02/21/2022: Weekly Briefing
As you may be following for the last couple weeks, I have a goal of consolidating some of my investment accounts to make it easier to manage my investments. I’m starting with the 3 401k accounts I have that I have not yet rolled over from past employers.
You would think that this would be a straightforward process—go to the plan’s website, request a rollover to a new insitution, and voila, right? But alas, I’ve found its much more painful than that.
1) You have to make sure that the account you’re rolling the funds into is the same type of account so you don’t incur a tax penalty for withdrawing funds early. This isn’t always very obvious on the plan’s account website. The vocabulary used is a little interchangeable and can get a little confusing (ex. sometimes they use 401(k), ‘qualified retirement plan’ and ‘employer qualified plan’ interchangeably).
2) Some of the platforms will send you a check directly which then I will have to pass on to my new employer plan; whereas some of the platforms will directly wire the funds to the new employer plan. However, in order to make this transfer, you have to fill out a bunch of information that is always not easy to find online.
So I’ve alredy spent about 4 hours on this and it’s still not finished… will need to call a few of the customer support teams to get more help this week. yay.
It’s no wonder it took me forever to do this…. it’s soooo painful. lol. Which is why it’s no suprise to me that this company Capitalize started a way to help with these rollovers. I may see if they can do all the hard work for me :)
(But at the end of the day, I'm grateful that I've been fortunate enough to have 401(k) plans offered to me through work. #glasshalffull)
Money & Crypto
This is such an important point that hasn’t been discussed enough during this crypto bonanza.—how crypto and NFTs can be like multilevel marketing schemes. Almost anyone can create an NFT and/or a new cryptocurrency. Those people can then market and convince others to invest in those NFTs and cryptocurrencies. Because regulation hasn’t really caught up, as an investor you really have to trust the organizatioon or people behind that new NFT and cryptocurrency. This means that there’s a huge opportunity for people to take advantage of others (ex. The Missing Crypto Queen). (WSJ)
How cryptocurrencies performed in 2021 (Visual Capitalist)
OpenSea, NFT marketplace, hacked and $3M stolen (The Block Crypto)
Studies of financial advisors show they recommend allocating no more than 1%-6% of total assets to crypto (CoinDesk)
Circle’s valuation increase to $9B (CryptoNews)
How the top 20 internet giants have changed over the last ~20 years (Visual Capitalist)
Etc.
Burnout seems to be top of mind these days. This is a great article about managing your energy rather than your time (thanks to a friend for sharing with me). You can also take a test on “if you’re headed for an energy crisis” which per this quiz, I apparently seem to be… lol
Are mindfulness apps actually effective?
🎥 I’m little late to watch Icarus, since it came out in 2017, but this Oscar winninning documentary about how athletes dope and get away with it is fascinating…especially given the contraversy that has surrounded the Winter Olympics with Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. I won’t give too much of the documentary away but it’s soooo good.
Lata Mangeshkar, national Indian singing icon, passed away recently. (I’m embarassed that I hadn’t heard of her before, but have listened to a few songs and her voice is wonderful.)
Podcast Pick of the Week
🎧Tabloid headlines grab your attention? If yes, you’ll enjoy this smart take on the business behind our obsession with celeb culture and why Bennifer has grabbed so much of our attention
Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. The content on this site and on the podcast does not constitute financial, legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice.
