Tax Overhaul: One Thing to Do Now

Tyler Linsten Personal Finance

No, it’s not to move to Canada. Yet. The end of 2017 brought a massive overhaul to federal tax law. There are numerous implications, complications and very few simplifications. You won’t be able to do your taxes on a post card. Sorry, Ivanka. I’m not going to provide a detailed write-up of changes, or offer up any unsolicited Hot Tax Tips for 2018 and Beyond. That’s been done elsewhere by specialists, and to view all of the changes you have Google. I can’t one-up the work that’s already out there. (Shoutout to clients: Obviously, I’m going to reach out if there’s something I think will need attention in your personal situation) What I am going to do is suggest you …

Fine, Let’s Talk about Bitcoin

Tyler Linsten Investing, Personal Finance

Not to be confused with my Fine, Let’s Talk about Trump post. I’ve held off on writing about this one for quite a while now. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading/listening up on the topic. Cryptocurrency has taken the financial world by storm and it’s THE topic of the day. If you haven’t heard of it then I salute you, because I, too, would love to live in the mountains with zero contact from the outside world. That said, people hire me to tell them what to do with their money so it’s my obligation to be in the know about what does or doesn’t make sense for their portfolios. Most is garbage to be sidestepped (hint, hint). Let’s …

An Update On My Personal Portfolio

Tyler Linsten Investing, Personal Finance, Sarcasm

We’re beginning to wind down the year so I figured it would be fun to give a you a look “behind the curtain” of all the transactions I’ve made within my own portfolio in 2017. A lot of times clients probably wonder what I do with my own money so here’s a transparent look at the moves I’ve made…   Short-Term Trades Inspired By Over-Caffeinated Options Pit Trader Featured on CNBC:         Volatility ETF Short Sales:         Speculative Cryptocurrency Moonshot Bets:         Day Trades:         Night Trades:         Mid-Afternoon Trades:         Reactionary Put Option Buys in Response to Political Skullduggery:     …

Jerry Seinfeld’s Perfect Investing Analogy

Tyler Linsten Investing, Personal Finance

Although, he (probably) didn’t realize it.  Netflix is out with a new Jerry Seinfeld stand-up special. I loved it. Is there anyone else is the world who can pull off “clean” comedy like Jerry? I don’t think so. Little did he know, Seinfeld made a wonderful investing analogy for the “active vs. passive” debate where investors battle over whether it’s best to own index funds or to try to pick winning individual stocks. When talking about his own anxiety at the prospect of making small talk with random members of the audience, or the public at large, he states: “I can talk to all of you, but I can’t talk to any of you.” Do you see the parallel? Applied …

Find the Time

Tyler Linsten Personal Finance

Considering we have the 4th of July holiday coming up, you might find yourself with some free time. Maybe it’s an hour or an entire day. Either way, there are certain “financial hygiene” tasks only you can tackle and you should do them at least yearly. I wanted to find a way to write a similar post for a while now, but The New York Times beat me to it. It’s so good — simple, actionable, and quick to digest. (I’ll add that checking your Social Security estimates and verifying your earnings history at ssa.gov is another very quick task that should be completed yearly) This will motivate me to write my own version, but Ron Lieber at NYT has …