August 2022 saw encouraging news coming from Washington with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)1 and the introduction of the Biden Student Loan Forgiveness plan.2 The potential effects of these initiatives are too extensive to unpack quickly, but this brief overview offers insights into a few of the most promising benefits and some of the limitations.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is facing a new round of criticism from American conservative leaders. Senator Ted Cruz, to offer one example, has framed BlackRock’s ESG policies as “abusing the market.” More alarming to me, are the new state-level policy attacks on ESG led by elected officials from across the United States.
Veris Wealth Partners condemns the Supreme Court’s disgraceful decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
We share the sorrow expressed by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan in their dissenting opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and we find it appalling that women in the United States no longer have a federally guaranteed constitutional right to abortion access.
Since 1973, American women have had a federally guaranteed constitutional right to abortion access. A leaked first draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion has given us early warning that the Supreme Court is preparing to take that right away by overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Impact and ESG investing space is growing and changing rapidly. These are a few of the emerging trends that we are paying close attention to at Veris Wealth Partners.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education bill,” dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents, at the end of March 2022. Veris Wealth Partners has always supported and will always support LGBTQ+ rights and equality. We are disturbed by Florida’s adoption of this law and the news that lawmakers from at least 19 other states are now considering similar legislation. We are devastated to think of the impact this is already having on LGBTQ+ families and especially children.
Roraj Pradhananga, Senior Research Analyst at Veris Wealth Partners, was named a Veris Partner in December of 2021. Roraj leads our Investment Research team, is a voting member of the Investment Committee and Chair of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Committee. We asked Roraj to answer a few questions about his life, career, and vision for the future of impact investing.
Veris Wealth Partners stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We condemn Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine’s sovereign soil and our hearts grieve for the people who are now suffering incredible losses in this unjust war.
GenderSmart, a global field building initiative dedicated to unlocking the deployment of strategic, impactful gender-smart capital at scale, recently launched a Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) toolkit.
It’s with great pleasure that I share with you reflections on 2021 from my perspective as CEO as well as Veris Wealth Partners’ vision and priorities for 2022.
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