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What are NFTs? Hey Taylor: I finally gave in and looked up NFTs. I guess the letters stand for NonFungible ToTaylor ken, and I’m Kovar probably more confused than before I did the research. Can you break this new trend down for me? - Marty Hey Marty: I’ll do my best! NFTs are surging in popularity along with the crypto boom, though we’ve been experimenting with and gaining understanding about cryptocurrency for over a decade so it’s easier for us to wrap our minds around that one. I’ll give a basic rundown, and I apologize in advance if this doesn’t clarify anything. Fungible. We can make sense of the words “token” and “non,” so it’s really the “fungible” that makes NFTs a head scratcher. In simpler terms, it means something that can’t be replicated. The reason people care and so much money is flying at NFTs, is that people are figuring out the digital version of an original Monet. Spend enough money and you are the only person in the world to own a specific graphic, video, GIF, etc. People might be able to create a visual replica, just like with a painting, but you’re the only one with the proper coding that makes it a unique part of a certain blockchain (almost always through Etherum at present). What can an NFT be? The answer to this question is why the concept might never make sense to some people. Anything can be an NFT, as long as it’s able to live in the blockchain. Music, a crypto coin, digital art, a YouTube video, a Google document. Online artwork is making the biggest waves, as the idea is that this will be the next big thing in art collecting. The blockchain
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coding that serves as proof of ownership has people thinking this will be a safe way to invest in original pieces even if it’s incredibly easy to make a billion copies of the piece. The speculation has its hooks in people, and digital art from creators you’ve probably never heard of has been selling for many, many millions of dollars. Passing fad or here to stay? As weird as the NFT concept might seem, it can’t be shrugged off. The amount of money these tokens have already generated means there’s value to the idea. If people are spending that kind of money, it means there’s no shortage of attention, and while we might not have discovered the truest value of NFTs, the process will keep getting refined and eventually take hold on a large scale. I don’t think you should empty your bank account to buy a specialized video made by your favorite YouTuber, but I think we should all keep an eye on this new financial arm of the blockchain. I’m guessing you’d still have a hard time explaining an NFT to someone else, but hopefully I’ve made you a little less confused. Thanks for asking! Legal Disclaimer: Information presented is for educational purposes only and is not an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. To submit a question to be answered in this column, please send it via email to Question@GoFarWithKovar.com or via USPS to Taylor Kovar, 415 S 1st St, Suite 300, Lufkin, TX 75901.
Living with children Several columns past, I took to my bully pulpit and excoriated men who are married with children for being fathers first John and husbands a Rosemond distant second (maybe even third behind sports fans). My point, for those of you who are behind the curve here, is that children don’t need fathers who are striving, as are so many of today’s dads, to be their kids’ best friends. They need fathers who are dedicated primarily to their wives, and in so being, show their kids what being properly married looks like. Allow me to repeat what I say as often as circumstances permit: Nothing puts a more solid foundation of security and well-being under a child than the knowledge that his parents are in a committed, vibrant relationship. So, the better the husband, the better the dad. It doesn’t work the other way around. The more energy a man pours into being the best dad in the history of humankind, the greater the disservice he is doing his kids. I shared my email address with the audience (john@rosemond.com) and received lots of feedback from both men and women. Surprisingly enough, not one respondent disagreed (which doesn’t mean no one disagreed). Some of the emails were rather poignant, like the dad who told me that the column had come as a slap in the face and that he’s now a bornagain husband. Yay! Then there was the email from the woman who told me that had I written the column five years ago (and assuming her then-husband would have taken it to heart), she might not be a single mother today. By no means are women without sin when it comes to their family priorities, however. These days, the most common family dynamic is one in which two married people, once they have kids, begin acting as if they vowed on their
wedding day to be husband and wife “until children do us part.” That, by the way, goes a long way toward explaining why the risk of divorce spikes after the last child emancipates. I am qualified to speak authoritatively on this subject not because I am a psychologist, but because I am a member of the last generation of American children to be raised by people who were married first, parents second, and a rather distant second at that. We early boomers didn’t need our parents to tell us they were in much more of a relationship with one another than they were with us. In our families, we were second class citizens, and we knew it, and we were fine with it. I have yet to find someone my age who, looking back, would rather have been a Big Deal Kid. What a burden! That, by the way, goes a long way toward explaining why the mental health of today’s kids is so very much worse than the mental health of kids in the 1950s, who figured out early on that not being the center of attention was the much-preferred arrangement. Being denied the center of attention by the two people who were occupying it meant we were afforded a very libertarian upbringing, which translates to figuring things out on one’s own, which translates to all manner of enduring benefit. America needs, perhaps more than anything else, a resurgence of minimalistic parenting. It begins with embracing the authentic meaning of “Children should be seen but not heard.” Oops! Out of space. Stay tuned. I’ll do a deep dive into that muchmaligned aphorism next week. Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond.com, parent guru.com. John Rosemond has worked with families, children, and parents since 1971 in the field of family psychology. In 1971, John earned his masters in psychology from Western Illinois University and was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.
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