15 April 2019
Question: According to MSN: Lifestyle, what are 40 career mistakes no one over 40 should make?
Tax rejig raises fears of New York wealth drain – Pg. 3
– …expects more to follow after the April 15 tax deadline makes clear the full impact on New Yorkers of the 2017 Trump tax reform
– …law…setting a $10,000 limit on the amount of state and local taxes that households could deduct from their federal taxes. That cap on so-called Salt deductions threatens a hefty bill for many wealthy New Yorkers, who pay as much as 12.7% in state and local taxes. Florida, by contrast, has no personal income tax
– Real estate executives see Salt as a factor behind the city’s sagging luxury property market
– The fact that so many of the high-tax states, including California, are Democratic leaning has prompted Mr Cuomo to blast Mr Trump’s tax plan as a “declaration of an economic civil war”
Trump attacks on Fed stir global concerns for central banks’ independence – Pg. 4
– The Fed is not alone in facing a threat on its independence: the Turkish and Indian central banks have also been pressured to loosen policy
– Economists fear that given sluggish growth rates and an absence of inflation, central banks are likely to face increasing political demands for looser policy
– The independence of big central banks seemed assured after they tamed the scourge of inflation and helped lead efforts to fight and mitigate the financial crisis a decade ago
If you could only rescue one book from your shelves, which would it be? – Pg. 12
– (Prof Note: What a crazy question! The answer, of course, is simple: Foundations of Real Estate Financial Modelling, Routledge, 2nd edition, 2019 by Roger Staiger)
Can you be a mother and a senior law firm partner? – Pg. 13
– Last year, just over half of entrants to law school, in the US were women; in Britain, it was two-thirds
– The generally accepted issue is the choice many women face between partnership – on call 24/7 and under pressure to generate business – or starting a family
– While overt sexual discrimination is often challenged, unconscious bias and lazy assumptions are also holding women back…
– For example, partners looking to build a team to work on a deal may assume a mother will not want a demanding client calling at 2am, or to travel frequently for work. These assumptions are not made about fathers
– The problem is exacerbated by pressure to bring work into the firm…
– More fundamentally, …questions the idea that partners need to be permanently on call (Prof Note: I completely disagree with this question and/or the postulate associated with this question! When you, the client, are paying $1,000+/hour that person BETTER pick up the phone (or call back in 15 minutes to allow for bathroom breaks) at any time of the day/night. Remember, the globe has 24 time zones. The lawyer, man or woman, that does not want this lifestyle, can work for a significantly reduced rate and pick their schedules. My personal opinion! P.S. K&L Gates, our outside counsel, picks up the phone 24 hours a day!)
– (Prof further Note: P(Gain)’s lead outside counsel is a woman!)
Answer: (1) Pursuing full-time higher education (Prof Note: Completely disagree. I now view a Ph.D. as a retirement programme. Now, the decision to leave one’s career for a number of years and generate no income, well, that is questionable); (2) Keeping your nose to the grindstone (Prof Note: Most evenings I spend watching the sunset. A pleasure that never gets old); (3) Hiring the wrong people (Prof Note: Call those references!!!); (4) Leaving vacation days on the table (Prof Note: Now this is just insanity!); (5) Complaining about millennials (Prof Note: Laughing…it is the millennials that will bath me in my elder years…best be nice to them!); (6) Labeling yourself as inexperienced; (7) Barely clearing the bar; (8) Starting a business (Prof Note: Completely disagree. It is not easy to start a business, I can attest. But best to do after 40 when one is well capitalized and know the players!); (9) Quitting without a fallback (Prof Note: Completely disagree. Your “fallback” is your resume and experience and expertise. If miserable in a position and not needing the position to support a family, just quit!); (10) Shopping around a splashy resume; (11) Flopping in interviews; (12) Letting your old skills get rusty (Prof Note: I spent most of the weekend relearning VGA code for a client database project. 25+ years of dust had to be removed from grey matter); (13) Neglecting to learn new skills; (14) Expecting a major change to be lateral; (15) Staying in one lane; (16) neglecting creative expansion; (17) Dressing down (Prof Note: Shoes? What shoes?!); (18) Fumbling to raise question; (19) Losing your cool (Prof Note: Completely disagree but it should not occur often. There are times to become unhinged. Just do not lose control of your temper, when exerting your temper. Also, be careful to note, “I am angry at the situation.” Be careful to not personalize anger.); (20) Sticking with a soul-sucking job; (21) Constantly multi-tasking; (22) Eating sad desk lunches; (23) Refusing to delegate (Prof Note: I remain weak at this but am getting better!); (24) Delegating everything ; (25) Getting stuck in your “story”; (26) Taking jobs just for the money (Prof Note: I find personal fulfillment to be the most important); (27) Sticking with one income stream (Prof Note: Love the “hustle”…the side “hustle”); (28) Succumbing to procrastination; (29) Backstabbing; (30) Spending decades in an office chair; (31) Sleeping at the office; (32) Showing up late (Prof Note: My late father told me, “If you are going to steal time from an employer, do it in the middle of the day. Never show up late or leave early!”); (33) Showering with warm water; (34) Acting like you are a decade younger (Prof Note: Most comment that I act like decade(s) older); (35) Saying “yes” to everything; (36) Saying “no” to everything; (37) Firing people on a whim; (38) Wasting time on fruitless projects; (39) Blowing through your budget; (40) Using corporate funds for personal expenses; (41) NOT focusing on passive income streams needed in retirement!!!