Eight years ago, in December of 2016, the IRS issued the ill-fated first set of reporting requirements for 831(b) microcaptive transactions by way of Notice 2016-66. These reporting requirements were ultimately invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court based on the failure of the IRS to fully adhere to the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. After that fiasco, the U.S. Treasury Department started the process for a new set of regulations to designate certain microcaptive transactions as either listed transactions or transactions of interest. On January 14, 2025, the Treasury Department formally published those regulations in the Federal Register which…

The Justice Department has filed a civil complaint against Walgreens which operates more than 8,000 pharmacies throughout the United States alleging that they dispensed millions of illegal prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). According to Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division “Our complaint alleges that Walgreens pharmacists filled millions of controlled substance prescriptions with clear red flags that indicated the prescriptions were highly likely to be unlawful, and that Walgreens systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions including controlled substance prescriptions, without taking the time needed to confirm…

Stocks have gotten very expensive, bonds very cheap. If you want to move money from equities to fixed income, use this guide. By William Baldwin, Senior Contributor Dramatic move this month from Vanguard Group: It’s saying that the classic portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, with which it has been so enamored for so long, might not be quite right. Consider, it says, going over to 40% stocks and 60% bonds. Wow. Dumb old bonds are better than sizzling stocks? It’s not quite that simple. Equities still offer a return premium over fixed income. But the premium has shrunk.…

I Can Show You Better Than I Can Tell You “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.” is the beginning of the poem “Sermons We See” by Edgar Guest that exemplifies what I believe to be an under appreciated aspect in building black wealth, early lessons and examples to emulate. financial lessons can shape our relationship with money for decades. Research by Vygotsky’s (1978) Sociocultural Theory, show us that learning is deeply influenced by social interactions, indicating that children gain financial knowledge through guided engagement…

Congress and the IRS made inheriting an IRA a very complicated, confusing event. Inherited IRAs are accompanied by a host of little-known rules that are traps for the unwary. In this post, I discuss the classic misunderstandings and mistakes about inherited IRAs. I’m not going to discuss the more recent difficulties brought by the enactment of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act in 2019 and the issuance of regulations under that law. Those rules are important but are discussed in detail elsewhere. There’s a host of under-the-radar rules beneficiaries need to know to minimize taxes and…

One of the key issues that helped propel President-elect Trump back into the White House is immigration. On the cusp of re-entering the Oval Office, Donald Trump has declared that he will fix what he considers to be the problems with immigration and immigration policy. Most people agree that the current immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform. However, immigration is a thorny issue and the devil is in the details. For decades, one branch or another of the federal government has proposed large-scale solutions to fix the immigration system. Common to all of these efforts, they failed. As…

How Doctors Are Pushing Medical Credit Cards on Patients Medical credit cards are increasingly pushed on patients across America as the costs of health, dental, and veterinary procedures rise. CareCredit had 12 million cardholders and 270,000 participating providers in 2024, up from 4.4 million cardholders and 177,000 participating providers a decade prior, according to a May 2023 report by the CFPB. “The growing promotion and use of medical cards and installment loans,” the CFPB wrote, “can increase the financial burden on patients who may pay more than they otherwise would pay and may compromise medical outcomes.” Revenue for the medical…

The Education Department announced on Wednesday that several million student loan borrowers will likely have no payment obligations for most of 2025 as legal battles over the future of student loan forgiveness under certain repayment programs continue. The new information was released as the SAVE plan, a key feature of the Biden administration’s student loan relief plans, remains blocked due to legal challenges. And student loan forgiveness under several other income-driven repayment plans is also currently enjoined. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to return to the White House next week, ushering in a new period of uncertainty for many…

MicroStrategy’s transformation from a $3.6 billion software firm to an $83 billion powerhouse since August 2020, when Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman, embarked on its Bitcoin acquisition strategy, stands as a case study in corporate reinvention. The strategy behind this meteoric rise is straightforward: secure low-cost capital through convertible notes and equity issuance to acquire Bitcoin (BTC) systematically—and then repeat. While MicroStrategy’s legacy software operations remain intact, its financial core has shifted decisively toward Bitcoin. Investors have embraced this pivot enthusiastically, as evidenced by the 2,205% surge in its stock price (MSTR) and the stock’s consistent premium valuation above the Net…

Daniel Chartraw of South Lake Tahoe, California was recently indicted on wire fraud charges alleging that through his companies Crypto-Pal LLC and TDA Global he scammed investors who he lured by claiming to have developed a proprietary algorithm capable of generating exceptional returns on cryptocurrency investments. According to the indictment, Chartraw failed to invest the money, but instead used it to fund his personal lifestyle. Investment scams in general are a huge problem. According to the FTC in 2023 consumers lost $4.6 billion to investment scams and cryptocurrency investment scams accounted for $3.96 billion. Interest in cryptocurrencies as an investment…