Some press for Lifetime Financial

My dad (an accomplished writer) said something like, “Writing is easy if you have something to say.”  I’d like to believe something similar is true for getting quoted in the financial press because it’s happened twice in 2021.  
 
The less controversial one was in Marketwatch.com. The 2021 administration took the unusual step of retroactively changing the tax code for 2020.  There was a window where you could file your return but not be sure if you were changing your eligibility for the second stimulus check.  (They resolved this issue fairly quickly.)  It was bad timing for those that really wanted to get their taxes done and out of the way. 

It’s not that often that tax-filing early-birds are penalized. In fact, I can’t think of a time or reason filing early was ever bad. This was one of those times!  (Confession time: I filed late for many, many years.  I’m human!  I never owed taxes so there was never a penalty, but I gave up some earnings on that money for the privilege of doing my taxes over the summer when you were all out having fun.)   

The second, more controversial, quote was from Investmentnews.com that labeled me a crypto-bear. For the record, I’m not a bitcoin bear.  I have no opinion on bitcoin as an investable asset. This is the same answer I would give you if you asked me what I thought about Tesla as a stock.  I’m neither a stock picker nor a cryptocurrency picker.  I utilize academic research and modern portfolio theory.  Bitcoin is simply too new to know how it behaves.   

Would I drop a client that insists on investing in Cryptocurrencies?  I was misquoted a bit there.  My first response would be to discuss it with care, empathy, and several long conversations. A small amount would be fine. However, if a client still wanted to speculate, not invest with a substantial part of their accounts, I would help them find an advisor that was a better fit. That’s my fiduciary duty.