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.

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.

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.

Most of the lessons we have learned as Advisors is how we turn communication into actionable and successful plans to reach your goals. How we utilize resources for your benefit and the process that takes place, provides us with insight on how to best serve you, our clients. Financial Advising is both an Art and a Science.

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?

Making trade and investment decisions based solely on big events is hardly ever an effective strategy. Having said that, there were obvious concerns about how this year’s election would affect markets and planning strategies. The best thing to do would have been to pick an allocation which you felt comfortable with and ride whatever wave came along with the election results. Some investors sat the sidelines, some bought what they thought might be winners in whatever their assumed outcome scenario was. All in all, what occurred is what I mentioned in our previous election commentary blog – the markets only care that there IS a President.

Have you invested for retirement? Do you have extra cash flow? After you’ve built up a solid retirement base, here are some other strategies to consider:

Individual or joint accounts

General investment accounts provide you with flexibility. Individual or joint accounts can help you save for your short, medium, or long-term goals and allow you to invest without the restraints of tax-deferred accounts. Withdrawals are penalty-free in the near-term, though you will pay taxes on dividends and capital gains.