The SEC Wants to Open Private Markets to More Investors
By The Financial Poise Editors • October 8, 2026Last week, the SEC proposed several changes aimed at expanding individual investors’ access to private-market investments.
Sue First, Lose Later: Inside New York’s War on Bogus Lawsuits (SLAPP)
Free speech has a cost problem. Explore how New York’s anti-SLAPP law protects public criticism, shifts legal costs, and sets limits on defamation defenses.
Read More »The New Rules of Brand Marketing: Impressing the AI Agent
Shoppers are increasingly using AI chatbots for product recommendations and shopping assistance, brands are now marketing to a new kind of customer: the AI agent.
Read More »The IPO Market Is Getting Cold Feet
Last week, biometric ring maker Oura delayed its IPO, citing “uncertainty” in market conditions. As it turns out, it may be in (not so) good company.
Read More »Quick Starts to Popular Financial Poise Series:
Recent Articles
Last week, the SEC proposed several changes aimed at expanding individual investors’ access to private-market investments.
Hold My Beer: How American Rebel Turned Patriotism into a Dilution Machine
By Matthew Miller • October 5, 2026Editor's Note: Every year, a handful of micro-cap companies follow a pattern so consistent it practically has a script: A small business with thin revenue and no clear path to…
Anthropic’s IPO Filing Offers a Look Under the Hood of the AI Boom
By The Financial Poise Editors • October 4, 2026As Anthropic prepares for its $2 trillion-plus IPO, its new prospectus is revealing just how expensive its rapid growth has become.
Silicon Valley Is Giving Everyone the Same Job Title
By The Financial Poise Editors • October 3, 2026Forget “senior software engineer” or “chief technical officer.” The biggest AI companies are using one deliberately vague job title: “member of the technical staff.”
AI Is Making Lawyers More Efficient. What Does This Mean For Billable Hours?
By The Financial Poise Editors • October 2, 2026Law firms are embracing a raft of AI tools to get legal work done faster. But that newfound efficiency is now putting growing pressure on the industry’s billable-hour business model.
A Tax Guide for Plaintiffs Negotiating a Commercial Litigation Funding Agreement
By Jonathan Friedland and Jeremy Waitzman • October 1, 2026Editors’ Note: This article is a follow-up to the authors’ series, Demystifying Commercial Litigation Finance, which in turn is based on their article, A Guide for Plaintiffs & Commercial Litigators…
Why 20% of a Company May Be Worth Less Than 20%
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • September 28, 2026Editor's Note: An ownership percentage tells you how much of a company someone owns, but not necessarily what that stake is worth. A person may own 20% of a private…
AI Is Giving Financial Advice and Getting a Lot of It Wrong
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 27, 2026Before you ask ChatGPT what to do with retirement savings, you may want to read the “Artificial Authority” report by financial-services company Saturn.
Private Credit Defaults Are Rising, But No One Can Agree on How Much
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 26, 2026Private credit is showing signs of stress. The problem is, depending on which measure you use, the default rate could be less than 1%, 6.3%, or as high as 19%
The SEC is Opening the Door to Trading Traditional Stocks on the Blockchain
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 25, 2026The SEC announced a new five-year “Innovation Exemption,” which will allow approved platforms to facilitate trading in “tokenized” US-listed stocks.
How to Plan for the Hidden Costs of Caring for an Aging Parent
By Amy Cai and Jonathan Friedland • September 24, 2026The real cost of caregiving goes beyond the care itself. It covers lost income, missed retirement contributions, and forgone investment growth. If you have aging parents or if you’re beginning…
Making Mediation Work Before the Dispute Goes Back to Court
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • September 22, 2026Editor's Note: Most business disputes end in a deal, not a verdict. That is not a guess. Exposed to the full cost and unpredictability of litigation, the vast majority of…
Keep the Buyer at the Table: How to Prepare Your Business for Sale
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • September 21, 2026Editor's Note: Selling a business is not a single decision. It is a sequence of them, and the early ones shape everything that follows. This article walks through what that…
The Job Market Is Looking Great– For Americans Who Don’t Have College Degrees
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 19, 2026Younger Americans without college degrees are experiencing one of their strongest job markets in decades, as young college graduates are facing weakest.
Baruch Gottesman and the $50 Million Letter for an Account That Didn’t Exist
By Matthew Miller • September 18, 2026Editor’s Note: This article tells the story of a $23 million investor fraud and the federal malpractice lawsuit that followed-- not against the con man, who is already in prison,…
Are “Acqui-Hires” Helping Big Tech Sidestep Antitrust Scrutiny?
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 18, 2026The Justice Department is investigating whether Nvidia's deal with AI chipmaker Groq was structured to avoid antitrust scrutiny that comes with a merger
These Credit Myths Just Won’t Go Away. Let’s Bust Them.
By Cynthia Chen • September 17, 2026Editor’s Note: Many people avoid credit-building because they think it's too hard, too expensive, or not important enough to spend time doing. We asked Cynthia Chen, CEO and Founder of…
AI’s Biggest Leaders Think the Race Is Moving Too Fast
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 16, 2026The race to build increasingly powerful AI has become so intense that some of the people leading it are now calling for everyone to slow down.
Build It the Right Way: A Founder’s Guide to Decisions That Matter
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • September 15, 2026Editor's Note: Every year, thousands of new companies get started. Most of the early energy goes exactly where it should: building something people want, finding customers, hiring the right team,…
After the Raise: What Form C-AR Filing Data Reveals About Regulation Crowdfunding’s Ongoing Reporting Regime
By Sherwood Neiss • September 14, 2026Editor’s Note: In 2012, Congress created something genuinely new in U.S. securities law. Title III of the JOBS Act, codified as Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act and its companion…
The US Job Market Is Giving Us Whiplash
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 11, 2026The US job market delivered a surprisingly strong August. Employers added far more jobs than economists expected. Is the labor market booming?
The Roles, Structures, and Duties of a Board of Directors
By Jeremy Waitzman • September 10, 2026There are certain ideas in business that take on an air of mythology. The boardroom is one of them. Conversations surrounding boards of directors aren’t always productive or useful. From…
Meta Wants Its Rivals to Follow Its New Teen Safety Rules
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 10, 2026Fresh from its settlement over alleged harm to young social media users, Meta is now turning up the pressure on its biggest rivals.
Google May Have Lost Its Ad Tech Monopoly Case, But Big Tech Ultimately Won.
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 9, 2026Google was found to have illegally monopolized online ad tech. A federal judge ruled Google won't have to break up its ad tech business.
What Makes Your Business Yours? Protecting Trade Secrets in the Digital Age
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • September 8, 2026EDITOR'S NOTE: Most businesses think of their value in terms of what’s visible-- revenue, headcount, products on shelves. But some of the most important assets a company owns never show…
Profitable on Paper, Short on Cash: Why Working Capital Can Make or Break a Business
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • September 7, 2026EDITOR'S NOTE: Profit and cash are not the same thing. A company can report strong earnings, carry substantial assets on its balance sheet, and still struggle to make payroll or…
Corporate Profits Are Booming. Can the Good Times Last?
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 4, 2026Corporate America is having a very good year. S&P 500 earnings per share jumped 53% in Q2 from a year earlier, while sales rose nearly 16%, according to LSEG data.
Retirement Plan Options for Businesses with a Mix of W-2 Employees and 1099 Contractors
By Donnell Stidhum • September 3, 2026So, you own a business with W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, but it's your side gig. You spend time on it, though you don't pay yourself. Now you want to…
Why Are Bond Yields Surging Around the World?
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 2, 2026Global government bond yields are at their highest level since 2008 because investors are selling them. A Bloomberg gauge climbed to 3.72%
Older Workers Are More Optimistic About AI Than Gen Z
By The Financial Poise Editors • September 1, 2026Younger workers may use AI more, but they're also more worried about what it means for their careers. Nearly half of Gen X workers spoke positively
Diluted, Then Discarded: A Reverse Merger Pattern That Keeps Repeating in the Microcap Market
By Matthew Miller • September 1, 2026Editor's Note: Three small public companies-- Siyata Mobile, Signing Day Sports, and MGO Global-- followed the same arc. Each raised round after round from ordinary investors, diluted existing shareholders through…
When the Workplace Becomes the Investigation
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • August 31, 2026A practical guide to deciding who should investigate, what facts matter, and what to do once the answers are in. EDITOR'S NOTE: A workplace complaint rarely arrives at a convenient…
“Ghost Job” Ads Are So Bad, Lawmakers Want to Bust Them
By The Financial Poise Editors • August 28, 2026You spend hours polishing résumé for perfect job post that don’t exist. “Ghost jobs” are roles companies advertise despite no intention of filling, lawmakers starting to intervene.
The Definition of “Small Business” May Be About to Get a Lot Bigger
By The Financial Poise Editors • August 27, 2026The Small Business Administration is proposing a major expansion of what counts as a "small business," potentially allowing companies with $1 billion in revenue to qualify.
The Treasury is Trying to Calm the Bond Market. Is It Working?
By The Financial Poise Editors • August 26, 2026Treasury is trying to win back investors. Bessent has pledged to increase purchases of long-term Treasuries. But investors aren’t sold.
Are US Treasuries Losing Their Safe-Haven Status?
By The Financial Poise Editors • August 25, 2026US federal debt hit $40 trillion last week. As that debt continues to grow, investors no longer see US Treasuries as quite the safe haven they once were.
The 2026 Direct-Listing Trap
By Matthew Miller • August 24, 2026How a low-friction path onto Nasdaq is handing retail investors 50%-plus first-day losses — and why no one is naming the pattern Editor’s Note: In the first eight months of…
Lateral Partner Moves: What Lawyers Need to Know Before Changing Firms
By Fritz Ronald P. Amparado • August 22, 2026A practical guide to LPQs, portable business, partnership agreements, fiduciary duties, and negotiating a lateral move without creating avoidable problems. The lateral partner market continues to be robust, and it…
Lying With Statistics: When Good Numbers Tell a Misleading Business Story
By Amy Cai and Jonathan Friedland • August 20, 2026Here’s how businesses use averages, comparisons, surveys, and other statistics to make accurate numbers tell a misleading story.
The Stock Market Looks Calm. Investors Are Anything But.
By The Financial Poise Editors • August 20, 2026Stocks look calm as earnings season winds down, but options trading shows investors swinging between fear of a selloff and fear of missing out.
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