Whether you are new to investing or are someone who's spent years building an investment portfolio, one alternative type of investment is cryptocurrency. You may have heard of different types of cryptocurrencies, which include everything from Bitcoin to Ethereum. Unlike real estate and other stable investment opportunities, investing in cryptocurrencies requires you to take on a significant amount of risk for the potential of high returns. Before you put your money in cryptocurrency, you should have a better understanding of what this currency is and how it compares to traditional investments.

Understanding Crypto Investments

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital payment system that doesn't use traditional banks to verify the transactions that people make. This peer-to-peer system allows any individual to send or receive payments. Instead of using physical money that's carried around and placed into a bank, crypto payments are digital entries found on an online database.

Paying down student loans versus adding to retirement

Many people question the best use of expendable income as to whether or not additional payments should be made toward student loan debt or if those extra funds should be allocated toward savings or investments. If you have a reasonable expectation of high returns in the market the question becomes debatable however, if you are paying high interest, have a high balance or have unpredictable cash flow it is more than likely more prudent to try to pay down the student loan debt faster.

Here are some pros and cons for paying down the student loan debt or investing:

IPO or Initial Public Offering is the process of a private company offering shares to the public as a new stock issue. The IPO allows the company to raise capital by selling shares of its’ company. Companies must meet SEC requirements and it often takes months to navigate through all the requirements. It indicates that a company has grown and matured enough to meet the demands and benefits of the responsibility it must carry to public shareholders.

Over the last year, and really since the start of the pandemic lockdowns we saw a pattern emerge. Cultural Trends were spreading like wildfire through society. With the help of Facebook/Meta, Instagram and Twitter hierarchical diffusion seemed to be on steroids. Hierarchical Diffusion is the spread of an idea from persons or nodes of “authority” or “power” to other persons and places. We entered the era of “influencers”, and they were talking about everything under the sun but especially investments.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is the investment in companies that promote ethical and socially conscious ideals such as environmental sustainability, justice, corporate ethics and/or advocate against discrimination. This can be accomplished by either specifically including companies that are making positive impacts and/or can exclude others that are making negative or questionable impact.

Many equate saving with investing. Yet the two concepts are not entirely interchangeable, there is a difference between saving and investing. Saving is putting money away that is for later use with little to no risk of loss. While you save in order to invest, you then take on some risk by investing in assets which ideally will increase in value but that doesn’t always occur. Here are some of the key differences to understand.

Cryptocurrency is a digital based currency that is used to buy and sell goods but also trade for profit. I’m sure, most of you know someone who has invested in some version of cryptocurrency. They work using technology called blockchain, a decentralized technology spread across many computers and manages & records transactions. Most of the appeal of blockchain tech is the security.

A Fiduciary duty can be found in many professions however, within the context of investment advisors the duty begins and ends with loyalty and care.

The duty of loyalty is the obligation to always serve the clients’ best interest as well as the mitigating any conflicts of interest.

While there are several individuals in great need of the stimulus payments from the government for others it is a windfall. Likewise, tax refunds can be unexpected bonus income that you are not relying on for your regular expenses. So, what do you do with this money?

Pay yourself first

You know the scenario, it’s payday and before you know it bills are paid and you’ve already planned three dinners out with friends. Your budget is wiped out and you did not add to your savings. One of the best methods to ensure that you are hitting your savings goals is to pay yourself first.