Advancing the Betterment Portfolio Strategy

by Alex Benke, CFP® @ Betterment

Mon Nov 06 07:07:33 PST 2017

Betterment’s core portfolio strategy is based on Nobel Prize-winning research. We continually improve the portfolio strategy over time in line with our research-focused investment philosophy. Contributing Authors Lisa Huang Director of Quantitative Investing Dan Egan Director of Behavioral Finance At every stage of the investing process, Betterment holds to the same basic philosophy: We use […]

ED Turns 325,000 Student Loan Borrowers Over to Debt Collectors It Fired for Breaking the Law

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Thu Dec 14 09:20:23 PST 2017

With nearly a quarter of federal student loan borrowers in default, borrowers need a system that will help them to successfully repay their loans. Unfortunately, the Department of Education continues to reward contractors that lie to borrowers and to incentivize programs that set borrowers up for failure. InsideARM reports that over the weekend, the Department of Education assigned the accounts of 325,000 defaulted student loan borrowers to Pioneer Credit Recovery (owned by Sallie Mae/Navient) and Alltran (formerly known as Enterprise Recovery Systems). The Department had fired those two collection agencies in February 2015 for providing inaccurate information to borrowers about their options for removing their loans from default. According to the press release at the time, the Department reviewed 22 private collection agencies to ensure that they were not engaging in unfair or deceptive practices and were complying with all applicable Federal and State laws. It found that these two companies, along with three others, “made materially inaccurate representations to borrowers about the loan rehabilitation program, which is an option that can create benefits to defaulted borrowers.” The Department explained that these companies “gave borrowers misleading information about the benefits to the borrowers’ credit report and about the waiver of certain collection fees” and did so “at unacceptably high rates.” Those companies sued the Department and, after the Trump administration took over, the Department said it would reconsider assigning accounts to these same companies despite the 2015 audit against them. A court order that had prevented the Department from assigning new accounts to debt collectors has recently been lifted, and the Department has started assigning student loan borrowers to debt collectors—including Pioneer and Alltran—again. Student loan borrowers deserve accurate information regarding their loans. When companies break the law and lie to student loan borrowers, the government should not be rewarding them with lucrative government contracts. But the deeper problem lies with the debt collection contract itself. As we found in our 2014 report, Pounding Student Loan Borrowers, collection agencies steer borrowers into rehabilitation programs because doing so earns them higher commissions, even though the rehabilitation program leads to worse outcomes for borrowers. Recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) data confirms that the volume of defaulted loans that are rehabilitated is growing but that rehabilitation is failing to set borrowers up for repayment success. Rather than rushing to award this same contract, the Department should take this opportunity to create a system that actually helps student loan borrowers address their loans. Have you had problems with a student loan debt collector? Please let us know.

The post ED Turns 325,000 Student Loan Borrowers Over to Debt Collectors It Fired for Breaking the Law appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Student Loan Management When Disaster Strikes

by Abby Shafroth @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Wed Sep 13 07:02:54 PDT 2017

By Adam S. Minsky, Esq., Law Office of Adam S. Minsky, Boston, Massachusetts This post originally appeared on http://bostonstudentloanlawyer.com/student-loan-management-disaster-strikes/. It’s a scary time for millions of Americans right now. Much of eastern Texas has been declared a disaster area following Hurricane Harvey. Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been declared disaster areas as well following Hurricane Irma. The last thing anyone in those areas is thinking about right now is student debt. But what happens to your student loans when a disaster strikes? Payments Continue to Be Due Your monthly payments will continue to be due on your student loans, and that’s unlikely to automatically change as a result of a disaster. That means that if you have set up auto-debit, the payments will continue to be withdrawn from your bank account automatically – whether or not you have the money. So if you anticipate being short on cash, you may want to cancel the auto-debit by contacting your servicer (you can always re-establish it later). On the other hand, if you don’t have auto-debit, you’ll need to make your payments manually. This could be a problem if you lose power, internet, or cell phone service, or if mail delivery is down or delayed. So if you haven’t set up auto-debit or automatic payments on your student loans, it might be prudent to talk to your servicer about making the next monthly installment payment early (before the disaster strikes, assuming you have warning) to avoid late fees and negative credit reporting if you can’t pay on the due date. Forbearance Might Be an Option If you cannot afford your monthly payment because of a natural disaster, you may be able to temporarily postpone payments through a forbearance. For federal student loans, the U.S. Dept. of Education allows for a special kind of disaster forbearance for up to three months for areas that have been declared a federal disaster area. As of right now, that includes much of eastern Texas, all of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and much of Florida. Aside from exceptional events, the forbearance is not automatic, however, so you’ll need to talk to your federal student loan servicer. Make sure you specifically request a disaster-related administrative forbearance, rather than a general or economic hardship forbearance; you’ll also want to ask about whether any outstanding interest will be capitalized (added to the principal balance). Private student loans, on the other hand, typically will have far fewer options, so only request a forbearance for your private loans if absolutely necessary. And remember – interest still accrues during the forbearance period for any student loan, so your balance will grow. There may be additional relief available for borrowers in default on their federal student loans, including a temporary suspension of collections activities and additional flexibility for borrowers making voluntary payments. Adjust Your Income-Driven Payments If you are repaying your federal student loans under an income-driven repayment plan, remember that you can request an adjustment of your monthly payment at any time due to changed circumstances. So if you experience a drop in your income during or after a disaster, you can submit a request to your federal student loan servicer to have your monthly payment recalculated. If you have no income, your payment under any income-driven plan (ICR, IBR, PAYE, or REPAYE) may go down to as low as $0/month. This could be a better solution than a temporary forbearance, since the recalculated payment would last for a 12-month period (after which you would need to recertify by sending in new income information), and there is no interest capitalization as long as you remain in the same repayment plan. However, keep in mind that it can sometimes take one to two billing cycles for your servicer to process your request. You could always request a brief forbearance to cover that gap, but just be aware of potential interest capitalization. And, as always, interest continues to accrue on your loans. Get Financial Help Depending on the severity of the disaster, you may be able to apply for state or federal financial assistance, which can help with all sorts of expenses. You can check out this government website to see if your area has been declared eligible for individual assistance, and you can start the application process. You can also call FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA. You’ll also want to be sure to contact any insurance carrier you have (renter’s insurance, homeowner’s insurance, condo insurance, etc.) to start the process of filing a claim.

The post Student Loan Management When Disaster Strikes appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Comparing Apple, Google and Microsoft’s education plays

by Brian Heater @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 14:56:48 PDT 2018

Today’s Apple event in Chicago was about more than just showing off new hardware and software in the classroom — the company was reasserting itself as a major player in education. The category has long been a lynchpin in Apple’s strategy — something that Steve Jobs held near and dear. Any ’80s kid will tell […]

Tax on Death and Disability Discharges Is Gone … For Now

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Thu Feb 08 09:59:32 PST 2018

Student loan borrowers who apply to have their loans canceled due to their disability or the death of their child can worry about one less thing: possible tax consequences. When a borrower dies or becomes permanently disabled before paying off student loans, the loans can be discharged, relieving the disabled borrower or surviving family members of the burden of paying off loans they often cannot afford. Parent PLUS loan borrowers are also eligible for the death discharge if the student for whom the PLUS loan was taken out dies. These discharge programs provide important relief to borrowers dealing with difficult circumstances. But the programs have come with a big catch: the possibility of a very large tax bill. We here at NCLC have been arguing for years and years (and years!) that taxing disability and death discharges is grossly unfair to some of the most vulnerable student loan borrowers. Finally, after many years of advocacy, this tax has come to an end… for now (more on that later).  The tax bill passed at the end of 2017 does away with the tax on student loan discharges for death and disability. This is generally good news for borrowers. But there are some complications for borrowers whose loans were already discharged or approved for discharge prior to 2018. Sorting out tax consequences for loans already discharged or approved for discharge This new law takes effect January 1, 2018. This means that any loans that were discharged in 2017 are still potentially taxable, and those borrowers should have received a 1099-C in January.  In determining whether the loans are taxable, the most important question to figure out is: when does discharge occur? For loans discharged due to death or based upon a Veterans Administration’s disability determination, the answer is pretty simple. These loans are discharged when the discharge application is approved and the loans are forgiven. So borrowers who received these cancellations in 2017, unfortunately, still have to deal with the tax consequences. These borrowers should know that there are some exceptions to taxation that may apply, such as insolvency – where a borrower’s debts exceed his or her assets.  Borrowers who receive a 1099-C should be sure to seek competent tax advice. However, other disability discharges—those a borrower obtained by having a doctor certify the disability or based upon a Social Security Administration determination —are subject to a three-year monitoring period. In this monitoring period, borrowers must follow certain steps and meet certain income requirements, otherwise their loans are reinstated. For these borrowers, we have been told that the loan is not actually discharged for tax purposes until the three-year monitoring period has ended. Therefore, borrowers who had a disability discharge approved in 2015, 2016, or 2017 but who are still subject to the three-year monitoring period should not be taxed on this discharge, because the discharge will not formally occur until monitoring period ends in 2018, 2019, or 2020, respectively. Borrowers in these categories may wish to seek competent tax advice. Complications for borrowers whose monitoring period ended in 2017 Borrowers whose monitoring period ended in 2017 will not benefit from the removal of this tax, since it only applies to discharges finalized beginning in 2018.  However, these borrowers may experience some complications due to a change in the Department’s policy regarding when to send 1099-C’s to borrowers approved for disability discharges. Prior to tax year 2015, the Department’s policy was to send a 1099-C to the borrower at the time when the disability discharge was initially approved. Then, in January 2016 (tax year 2015), the Department changed its policy and decided to instead send the 1099-C after the three-year monitoring period had ended.  We were concerned about what would happen to borrowers whose disability discharges were initially approved in 2014—and who had received a 1099-C for tax year 2014 based on the Department’s old policy—when they completed their three-year monitoring period in 2017.  Would these borrowers receive yet another 1099-C in January 2018 for tax year 2017, based on the Department’s new policy?  According to sources inside the Department of Education, those borrowers should not receive a second 1099-C. But it is a good idea for borrowers in this circumstance to consult a tax professional for more information. This tax relief is scheduled to expire at the end of 2025 It is important to note that this change in the tax code will expire on December 31, 2025. This means that because of the three-year monitoring period, borrowers who have their initial discharge approved after December 31, 2022 and complete the three years of monitoring could be subject to the tax. The hope is, of course, that this law will be extended or become permanent before then.

The post Tax on Death and Disability Discharges Is Gone … For Now appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

How to Execute a Roth Conversion

by andrewwestlin @ Betterment

Mon Aug 14 08:00:53 PDT 2017

When you move assets from a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA, the switch can be to your advantage, but there are risks as well. Financial experts call this move a “Roth conversion.”

How Disciplined Will You Be in the Next Downturn?

by Dan Egan @ Betterment

Tue Sep 05 12:16:30 PDT 2017

Every investor should have a fire-drilled plan for the next market drop because anticipating your own behavior is part of what makes you a better investor.

Our Evidence-Based Approach to Improving Investor Behavior

by Dan Egan @ Betterment

Thu Oct 12 15:43:14 PDT 2017

Betterment’s rigorous testing helps to ensure that we know what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to improving design and investor outcomes.

New Report: R0013 Employee Degree Audit

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Wed Mar 14 11:36:36 PDT 2018

Per campus request, the reporting team has developed R0013 Employee Degree Audit, a new report that provides the education background for Academic Personnel, as well as for employees who are eligible for Medical Centers’ BSN degree-based pay premiums. This report, available to administrators with elevated security roles, will include the worker’s school, degree, field of study and the year the degree was received.

9 Investing Truths That Don’t Get Enough Credit

by Morgan Housel @ Betterment

Wed Aug 30 11:15:42 PDT 2017

Amazon has 149,449 book results for “investing.” Morgan Housel recommends just nine points.Search “investing” on Amazon and you get 149,449 book results. Many of them are great, but the core principles of investing don’t require length. Just nine broad points guide most of what I think about investing. 1. Investors tend to see past market declines […]

Important Student Protections Now at Risk: Department of Education Announces Rewrite of Brand-New Borrower Defense and Gainful Employment Rules

by Joanna Darcus @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Wed Jul 05 12:53:20 PDT 2017

As recently as this April, we explained that Congress chose not to roll back the important protections for defrauded student loan borrowers provided by the Department of Education’s borrower defense rules. Unfortunately, the Department has not only delayed implementation of the bulk of the borrower defense and gainful employment rules, but has also announced that it intends to rewrite both sets of rules. Fortunately, the Department must go through a series of steps to get input about these rules before it proposes new versions of them. Written comments are due July 12th. The Higher Education Act provides certain rights and protections to borrowers of federal student loans. It also imposes specific responsibilities on the Department of Education.  The borrower defense rules, finalized in fall 2016, and the gainful employment rules, finalized in fall 2014, explain the standards that schools must meet in order to continue to receive federal aid dollars, and the process by which students can vindicate their right to discharge their loans due to their school’s misconduct.  Together, these rules are designed to ensure that students who do (or would) borrow federal loans to pay for college reap the benefit of that investment. These rules provide many important safeguards for borrowers, including empowering students who have disputes with their schools to have their day in court instead of allowing schools to shuffle them into secret arbitration proceedings.  The rules provide important information to prospective students about the employment and earnings outcomes of students who attended the schools they are now considering.  The rules require certain schools to set aside funds to reimburse students if the school closes or runs afoul of the law.  And these rules provide for automatic loan discharges for certain students whose schools shut down.  The list could go on, as these are simply highlights of the ways that the borrower defense and gainful employment rules protect students and other taxpayers. What do the delays and rewrites mean for student loan borrowers? Importantly, neither the delay and nor the rewrite of the borrower defense rules alters the fact that borrowers have a right to raise their defenses.  During this time, borrowers can continue to ask the Department of Education to review their borrower defense claims. However, revising the rules creates considerable uncertainty.   Policymakers, student borrower advocates, and state attorneys general are concerned that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s decision to revisit these rules is another sign that she is siding with predatory for-profit schools instead of fighting for students. Since the rulemaking process requires the Department to get input, now is the time to stand for strong rules—and with all of the other individuals and groups that support strong protections for students and other taxpayers, and against predatory schools.  Now is the time to act. Take Action Speak Up: Submit written comments to the Department of Education by Wednesday, July 12, 2017.  In addition, you can sign up to speak at a public hearing in Washington, DC, on Monday, July 10, 2017, or Dallas, Texas on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Tell the Department of Education what your rights and these rules mean to you: Urge the Department to continue to grant relief to the tens of thousands of students who have applied, but are still waiting for borrower defense relief. Ask the Department to stop giving federal loans and grants to schools that do not equip their graduates to succeed in their careers. Insist that the forced arbitration ban go into effect immediately, affirming that student loan borrowers have the right to go to court if their schools break the law or break their promises to them.

The post Important Student Protections Now at Risk: Department of Education Announces Rewrite of Brand-New Borrower Defense and Gainful Employment Rules appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Workday 30 Release a Success!

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Tue Mar 20 13:39:00 PDT 2018

Over the weekend of March 10-11, Workday released their latest feature upgrades to the cloud-based HR/payroll system used by all UW employees. The scheduled, biannual maintenance (Workday performs major system upgrades twice a year) went smoothly, and though the expected downtime to accommodate the release was planned for Friday evening through Sunday evening, Workday was back up and running by Saturday morning at 11:00 am.

Education Should Not Rush Into Another Failing Debt Collection Contract

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Wed Aug 16 09:26:02 PDT 2017

According to Politico, late Monday night, the Department of Education told a federal appeals court that a court order blocking its ability to send any newly defaulted student loan borrowers to its hired debt collectors has cost taxpayers more than $5 million in lost collections since March. This lawsuit came about because private debt collection agencies that were not awarded the latest collection contract sued the Department of Education. After the judge overseeing the litigation issued an order preventing the Department from assigning new accounts to debt collectors, the Department announced a re-do of the contract and is now rushing to make a final award by the end of next week. What the Department of Education failed to mention in its latest filing is that the debt collection contract is failing to serve borrowers or taxpayers. Rather than rushing to award this same contract, the Department should take this opportunity to create a system that actually helps student loan borrowers address their loans. Objectively speaking, five million dollars is not a small amount of money. However, the Department pays its private collection agencies nearly a billion dollars annually. And most of that money is a total waste to taxpayers. According to a recent Bloomberg analysis, the Department pays its debt collectors nearly $40 for every $1 dollar they collect:  meaning that for the collection agencies to collect $5 million, taxpayers would likely shell out almost $200 million in commissions. That’s a bad deal for taxpayers. Arguably, the commission amount could be a good investment if it was helping direct borrowers into programs that turned these into performing loans. Aside from repayment in full or a loan discharge, most borrowers can cure a default of their federal loans through one of two programs: rehabilitation or consolidation.  But as we found in our 2014 report, Pounding Student Loan Borrowers, which recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) data confirms, collection agencies steer borrowers into rehabilitation programs because that program offers the highest commission rate to the debt collectors, despite leading to worse outcomes for borrowers. According to the CFPB, the rehabilitation program, where borrowers make a series of payments in order to cure their defaulted loans, is not creating a sustainable path to student loan repayment. Over a third of borrowers who rehabilitate their loans will re-default within the first two years. In contrast, the vast majority (95 percent) of the reported student loan borrowers who chose to use federal loan consolidation to get out of default (taking out a new federal loan to pay off the defaulted one), are still in good standing a year out. Nonetheless, under the contract that the Department is planning to award, it will continue to pay collection agencies $1,710 if they can get a borrower to complete a rehabilitation plan but only $150 if they work with a borrower to consolidate defaulted loans. This contract is bad for borrowers and should not be awarded. The Department also claimed that as a result of the judge’s order, 463,000 borrowers are stuck in default limbo because they cannot get out of default by rehabilitating their loans, as that program is generally managed by the Department’s private collection agencies. This claim belies the fact that the Higher Education Act provides student loan borrowers in default with a second way to get their loans back into good standing: consolidation. Although rehabilitation may not be readily available due to the court order, many of these borrowers could consolidate out of default. The Department’s brief fails to show why borrowers are unable to consolidate out of default. Moreover, according to the CFPB’s data discussed above, consolidation – which does not require collection agency involvement – has better results for borrowers. The Department needs to find a way to help the 463,000 borrowers resolve their student loan defaults. However, entering into a long-term contract with the same old flawed incentive structure that harms taxpayers and borrowers is not the solution.

The post Education Should Not Rush Into Another Failing Debt Collection Contract appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

What To Do When You Over-Contribute to an IRA

by andrewwestlin @ Betterment

Thu Aug 03 15:20:22 PDT 2017

IRAs have contribution limits. Advisors like Betterment help to prevent you from over-contributing, but if you have multiple IRAs, you can easily over-contribute without meaning to. Learn what to do if you unintentionally contribute more than this year’s limit.

2018 Tax Season Calendar: The Dates You Need to Know

by ericbronnenkant @ Betterment

Wed Dec 06 21:40:15 PST 2017

Before you get started with filing your taxes this year, take a look at our 2017 tax season calendar to make sure you’re aware of important tax deadlines.

Lightspeed just filed for $1.8 billion in new funding, as the race continues

by Connie Loizos @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 12:42:18 PDT 2018

Just a day after General Catalyst, the 18-year-old venture firm, revealed plans in an SEC filing to raise a record $1.375 billion in capital, another firm that we’d said was likely to file any second has done just that. According to a fresh SEC filing, Lightspeed Venture Partners, also 18 years old, is raising a record […]

What Tesla knows about the fatal Model X crash

by Megan Rose Dickey @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 20:01:54 PDT 2018

Tesla has shed some more light on the fatal crash and fire involving a Model X car last week. In a blog post tonight, Tesla said it’s not yet clear what happened in the time leading up to the accident. Tesla also said it does not yet know what caused it. Tesla did note that, […]

This electric 1959 Mini Cooper is everything that’s right in the world

by Matt Burns @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 14:56:27 PDT 2018

Take a break from the dumpster fire that is 2018. This electric Mini will make you smile. Built as a show piece, the car features an electric powertrain in a restored 1959 Mini Cooper. Of course it’s red with a white stripe, and, of course, there are rally lights across the grill. This is how […]

Introducing Charitable Giving by Betterment

by Alex Benke, CFP® @ Betterment

Wed Nov 15 05:50:19 PST 2017

Starting Giving Tuesday, Betterment customers will be able to donate shares from taxable accounts to charitable organizations.

Bird expands to San Francisco, San Jose and Washington

by Jonathan Shieber @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 12:23:16 PDT 2018

The smash dockless scooter rental startup, Bird, is expanding beyond its Southern California nest with a new rollout in San Francisco, San Jose, Calif. and Washington, DC, the company said today. And as his company makes its migration across the country, Bird chief executive Travis VanderZanden is determined not to make the same mistakes that […]

Achieving Presence: An Interview with Social Psychologist Amy Cuddy

by Jill Schlesinger @ Betterment

Thu Mar 08 07:44:24 PST 2018

Author of the new book “Presence,” Amy Cuddy teaches us how to use simple techniques to liberate ourselves from fear in high-pressure moments, perform at our best, and connect with and empower others to do the same. Life is full of challenges, both personally and professionally. Today’s interview with Amy Cuddy is the perfect example. […]

Earned Income Tax Credits Seized from Struggling Student Loan Borrowers

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Mon Jan 22 07:40:26 PST 2018

Defaulted student loan borrowers planning to file their taxes should know that any refund they were expecting will likely wind up at the Department of Education (ED) instead of their bank account. Tax refund offsets are one of the powerful tools the government uses to collect defaulted federal student loans. For many struggling student loan borrowers, their tax refund includes the vital Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is one of the most important anti-poverty programs available to low-income workers.  It is specifically intended to help raise working families with children out of poverty.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has cited EITC expansion as the most important cause of employment growth among single mothers with children during the 1990s.  In 2015 alone, the program was credited with lifting about 6.6 million people out of poverty, including about 3.3 million children. By seizing EITC payments, ED is harming vulnerable borrowers and their children. Many borrowers do not know that their tax refund will be taken until it is too late. The IRS provides a toll-free number, (800) 304-3107, to call for information about tax offsets. You can call this number, go through the automated prompts, and see if you have any offsets pending on your social security number. Most garnishments and offsets can be challenged on the basis of financial hardship, but for tax offsets, ED has stated that it rarely refunds a tax offset due to financial hardship and will only do so in the case of extreme hardship. It generally limits extreme hardship to imminent eviction or foreclosure. Borrowers may be able to stop a tax offset by getting out of default first, but the timing can be tricky. The government should not be keep children in poverty in order to force borrowers to repay their student loans. Has this happened to you? How were you planning on using your EITC refund? Tell us your story.   This blog post was originally published on March 7, 2016 and has been updated for accuracy and completeness. 

The post Earned Income Tax Credits Seized from Struggling Student Loan Borrowers appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Ep. 038: How Wall Street Destroyed Main Street with Rana Foroohar

by Jill Schlesinger @ Betterment

Thu Sep 21 07:55:24 PDT 2017

Rana Foroohar shows how the “financialization of America,” is perpetuating Wall Street’s reign over Main Street. As you’ll recall, we did our fair share of explaining why Wall Street matters, on the episode featuring Bill Cohan. Today we’re doing a 180 with financial journalist and author Rana Foroohar. Rana’s book, “Maker and Takers: How Wall […]

When Is the Best Time to Invest in the Stock Market?

by marshayclarke @ Betterment

Mon Aug 28 13:27:30 PDT 2017

The media would have you think there are dozens of reasons to buy into or sell out of the market, but what the hard data shows is that most of the time, you should stick to a long-term investment strategy. Contributing Authors Joe Wang Senior Customer Support Specialist Dan Egan Director of Behavioral Finance Jamie […]

Managing Your Allocation: How We Reduce Risk in a Portfolio as Your Goal Approaches

by Adam Grealish @ Betterment

Wed Dec 06 21:30:53 PST 2017

Automatically adjusting your allocation is one area of advice where automation can play a particularly important role for investors.

Returning Faculty from Off-Quarter Hiatus

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Tue Mar 13 17:09:03 PDT 2018

Any faculty who participated in the Off-Quarter Hiatus pilot program will be returned to service automatically by the ISC on March 23, 2018, with an effective date retroactive to March 16, 2018.

Register Now: Best Practices for Hiring Graduate Students

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Mon Mar 26 10:20:52 PDT 2018

We are excited to share that the Graduate School is hosting webinars on best practices for hiring grad students! The sessions are specifically geared toward anyone with a security role in Workday who works with graduate student jobs/positions (RAs, TAs, SAs, pre-doctoral instructors, fellows/trainees, etc).

Ethereum falls after rumors of a powerful mining chip surface

by John Biggs @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 11:48:01 PDT 2018

Rumors of a new ASIC mining rig from Bitmain have driven Ethereum prices well below their one-week high of $585. An ASIC – or Application-specific integrated circuit – in the cryptocurrency world is a chip that designers create for the specific purpose of mining a single currency. Early Bitcoin ASICs, for example, drove adoption up […]

How’d the Market Do? That’s Harder To Answer Than You Think

by Morgan Housel @ Betterment

Wed Feb 21 14:54:02 PST 2018

In taxable investing, your after-tax return—the amount you “take home”—is what’s important. Yet far too many investors focus on market performance. Let’s look at the difference. Bill Gates once said, “You can achieve incredible progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal.” So true! It’s […]

‘Late Show’ will have fewer commercials tonight, thanks to Google sponsorship

by Anthony Ha @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 14:12:23 PDT 2018

Stephen Colbert will get an extra segment on his show tonight, funded by a sponsorship from Google. Variety reports that CBS and Google have struck a deal that will reduce commercial time on Colbert’s Late Show. He’ll fill that extra time with a new segment (it’s not clear where it will fall during the show, […]

What Our Investment Philosophy Means for You

by Dan Egan @ Betterment

Sun Nov 05 20:34:01 PST 2017

Betterment uses real-world evidence and systematic decision-making. Investors can gain the full value of our approach by following five principles shown to lead to investing success.

The Senate Is Planning a Tax Hike on Retail Investors. It Should Be Removed.

by Jon @ Betterment

Thu Nov 30 02:00:14 PST 2017

The Senate’s current tax bill includes a mandate that would be punitive for everyday investors. Without a doubt, the FIFO mandate should be removed from consideration.

Investors Lose Out When Advisors Use Soft Dollars

by Adam Grealish @ Betterment

Wed Oct 04 10:59:45 PDT 2017

Often called “the investment industry’s answer to frequent-flyer miles,” soft dollar transactions allow managers to get luxury services, while investors foot the bill.

Help Keep Income-Driven Student Loan Payments Affordable!

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Tue Mar 06 06:26:05 PST 2018

For student loan borrowers struggling to repay their loans, income-driven repayment plans are a lifeline that helps millions of people stay out of default. There are several income-driven repayment plans: Pay As You Earn – PAYE, Revised Pay As You Earn – REPAYE, Income-Based Repayment – IBR, Income-Contingent Repayment – ICR.  These programs let borrowers make payments based upon their income and family size. Borrowers who are in these plans for 20 or 25 years (depending on the plan) can get the remaining balance forgiven. Unfortunately, a bill is moving through the U.S. House of Representatives that could weaken this critical lifeline for the lowest income student loan borrowers. This bill, named the PROSPER Act, would increase the minimum monthly payment from zero to $25. We think this would increase risk of default for the lowest income borrowers—including a disproportionate share of low-income students, women, people of color, and veterans—who would not be able to pay an additional $25 every month and meet their families’ basic needs. The bill also eliminates the possibility of forgiveness after a set number of years. According to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), by removing the promise of forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of payment, the lowest income borrowers would no longer see a light at the end of the tunnel. These borrowers may instead be stuck repaying their student loans for the rest of their lives. For example, under this plan, it could take a low-income borrower with $20,000 in student loan debt up to 92 years to repay their student loans.  And unfortunately, many borrowers owe even more than $20,000.  These borrowers would carry their student loan debt to the grave. Do you want to help us keep student loan payments affordable and ensure there’s a light at the end of the tunnel? Tell us what income-driven repayment has meant to you. Want to know more? Check out this great series of blog posts by TICAS on the PROSPER Act.

The post Help Keep Income-Driven Student Loan Payments Affordable! appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

How Many Tax-Deductible Shares Can You Donate to Charity in a Year?

by ericbronnenkant @ Betterment

Mon Nov 27 21:29:10 PST 2017

Betterment helps you easily donate shares to charity by suggesting the tax-optimized value of your appreciated shares.

The Benefits of Rolling Over Your 401(k) or 403(b) into an IRA

by andrewwestlin @ Betterment

Tue Jan 02 03:00:41 PST 2018

Rolling over an old employer-sponsored retirement plan into an IRA can be highly beneficial. Here are three reasons to consider rolling over a 401(k) or 403(b).

Known Issue: Edit Other IDs Transactions in ASE Worker Histories

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Tue Mar 20 13:55:37 PDT 2018

If you work with Academic Student Employee (ASEs), you may have noticed that, in the Worker History, the “Edit Other IDs” business process is automatically generated for each weekday of the quarter. Though the business process is listed as “Successfully Completed” and doesn’t require any actions, it can often take up quite a few lines in the history.

How the State You Live in Affects Your College Savings Strategy

by Nick Holeman, CFP® @ Betterment

Tue Aug 01 10:02:48 PDT 2017

Because states offer different incentives for college savings, your state of residence can play a large role in how you prioritize different savings opportunities. Tools like 529 savings plans, state tax credits, and matching savings programs vary by state, creating a checkerboard of different savings opportunities.

Data is not the new oil

by David Riggs @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 13:00:30 PDT 2018

It’s easier than ever to build software, which makes it harder than ever to build a defensible software business. So it’s no wonder investors and entrepreneurs are optimistic about the potential of data to form a new competitive advantage. Some have even hailed data as “the new oil.” We invest exclusively in startups leveraging data and AI to solve business problems, so we certainly see the appeal -- but the oil analogy is flawed.

New Tax Bill: How to Plan During Tax Reform Ups and Downs

by Nick Holeman, CFP® @ Betterment

Tue Dec 26 10:55:24 PST 2017

To help you navigate the uneasy waters of new tax legislation, here are three tips on how to plan during the ups and downs of tax reform. The financial world is known for generating news headlines, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is no exception. Before the bill passed, speculation on the GOP tax […]

The Economy’s Performance vs. the Stock Market’s Outcomes

by Morgan Housel @ Betterment

Thu Oct 19 06:49:21 PDT 2017

What the economy is doing today tells you very little about what the stock market might do tomorrow.

Education’s New Servicing Plan Eliminates Helpful Options for Borrowers

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Fri Jun 16 08:41:33 PDT 2017

Earlier this week, over 150 Members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos highlighting concerns surrounding the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) decision to make changes to the student loan servicing contract procurement process. A month after withdrawing guidance intending to ensure greater consumer protections in the contracting process for student loan servicers, Secretary DeVos announced her replacement to Obama’s servicing plan. Quality servicing is vitally important for student loan borrowers. Student loan servicers are the borrower’s primary point of contact. If the servicer is competent and efficient, many financially distressed borrowers will be able to avoid default. The main problem with the current system is that student loan borrowers do not receive consistent quality service. Unfortunately, the new plan is unlikely to make things any better. Despite the Secretary’s claim that her modifications would “ensure the best outcome for federal student loan borrowers,” we found that for nearly all the choices the Secretary made, where there was an option to make things easier for borrowers or harder, the Secretary chose harder. Here are some examples of useful items that Secretary DeVos eliminated: “High touch servicing” which would ensure that vulnerable borrowers and borrowers at risk of defaulting get extra help in order to stay out of default. The Payback Playbook – this was a form created by the CFPB to help borrowers make sense of their options. Materials available in Spanish. The requirement that borrowers are routed to well-trained representatives after selecting a specific topic during a call. The requirement that servicers provide borrowers information about “Income Driven Repayment,” and “Delinquency Resolution/Alternate Repayment Options,” when borrowers call the main number. Notification to borrowers who send payments to incorrect locations. Annual user testing of notices. The requirement that servicers present options to borrowers who can only make partial payments or want to pay extra. Secretary DeVos’s plan also eliminated the system of using multiple servicers and subcontractors, and replaced it with a single servicer to handle the loans for approximately 36 million student loan borrowers. This idea is nearly universally hated. Lawmakers raised concerns about this idea in their letter to DeVos. The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) has expressed “significant reservations” about relying on a sole servicer. Even the servicing industry hates the idea. Education Finance Council (EFC), the national trade association representing nonprofit and state-based higher education finance organizations, including all the not-for-profit (NFP) Federal Direct Loan servicers, has raised concerns that ED’s plan would create a monopolistic environment with little to no incentive to ensure the single servicer provides the highest quality of customer service to student loan borrowers.  InsideARM—the industry trade publication—stated: It’s unclear exactly how giving one firm a monopoly over such a massive contract will provide customer protection, although on its face it may seem easier for ED to oversee a process at only one company. It is interesting that businessperson Donald Trump and the administration created by President Donald Trump do not seem consistent.  Few true business people would propose a single vendor for a significant contract. The true businessperson would deem concentration risk too high.  Additionally, leverage for price negotiation and creation of a competitive performance dynamic would disappear. It is shocking that ED would ignore those elements and suggest a single servicer. On first blush, the plan to switch to a single servicer resembles recommendations by consumer advocates for a single platform. However, consumer advocates have never recommended that ED hire just one company. Rather they have recommended a single, ED-branded website and portal for loan servicing that is accessible on multiple technology platforms, but with multiple companies handling the various servicing functions. Historically, having a single servicer has not worked well for ED. All Direct Loans used to be serviced by ACS, a subsidiary of Xerox. As ACCT highlights in its letter, ED eventually pulled ACS’ contract due to poor performance.  It took ED as long as three years to extract and redistribute the student loan accounts in ACS’s portfolio to other servicers. Since that time, ED’s portfolio of loans has grown significantly, so it would be even harder to extract and redistribute student loan accounts to another servicer if it became necessary to replace the single servicer.  There would be a great risk of leaving millions of borrowers vulnerable to poor quality servicing. This is especially concerning given that ED plans to lessen the weight it gives to companies’ past performance when it selects its single servicer. Secretary DeVos’s proposal cuts corners at the expense of helping borrowers access the programs and services they need to stay current on their loans. There is no doubt that student loan servicing needs to improve, but DeVos’s plan is the wrong plan to get that done.

The post Education’s New Servicing Plan Eliminates Helpful Options for Borrowers appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Uber will not re-apply for self-driving car permit in California

by Megan Rose Dickey @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 14:03:49 PDT 2018

Uber, after suspending its self-driving car operations in all markets following a fatal crash, has decided not to re-apply for its self-driving car permit in California. Uber’s current permit in California expires March 31. “We proactively suspended our self-driving operations, including in California, immediately following the Tempe incident,” an Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Given this, […]

Ep. 031: Hot Housing: How to Buy and Sell with Stephen Gasque

by Jill Schlesinger @ Betterment

Thu Aug 03 06:55:34 PDT 2017

The biggest asset purchase or sale you’ll make in life could be your own home. For advice on how to do it right, "Better Off" turns to Stephen Gasque.

Relief in Sight for Defrauded Wilfred Student Borrowers

by Abby Shafroth @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Tue Oct 31 08:56:16 PDT 2017

By Jane Greengold Stevens and Danielle Tarantolo, Co-Directors of Special Litigation Unit, New York Legal Assistance Group This post originally appeared on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/59a870f5e4b0d0c16bb523c2 and http://nylag.org/blog/2017/08/relief-in-sight-for-defrauded-student-borrowers. Former students who attended the “Wilfred Beauty Academy” in the late 1980s and ‘90s should keep an eye on their mail. Guaranty agencies, servicers, and the U.S. Department of Education are beginning to notify this cohort of student loan borrowers that they may be eligible to have their loans canceled. In August, a federal court in Manhattan approved a historic settlement between the Department and student loan borrowers who attended the “Wilfred Beauty Academy” in the late 1980s and ‘90s. The settlement brings the possibility of millions of dollars of relief to the approximately 60,000 students who were victimized decades ago by Wilfred—and by the Department’s lax oversight of for-profit schools—and have been suffering ever since. For-profit schools have exploited students for many years, and continue to do so today, but Wilfred was especially nefarious. It enticed vulnerable people, mostly young women, many with limited English abilities, to enroll in search of a better life, and then flagrantly lied to the Department of Education in order to draw student loan dollars to fund those individuals’ tuitions. Specifically, Wilfred falsely certified to the Department that these students met the eligibility requirements for the student loans, when they did not. (A recent New York Times article paints a stark portrait of the devastating and lasting impact of this fraud on just two of the school’s victims.) Eventually, the Department wised up to these practices and, along with the Department of Justice, investigated Wilfred for its fraudulent acts. Outcry over rampant violations by schools like Wilfred led Congress in 1992 to enact a statutory remedy: full discharge, or forgiveness of their loans for students who had been “falsely certified.” When the falsely certified students either graduated from Wilfred (or as often happened, dropped out in frustration), having obtained a useless so-called “education” and with no job prospects at all, they were saddled with debt.  Following Congress’s action, the majority of them were eligible to have their loans fully discharged, but there was a big problem: none of them had any idea this was possible. And the only body with the ability, and the obligation, to notify them—the Department of Education—didn’t. In fact, it did the opposite. Year after year, decade after decade, the Department, and Guaranty Agencies holding the loans, continued to collect on these loans from Wilfred borrowers, including forcibly, by intercepting income tax refunds and garnishing wages. For years, the New York Legal Assistance Group, a non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance to New Yorkers who cannot afford a private attorney, has helped individual Wilfred borrowers apply for discharges of their loans. In 2013, as a result of a brief mention in a local TV spot, it received calls from 30 Wilfred students in a short period of time. On behalf of a group of borrowers, it formally demanded that the Department of Education fulfill its duty to notify these individuals of their rights, but the Department refused. It then brought Salazar v. Duncan (now called Salazar v. DeVos) in 2014 to prod the Department into action. After several years of hard-fought litigation, the Department has now agreed, through the settlement approved in August, to tell all Wilfred borrowers about the possibility of relief from these debts. Over the next several months, thousands of letters and discharge applications will go out to these borrowers. At the time these letters are sent, collection on the loans for borrowers not in default will be suspended. If borrowers in default file applications for discharge within 60 days after receiving the letter, collection will be suspended for them too.  All suspensions will continue until the applications are adjudicated. By December 9, 2018, the loans of all applicants found eligible will have been discharged, and by June, 2019, all loan payments will have been refunded. The value of this relief cannot be overstated, but it’s an after-the-fact fix.  The real work for the Department is still ahead. As we write this, scores of schools like Wilfred are continuing to defraud student borrowers and the taxpayers, by enticing vulnerable students to enroll and to take out federal student loans, incurring huge debt to pay for worthless educations that they are falsely promised will lead to jobs. Most of the for-profit schools are able to exist only because of the availability of federal student loans. The Department has the tools to crack down on these abuses, yet does not exercise meaningful oversight—with the result that more and more students will find themselves in the same situation as the Wilfred borrowers: useless education, finances ruined, and unable to obtain relief from the government agency that was supposed to protect them.  We urge the Department of Education to fulfill its obligation to students and U.S. taxpayers by refusing to allow sham schools to participate in the federal student loan program, and establishing meaningful borrower protections when it lets bad schools slip through the cracks.

The post Relief in Sight for Defrauded Wilfred Student Borrowers appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Best Practice: Use R0557 Sup Org Labs Report After Moving Workers

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Fri Mar 16 10:37:28 PDT 2018

In one of our recent reporting focus groups, administrators shared that they find R0557 Sup Org Labs Report useful for auditing their organizations, and requested a couple of updates to make it even more helpful.

Questions You’re Asking Our Financial Advisors

by garrettoakley @ Betterment

Wed Aug 02 16:47:12 PDT 2017

Since the launch of Betterment’s messaging feature, which connects customers to our licensed financial professional, we’ve seen dozens of amazing questions come in.

Worried Market Watchers: What (Not) To Do Next

by Jill Schlesinger @ Betterment

Thu Feb 08 12:48:53 PST 2018

When you hear about big percentage losses in the stock market, you’re bound to feel butterflies. Listen in for some brief advice on how to think practically about your investment goals during the market turbulence.Stock investors are coming off one of the rockiest stretches in two years, leading to the inevitable question: What should I […]

How to Determine the Tax-Deductible Value of Donated Shares

by ericbronnenkant @ Betterment

Mon Nov 27 21:11:26 PST 2017

As part of optimizing your portfolio for taxes, you should assess how much of your invested money you can donate to reduce capital gains tax, instead of donating cash.

Introducing Our Smart Beta Portfolio Strategy by Goldman Sachs

by lhuang @ Betterment

Wed Sep 13 06:35:57 PDT 2017

Betterment will now offer a smart beta portfolio strategy developed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The strategy reflects the underlying principles of Betterment’s core portfolio strategy while seeking higher returns by deviating away from market capitalization in and across asset classes. Contributing Authors Mychal Campos Quantitative Investing Analyst Joshua Rubin Corporate Counsel Jamie Cartwright Content […]

How to Use Your Bonus Wisely to Get a Tax Break

by ericbronnenkant @ Betterment

Thu Jan 18 08:20:19 PST 2018

Bonuses are tricky. Here's how to make your bonus work harder for you by reducing the tax impact.

Pure Storage teams with Nvidia on GPU-fueled Flash storage solution for AI

by Ron Miller @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 13:39:51 PDT 2018

As companies gather increasing amounts of data, they face a choice over bottlenecks. They can have it in the storage component or the backend compute system. Some companies have attacked the problem by using GPUs to streamline the back end problem or Flash storage to speed up the storage problem. Pure Storage wants to give […]

Best Practices: Using “Notify Me Later” and “Prompts” When Running Large Reports

by jhoven @ Integrated Service Center

Mon Mar 12 10:39:36 PDT 2018

The ISC is investigating ways to improve run time for large reports that may overtax system resources. In the meantime, we wanted to share two particularly helpful tips for making sure your own report requests do not hinder system performance.

What to Do When You’re Itching to Invest in Bitcoin

by Adam Grealish @ Betterment

Tue Jan 16 13:18:35 PST 2018

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are hot. We have some thoughts on how to responsibly scratch your "crypto-itch."

Family networking app Life360 acqui-hires PathSense team to boost location-based services

by Jonathan Shieber @ TechCrunch

Tue Mar 27 16:15:40 PDT 2018

Life360, the app for networking families together via mobile devices, has acquired the developer team behind PathSense, responsible for the creation of a location-based mobile application toolkit, to build out its location-based offerings. The San Francisco-based Life360 will see all of PathSense’s employees joining its staff, while the tech that PathSense developed will be licensed […]

Ep. 034: Stacking Benjamins: Earn, Save, and Spend Money With a Plan

by Jill Schlesinger @ Betterment

Thu Aug 24 10:30:09 PDT 2017

The biggest asset purchase or sale you’ll make in life could be your own home. For advice on how to do it right, "Better Off" turns to Stephen Gasque.

Earther This Canadian Pipeline Battle Is Starting to Feel a lot Like Standing Rock | Film The Justic

by Kinja! on Kinja Roundup, shared by Riley MacLeod to Kotaku @ Kotaku

Tue Mar 27 14:33:00 PDT 2018

Earther This Canadian Pipeline Battle Is Starting to Feel a lot Like Standing Rock | Film The Justice League Blu-ray is a bizarre exercise in hiding the truth about moviemaking | The Takeout Shake Shack fan’s shoutout to the chefs goes viral |

Read more...

What Charity Navigator’s President and CEO Thinks about Betterment Charitable Giving

by Jamie Cartwright @ Betterment

Fri Dec 01 09:54:40 PST 2017

We wanted to learn how Betterment’s charitable giving service could affect the world of nonprofit development at large. So, we went to an expert: Michael Thatcher of Charity Navigator, the nation’s leading platform for helping donors make smart choices for their charitable donations.

Scammers Cost Student Loan Borrowers Millions of Dollars

by Persis Yu @ Student Loan Borrowers Assistance

Wed Oct 18 07:04:37 PDT 2017

Many of the 44 million borrowers are struggling to repay their more than $1.4 trillion in student loan debt in the United States. The options for federal student loan borrowers can be good, but as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s many reports and recent lawsuit against Navient demonstrate, accessing those options can be a confusing bureaucratic nightmare. These conditions create a fertile market for the “student loan debt relief” industry. Unfortunately, many of these companies offer very expensive products that have very little value. Most of these companies are for-profit, although there are issues with a growing number of nonprofit organizations as well. In 2013, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) issued a report investigating this growing industry. More than 4 years later, these companies are still going strong. On Friday, the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorneys General of 11 states and the District of Columbia announced a task force to tackle the ongoing problem. They also announced new cases and a judgment against a debt relief scammer. They alleged that, in total, those companies had obtained over $95 million from unsuspecting student loan borrowers. Many of these companies had used tactics that our secret shopper had identified in the 2013 report, such as claiming to be affiliated with the Department of Education. Law enforcement actions, such as the ones taken by the FTC and the Attorneys General are critical. Borrowers rarely have the resources to take on these scammers on their own, and even if they did, often the borrower’s money is long gone. In many cases, only law enforcement can shut these companies down. This is why the FTC and AGs’ announcement is so important. However, with millions of student loan borrowers in distress and thousands of debt relief companies looking to profit from their pain, this problem cannot be solved by law enforcement alone. The United States government has responded to growing levels of student loan debt by creating an array of borrower assistance programs. Borrowers should be able to get this relief for free; however, it is rarely easy. Government programs are unnecessarily complex and borrowers too often confront an impenetrable bureaucracy that prevents them from accessing their rights. To compound these problems, there are few reliable resources borrowers can turn to if they need help. (Federal student loan borrowers can find their servicer or debt collector by going to the National Student Loan Data System and can go here for some additional resources.) Only when borrowers can easily access the assistance they need from reliable sources will these companies go away. Until then, the ground is fertile for fraud and these scammers will thrive and grow. Debt relief companies strategically use lead generation, social media, and credit bureau data to position themselves in front of the borrowers who need to help. Borrowers report receiving letters and phone calls by people who know their loan balances, and see ads promising loan forgiveness. In addition to creating better options for borrowers to access their loan options, policy makers and the companies that enable these types of ads (e.g. social media and credit bureaus) need to find a way keep scammers from targeting desperate borrowers. NCLC is investigating how these companies target and rip off student loan borrowers. Have you received texts, calls, or mail advertising student loan debt relief services, or have ads appeared when you have gone on the internet or social media? Click here to fill out our quick survey and/or send us a picture! If you think you may have been the victim of a debt relief scammer, you can complain to the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or your state Attorney General.

The post Scammers Cost Student Loan Borrowers Millions of Dollars appeared first on Student Loan Borrowers Assistance.

Ep. 040: The Surprising Power of a “Useless” Liberal Arts Education

by Jill Schlesinger @ Betterment

Thu Oct 05 09:18:41 PDT 2017

Author George Anders describes how people who study the liberal arts can be highly successful in an evolving high-tech future. So often on this podcast, and on my radio show, we field questions from recent grads with insane amounts of student loan debt. Sometimes it’s enough debt to wreck a life. There’s enough blame to […]