3 Ways to Pass Down a Home

3 Ways to Pass Down a Home

April 15, 2025 Austin Jarvis

The pros and cons of different methods for leaving a home to your heirs.

When it comes to estate planning, a family home can be among the most valuable—and complicated—assets to pass down. It's natural to want to see a cherished home stay within the family, but you'll want to think about not only your own needs and wishes but also those of your heirs.

For example, your child may love the family home and all the memories that go with it, but do they actually want to live there? If you have multiple heirs, is it realistic for them to co-own the property, or will such an arrangement create conflict?

You also need to consider the role the house will play in your later years. Do you plan to stay in the home, or is it possible you may move at some point? All of this factors into how—and whether—you transfer the property to your kids.

With that in mind, here are three ways to pass along a home to your heirs—both during and after your lifetime—while also potentially lowering your tax bill and avoiding unexpected costs to your heirs.

1. Sell It

If you're looking to move or put your home's equity to use elsewhere, selling the home to a child or other heir could be a good option. Doing so removes the property from your taxable estate and establishes a new cost basis—meaning the capital gains on any future sale will be calculated using the value of the home on the date of the transfer rather than your original purchase price.

Although you might be tempted to sell the home at a low price, be careful not to go below its fair market value. Otherwise, the difference between the sale price and the market value could be subject to gift taxes.

2. Gift It

As generous as it is to gift a home to an heir during your lifetime, it could have negative tax repercussions. That's because such a gift counts toward your lifetime gift tax exemption. That might not seem like an issue now that the combined estate and lifetime gift tax exemption is $13.99 million for individuals ($27.98 million for married couples) in 2025, but that number is set to come down by half starting in 2026.

Unless Congress extends the limitations, such a gift could result in a federal estate tax of up to 40%, depending on the size of your estate. State-level gift, estate, and inheritance taxes could also be a factor, depending on where you live.

The tax consequences could be even more severe for your heirs, especially if you give your home to your child while you're alive—such as through a deed transfer. If your child decides to sell the home, the cost basis will be calculated using your original purchase price, potentially increasing the capital gains.

3. Pass It Down

Generally speaking, there are three methods for leaving a home to your heirs:

TO READ MORE:  https://workplace.schwab.com/story/3-ways-to-pass-down-home

Why Some People Get Rich and Others Can’t Seem To, According to Ramit Sethi

Why Some People Get Rich and Others Can’t Seem To, According to Ramit Sethi

Karen Doyle  Sun, June 8, 2025   GOBankingRates

Ramit Sethi — entrepreneur, best-selling author of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich,” host of the popular podcast by the same name, and star of Netflix’s “How to Get Rich” — has spent years studying what sets the wealthy apart from others.

In his study of success, Sethi’s insights reveal why some people build lasting wealth while others struggle to get ahead.

Here are the important reasons Sethi believes some people get rich and others don’t.

Get Stuck or Get Successful

What he has learned is that some people get stuck instead of getting rich. They spin their wheels, stuck on the same problem for years. The people who get rich, on the other hand, look for solutions to the specific problem they are facing.

This is not to say that those who stay stuck aren’t trying. In fact, they are trying new things all the time — a new morning routine, new productivity apps, a get-rich-quick scheme, even new foods or a different diet. But these are not the things that will get you unstuck, according to Sethi. There’s only one thing that will do that.

Mental Mastery

The secret, according to Sethi, is mental mastery. Or, as he calls his program, Mental Mastery. Sethi developed this program after he surveyed a large group of successful people to learn how they did it. He grilled them on how they navigated career moves, learned from bosses — good and bad — and ultimately built successful businesses.

There are four components to mental mastery, and Sethi explains what they are and why you need them.

Unshakeable Confidence

Sethi found that successful people exhibit unshakeable confidence. They believe in themselves, and they truly believe they can do whatever they want. They believe they are entitled to their success.

Unwavering Focus

They demonstrate unwavering focus, another requirement for the mental mastery that leads to success. Sethi recommends that you maintain a laser focus on what you want and forget all distractions. Believe that nothing can stand in your way.

Motivation

Those who have mental mastery are unstoppable when it comes to motivation. His program teaches you how to attain the energy and excitement needed to do exactly what you want, at the time you want to do it.

TO READ MORE:  https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/why-people-rich-others-t-120218144.html

Bill Gates’ Top 5 Tips for Getting Richer

Bill Gates’ Top 5 Tips for Getting Richer

Gabriel Vito  Sat, June 7, 2025  GOBankingRates

Bill Gates didn’t just co-found Microsoft and become one of the richest people on Earth; he did it by thinking long-term, building smart habits and staying relentlessly curious.

And here’s the good news: many of his most valuable money strategies don’t require a billion-dollar business or a computer science degree. Gates has shared several principles that can help anyone, regardless of their salary, become wealthier over time. Below are five Gates-inspired tips to grow your wealth, build resilience and start thinking like a billionaire.

Build Skills That Never Go Out of Style

Gates is a lifelong learner, someone who reads dozens of books a year and still makes time for in-depth study. “Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding,” Gates said in an interview with The New York Times.

He’s particularly bullish on learning to code, analyze data or understand science and systems thinking. But it doesn’t have to be technical. What matters is picking up skills that add long-term value and can grow with you, like writing, solving complex problems or leading a team.

Stay Optimistic, Even When Progress Is Slow

Gates is a long-term thinker. He’s spent decades solving massive global problems, from eradicating diseases to rethinking energy and he’s often said that believing progress is possible is the first step to making it real. “Even in dire situations, optimism fuels innovation and leads to new approaches that eliminate suffering,” Bill Gates said during his 2014 commencement address at Stanford University.

That same mindset applies to building wealth. If you’re starting from scratch, it’s easy to feel like you’ll never get ahead. But optimism, paired with consistent action, is what keeps you moving forward.

Wealth isn’t built overnight. It’s built by people who believe their effort matters and who keep going even when it doesn’t feel flashy or fast.

Save Cautiously, But Bet Boldly on the Future

TO READ MORE:  https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/bill-gates-top-5-tips-180040321.html

Barbara Corcoran’s Top 8 Tips That Will Save You From Financial Disaster

Barbara Corcoran’s Top 8 Tips That Will Save You From Financial Disaster

Laura Beck  Fri, June 6, 2025 GOBankingRates   

Barbara Corcoran is largely known for her role as one of the most powerful investors on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” But do you know how she made a lot of her money?

Well, as a matter of fact, Corcoran built her wealth thanks to her wildly successful real estate career. She has been wheeling and dealing on the national stage for quite some time, and she has learned a thing or two about money along the way.

Corcoran’s financial advice comes largely from her experience and what she knows best: real estate and money management. If you’re looking for help with either, check out Corcoran’s eight top tips to help you succeed.

Buy a Home as Soon as You Can

When it comes to financial markets that can grow your wealth, Corcoran believes in getting into the real estate housing market early.

“I think the sooner you get in the market, the sooner you have a chip in the game. You can trade up,” she said.

She says it’s always a good time to buy, because even if the market feels high now, house prices usually go up in the long term. If volatile economic activity as of late is any indication, you might want to get your financial assets lined up so you can heed her advice.

Don’t Wait for Interest Rates To Drop

While many people are waiting for financial institutions to lower interest rates before buying a home, Corcoran warns against this strategy. She believes that when rates do drop, there will be a rush to buy, driving prices up by 10% to 20%.

Her advice: Don’t wait — act now.

TO READ MORE   https://finance.yahoo.com/news/barbara-corcoran-top-8-tips-140011614.html

How To Save Hundreds With 3 Steps, According to Ramit Sethi

How To Save Hundreds With 3 Steps, According to Ramit Sethi

Brooke Barley  Wed, June 4, 2025   GOBankingRates

When paring down a budget, some might think that means eliminating anything fun-especially when there’s debt to pay off. Entrepreneur and author of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” Ramit Sethi insists that’s not true, even if a consumer has unpaid debt. In a recent video Sethi posted on his Instagram, he said “I believe in living a rich life today and living a rich life tomorrow, even if you have debt.”

His video went on to detail three ways that consumers can find some wiggle room in their budgets. These are methods that Sethi said most people “won’t even miss.” Read on to find out how to find these hidden savings.

Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions

Sethi’s first suggestion was for people to look at their subscriptions and see if there are any they wouldn’t mind canceling-or didn’t even remember they were subscribed to. According to a recent statistic, around 85% of people have at least one paid subscription that they don’t use every month.

This comes out to about $32 a month or almost $400 a year. This could be a tremendous savings that consumers can net without changing their routine at all. Check bank and credit card statements for recurring charges during an entire month to see every subscription, then determine if there are any that can get the boot.

Switch Insurance Carriers

Sethi recommended that individuals call their insurance companies (car, renters’, pet, etc.) and say “I’m shopping around for a better rate. What can you do for me?” If the insurance company is unable to offer a better deal, switch carriers.

Most consumers who had switched carriers in the past five years earned a median savings of $461. It’s a good idea to look into competitors’ rates about every six months or so to make sure you have the lowest price.

TO READ MORE:  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/save-hundreds-per-month-3-170107695.html

They’ll Ignore It Until It’s a Crisis [Podcast]

They’ll Ignore It Until It’s a Crisis [Podcast]

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  June 5, 2025

Think for a moment about how many times something has been whipped up into a national issue by either the big legacy media or prominent politicians.

The public has been subjected to what they call “a national conversation” about everything from transgender bathrooms to Confederate monuments to abortion rights to climate change.

Many of these issues only affect a few people. Sometimes more. But not once have these same media or political personalities elevated the ONE issue that could deeply and adversely impact hundreds of millions of people over the next few years.

I’m talking about the US national debt... and its runaway trajectory that could easily become a major financial crisis in a few years.

The impact crater for a US debt crisis is gargantuan. 350 million people in the US would have their lives turned upside down. Dozens of countries who rely on the US financial system would suffer tremendous pain. Billions of people would be affected.

Yet there’s hardly a word about it. Far more ink has been spilled debating who should use which bathroom. It’s crazy when you think about it.

Many of those same people who should be elevating this issue are now complaining that Elon Musk did a “complete 180” because he thinks the $2 trillion projected deficit from the new tax/spending bill is an “abomination”.

I don’t see how this is a 180. Before, during, and after the election, Elon has been laser-focused on personally trying to fix America’s biggest threat: the ticking debt time bomb.

His message hasn’t changed. And the guy sacrificed plenty of time, money, and reputation to personally try and stop the catastrophe that will come if these deficits aren’t dealt with.

At least a few other prominent voices are finally echoing Elon’s warning—like Jamie Dimon, CEO of the world’s biggest bank.

That’s progress. Because the legacy media sure as hell won’t start this conversation on its own.

And that’s exactly why it’s hard to imagine we’ll hit the critical mass of voters needed to force politicians to do the right thing and tackle the deficits.

That’s what we dig into in today’s episode.

We break down how even supposedly serious financial media—like the Wall Street Journal—refuses to report on just how dire this situation really is.

One recent piece from the Journal even mocked people for buying gold to protect themselves from the obvious outcome of inflation. This is utterly hilarious, of course, given that gold has been one of the world’s best performing asset classes for this entire CENTURY.

But, hey, to the Journal, I guess we’re all just a bunch of idiots.

Today’s podcast also covers:

• How everyone loves spending cuts... until you threaten their sacred cow (like taxpayer-funded Sesame Street)
  

• What runaway interest costs mean for your future—and to the future of the US dollar
  

• Why politicians won’t act until there’s a full-blown crisis—and what that will probably look like
  

• That the debt problem is “solvable”—and why JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon agrees with the solution we’ve been saying all along
  

• Why slashing regulations needs to be part of that solution
  

• Why strategic assets like gold, silver, uranium, and platinum are now more important than ever.

You can listen in here.

(For the audio-only version, check out our online post here.)

CLICK HERE to listen to our latest podcast.

To your freedom,  James Hickman   Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC

https://www.schiffsovereign.com/podcast/podcast-theyll-ignore-it-until-its-a-crisis-152910/?inf_contact_key=8a5d9eefd4c7eb9456526842267e29ab2ec2094b0cea6b68b61d0db7a8f697f7

A Digital Tipping Error Gone Wrong

A Digital Tipping Error Gone Wrong

Victoria Vesovski  Wed, June 4, 2025  Moneywise

California Woman Thought She’d Left A $5 Tip Until She Saw It Was $5,000 — and was told it couldn’t be voided

Americans have long grumbled about tipping culture — but now digital checkout screens are turning that frustration into full-blown financial disasters.

Sometimes, the issue isn’t just pressure to tip — it’s how easy it is to make a costly mistake. One in five Americans say they’ve accidentally tipped more than intended on digital checkout screens, according to an exclusive Opinium poll for DailyMail.com on tipping culture.

That’s exactly what happened to Linda Mathiesen. While buying CBD pain relief gel at a store in San Bruno, California, she accidentally tipped $5,000 on a $129.28 purchase.

Mathiesen said she meant to leave a $5 tip, but the payment terminal didn’t show a decimal point, so when she entered “5000,” the system took it — literally.

At first, the clerk at San Bruno Exotic told her the charge couldn’t be reversed. Then the story shifted — he claimed the shop never received the money. But Mathiesen’s bank statement showed otherwise.

“I’m just livid because I’m like I’m not going to pay $5,000 for something I never intended to happen,” Mathiesen told ABC 7 News.

A tipping error gone wrong

For Mathiesen, a $5,000 tipping mistake wasn’t just a moment of panic — it became a financial crisis. As a special education teacher living on a fixed income, she didn’t have the cushion to absorb the hit. With no emergency savings to fall back on, the charge was devastating.

And she’s not alone. According to the U.S. News survey, 42% of Americans have no emergency savings, despite experts recommending three to six months’ worth of expenses.

Mathiesen contacted Wells Fargo within five minutes of the transaction, but says the bank has done little to help, despite its promise of “zero liability protection” for promptly reported fraud.

The bank’s website says its “built-in protection features ensure that you won't be held responsible for unauthorized transactions, as long as they're reported promptly.” Yet, a year later, Mathiesen is still fighting to get the charge reversed.

"I busted out in tears,” she told ABC 7 News. "My son is graduating college next week ... and I can't even buy anything for him because I have $5,000 outstanding ... now it's $5,500!"

It’s not as rare as you’d think

Digital checkout screens may speed things up, but one wrong tap can turn a routine purchase into a nightmare

It happened to Vera Conner, too. The Georgia woman was ordering her usual No. 4 Italian sandwich at Subway — priced at $7.54 — when she accidentally left a $7,112.98 tip.

TO READ MORE:  https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/california-woman-thought-she-d-223000286.html

Frugal Tips to Help You Spend Less and Live Better in 2025

Frugal Tips to Help You Spend Less and Live Better in 2025

May 7, 2025 by Rudri Patel

Want to save money without giving up the things you love? It may feel overwhelming at first, but taking small micro steps will definitely help you spend less.

These practical frugal living tips help you cut expenses, reduce waste and take back control of your budget — all without feeling like you’re depriving yourself.

How To Start Living Frugally (Beginner Tips) 

If you’re just starting your journey of frugal living, where do you start? Here are a few tips for beginners:  

• Cut one bill. Try to cut out one subscription or lower the cost of one of your bills. Call your cable company, internet servicer or phone company to see if you can negotiate on the price.  

• Track every dollar. Understand where your money is going. Use a notebook or an app to track your spending. This will give you a sense of where you need to cut spending.  

• Cook more at home. Try to make meals at home to prevent spending money dining out.  

12 Frugal Living Tips to Help You Save Money 

Frugal living isn’t about depriving yourself — it’s about making intelligent choices that boost your savings without sacrificing your quality of life. These 12 frugal tips are designed to guide you through various aspects of your daily spending, showing you where you can cut costs and how to make the most of your budget.

From smart shopping strategies to efficient home management, these tips provide a roadmap to a more financially savvy and sustainable lifestyle. 

Frugal Home Habits 

Use coupons, cashback apps and loyalty programs 

Coupons can help save money, and loyalty programs can earn you discounts on various products. Cashback apps return a portion of your spending back to you.  

Plan your meals  

Meal planning is an effective way to minimize food waste and save money. By planning your meals for the week, you can buy only what you need, reducing impulse purchases and ensuring that you use up the food you buy, thus saving money on groceries. 

Embrace energy efficiency 

Investing in energy-efficient appliances and practices around your home can lead to significant savings on utility bills. Simple changes like switching to LED bulbs, using energy-efficient appliances and better insulating your home can reduce your energy consumption and save money in the long run. 

Smarter Shopping and Spending 

Shop off-season 

Buying off-season items can save a lot of money. For example, buying winter clothes at the end of the season or getting holiday decorations after the holiday has passed can lead to significant discounts. 

TO READ MORE:  https://www.gobankingrates.com/saving-money/savings-advice/frugal-tips/

Here’s How To Cash In Your Change Jar As US Says Goodbye To Pennies

Here’s How To Cash In Your Change Jar As US Says Goodbye To Pennies

Liesel Nygard  Mon, June 2, 2025

With the Treasuring Department’s plans to stop the production of pennies, the public might be wondering what this means for their giant coin collection at home.

Payments made with cash by American consumers decreased to 16% in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve, and for the first time in history was not the most-used instrument for smaller-value payments of $25 or less.

In February, President Donald Trump announced that he had ordered his administration to cease production of the penny, which costs almost 4 cents to create, according to the U.S. Mint. Ending penny production is expected to create an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs.

The news has caused some pushback as fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel, which costs almost 14 cents to mint.

Circulation pathways for coins have declined as consumer coin jars continue to grow and have expanded by as much as 15% to 20%, according to a 2023 Federal Reserve report. In fact, the median household sits on $60 to $90 in coins which is the equivalent of one to two 16-ounce cups or a medium-sized piggy bank.

This is mostly due to the lack of utility of coins as a payment option as digital payments have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve added.

“When asked why consumers do not redeem their coins more frequently, the most common answer was that it was not worth the effort to do so,” the institution’s report reads.

Rather than collecting dust, consumers could visit a coin exchange kiosk or bank to trade those coins for cash.

“People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,” Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar told Delaware Online. “It’s a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.”

TO READ MORE:  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cash-change-jar-us-says-174124726.html

This Is A $118 Billion “Strategy” For Insanity

This Is A $118 Billion “Strategy” For Insanity

Notes From the Field By James Hickman  (Simon Black)  June 3, 2025

Last week when I wrote about America’s new stablecoin legislation (bizarrely called the “GENIUS Act”), a number of readers wrote in asking me to clarify a comment that I made about the Bitcoin company ‘Strategy’, i.e. formerly MicroStrategy.   I explained in the article that I am pro-crypto and have been since the early 2010s; for me it’s about freedom.

Many banks have proven time and time again that they simply cannot and should not be trusted with their customers’ money.

Wells Fargo is the poster child for blatant theft and deceit. And Bank of America is currently the prime example of recklessly irresponsible decision-making; that institution has managed to rack up more than $100 BILLION of unrealized losses from bad investments they made with YOUR money.

 Crypto eliminates all of this. You can store your savings (whether as a risk asset like Bitcoin, or via US dollar stablecoins) and transact without having to deal with a bank. And this is a massive benefit.

 Then there’s Strategy-- the company formerly known as MicroStrategy. By its own description, Strategy is “Bitcoin Treasury company”, which is to say that their primary business is to own Bitcoin.

 And they own lots of Bitcoin-- 580,955 to be exact, worth $61.5 billion at the current price. Yet Strategy’s enterprise value is $118+ billion, or nearly TWICE the value of its Bitcoin. And this is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen in financial markets.

Yes, technically, Strategy also has a software business, because they barely mention it.

Just have a look at Strategy’s own Q1 update-- a NINETY-TWO-page presentation that had precisely ONE slide (#26) devoted to its software business. Literally one slide. And there wasn’t even much detail-- the slide was entitled “Software Highlights” and only showed top-level revenue.

In other words, the company’s own presentation spends about 1% of its time talking about the software business without bothering to mention whether or it it’s even profitable.

(It’s not profitable; if you read the footnotes and financial addenda, you’ll see that Strategy’s “cloud-based, AI-powered” software loses LOTS of money…)

 The other 99% of the presentation talks about Bitcoin. So, Strategy makes no bones about it-- they are a Bitcoin company. Full stop.

And if they’re not talking about Bitcoin, they’re talking about how much money they’re going to raise, to buy more Bitcoin.

 Strategy’s current plan calls for a whopping $42 billion in new capital-- a number they seem to have landed on not through hardcore financial analysis, but as a joke related to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in which ‘42’ is the answer to the ultimate question of life.

 Half of this $42 billion will be raised by indebting the company more, and the other half by diluting existing shareholders.

 Management’s ultimate goal is to increase the average number of ‘Bitcoin per share’ that the company holds. That’s not unreasonable. But for this to happen, there are a number of things that have to go right-- from cybersecurity to crypto markets-- nearly all of which are beyond their control.

 They don’t seem to have given these risks much thought. They assume, for example, that the Bitcoin price will appreciate by 30% per year.

And there are a number of very attractive charts, several of which demonstrate how high Strategy’s stock price will go in various scenarios. They show graphs with lines that start from the bottom left and soar to the top right, and there seems to be no credible way in which investors could lose money.

 Then they polish it all off with made-up metrics like “Bitcoin Yield”, “Bitcoin Multiple”, “BTC $ Income”, and my personal favorite, “Bitcoin Torque”.

 Strategy ends up disclosing six full pages of definitions just to explain what the hell they mean with these new terms.

 For example, they humbly admit that “BTC $ Income is not equivalent to ‘income’ in the traditional financial context.” In other words, it’s not income. But they’re calling it income anyway.

 Honestly it reminds me of Adam Neumann making up his own financial metrics when he infamously published WeWork’s “Community Adjusted Earnings” several years ago.

 Strategy concludes its Q1 update by asking shareholders to spread the word and “educate their peers” about Bitcoin and MicroStrategy securities, i.e. help us keep this bubble going by finding more people to overpay for our assets.

And that’s exactly what it is; again, based on its stock price, Strategy is worth $118+ billion. Yet its BTC holding are worth $61.5 billion. So, anyone who buys Strategy stock solely for the Bitcoin exposure is overpaying by 2x.

 Buying Strategy stock is the equivalent of paying $210,000 for Bitcoin today. And if you are willing to pay $210,000 for Bitcoin today, please contact me right away and I will gladly sell you some of mine.

 Strategy doesn’t hide from this insanity. In fact, they’re leaning into it. They even track this on their website under the metric “mNAV”, i.e. the multiple by which investors overpay for the company’s Bitcoin.

 Their presentation actually tries to rationalize this phenomenon; they claim the 2x mNAV is justified because of their stock’s volatility (which attracts traders) or that their “brand recognition and scale drive superior investor interest.”

 Some of their financial models even assume that this mNAV will INCREASE to 3x!

 Maybe so. But the bottom line is that there’s most likely a lot more upside to own Bitcoin directly. And the hard truth is that if you can’t figure out how to own Bitcoin directly, you probably shouldn’t bother buying Bitcoin to begin with… let alone paying twice the price for it.

To your freedom,  James Hickman  Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC

https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/this-is-a-118-billion-strategy-for-insanity-152900/?inf_contact_key=d0a274af81cebec34b5ad7c006c991b8c61f0136bd9e1f6d9cd3b34032effcc5

Bizarrely, The “GENIUS Act” Might Actually Be Pretty Genius…

Bizarrely, The “GENIUS Act” Might Actually Be Pretty Genius…

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  May 30, 2025

Peter Schiff isn’t just my partner at Schiff Sovereign-- we’ve been close friends for many years. And we generally see eye-to-eye on most things going on in the world.

 But one area where we disagree is crypto. Not to put words in his mouth, but Peter is pretty vocal in his criticism of Bitcoin; he says it’s “useless” and a “total scam” and predicts it will go to zero.

 I disagree. There are a number of important use cases for crypto-- whether as a speculative asset for capital gain, a store of value, a digital currency for online transactions, a private means to hold wealth, a way to disconnect from the banking system, etc.

 This isn’t a “scam”. Rather, it’s useful, functional technology… which is why I recommended it to my audience as far back as March 2013.

 Obviously crypto has deep flaws and areas to improve. And just like in any frontier boom, plenty of thieves and lunatics have emerged. But to judge crypto based on the misdeeds of Sam Bankman-Fried is like condemning the stock market because of Bernie Madoff.

 All that said, there are still plenty of things that I’m skeptical about.

 For example, I think there’s a bizarre disconnect between Bitcoin’s market cap and its actual value; I recognize that Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, and there’s some ‘brand value’ associated with that.

 But as the oldest cryptocurrency, it’s also the most technologically obsolete… therefore it should not be the most valuable; no other sector places the highest value on the most obsolete technology. Only crypto. And that’s a bit odd.

 There are plenty of other oddities; for example, it’s strange that the company Strategy (formerly Microstrategy) has an enterprise value of $112 billion, even though its only asset is $61 billion worth of Bitcoin.

 In other words, the company is worth nearly twice as much as the Bitcoin that it owns; this is bizarre and doesn’t make any sense.

I’m also extremely skeptical of the US government’s involvement in crypto; the pre-election promises of starting a Sovereign Wealth Fund to own Bitcoin struck me as completely ludicrous.

 I mean… think about it: one of the things that would drive up the price of Bitcoin is excessive government spending. So rather than cut spending, the government wants to own an asset that will benefit from their own financial irresponsibility. It’s back asswards in my humble opinion.

Naturally I was also skeptical when I heard about the GENIUS Act (Senate bill 394) to regulate crypto.

 Then I read the legislation. And I concluded that the GENIUS Act might actually be pretty genius.

GENIUS stands for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins”. Something tells me ChatGPT came up with that.

 And the basic idea is for state and federal regulators to authorize “Permitted Stablecoin Issuers” who could… well, do just that-- issue stablecoins.

 States can issue their own licenses and permits to stablecoin businesses. But once a particular coin passes a $10 billion market cap, it must be regulated by the Feds.

 Here’s the smart part: in the definition of stablecoins, they include anything that owns short-term Treasury bills. So, through this legislation, they are creating an entirely new class of investors who would purchase US government debt.

 This is pretty important, because the Treasury Department is in sore need of new lenders.

 Foreign investors are fleeing the Treasury market; after decades of being considered the world’s “risk-free asset”, foreign governments and central banks are aggressively reducing their dollar holdings.

This is THE primary reason why the gold price has come so high: foreign governments and central banks have been cashing in their Treasury bonds, then trading that US dollar cash for gold.

Given that the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” calls for another $2 trillion deficit this fiscal year, Treasury is going to need all the lenders it can get.

 Remember that stablecoins (especially under this legislation) are basically just money market funds in disguise; they pool capital and buy government bonds.

 So, this GENIUS Act is essentially a way of tapping crypto wealth and diverting that capital into Treasury securities.

 It’s a clever idea. But frankly it would be a lot better if the government simply cut spending rather than come up with innovative ways to finance the deficit.

 To your freedom,   James Hickman    Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC

https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/bizarrely-the-genius-act-might-actually-be-pretty-genius-152877/?inf_contact_key=621bb5036b24c6f1832a991bdeae679376f2a36d5c9f30736335e3c4f3607839