What happens when you suddenly find yourself in charge of your retirement finances without the benefit of having much experience on the subject matter?

The “sudden” nature of this situation is usually couple-oriented. One spouse or partner becomes incapacitated or predeceases the other.

I’ve seen this many times, and it is avoidable, with some planning. In my practice, I encourage couples to treat retirement as a joint venture. That’s a new experience for couples who, like most I know, haven’t thought about the “Gosh, I’m suddenly in charge of the family finances” risk.

What I find interesting is that this state of unpreparedness is not limited to people with no financial experience or training. I see this “head in the sand” approach even when both partners have advanced degrees and work in law, finance or accounting.

Here is the reality: Sooner or later, a partner is unexpectedly left on his or her own to figure out a financial situation that is complicated and possibly overwhelming -- retirement finances being the biggie (irrespective of age).

For anyone in this situation -- meaning, having done no preparation -- the temptation is to look for help, perhaps from a lawyer, accountant or a financial adviser, or a relative or friend. That can work, if you are lucky enough to have skilled and ethical advisers to choose from. I’ve seen people go down this path and never find their bearings; the danger lies in creating a dependency. To be effective, the help has to be short-term and focused on specific outcomes that lead to strength -- sound, independent decision-making strength.

What else can you do? Start studying your “new” situation.

One of my favorite sources for unbiased information is FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), which regulates the brokerage industry. FINRA has a section on personal finance (tinyurl.com/2ct47sx5), as well as one titled “Learn to Invest” (tinyurl.com/yp77dcvh), which could help someone new to investing get a better understanding of some of the concepts related to it.

Another favorite resource is Investor.gov, which is part of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The section on “Introduction to Investing” (tinyurl.com/4hympfnp) contains helpful information, including breakdowns of investment products and a section titled “How the Markets Work.”

FINRA provides help on choosing an investment professional (tinyurl.com/mb8dxvae), be it a stockbroker, a financial planner or an investment adviser. There also is a section offering tips for working with an investment professional (tinyurl.com/zj65vesf).

FINRA’s BrokerCheck (tinyurl.com/t5ynhxcs) will allow you to check a particular firm and its representatives. You can find information there on both broker-dealers and investment advisers. Form CRS (investor.gov/CRS) is the key document that will help you compare and contrast firms.

It’s not easy to jump into a situation involving money when you are not familiar with the language or the nuances of investing and financial management. You’ll have to put in some time and do some homework, but it is worth it.

Now, here is my message to you if you are part of a couple: I’d like to see you avoid this “suddenly” predicament. My advice is simple and straightforward: Think of your retirement as a joint venture with your partner or spouse -- and do something about it.

What can you do? That’s the subject of my next column. If you have something to share on this topic, I’d like to hear from you. Send me questions and comments at readers@juliejason.com.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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Digital currencies, most notably bitcoin, have generated a lot of attention this year. Should cryptocurrencies be an option for 401(k) participants?

Year to date, bitcoin is up about 37%, beating the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, by far (up 17.6% as of 7/29/2021). What is not visible, however, is the wild ride that intervened. Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $64,829 on April 14, 2021, according to CoinGecko (tinyurl.com/ax3p5hh9). On July 29, bitcoin traded between $38,349 and $40,409 (see CoinDesk: tinyurl.com/mj9nceee).

Bitcoin was approved as legitimate government currency in El Salvador in June, with the new law taking effect in September (tinyurl.com/y9wths32). Some NFL players have requested to be paid in bitcoin, as detailed on the website Buy Bitcoin Worldwide (tinyurl.com/53f76w6n). It was also the currency of choice when hackers demanded payment to end their encryption malware cyberattacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS (tinyurl.com/324vs6je).

When I last wrote about bitcoin in August of 2017, I noted that “both regulators and speculators have been drawn to this virtual currency. Speculators are attracted by the possibility of outsized returns (and, as with any speculative ‘investment,’ there is a potential for outsized losses). And regulators raise warnings.” That’s one huge point of concern: Four years later, regulators are still sorting out whether cryptocurrencies should be regulated -- and if so, how?

The past few months have illustrated some of the issues. In May, during testimony before a House subcommittee (tinyurl.com/ud497mrz), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, citing concerns about “greater opportunities for fraud and manipulation,” said he wanted to work “with fellow regulators and with Congress to fill in the gaps of investor protection in these crypto markets.”

On July 7, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called for answers about the SEC’s authority for protecting consumers who invest and trade in cryptocurrency. In a letter to Gensler (tinyurl.com/t32dxjv7), Warren wrote: “As the cryptocurrency markets continue to grow and expand, the lack of regulation to provide basic investor protections is unsustainable. The SEC regulates national securities exchanges, and cryptocurrency exchanges that operate in a similar manner should be subject to similar regulatory standards.” Warren also noted the “potential need for Congress to take additional action on these matters.”

Warren sent a separate letter later in July (tinyurl.com/4zj74sfp) to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, asking Yellen, in her role as head of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to “mitigate the growing risks that cryptocurrencies pose to the financial system.”

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach released an Investor Bulletin in June about funds trading in bitcoin futures contracts (tinyurl.com/64v9rhbs), urging investors to “weigh carefully the potential risks and benefits of the investment.”

The future of bitcoin offerings for 401(k) plans may already have arrived. “Alt 401(k),” offered through ForUsAll (forusall.com), allows 401(k) plan participants to direct up to 5% of their balances to 50-plus different cryptocurrencies (tinyurl.com/xchmntwt). Coinbase Institutional (coinbase.com) is the cryptocurrency platform for the offering.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you can probably guess what my position might be on offering crypto through a 401(k) plan, a subject I will address in an upcoming column. In the meantime, what’s your position? Would you like to see cryptocurrency in your 401(k) plan? Either email me or take a few minutes to tell me through a five-question survey, the results of which I will share with you in a later column. The survey link is tinyurl.com/yf7cbbcv. If you write to me (readers@juliejason.com), please be sure to include your city and state, and the name of your newspaper.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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Beyond the headlines about Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and changes in leadership, there is an ongoing need to warn anyone with a Social Security number to be alert to identify theft. Stealing someone’s Social Security number is a gateway to financial fraud.

Be alert to these maneuvers.

Scammers are using a telephone call, text message or email in an attempt “to convince the recipient that they need to provide Social Security numbers, bank account or credit card information or passwords.” This is one of the categories highlighted in the IRS’s list of “Dirty Dozen” scams this year (tinyurl.com/2x96xsuh).

We need to “be alert for a continuing surge of fake emails, text messages, websites and social media attempts to steal personal information,” warns the IRS.

Phone scammers are even creating fake versions of ID badges that most federal employees use to access federal buildings, then texting or emailing photos of the fake badges to potential scam victims, according to the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General (tinyurl.com/5eh6s6ha).

Heed the regulators’ warnings. If you visit the Social Security website (SSA.gov), you won’t be able to miss the red banner near the top asking “What should I do if I get a call claiming there’s a problem with my Social Security number or account?”

Clicking on that area will lead you to a FAQ page (tinyurl.com/9ud4a78v) that details what the Social Security Administration (SSA) will or won’t do when it comes to phone calls. For starters: “If there is a problem, we will mail you a letter. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us.”

SSA employees “will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money”; and “If you receive a questionable call, hang up, and report the call to our Office of the Inspector General.” The website for reporting it is oig.ssa.gov.

Also watch out for “phishing” schemes, in which scammers use email to trick a recipient into either revealing personal information or interacting with a link or attachment that is malicious. The SSA has information for combating that tactic as well (tinyurl.com/2h7uxy58). Highlights from that page:

• “Most emails from Social Security will come from a ‘.gov’ email address. If an email address does not end in .gov, use caution before opening attachments or clicking on pictures or links in the email.”

• “Links, logos or pictures in the body of an official Social Security email will always direct you to an official Social Security website.”

• “If you are not certain that an email you received came from Social Security or one of our marketing firms, DO NOT respond to the email or click on any links contained in the email message.”

What if you receive a text from the SSA? Expect a legitimate text only in limited situations, such as if you have subscribed to receive updates and notifications by text, or as part of the security protocol when accessing a “my Social Security” account.

Signing up for the “my Social Security” account is a good idea, as the SSA believes it can help you “identify any suspicious activity.” If you haven’t signed up yet, go to ssa.gov/myaccount.

“In 2020, people filed more reports about Identity Theft (29.4% of all reports), in all its various forms, than any other type of complaint,” according to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2020, released in February 2021. Government agencies continue to send out warnings about the danger.

To learn more about scams targeting Social Security accounts, go to oig.ssa.gov/scam. You also can learn more about preventing and reporting fraud at ssa.gov/fraud.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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