A popular San Diego radio host and financial adviser faces federal charges for allegedly spreading misleading and inaccurate information.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charges Ray Lucia with intentionally using inaccurate financial data to prove his "Buckets of Money" retirement strategy.
The strategy, which Lucia and his advocated for in seminars and on the radio, was boasted as a way to save money for retirement, according to his website.
The SEC claims the strategy was backtested over "bear market" periods, or periods in which prices are falling, stimulating sales. He also used a lower inflation rate in his calculations for the strategy.
Testing the strategy during more fruitful periods of history made Lucia's results look more favorable, the commission stated in a press release.
“Lucia and RJL left their seminar attendees with a false sense of comfort about the Buckets of Money strategy,” said Michele Wein Layne, Regional Director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office in a written statement.
The testing was misleading, and a violation of SEC rules, the investigation claims.
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Lucia admitted to investigators that the only testing he and his company performed were from calculations made in the late 1990's, when the economy was performing better than it is today.
Lucia also failed to keep the calculations, even though that is required by the SEC.
