Finance

Former candidates’ finance reports herald the past — and the future

Published

7 months ago

January 23, 2024

Former candidates’ finance reports herald the past — and the future

EVANSVILLE — For former Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, the required ritual of filing annual campaign fundraising reports signaled the end of an era in local politics.

The 2023 year-end report that Republican Winnecke filed Jan. 17 was accompanied by paperwork disbanding his political committee with no money in it. The former three-term mayor, who reported raising and spending more than $1.2 million for one of his re-election campaigns, didn’t run again last year. He did receive $18,000 in donations to go with $200,000-plus that he already had — but he spent it all in 2023 and shut the whole thing down.

For other former candidates who haven’t sought elected office in a while, the annual accounting of how much money remains in the kitty represents yet-to-be-realized hope. Or at least keeping the door open. Most don’t have anywhere near the amount a mayor typically raises, but they don’t need as much either.

More: Evansville mayoral candidates file reports painting very different pictures

Jason Ashworth, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for Vanderburgh County sheriff in 2022, said the $1,043.62 still rattling around in his campaign account might be seed money for a future campaign for him — or his wife, Kendyl.

“She’s in her 31st year of school teaching, and she obviously is very invested in (Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.), the kids in the corporation and in the community,” Ashworth said.

Whenever Kendyl Ashworth becomes eligible, her husband said, she might entertain the notion of seeking a seat on the EVSC school board. Or not. If neither of them runs for elected office, Jason Ashworth said, the leftover thousand dollars-plus will go “to charity or another candidate.”

Indiana state law 3-9-3-4 spells out ways money in campaign accounts may be spent, including “activity related to service in an elected office” and “continuing political activity.” The money can’t be used to pay personal expenses, but the law allows it to be spent for a variety of political actions. Giving money to other candidates is a common use of campaign funds.

County Coroner Steve Lockyear still holds elected office, but he has served the maximum allowed two consecutive terms in office and may not seek re-election this year. Lockyear said he plans to retire — but there’s still the matter of the $519.06 left in his campaign fund.

“I think legally you can donate to another candidate or to the party, and that’s probably what I’ll do,” said Lockyear, a Democrat. “It’s been one of those things my wife (attorney Krista Lockyear) and I have discussed over the last four years, on getting rid of the account — but you fill out one of these papers and you kind of forget about it until the next year. Then you start going, ‘Oh darn, we’ve got to file that report again. We need to close that account.’”

For some former candidates, intrigue remains

Sometimes there’s enough in a former candidate’s still-active campaign account to raise eyebrows — and questions about the future.

Former Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann, who last sought office more than a year and a half ago, reported that he still has more than $39,000 in his account.

Hermann is the subject of persistent rumors in legal and political circles that he will seek a Superior Court judgeship this year, but he did not return messages about his political plans or the money in his campaign account. The deadline for filing candidacy is Feb. 9.

School board member Amy Word, who is fighting a felony criminal charge that accuses her of “maintaining a common nuisance” at Lamasco Bar & Grill, has said she will not seek re-election in 2024.

But Word did file an annual campaign finance report Thursday, one day after the state deadline for doing so.

Word reported that she still has nearly $2,600 in her campaign account. She reported raising no money in 2023 and spending just 50 cents from her the account, an un-itemized expenditure.

Phone and text messages to Word went unanswered.

More common is the report filed by Steve Ary, an unsuccessful mayoral candidate in 2019. The Committee to Elect Steve Ary reports having “$0.00” cash on hand, mainly because he hasn’t sought any elected office for several years.

But never say never.

“I intended on keeping (the campaign account) in case I was going to run again and, quite frankly, I don’t know that I am yet,” Ary said.

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Finance

What financial tips do Metro Detroit kids need to know?

Published

10 hours ago

September 1, 2024

Press Room

What financial tips do Metro Detroit kids need to know?

STARTING THIS FALL MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN WILL HAVE A NEW CLASS REQUIRMENT THEY’LL NEED TO COMPLETE IN ORDER TO GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL AND THAT’S A PERSONAL FINANCE CLASS THIS NEW REQUIRMENT IS HOPING STUDENTS CAN LEAVE SCHOOL WITH ESSENTIAL SKILLS IN BUDGETING, SAVING, AND INVESTING. THE HOPE ALSO IS THAT THIS YOUNGER GENERATION IN MICHIGAN WON’T HAVE TO FIGURE OUT FINANCIAL ROAD BLOCKS ON THEIR OWN AND THAT THEY CAN BUILD A SECURE FUTURE SEVEN NEWS DETROIT REPORTER PETER MAXWELL SPOKE WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT KIND OF ADVICE THEY COULD SHARE TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION

Finance

AI is too ‘sociopathic’ to give financial advice, MIT researchers say

Published

21 hours ago

September 1, 2024

Press Room

AI is too ‘sociopathic’ to give financial advice, MIT researchers say

The problem with AI in the context of it being used as a financial advisor is that it is “inherently sociopathic,” according to a Business Insider article which cited an MIT research report.

Nearly 40% of human financial advisors use generative-AI tools for the job, (Representational image/Pixabay)

Also Read: Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek due to labor shortage

Why is AI sociopathic?

While human financial advisors give clients recommendations using a behavioral lens, since people don’t always make rational or unbiased financial decisions, AI can easily argue on both sides of an argument because neither side has any weight to it.

How is AI used by financial advisors at the moment?

Nearly 40% of human financial advisors use generative-AI tools for the job, according to a report from data-analytics firm Escalent, which added that this was mostly for boosting productivity, generating content, and for marketing functions.

Also Read: New FASTag design launched to crack down on large vehicles using smaller vehicle tags to pay less toll

Examples include Canadian startup Conquest Planning using a financial-planning software with an AI architecture known as a blackboard system for storing information about tax rules, cash-flow mechanics, retirement-account structures, fiduciary rules, and more, according to the article, which added that another example would be Los Angeles-based wealth manager Arynton Hardy, who uses AI regularly to save time on data entry, portfolio monitoring, and other back-office tasks.

How can AI be made more useful for giving financial advice?

A method to make AI more empathetic to the client is by making it ask simple questions like “How are you doing?” before dispensing personalized financial advice, according to Andrew Lo, a professor of finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering, who co-authored the report.

The AI could also use audio or video from the client to identify emotional cues, like stress or fear, in their voice or facial expressions, he added.

“We think we’re about two or three years away before we can demonstrate a piece of software that by SEC regulatory guidelines will satisfy fiduciary duty,” the article quoted him as saying.

Also Read: Did the Tatas really have to merge Vistara with Air India?

Finance

Harris's proposed unrealized capital gains tax is unlikely to pass: CIO

Published

1 day ago

August 31, 2024

Press Room

Harris's proposed unrealized capital gains tax is unlikely to pass: CIO

Unrealized capital gains tax proposals may be floating back into the zeitgeist as the Harris presidential campaign marches on, but for some, the noise around it is much ado about nothing.

“I don’t think this unrealized thing is going to have much momentum because it is a very onerous process to come up with those numbers,” Raymond James chief investment officer Larry Adam told Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid podcast (see video above or listen here).

“You start putting biases of what you think [something] is worth versus the reality,” said Adam. “That becomes a very difficult equation to really put into a place.”

We’ve seen unrealized capital gains tax proposals before, but they’ve met plenty of resistance.

Most recently, the Biden administration proposed an unrealized capital gains tax for those with a net worth of over $100 million. The proposal could affect more than 10,600 people in the US, according to estimates.

But, unlike a capital gains tax, which is imposed on a sold item, deploying an unrealized capital gains tax is a trickier move.

Stifel chief Washington strategist Brian Gardner said in a recent client note that under an unrealized capital gains tax system, “ranking illiquid assets would not only be complicated but controversial,” adding that there would also need to be a way to provide taxpayers with “rebates for future losses.”

While analysts scratch their heads about the subject, an unrealized capital gains tax also has plenty of tomato throwers. Donald Trump called it “beyond socialism,” telling a crowd of small-business owners, “You will be forced to sell your restaurant immediately.”

Trump’s onetime US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, concurred.

“Frankly, I think it’s a ridiculous proposal,” Ross said on Opening Bid.

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk also had negative statements to share on the topic, proclaiming an unrealized capital gains tax would lead to “bread lines and ugly shoes.”

While Trump and Musk might deliver their messages to pack a wallop and make voters think, concerns aren’t necessarily unfounded.

Raymond James’s Adam has considered tax proposals made by both candidates, and thinks that regardless of the administration in office, higher taxes could impact households by almost $2,000. “[It] could be a big impact and a drag on the economy,” he said.

Both Harris and Trump face challenges given the expiration of a significant portion of the 2017 tax cuts at the end of 2025. Trump has proposed an additional extension of provisions from 2017 and potentially more tax cuts.

Harris proposed expanding the child tax credit and supported no increase in the capital gains tax, while taxing those making over $400,000 annually more.

While the presidential race is anyone’s game at this point, Adam isn’t that worried about an unrealized capital gains tax and the potential market losses. “[There’s] a low probability of it passing,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to mark to market every single year for your taxes.”

Three times each week, Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi fields insight-filled conversations and chats with the biggest names in business and markets on Opening Bid. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service.

In the below Opening Bid episode, former Trump nominee to the Federal Reserve Judy Shelton shares her outlook for the economy.

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