Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Investors

Why do some older investors lose big while others prosper? An AARP survey suggests a few reasons.

Those who get fleeced tend to be risk takers. They crave home runs, not singles.

Often they trade more frequently.

They're more likely to be drawn to unregulated alternative investments. "Nearly half of fraud victims," the survey finds, "compared with less than a third of general investors, agreed that 'the most profitable financial returns are often found in investments that are not regulated by the government.'”

They're more susceptible to sales pitches.

The losers surveyed were 70 or older, but the same traits can separate anyone from his or her money.

When Bombers Trumped Inheritance

From a  Bessemer Trust lawyer's notes on the recent Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning.

Estate tax repeal has been considered by various administrations. One staffer from 1986 has stated that negotiation of the momentous 1986 Tax Reform Act came down to one last item. The legislative staffers told President Reagan that he could get rid of the estate tax but he would have to give up the B-2 bomber. President Reagan replied that he would rather keep the B-2 bomber.

Forging a Will? Don't Draft It Online

Matt, a roustabout who survived the Deepwater Horizon explosion and received a multi-million-dollar settlement for his injuries, wanted to buy a house in his home town. At a local real estate agency he was introduced to Donna, who found him a property near her own home. Soon Matt, with Donna's encouragement, was dating her teenage daughter, Alex.

When Matt died in a crash of his Crossfire (no seat belt!)  his considerable estate presumably passed to his young son. But lo and behold, Donna soon found a copy of a will Matt had made in 2014, leaving almost everything to Alex.

Where was the original? The resourceful Donna found that, too, in front of witnesses, when she opened a safe in Matt's home. The will shortchanged Matt's son so severely that the probate court approved a settlement giving him 15% of the estate.

But the young son may do much better, if the Feds don't decide to keep Matt's assets. Someone has discovered that Matt's will was drafted online, at Formswift.com. When? Digital footprints indicate the will was created in 2015, some days after Matt died.

Donna is slated to go on trial for her alleged crimes in April. You can read the whole story here, complete with a few quotes from the Wills, Trusts and Estate Prof.

Or maybe it's not the whole story, Circumstantial evidence hints that Matt did make a will, so far unfound.

Note: The article linked above is now behind a paywall, but here's an update.