Daily Money - New fear unlocked

plus candy psychology + Noah Kahan's credit card
͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ 
November 6, 2024 • Issue #260
Dollar Scholar
Presented by ADT

Hi y’all —

Welcome to the first-ever Dollar Scholar rerun! I realized recently that not everyone has been subscribed for all 260 issues, so I want to start occasionally surfacing some of my favorite newsletters from the past. I've been so busy with election coverage that I thought today would be a perfect opportunity to try it.

If you've read these pieces before, I'm sorry (can I get away with saying they get better with time, like a fine wine?). If you haven't, this should be cool.

Let me take you back in time to Issue #61, which went out on Sept. 16, 2020. Here we go…

A year ago, I walked into a birthday party at a shuffleboard-themed bar in Brooklyn and met a man who would change my life.

No, we didn’t fall in love. (I am very single, please help.) In reality, the man and I had a brief conversation that caused me to develop an intense fear of going to jail for insider trading.

The details are hazy, but here’s what I remember. While making small talk over drinks, I said I wrote for Money. He responded that he, coincidentally, worked for an investment bank. And then he started telling me how easy it is to get arrested for insider trading.

“We had to do a looong training at work about all the ways we could potentially be insider training,” he said, shrugging. “But I’m sure you know all about this, working at Money.”

As I stood there nodding, I was freaking out inside. Was I at risk? Was it actually that simple? It’s not like I would insider-trade on purpose — aside from the whole “against the law” thing, my journalist friends aren’t exactly bursting with top-secret stock tips — but this dude suggested it’s common to do accidentally.

Should I be worried I’m going to unintentionally participate in insider trading?

I called Joan MacLeod Heminway, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law who has studied this stuff for decades, to learn more. The first thing Heminway told me is that the world of insider trading law is “complicated.” Greaaat.

Next came the history lesson. Concern around insider trading in the U.S. dates back to the stock market crash of 1929, when people with insider info got out of the market before everyone else did. The Securities and Exchange Commission was established in the aftermath.

Two federal securities laws passed in the ‘30s presented a simple fix to the insider trading problem. The law made it so any officer, director or significant shareholder of a public company was liable to that firm for profits they got from buying and selling their stock within six months.

Eventually, though, the SEC and prosecutors got “a little tired of other behaviors” not previously laid out in the law, Heminway said. (Basically, other people with nonpublic information were crossing the line — not just officers and directors.) The government began using general fraud protections to enforce against people they believed were acting unfairly. These are “mushy and broad,” Heminway explained, and prohibit deception in any purchase or sale of securities.

“Sounds good, right?” she adds. “The problem is getting courts to say what ‘deception’ means in this context.”

did the cullens pay taxes and if so, how do they pay taxes for hundreds of years on one person’s ssn without it getting suspicious? also how has Alice not gotten caught for insider trading

Since the '70s, the U.S. Supreme Court has produced a handful of major decisions saying that deception means different things in different scenarios, but it always involves some sort of breach of duty. This makes sense for officers and directors — they’ve got a clear duty of trust and confidence to their firm, so if they breach that by buying/selling securities themselves OR tipping off someone else who’s not entitled to that info, it’s definitely deceptive.

But it’s tricky when it comes to regular people like me.

“It’s not merely the unfairness of holding nonpublic information and trading on that that is actually punished,” Heminway says. “If the person doesn't have a duty to someone that’s breached by doing that, then that person is not liable for insider trading violations.”

For example, say I overhear two people in an elevator gossiping about an upcoming product release. In my head, I connect it back to a particular company, and later I go make a trade relating to that information. Because I don’t owe that company a duty, and they weren’t technically disclosing the info, I'm not likely to be liable under U.S. law for insider trading violations.

However, Heminway says I probably don’t want to push it.

“One should not use nonpublic information that one comes upon in order to really avoid liability,” she adds. “If you have it and nobody else has it, you shouldn’t use it — at least without checking with a good lawyer.”

In practice, this means I shouldn’t look at information on my roommate’s computer and avoid eavesdropping on her phone conversations, because she could deem there to be a duty of trust and confidence between us. Same goes for my acquaintances, siblings and romantic partners.

“You don't want to take risks getting information from a friend that [they] may not be entitled to share with you, especially if you know they work for an investment bank or law firm or a particular company,” Heminway adds.

The bottom line
(but please don't tell me you scrolled past all of my hard work)

To be safe, I should avoid doing pretty much any trading based on information I don’t think is public. It’s a complex subject area, and not one I want to mess with.

Heminway says with the rise in working from home, the probability of people overhearing stuff they shouldn't — and then acting upon it — has increased.

“Even short of a[n insider trading] scheme, people can get themselves into trouble in this area,” she adds.

Your secret's safe with me.
via Giphy

Advertisement
ADT
when every second counts, count on ADT

ADT offers top home security that could potentially help save you money on insurance and energy costs. Get a quote now and help protect what matters most.

GET STARTED

*Homeowners Insurance Savings: Some insurance companies offer discounts on homeowners insurance. Please consult your insurance company.

Receipt of the week
check out this wild celebrity purchase
Noah Kahan
via Instagram

Singer Noah Kahan got his wallet stolen at New York's LaGuardia Airport last month and, like any of us would, immediately began tracking the thief's spending habits. Kahan posted on Instagram that the person who took his wallet promptly went to a Kentucky football game and likely bought 15 overpriced hotdogs. "Come on dawg we gotta be collaborative in our spending!!" Kahan wrote. "Check in with me first."

Internet gold
five things I'm loving online right now
1
Is there a scientific reason why holiday Reese's taste so much better than regular ones?
2
OK, I answered my own question. I looked it up, and Spoon University reports that there's actual psychological research that shows people perceive round chocolates to be creamier than other shapes. In addition, “these things tap into our sense of adventure,” one expert said. “They look different, and that can make you feel like it’s… a little more out of your normalcy, and humans have a really strong desire to be adventurous.” That plus the slightly different ratio of chocolate to peanut butter results in a delectable dessert.
3
Moo Deng, the sequel? The hippos at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland just gave birth to Haggis, a tiny endangered pygmy hippo calf. In a blog post, zookeeper Jonny Appleyard said that "it is amazing to see her personality beginning to shine already," but only time will tell if Haggis is as sassy as her predecessor.
4
This website purports to show famous people who were alive at the same time, and some of the results are bananas. Did you know Pablo Picasso was 86 when Nelson Mandela was 49? Or that Antonio Vivaldi's life overlapped with the pirate Blackbeard's?
5
 Duck dressed as cow (plus bonus dachshund).

401(k)ITTY CONTRIBUTION
send me cute pictures of your pets, please
Bigotes
via Leslie Cook
This is Bigotes. Bigotes is on the lookout for insider trading purrpetrators.

See you next week.

P.S. How do you make investing decisions? What's your favorite seasonal Reese's shape? How many hotdogs could you eat in one sitting? Send questions, comments concerns — BUT NOT TOP-SECRET STOCK TIPS — to julia@money.com.

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube
LinkedIn
TikTok
Threads
This newsletter is free because Money earns a commission when you click or make purchases from the links in this email and on our site. We also receive compensation for some of the products and services featured in this message. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Learn more about how we make money.

Privacy PolicyAdvertise With UsWe're Hiring!

To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.

Copyright ©2024 Money Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Metro Office Park Calle 1, Building 7 Suite 204, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00968, USA

Older messages

🚨 What Trump's victory could mean for your money

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

here are his stated economic priorities ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

How the Next President May Impact Your Retirement

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Today's election could have big implications ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

🇺🇸 Election Day and your wallet: What to know

Monday, November 4, 2024

inside the candidates' stances on key financial issues ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

Looking for a smart way to protect your wealth?

Monday, November 4, 2024

How gold can help you diversify and reduce risk ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

Don’t overpay for car insurance

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Shop around for more affordable coverage ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

You Might Also Like

Is your Medicare coverage falling short?

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

This may be the perfect time to get a Medigap plan Explore all your Medigap options All Medigap plans cover certain costs, such as copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles that Medicare doesn't

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Transplants are learning tough lessons ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

Missed Out? Here’s Your Final Opportunity to Join F.A.S.T Profits!

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Last call ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Dirt-cheap toys imported into U.S. can be dangerous

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

If you're tempted to buy kids' toys at rock-bottom prices online this holiday season, consumer advocates want you to think twice — and maybe three times. View this email online Planet Money I

Adaptation is to mitigation what Robin is to Batman

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Jenny Clark and Theresa Löber The UK's climate continues to change, getting wetter and warmer, with extremes becoming ever more pronounced. Even if we limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-

🦾 OpenAI's big target

Monday, December 2, 2024

OpenAI is aiming for one billion users, China's manufacturing activity was up, and one intrepid cat | Finimize TOGETHER WITH Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for December 3rd in 3:14

Identity theft is more common than you might think

Monday, December 2, 2024

Three in 10 Americans were affected in 2023 ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

The One-Big-Side-Bet Model of Wealth Creation

Monday, December 2, 2024

Plus! Diff Jobs; Building Japan's Financial Ecosystem; The New Balance of Trade; Where Return on Investment Goes; Broken ETFs; Swipe Fees and Accounting The One-Big-Side-Bet Model of Wealth

This is not a Cyber Monday deal

Monday, December 2, 2024

But you have one month free of Ellevest. ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌  ͏ ‌

Spring semester is approaching — are you ready?

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Invest in your career with a private student loan for grad school Your future starts today — apply for a private student loan Postgraduate studies can propel your career forward, helping unlock higher