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Biography Per Larson Experienced in financial, benefits, and career management, Per Larson believes that these areas are different in important ways for gay people - and for people facing serious illness. By fitting traditional techniques to new uses he helps people maximize income, work satisfaction and financial security. Per advises on financial goals, saving/spending, relationship equity, career strategy, and entrepreneurship. On the Community Lesbian & Gay Resources Institute board, Per pursues workplace protections through employer and investment fund adoption of the Equality Principles. He speaks at gay business, employee, and self-help groups across the country. A past columnist for In The Life, Victory!, and the Advocate, he writes frequently on gay financial issues in Queer Money, Working It Out, and LGNY. An excerpt of his book, Gay Money, appeared in Out when it was published in June 1997. Seen on 60 Minutes, CNN, CBS-This Morning, Premium Dollar Today, MSNBC, and Money Works, he has written for Personnel Journal and Personnel Administrator and is quoted in financial journals such as Forbes, Kiplinger, Worth, National Underwriter & Financial Planning as well as the Washington Post, San Francisco Enquirer, Boston Globe, and the New York Times. With serious illness, he helps people maximize insurance & benefits, make disability decisions, prevent discriminations, use public programs without spending down assets, maintain quality of life. At the invitation of the House Ways & Means Committee in 1995, he testified to make accelerated and viatical benefits tax free. If selling life insurance is called for, Per acts as a negotiator for the seller, setting up competitive bidding directly with buyers - thereby avoiding broker commissions (which can be 10% of face value). This approach usually results in significantly higher offers at much less cost. In addition to working with individuals, Per has given workshops for Memorial Sloan Kettering, Cancer Care, Mothers of Children with AIDS, Body Positive, and Friends In Deed. He contributes regularly to Positively Aware and had published over forty articles in such publications as the PWA Coalition Newsline, Case Review, Body Positive, the Affording Care Bulletin, and POZ. A founder of Affording Care, a nonprofit which has provided financial education for those facing serious illness, Per also helps professionals help gays as well as people with HIV, including physicians, psychiatrists, lawyers, CPAs, voluntary health organization staffs (ARCS, GMHC, PWA Coalition), social workers (New York Hospital), and psychotherapists (Postgraduate Center). He helped present the first workshop on serious illness & personal finance at the International Association of Financial Planning. A national expert on corporate health benefits in the 1970s, Per chaired several conferences for Business Week, including their first on corporate health in 1980 and one on health data in 1985 - both while a Director of the Actuarial and Benefits Consulting Group of Coopers & Lybrand. With $1 million of venture capital in the 1980s he created the Corporate Health Audit. Before consulting with individuals, Per consulted with corporations on benefit and financial issues for fifteen years. A consultant's consultant in the design, distribution, and delivery of new health concepts, his clients included 3M, Babcock Wilcox, American Brands, Bell Helicopter, and Colt Industries. An administrative director and management consultant for seven years in Europe, Per's first focus was in cost accounting and financial analysis. He had a MBA from the Wharton School. His later postgraduate certificate as a HMO managed care director at Wharton was sponsored by a fellowship from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His undergraduate training included a Carnegie fellowship for a year in India and subsequently an internship at the Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Per Larson Merrill & Mineral Spring Roads
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