Maryland Gov. Moore to make announcements on community investments, cannabis convictions

Maryland Governor Wes Moore is expected to announce an initiative to expand investments in communities he says have been impacted by disinvestment and discriminatory policies, along with an expansion to his executive order which pardoned more than 175,000 marijuana convictions.
The announcements will happen at a community roundtable in Cambridge Thursday afternoon.
Moore announces program to create affordable housing
Just last week, Moore announced the UPLIFT program, a new initiative which aims to boost property values and generate wealth for homeowners.
The program, funded with $10 million from the fiscal year 2024 budget, provides financing to housing developers to build affordable housing.
Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake, a non-profit homebuilder, will receive $1.25 million to create 26 new three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom homes.
Overall, the goal of the UPLIFT program is to transform vacant lots and structures into quality affordable housing. Moore said the program targets
"One of the major contributors to the racial wealth gap is inequitable appraisal values in communities that have been affected by redlining. That's why, in this Season of Action, we are taking concrete steps to boost property values and build pathways to greater wealth creation for homeowners," Moore said in a statement.
In communities impacted by redlining, homes appraise for less than the cost to build due to patterns of disinvestment, according to the governor's office.
More than 175,000 convictions pardoned
On June 17, 2024, Moore pardoned more than 175,000 marijuana convictions in an executive order. The order impacted misdemeanor charges for individuals found guilty of possessing small amounts of marijuana.
More than 150,000 of the convictions that were pardoned were misdemeanors for simple possession of cannabis, and another 18,000 misdemeanors were for use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.
About 25% of the convictions that were pardoned were from Baltimore City, the governor's office said.

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Yahoo

13 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Big Tech promised jobs. Cities gave millions. Where are the workers?

Columbus, Ohio, escaped the Rust Belt rut years ago. Regional economic development officials offered incentives that attracted warehouses, manufacturing plants, and healthcare startups, reviving the economy and generating jobs. By 2018, hundreds of these deals over the previous eight years had created some 150,000 jobs. Central Ohio now hopes to repeat that success. It's betting big on "Silicon Heartland," a high-tech innovation hub that proponents hope will be flush with high-paying jobs. Economic officials have dangled multimillion-dollar tax subsidy packages before some of the world's biggest technology companies. The resulting investment, Gov. Mike DeWine promised, "further cements Ohio as the heart of our nation's technology and innovation." Mostly, they're getting data centers. Central Ohio has become one of America's hottest hubs for these computing warehouses, with companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, and QTS flocking there, lured largely by generous incentives. The problem: Data centers, which operate largely autonomously, don't produce many lasting full-time jobs. A Business Insider analysis of construction permits, economic development deals, and company disclosures found that even the largest data centers generally employ fewer than 150 permanent workers, and some have as few as 25. Building those data centers also creates significant numbers of construction jobs, but those are short term, sometimes lasting less than a year — far shorter than the duration of the tax breaks the companies get, which often last a decade or longer. That means the tax breaks given to developers can amount over time to more than $2 million for every permanent, full-time job at an operational data center, Business Insider's analysis found. That's roughly eight times higher than the $262,000 average per job that watchdog group Good Jobs First found in 18 economic development deals worth at least $50 million awarded in 2023. The number of jobs doesn't balance the cost, multiple economists and researchers who study tax subsidies told Business Insider — even factoring in the construction and other supporting roles that the tech industry uses to calculate its economic impact. Records show that the workforce on data center projects quickly tapers off, meaning industry estimates often significantly overstate long-term employment benefits. The costs to the public don't end with tax subsidies. Data centers drive up electricity costs for other ratepayers as utility operators invest billions of dollars in new grid infrastructure to support escalating power demands. That has drawn opposition from other companies including retail giant Walmart, which has said that surging electricity bills are imperiling its expansion in states such as Ohio and Virginia. Industry advocates argue the deals are worth it. "Each new data center built in Ohio spurs a significant boost in investment, revenue, and wages that flow to Ohio businesses and workers, stimulating the state's economy," Josh Levi, the president of the Data Center Coalition, an industry advocacy group, wrote in an August 2024 op-ed article published by In recent US congressional testimony, he cited an estimate that data centers in Central Ohio supported more than "10,000 construction jobs, 2,000 data center jobs, and hundreds of maintenance and retrofitting jobs last year." Drilling into the terms of specific economic development deals suggests a more complicated picture. In 2021, for example, Google entered into a much-celebrated deal with Columbus to construct a data center campus. The city offered a 100% property tax abatement worth an estimated $54 million in tax savings over 15 years. In exchange, the Google facility promised 20 full-time jobs at the data center, rising to about 40 jobs by 2047. Artificial intelligence is accelerating data center construction that already was growing quickly to power digital services from social media to medical care. In 2025 alone, Meta plans to spend at least $64 billion on facilities and equipment. Google's parent company, Alphabet, plans to spend $75 billion, and Microsoft said it would invest $80 billion. Tech companies say their investments will supercharge local tax revenues and high-paying jobs will drive economic growth. Even with tax breaks, data centers contributed $162.7 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue in 2023, according to a February 2025 PwC report prepared for the Data Center Coalition. The industry, the report said, supported 4.7 million jobs directly at data centers or indirectly through their supply chain. Amazon, the biggest data center operator, calculates that its data centers each year have supported thousands of jobs, including 4,760 in Ohio and 19,110 in Virginia. Matt Hurst, a spokesperson for Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud-computing arm, told Business Insider the company was "proud of the good jobs we create, for the trust local communities invest in us, and for the opportunity we have to invest in those communities." Meta says that its data center operations support 16,000 jobs and $1.2 billion in labor income annually, and that it has backed 440,000 construction jobs over the past decade. Google says its data centers supported 119,000 jobs and contributed $12.6 billion to US gross domestic product in 2023 across its supply chain, including construction. Microsoft's website says its data centers generate "public infrastructure improvements and tax revenue that serve as a catalyst for enhancing the quality of life." "Our developments generate millions of dollars in tax revenue to support local priorities related to schools, roads, housing, and other critical needs, while also reducing the tax burden on residents," a spokesperson for QTS, which is owned by the investment firm Blackstone, said in a statement. A Blackstone spokesperson also highlighted the benefits of data center development and said the company was "proud that our investment in QTS provides the digital infrastructure critical to the future of our country and economy." Competition to score these promised benefits can be a race to the bottom, as developers pit state against state and city against city. New projects cluster in areas that offer the most competitive deals. To investigate how these incentive deals play out, Business Insider identified areas of data center development and filed requests with all 50 states and Washington, DC, for the air permits that regulate backup generators at every data center. Business Insider compiled records for 1,240 data centers nationwide, the most definitive accounting to date, and requested records of data-center-related economic incentives from municipalities and states. The largest data centers in Business Insider's analysis — the 322 massive facilities that we estimate consume 40 megawatts of electricity or more each — are heavily concentrated in a few places. Northern Virginia has 214, followed by Arizona's Maricopa County with 16, and Ohio's Columbus region with 9. Thirty-seven states have tax incentive programs for data center investments. Most exempt developers from sales and use taxes on building materials, machinery, or equipment — resulting in big hits to state coffers. In Virginia, 56 data center projects cost $928 million in abated state sales tax in the 2023 fiscal year alone. Disclosures in Ohio estimate it forfeited nearly $360 million in data-center-related state tax revenue from the 2022 through 2024 fiscal years. Mason Waldvogel, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Development, called the tax incentive program "a strategic tool used to create long-term economic growth by attracting high-value, capital-intensive projects." A spokesperson for the Data Center Coalition said state tax exemptions for data centers were consistent with programs for other capital-intensive industries. Cities also offer incentives, including breaks on property taxes and reimbursements for building fees. Arizona cities largely don't give property tax abatements but allow the use of precious water resources. Virginia grants access to enormous amounts of electricity and critical infrastructure but requires data centers to pay local property taxes. Indeed, Northern Virginia cities generate up to 31% of their total tax revenue from data centers, funding fire departments, affordable housing, and other services. In the Columbus region, Business Insider located 19 data center-related deals that, together with state-level abatements, amounted to at least $750 million in forfeited tax revenue for 770 full-time jobs employed at data centers as of December 2023. The jobs generally pay well, averaging $100,000 a year in Central Ohio, according to company disclosures. At the Google data center in Columbus, salaries range from $74,000 for a data center technician to $162,000 for an operations manager. Amazon tops the list with seven deals. In one, the northwest Columbus suburb of Dublin agreed to sell Amazon 66 acres, which the city valued at $100,000 an acre, for $1 in total. Amazon agreed to pay the farmers previously leasing the land up to $40,000 total to abandon their soybeans and corn crops and terminate the lease. It told Dublin it expected to hire 25 full-time workers by the end of 2018, a nonbinding projection. In contrast, Amazon projected that it would hire 1,000 Ohioans at a new fulfillment center in Canton several years later — without taking any local property tax abatements or state incentives. Amazon's Hurst said the company works hard to create every job it projects. The deals keep coming, from Batavia, New York, to Meridian, Mississippi. Nathan M. Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies regional tax incentive programs, said cities are better off sitting these deals out. Communities throw everything they can at tech companies, yet when the costs of lost tax revenue and escalating electricity prices are factored against what the communities get back in jobs, revenue, and prestige, "there's just no evidence that you're going to benefit from that data center," he said. If data center developers threaten to walk from cities that refuse to compete for these deals, Jensen's advice is blunt: "Let 'em walk." Jensen said data centers were shaping up like professional sports stadiums, where cities give millions in tax revenue savings in exchange for temporary construction jobs and minimal economic impact. Construction of data centers generally lasts one to two years, or sometimes longer, and many construction jobs run for only part of that period. In Virginia, one analysis found that about 80% of jobs from data centers created over a recent two-year period were in construction. And the numbers of such data-center-supported jobs cited in this year's Data Center Coalition report may be misleading, multiple economists and researchers who study incentives told Business Insider. Timothy Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a not-for-profit organization focused on reducing unemployment, said his own study suggests job numbers in the high-tech sector, like data centers, could be less than half of industry estimates. Microsoft estimated last year that a campus with six data centers that it is building outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, would have 1,005 jobs at peak construction, falling to 335 full-time employees and contractors by the end of next year. At a construction project in Columbus for the data center operator Cologix, one contractor, Baker Concrete Construction, had 63 people on payroll. Those jobs lasted an average of 6 ½ weeks. Cologix said that overall the site had an average of 146 workers during the project's construction. Incentive packages often spell out how many jobs a company commits to creating in exchange for its tax breaks. Data center companies generally commit to deliver only the jobs inside their facilities in exchange for their tax breaks — not the construction and other ancillary jobs they say their projects create. Based on what is actually promised in such deals, those jobs can be expensive for local governments. Business Insider identified five deals in Ohio where, as of December 2023, each long-term job in the data centers cost over $1 million in abated taxes over the life of the deal. An Amazon data center in Hilliard had saved at least $195 million in state and local taxes as of December 2023, according to annual disclosures, driving the price of each job to over $1 million in abated taxes. New Albany, Ohio, garnered 98 jobs at a Meta data center, but forfeited $189.6 million in state and local taxes as of the end of 2023 — making each job worth about $1.9 million in foregone tax revenue. "We disagree with this way of thinking about the benefits we bring to communities," Amazon's Hurst said, adding that it benefits communities in ways beyond direct job creation, such as spending with local businesses and funding job-training efforts. A Meta spokesperson said it helps communities where it operates through grants and partnerships. The Data Center Coalition spokesperson said that focusing on jobs inside data centers understates the impact on service providers and suppliers, such as electricians, HVAC manufacturers, and portable sanitation companies. Companies are still required to make yearly payments to the cities in lieu of property taxes to help ensure minimum contributions to the communities, which Business Insider incorporated into our cost-per-job calculations. Meta, for example, paid $21.8 million in total to New Albany as of December 2022. A spokesperson for New Albany said the payments ensure "data centers contribute meaningfully to the community, even with tax abatements in place." And tech companies often sweeten the deals by promising to invest in education programs to upskill local workers. Amazon, for example, donated $25,000 and some equipment two years ago to the Tolles Career & Technical Center in Plain City, Ohio, to support the school's IT and cybersecurity training programs, which include a four-week training program for entry-level data center workers. At the nearby Columbus State Community College, the company pledged $50,000 in scholarships for a new data center technician certificate program. The ultrapowerful computer chips crammed into data centers consume enormous amounts of power. A 2024 Department of Energy report estimates their electricity use, driven by the AI boom, could soon command as much as 12% of total US electricity use, from just over 4% in 2023. Data centers are getting breaks on that, too — which residents and other businesses are helping pay for. From 2020 through last year, Ohio data centers' load on the grid rose sixfold. By 2030, American Electric Power Ohio, the state's largest electricity provider, expects to grow by another 700% to reach 5,000 megawatts, enough to power at least 2 million homes. If all hookup requests across more than 90 planned data center sites in Ohio are approved, AEP Ohio told regulators, demand could skyrocket to over 30,000 megawatts. Since 2017, Ohio regulators have authorized multiple 10-year electricity rate subsidies for data center developers, reducing power costs for tech companies in exchange for their promises of new jobs. Other AEP customers have to pay for the shortfall. Matt Schilling, a spokesperson for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said in an email to Business Insider that while the commission had approved some discounted rates for data centers, it had denied other applications for such arrangements. At the same time, AEP has proposed spending at least $850 million in new or upgraded grid infrastructure and power plants to serve data centers, and another $350 million in other upgrades to support Central Ohio's extreme demand growth, according to filings. Ratepayers across Ohio foot the bill for this too, as AEP spreads the costs across all customers. Walmart, one of Ohio's largest employers, said last June that an increasingly expensive electricity bill — owing partly to data centers' demand — imperiled its continued expansion in the state. That warning came in a filing supporting the utility's recent proposition to increase tariffs and regulations on data center customers. A Data Center Coalition representative warned regulators in 2024 that those proposed tariffs and restrictions in Ohio could "depress the growth of an important emerging industry." The rate case remains ongoing. Regulators across the US have offered similar deals to subsidize data centers' electricity use, shifting billions of dollars of costs to all ratepayers, including residential customers. Regulators last year OK'd Georgia Power to construct an estimated $300 million 35-mile high-voltage transmission line and a new substation for a QTS data center near Atlanta. And this year, South Carolina regulators authorized Duke Energy to invest $66.5 million to upgrade a transmission line to serve a new QTS data center. The utilities will recoup their investments by increasing electricity bills for all their customers. Duke Energy said it follows federal rules in allocating upgrade costs. South Carolina's regulator declined to comment and Georgia Power and that state's regulator didn't respond. A QTS spokesperson said it pays for all utility infrastructure dedicated to its data centers "to ensure no impact to residential rates." "Utilities can fund discounts to Big Tech by socializing their costs through electricity prices charged to the public," a 2025 Harvard Law study of regulatory proceedings about utility rates for data centers found. Utilities profit, the study said, by "forcing the public to pay for infrastructure designed to supply a handful of exceedingly wealthy corporations." Amazon, Microsoft, and Google told Business Insider they were committed to paying their full share for infrastructure serving their power needs. Tech companies and industry advocates say that other factors, such as electric vehicles, also are driving electricity growth and that the transition to renewable power drives up electricity costs. To estimate the amount of power data centers demand nationwide, Business Insider used data from the air permits issued to data center backup generators. (See here for more on Business Insider's methodology.) If every data center that's been issued a permit comes online, Business Insider estimates data centers' total electricity use across the country could reach between 149.6 terawatt-hours and 239.3 terawatt-hours a year. Business Insider's low-end estimate is roughly equivalent to the state of Ohio's electricity needs in 2023, and on the high end, is nearly as much power as the entire state of Florida used that same year. A 2024 federal report estimated US data centers' electricity use could reach the high end of Business Insider's estimate by 2026. A 2024 report to Virginia's legislature found that data centers had historically paid their fair share of transmission upgrade costs but warned their sharply escalating electricity needs "will likely increase system costs for all customers, including non-data center customers." Last July, Dominion Energy, Virginia's largest utility provider, asked regulators to approve a $23 million grid infrastructure investment billed across ratepayers, a request that is still pending. Regulatory staff said the investment was likely needed just for a single data center customer. Months later, Dominion disclosed that it would need to roughly double its electricity generation by 2039 primarily to meet meteoric data center demand and new planned renewable energy capacity. Dominion estimates the planned expansion could cost up to $103 billion, increasing residential electricity bills by as much as 50%. Aaron Ruby, a Dominion spokesperson, told Business Insider that the company had asked regulators to approve additional consumer protections to shield ratepayers from shouldering costs incurred by large customers like data centers. The planned increase in power bills is primarily driven by the utility's transition to carbon-free power generation, as is required by state law, Ruby wrote. In Virginia, too, Walmart objected. "Electricity is a significant operating cost for retailers such as Walmart," Lisa Perry, Walmart's director of utility partnerships, told regulators in February 2025, warning that increasing electricity rates would harm Walmart's investment in Virginia. Andy Farmer, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Corporation Commission, said that data centers affected all the state's utilities, not just Dominion. Data centers' ballooning power consumption leaves other businesses, residents, and utility regulators in a bind: Either pay to expand capacity for the tech companies, or risk going without enough power to attract other new business. In Indiana, the River Ridge Property Owners' Association in Clark County told state regulators in 2024 that a single Meta data center project had bled nearly all remaining power from the grid. Meta promised at least 50 high-paying permanent jobs at the site and hundreds of construction jobs, but the community would have no available electricity to attract other prospective companies investing in the area for at least four years. "It is possible these data centers ultimately restrict, rather than foster, additional economic development," a representative of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a consumer and environmental advocacy organization, told state regulators. By 2030, the representative said, "just a few" data centers used for applications like AI will use "more electricity than all 6.8 million Hoosiers use at their homes." Walmart representatives told Ohio regulators last year that data centers' massive electricity use threatened the company's planned rollout of electric vehicle charging locations at its retail locations. "Growth in data center development is an economic boon for Ohioans," Google representatives told regulators this year, adding that the facilities were "pivotal in establishing the state as a leading technology hub." Walmart argues that it brings more jobs and other benefits to the local economy — a claim supported by research from AEP Ohio. The utility calculated that each megawatt allocated to traditional commercial and industrial customers like Walmart supported at least 25 jobs. Every megawatt used by a data center, the utility said, supports less than one job. About the data: Business Insider used air permits issued to data center backup generators to identify facility location and ownership, and estimate facility power use. We received permits from all but four states, plus Washington, DC. Read more about how we investigated the impact of data center growth here. Reporting: Hannah Beckler, Dakin Campbell, Daniel Geiger, Rosemarie Ho, Narimes Parakul, Adam Rogers, Ellen Thomas Editing: Jeffrey Cane, Rosalie Chan, Jason Dean, Esther Kaplan, Jake Swearingen Research: Darren Ankrom, Schuyler Mitchell, Trey Strange, Yuheng Zhan Design and visuals: Dan DeLorenzo, Isabel Fernandez-Pujol, Jinpeng Li, Kim Nguyen, Randy Yeip, Rebecca Zisser Photography: Kendrick Brinson, John David-Richardson, Greg Kahn, Brian Palmer, Jesse Rieser Video: Robert Leslie, Gary Moon, Marco Secci Copy editing: Mark Abadi, Kevin Kaplan Read the original article on Business Insider

Fast Company

16 minutes ago

• Fast Company

ICE's new rules for Congress: 72 hours' notice or risk arrest

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed new restrictions on Congressional visits, a policy change that is likely to escalate tensions between the controversial federal law enforcement agency and its critics. ICE detailed the policy changes in a memo published to its website. Under the new rules, ICE asserts that lawmakers must give 72 hours of advance notice before visiting an ICE field office. Lawmakers are explicitly allowed by law to visit ICE facilities that 'detain or otherwise house aliens' unannounced, but the agency wants to stop surprise visits to its broader constellation of immigration enforcement centers across the country, which it claims do not meet that criteria. The new guidance comes as Democrats clash with the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, which has targeted refugees who were offered legal status during the Biden administration, mistakenly deported a Maryland resident to a mega-prison in El Salvador and expanded immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants. The policy also states that Congressional staffers must now provide 24 hours of notice before entering a detention facility. 'Visitors attempting to circumvent entry requirements may be subject to arrest or other legal action,' the agency warns. Under its new visitation policy, the agency tries to draw a distinction between its detention facilities and field offices, the latter of which it claims aren't used to detain people. 'ICE does not house aliens at field offices, rather these are working offices where Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) personnel process aliens to make custody determinations based on the specific circumstances of each case,' the memo argues, adding that anyone brought to a field office who needs to be detained is transferred to a purpose-built facility. ICE operates 25 field offices across the country. According to the agency's field office directory, the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the ICE law enforcement arm that conducts deportations, 'manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process' through those offices. ICE clashes with elected officials are escalating In Trump's second term, ICE officers have not hesitated to handcuff, arrest and even press charges against elected officials. Earlier this week, New York City comptroller Brad Lander was arrested at a Manhattan immigration court while escorting a man sought by immigration agents. In a video of the incident, Lander is shown repeatedly asking a group of plainclothes agents if they have a judicial warrant before being wrestled against a wall and removed from the building. In another recent confrontation, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference when he tried to interrupt Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with a question. On Friday, Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Noem and the acting director of ICE accusing the agencies of 'continued obstruction' of legal oversight visits by members of Congress. The lawmakers specifically named a Manhattan field office that normally serves as a brief stop for immigrants moving through the system but is now reportedly overcrowded and forcing people that are detained for multiple days to sleep on the floor. ICE's deputy field director in New York confirmed that multiple detainees slept on the floor or on benches in the facility, an admission the group of Democrats pointed to in their letter demanding access. The lawmakers also demanded that ICE rescind its new guidance claiming that its field offices are not subject to unannounced visits by members of Congress. 'Given the overaggressive and excessive force used to handcuff and detain elected officials in public, DHS's refusal to allow members of Congress to observe the conditions for immigrants behind closed doors begs the obvious question: what are you hiding?' the group of lawmakers wrote.

Forbes

18 minutes ago

• Forbes

Why Now Is The Time To Find A Fabulous Gay Financial Advisor

Now is the time vote with your wallet and find an amazing gay financial advisor. It's 2025, and a gay financial advisor just might be right for you. If nothing else, they may make financial planning fun enough for you to take the steps necessary to reach financial freedom and enjoy it along the way. The gay community faces a unique set of challenges when it comes to careers and finances that deserve the best advice available to them, and that may mean choosing an LGBTQ+ friend or even, if available, a gay financial advisor.I'm writing this article during Pride Month, which, despite misinformation circulating on the web, has not been canceled. We also just witnessed the "No Kings Day" protests across the county, reportedly the largest protest in U.S. history. Millions of Americans are ready for change and are often willing to vote with their wallets. Your financial advisor doesn't need to match your political affiliation or sexual orientation. Still, if they see the world differently than you, it might create financial planning blind spots that could be devastating for your finances when things go I'm proud to be a financial planner, sadly, the demographic truth is that the overall financial industry skews mostly older, whiter, more male and socially conservative than the population as a whole. Mind you, just because your adviser is wearing a Maga hat in his profile picture doesn't necessarily mean he (and in this case, he probably is a 'he') is a big homophobe. But aside from some notable, admirable exceptions, fiscal conservatives aren't exactly out there speaking up for LGBT rights. Some may be blatantly hostile to them. It's a double whammy if you are LGBTQ+ and a person of color, an immigrant or the wrong religion. While no specific data shows how many financial advisors are LGBTQ+, we know that more than 76% of Certified Financial Planners™ are male. There has been a significant increase in racial diversity across the 100,000 CFP® in the USA over the past few years. According to the CFP Board's Consumer Sentiment Survey — LGBTQ+ Financial Planning Pulse, same sex married couples are more than twice as likely to be working with a financial planner. Nearly ¾ of LGBTQ+ investors would prefer to work with a gay financial advisor or who identifies as part of a financial advisor who is part of the LGBTQ+ community. What difference does sexual orientation make when it comes to financial planning? Quite simply, the way you spend and allocate your money has everything to do with who you are and how you live. It follows that if someone has a visceral prejudice against your very existence, how can you trust them to have your best interests at heart? So, here are the top reasons you may be happier with an LGBT gay or gay-friendly financial planner. You might as well have a financial planner who is as fabulous as you are. The Worldview Of Your Gay Financial Advisor Every time I attend a financial industry conference or interact with other financial advisors, I can't help but notice how conservative many of them are. They may be nice guys, but if they don't think you deserve to exist, they likely aren't going to give you the best advice to reach financial freedom or have the best options to build your family. I've spoken to many women who described their families' (or husbands') financial advisors as creepy or even lecherous on a few occasions. It's not exactly how I'd want to be described, nor is it a skill I'd look for in my financial advisor. The right gay financial advisors will more likely share your social and political views. Hopefully, this means hiring someone you can trust. If you find that you can more easily trust someone who is gay or gay-friendly, then so be it. We might also appreciate it when you say you want to retire to Palm Springs or spend summers in Provincetown, not to mention not coming back and scolding you for what could seem like an exorbitant travel budget compared to the average retiree. Beyond the fun aspects, such as where to retire and how much to spend on travel or entertainment as we age, there are several other considerations for gay retirees to consider. A gay financial advisor may have better insights into where you can retire and get the healthcare you need without too much homophobia getting in the way. Likewise, long-term care planning is different for gay couples without children. Many in the gay community have expressed interest in retiring abroad. The number of people reaching out to me on this topic has skyrocketed since the last presidential election. People I know who were considering retiring abroad have pulled the trigger and are making it happen. Gay retirees are not alone in this desire to escape the U.S. I've seen many other people put plans in place just in case they need to move Best Gay Financial Advisor Advantage - Lifestyle Comprehension Walking down the street in Palm Springs, Manhattan or West Hollywood, it is easy to forget that there are still people in the closet. These days, in many parts of the county, staying in may actually be a matter of survival. We'd like to think that the closet is history, but in many parts of the country, staying 'in' can literally be a matter of survival. Throughout the last 20 years working as a fabulous financial advisor, I've spoken with a wide variety of people across the LGBTQ+ spectrum who were fearful of coming out to their financial advisor. This is a person you are entrusting to your financial future. If they don't know what truly motivates you and what you are looking to accomplish, how can they offer the best financial advice for your specific goals and the timeframe in which to achieve them? I've also literally reviewed financial plans where the sex of the second spouse was changed to cover the fact that this was a same-sex couple. Two glaring problems present themselves here: 1) The input of both spouses was not included in the financial plan. Financial Planning for couples (gay or straight) is not a solo sport. 2) Healthcare needs and life expectancy differ significantly when a couple consists of two women versus two men. The difference may not be dramatic now, but it can prove quite sizable over Marriage Equality Mean The End Of Gay-Specific Financial Planning The good news is that the LGBTQ community has achieved legal marriage equality. With that equality comes all the rights and responsibilities that come with marriage. When it comes to income taxes and estate planning, this has significantly helped level the playing field for LGBT citizens by granting access to spousal benefits, such as Social Security and additional retirement account options. There are currently nine states with proposals attacking same-sex marriage. Five of the measures urge the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry. While I am optimistic that at least those who are already married won't see their marriage nullified, our community needs to be vigilant to maintain our hard-fought and well-deserved rights. Either way, marriage equality does not mean an end to the unique financial challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community. If nothing else, gay seniors may differ in priorities, interests, hobbies and ideal retirement For Your Fabulously Gay Financial Plan Choosing the best gay financial advisor is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. Here's what to look for in a financial advisor: If your advisor was more likely to be storming the Capitol on January 6 than voting for marriage equality, it may be time to think about your financial advisor relationship. The days are gone of having to search for a financial advisor near me and working with the person who is closest to me. Gay business owner? There is a financial advisor who specializes in that. Gay couple looking to retire abroad. Likewise, there is someone who specializes in that. The list goes on, so there is no reason to settle for anything less than fabulous financial advice.