JU trustee, financial adviser Margaret Black-Scott weighs in on ‘fiscal cliff’ in New York Times article

Jacksonville University trustee and alumnus Margaret “Mag” Black-Scott was featured prominently in a New York Times article Friday, Nov. 16, in which financial advisers discussed the implications if President Obama and Congress fail to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” — deep spending cuts and higher tax rates — by the end of this year.

In the piece, Black-Scott, chief executive of Beverly Hills Wealth Management, advised caution about making financial decisions based solely on tax rates.

“It has a way of coming back and biting you,” she told the Times. “Could you be at a 43 percent tax on dividends instead of 15 percent? The straight answer is yes, of course you could. But what if that doesn’t happen? What if they increase just slightly?”

Above all, Black-Scott counseled patience and restraint before making any rash stock or financial moves.

Click here to read the entire New York Times article, headlined “More Costly Than Higher Taxes: Rash Decisions.”

Formerly a managing director and vice chair of Morgan Stanley & Co., where she worked for 30 years, Black-Scott earned an MBA from JU and served as an adjunct professor at the university. In Jacksonville, she also was business editor of WJCT-TV and won the coveted Florida Times-Union “Eve” award as the community’s businesswoman of the year. Among her community roles in Jacksonville was serving as the Duval Research and Development Authority chair.

Black-Scott also has presented a daily television program on financial affairs in Los Angeles, and currently serves as a UCLA International Institute Israel Studies Program board member.