SEC Charges ‘Buckets of Money’ Radio Personality Ray Lucia

This might not be a Ponzi Scheme bust, but the Securities and Exchange Commission is charging a rather well known financial ‘guru.’  The SEC has charged Ray Lucia for spreading misleading information about his “Buckets of Money” strategy at a series of investment seminars that he and his company hosted for potential clients.  Lucia is a nationally syndicated radio personality and financial advice author and the SEC is attacking the backtesting claims made about testing several bear markets.

The SEC said, “Lucia, who lives in the San Diego area, and his company formerly named Raymond J. Lucia Companies Inc. (RJL) allegedly presented a lengthy slide show at the seminars indicating that extensive backtesting proved that the Buckets of Money strategy would provide inflation-adjusted income to retirees while protecting and even increasing their retirement savings. However despite the claims they made publicly, Lucia and RJL performed scant, if any, actual backtesting of the Buckets of Money strategy.”

The allegation is over a false sense of comfort and the SEC further stated, “Lucia and RJL have admitted during the SEC’s investigation that the only testing they actually performed were some calculations that Lucia made in the late 1990s – copies of which no longer exist – and two two-page spreadsheets.”

Lucia and RJL also allegedly failed to maintain adequate records of the backtesting per SEC requirements. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement is seeking financial penalties and other remedial action in the proceedings.

FULL SEC ORDER

JON C. OGG