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Fall Malaise Sets in; Americans’ Risk of Depression Up 106% With Summer’s End

Fall Malaise Sets in; Americans’ Risk of Depression Up 106% With Summer’s End
PR Newswire
SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022

According to the Mental Health Index, cognitive function hi-jacked by increases in depression, stress, and anxiety
…

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Fall Malaise Sets in; Americans' Risk of Depression Up 106% With Summer's End

PR Newswire

SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022

According to the Mental Health Index, cognitive function hi-jacked by increases in depression, stress, and anxiety

SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition, fall malaise is setting in. Americans' risk of depression soared 106% in September when compared to the peak of the sunshine season. Further, data shows that a rise in depression coupled with a 40% increase in anxiety and 16% increase in stress since August is impacting U.S. workers' ability to be decisive and meet complex business goals. In other words, employees' all-important planning capacity dropped a consequential 16% – hi-jacked by the downward mental health spiral.

"Employers take note," warned Matthew Mund, CEO, Total Brain. "Our data shows that a seasonal pattern of mental health improvement in summer months is consistently followed by emotional and cognitive decline during a season marked by the onset of shorter, darker days. Now is the time to increase communications about the availability of employee-sponsored mental health resources and tools and engage workers in robust discussions about emotional wellbeing."  

The Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition, powered by Total Brain, a mental health monitoring and support platform, is distributed in partnership with the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, One Mind at Work, and the HR Policy Association and its American Health Policy Institute.

"Mental health and stress are not just a product of the pandemic," said Michael Thompson, National Alliance president and CEO. "Employers need to better understand and anticipate the diverse factors that impact the mental wellbeing of their workforce and then try to stay ahead of these trends in their organizational and program strategies."

Margaret Faso, director, Health Care Research and Policy of HR Policy Association said, "Recognizing the seasonal pattern of mental health risk is one of the many ways Total Brain data is so helpful to employers. Planning for the ups and downs allows employers to be prepared with communication about the resources employees need knowing that programs need to be used to be effective."

According to Katy Riddick, One Mind at Work, "We are seeing an important trend among leaders - looking beyond our current environment and the challenges it presents to mental health to a more intentional effort to foster belonging and a sense of purpose in workplaces. We know that this is the long-term strategy that builds more mentally healthy organizations."

The full Q2 2022 Mental Health Index results can be found here. Hear what the experts have to say about the Mental Health Index data.

Methodology: The Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition contains data drawn from a weekly randomized sample of 500 working Americans taken from a larger universe of Total Brain users. The Index is NOT a survey or a poll. Data is culled from neuroscientific brain assessments using standardized digital tasks and questions from the Total Brain platform. Participants include workers from all walks of life and regions, job levels, occupations, industries, and types of organizations (public vs. private). The brain assessments used to compile the Mental Health Index were taken weekly from the first week of February 2020 until the week ending September 25, 2022, inclusive. The two weeks from June 13 to June 26 (inclusive) were compared to the last two weeks of September (from September 12 to 25, inclusive) to evaluate the changes that occurred in data trends in the last three months from June to September 2022. Changes since the pre-pandemic baseline (beginning of February 2020)  to September 2022 were also evaluated.

About Total Brain Limited (ASX: TTB): Total Brain Limited is an applied, integrative neuroscience company, based in San Francisco and Sydney, that has developed and offers Total Brain, a mental health monitoring and support platform powered by the world's largest standardized brain database. Its SaaS platform has helped more than one million registered users to-date scientifically measure and optimize their brain capacities while managing the risk of common mental conditions. Benefits for providers include improved patient outcomes, tracking of evidence-based outcomes across the continuum of care, and a reduction in clinician fatigue. Benefits for populations and payers include better mental healthcare access, lower costs, and higher productivity. For more information, please visit www.totalbrain.com  and follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

About the National Alliance: The National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance) is the only nonprofit, purchaser-led organization with a national and regional structure dedicated to driving health and healthcare value across the country. Its members represent private and public sector, nonprofit, and Taft-Hartley organizations, and more than 45 million Americans spending over $300 billion annually on healthcare. nationalalliancehealth.org

About One Mind at Work: Launched in 2017, One Mind at Work is a global coalition of leaders from diverse sectors who have joined together with the goal of transforming approaches to mental health and addiction. One Mind at Work now includes more than 90 global employers and 18 research and content partners. The coalition covers more than 8 million people under its charter. onemindatwork.org

About HR Policy Association: HR Policy Association is the lead organization representing Chief Human Resource Officers at major employers. The Association consists of over 390 of the largest corporations doing business in the United States and globally, and these employers are represented in the organization by their most senior human resource executive. Collectively, their companies employ more than 10 million employees in the United States, over nine percent of the private sector workforce, and 20 million employees worldwide. These senior corporate officers participate in the Association because of their commitment to improving the direction of human resource policy. hrpolicy.org.

About American Health Policy Institute: American Health Policy Institute is a non-partisan non-profit think tank, started by the HR Policy Foundation, which examines the practical implications of health policy changes through the lens of large employers. The Institute examines the challenges employers face in providing health care to their employees and recommends policy solutions to promote the provision of affordable, high-quality, employer-based health care. The Institute serves to provide thought leadership grounded in the practical experience of America's largest employers. Their mission is to develop impactful strategies to ensure that those purchasing health care can not only bend the cost curve, but break it, by keeping health care cost inflation in line with general inflation. americanhealthpolicy.org.

For More Information Contact:

Kelly Faville, Rocket Social Impact


kelly@rocketsocialimpact.com


978-621-6667

 

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SOURCE Total Brain

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Top 3 commercial real estate REITs to avoid amid a triple whammy

Commercial real estate REITs have been under intense pressure as the industry faces a tripple whammy of high-interest rates, work-from-home, and white-collar…

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March 23, 2023

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Commercial real estate REITs have been under intense pressure as the industry faces a tripple whammy of high-interest rates, work-from-home, and white-collar layoffs. On Wednesday, the Fed decided to hike interest rates by 0.25% and signaled that more rate hikes were coming.

And recent data shows that the percentage of people working from home is still sharply higher than where it was during the pandemic. Worse, many large companies like Amazon, Salesforce, and Meta Platforms are laying off thousands of employees. 

Therefore, with debt maturities coming up, there are concerns that the industry will be in trouble for a while. Further, as I wrote in this article on the SCHD ETF, REITs are now competing with cash, with short-term bonds yielding over 5%. So, these are some of the top commercial real estate REITs to avoid during the sell-off. 

Boston Properties 

Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) stock price has been in a strong sell-off in the past few months. It is trading at $49.63, which is about 63% below the highest level in 2022. This decline is mostly because of the cities where the company operates. 

It is mostly concentrated in places like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. These are some of the most troubled cities in the commercial real estate industry. In the most recent earnings statement, the company’s CEO said:

“Many of our clients are experiencing a slowdown in growth or reductions in top line revenue and as a result are focused on cost control including moderating headcount and space use.”

Therefore, in the near term, I suspect that the Boston Properties stock price will continue falling as investors embrace the new normal of high interest rates. In the long term, investors will likely buy the dip as the dividend yield become more attractive.

Kilroy Realty Corporation

Kilroy Realty Corporation’s (NYSE: KRC) stock price has also been in a freefall. It was trading at $29 on Wednesday, sharply lower than its 2022 high of $79. As a result, its forward dividend yield to 7%. 

The stock’s collapse is mostly because of the triple whammy facing the industry and the fact that billions of dollars are coming due. And like Boston Properties, the company’s operations are concentrated in high-risk cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin. 

The only benefit for Kilroy is that it has staggered debt maturities, which meaning that it has more room to adjust its books. As a result, it has no debt maturities until December 2024, as the CEO noted:

“Net debt the fourth quarter annualized EBITDA remains about six times. And we have no debt maturities until December of 2024 and limited interest rate exposure with all of our debt fixed or subject to cap.”

Vordano Realty Trust

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) stock price has dropped lower than most commercial real estate trust stocks. It was trading at $13.80, down by over 72% from the highest point in 2022. This performance is mostly because Vornado is highly concentrated in New York, where occupancy rate remains low. 

Like Kilroy, Vornado has no maturities this year, with the next one coming in mid-2024. Still, because of its focus on New York, Vornado stock will likely continue falling in the near term. The other commercial REIT stock we recently recommended exiting was SL Green. It stock is down by over 10% since the article went live.

The post Top 3 commercial real estate REITs to avoid amid a triple whammy appeared first on Invezz.

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Cashless Society: Panera Bread Debuts “Frictionless” Palm Payment System

Cashless Society: Panera Bread Debuts "Frictionless" Palm Payment System

Amazon’s palm-reading payment technology was first introduced at…

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March 23, 2023

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Cashless Society: Panera Bread Debuts "Frictionless" Palm Payment System

Amazon's palm-reading payment technology was first introduced at numerous Whole Foods locations in California, enabling customers to pay for their groceries by scanning their palms at checkout terminals rather than using cash or a card. Now Panera Bread is experimenting with Amazon's cashless payment system as the war on cash marches on. 

On Wednesday, Panera Bread announced plans to roll out a "contactless payment method" to several stores with additional locations in the coming months. The bakery-cafe chain has over 2,000 locations, and its loyalty program has 52 million members. 

"Panera is the first national restaurant company to use Amazon One as both a way for guests to pay and access their loyalty account with their palm," the company said. 

"Our philosophy has been centered around leveraging best-in-class technology to create a better Panera experience and using that to deepen our relationship with our loyal guests. Introducing Amazon One, as a frictionless, personalized, and convenient service, is another way we're redefining the loyalty experience," Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread and Panera Brands, stated.

At the moment, dozens of Whole Foods locations and Amazon Go stores have integrated Amazon One contactless payment. 

By summer, Panera Bread might have at least two dozen stores equipped with Amazon's contactless payment system, as reported by Panera's Chief Digital Officer George Hanson in an interview with CNBC.

"We think the payment plus loyalty identification is the secret sauce that can unlock a really personalized, warm and efficient experience for our guests in our cafes," Hanson said. 

The adoption of contactless payment systems by corporate giants like Amazon and Panera Bread, both known for their massive loyalty programs, seems to signal a shift towards a cashless society.

Recall the pivot toward a cashless society was clear as day. Perhaps the coin shortage during the pandemic was a pilot test. And anyone who dared mention a looming cashless society was deemed a 'conspiracy theorist.' 

Just remember who is also shaping the world and influencing corporations and politicians away from a cash economy:

... and the rollout of contactless payment comes just before the Federal Reserve is set to activate its digital dollar in July. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 03/22/2023 - 20:40

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In These Cities, Buying A House Is Cheaper Than A Condo

Data from Point2Homes shows that homes sell for less than 75% of the listed condos in Detroit.

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March 23, 2023

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Data from Point2Homes shows that homes sell for less than 75% of the listed condos in Detroit.

The “condo or home?” question has been causing debates and sometimes even fights for many generations. While some talk of the land and value one can get by going farther out, others will not give up their small nook in an exciting city for acres of land anywhere else.

When the location is the same, the logic of “more space will cost you more” is generally the standard — a larger house with a yard will logically cost more than a one-bedroom apartment.

DON’T MISS: 10 Places With Affordable Homes Where You'd Actually Want to Live

But according to numbers crunched by real estate platform Point2Homes, this tendency breaks in a number of U.S. cities. Houses sell for less than 75% of the listed condos in Detroit, 39% of listings in Ohio’s Akron and 36% of the listings in Cleveland.

You Can Buy Four Homes For The Price Of One Condo In This City

The reasons have to do with the fact that, in certain cities, single-family homes are generally older and more dilapidated than the condo towers built in the last decade.

Other cities where homes are generally cheaper than condos include Chicago, Pittsburgh and Jersey City.

“The biggest price difference is in Detroit, where a single-family home is $171,000 cheaper than a condo — although some houses here might need extra TLC,” write the report’s authors. “This cost difference means one could almost buy four detached homes for the median price of one condo.”

One city across the U.S. came out exactly tit for tat — in New York’s Rochester, the median price is $183,000 for both an apartment and a single-family home. 

Meanwhile, Washington’s Belleville and Killeen in Texas are the cities where homes are significantly more expensive — the former, which is a high-end suburb popular among high-earning Amazon  (AMZN) - Get Free Report workers from Seattle, commands a median $1.525 million for a home.

A condo, meanwhile, will only set one back $535,000.

This Is How Long It Takes Buyers With A Typical Income To Upsize

Point2Homes further broke down how long it would take people with a typical income to upsize from a condo to a house. In Rhode Island’s Providence, the difference between $334,000 and $331,000 would only take someone earning the median $60,970 a month’s salary to achieve.

This is significantly less feasible in Honolulu, which has seen an influx of high-earning professionals come in during the pandemic. With an average price of $1,198,000, a median home is 164% more expensive than a condo and would take a household earning a median income more than 10 years to close.

“Back on the mainland, California sets itself apart with the most cities where matching the upsizing price difference would take quite some time,” write the report’s authors. “Perhaps surprisingly, it would be easier in Los Angeles and Long Beach than in Irvine and Glendale, both secondary cities within the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro.”

Cities where the gap is easiest to close include Kansas City as well as Virginia’s Norfolk and New York’s Buffalo — in the latter, the difference is between $198,000 for a house and $188,000 for a condo.

“Cities where the gap is easiest to close include Kansas City as well as Virginia’s Norfolk and New York’s Buffalo,” writes the report.

SEE THE FULL HOME-CONDO COMPARISON HERE.

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