDANCE TO END MASKS...
COURT TO HEAR MANDATE CHALLENGE AFTER PING-PONG BALL LOTTERY...
Austrian cases hit record high amid quarantine for unvaxxed...

Intuitive guidance about your next. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Intuitive Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

GenZ - It's Retirement Which Is Unrealistic, Not How They're Planning for It

"Gen Z is wildly unrealistic about how much money stocks, crypto and other investments will give them for retirement" - MarketWatch, November 17, 2021

That's just the tip of the iceberg. The deeper reality is that retirement is probably not possible. Yet, according to a survey by MagnifyMoney, 27% believe they will be able to retire before the age of 50.

Meanwhile, boomers and members of GenY who have retired are bouncing back into the workforce. In October, according to Indeed Hiring Lab and the Census Bureau, 2.5% of retirees went back to work. That might be called The Great Boomerang. Most of those had to in this era of inflation.

Retirement is our parent's generation.

Intuitive guidance about your next. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Intuitive Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Clothes Matter Again - Or, Should

We are in post-remote times, even though so much is still occurring remote. 

What that means is that clothes matter again. Again, they are an identity marker. No, we haven't returned, not yet, to power suits and designer dressers. But we have returned to dress for success.

Before a Zoom consultation with a client, an information source, or a prospect for my work, I take pains with my appearance. Yes, I factor in the right jewelry and, in case I gesture with my hands, the manicure. 

Not everyone has caught up, though, with this leap from anything-goes to professional attire.

To my surprise, there was an oddball reality in a meeting with a head of a trade association via Zoom. It had to do with information I needed for a project.

Horrors, she was attired in a sweatshirt. Her staff were dressed equally unprofessionally. 

To me, an expert in messaging, that undermined her authority and credibility. That shook my confidence in the information she was passing along. You bet, I ferreted out other sources.

Marketing communications. It’s about results. And that’s exactly what you get partnering with Genova Communications and Coaching. Clients range from crypto to industrial trades. Fees customized for your unique budget. Complimentary consultation - janegenova374@gmail.com.

Baby Boomers - Remember Our Almost Blind Faith in Freudian Analysis

"Kobe Bryant’s widow [Vanessa Kobe] and her therapist must produce documents related to her treatment going back five years in her lawsuit against Los Angeles County seeking damages for emotional distress stemming from sheriff’s deputies taking photographs of the helicopter crash site where her husband and daughter were killed." - Peter Hayes, Bloomberg Law, November 16, 2021.

Vanessa put this in play by contending in a lawsuit a profound degree of emotional distress due to the photo-taking. The legalities demand that has to be evaluated in order to assess any monetary issues. 

She is not alone is being hit with the reality that what goes on in psychotherapy might not be considered legally confidential.

Along with her the therapists themselves might be called upon to produce their own private clinical notes about the case.

Beginning in the early 1970s, I was a client of then-doctoral-psychology-graduate-student at the University of Michigan David W. Harder. First that was at the university's psychology clinic and then at the university's medical system's services NPI. At the time I did wonder if the process had been helping me with clinical depression. But, as a I point out in this article I published about that therapy, that was a different time. There was almost a blind faith in Freudian analysis. 

Throughout the years I did boomerang back to seeking his counsel when he was a Ph.D. psychologist and then-professor at Tufts University.  He was, to leverage the cliche: A known entity to me. The questions were still there: Is this helping me? Is this therapist and myself a good fit. I wanted answers. I needed answers.

Eventually, I requested the clinical notes. Dr. Harder refused.

It took contracting with a lawyer in Greenwich, Connecticut to obtain those documents. Yes, I absorbed that expense. When I had access to Dr. Harder's clinical notes the tone and content confirmed for me that he and I were not a good fit. I wondered why those at the University of Michigan overseeing his clinical training hadn't picked up on that.

The takeaway is that psychotherapy is not a confidential process. It represents legal-disclosure risks for both client and therapist. 

The big legal story coming could be how lawyers for the defense in Vanessa's lawsuit leverage those documents against the plaintiff. That's the lawyers' responsibility. At this point, to protect her privacy, Vanessa would be wise to drop that particular lawsuit. Her suffering at the hands of competent lawyers could be great. 

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