Bitcoin is the new retirement strategy – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion piece by Robert Hall, a content creator and small business owner.
Do you dream of retiring one day? You work all day and put in the hard work to grow your business or to do an excellent job for your employer so you can get a promotion and earn more money. What are we going to do with our paychecks after the bills are paid, food is put on the table and the kids are taken care of?
Conventional wisdom tells us that we should save for retirement to enjoy our “golden years.” This is not bad advice in itself, as we cannot continue working forever. Having money to rely on after you stop working is sound financial planning. As you know, an entire industry is dedicated to planning for your future self.
Most financial advisors will tell you to invest your money in a 401(k) and let it grow over time. This has worked for millions of Americans. For example, the S&P 500 10-year annualized return was 14.25%. This is not bad when you take it at face value, but when you factor in inflation, this number becomes much lower. Instead of reaping a full 14% gain, your inflation-adjusted purchasing power is more like 12% after you factor in the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target each year. If inflation continues as it has this year for an extended period, your retirement savings could look much smaller than you thought. This 2% loss also compounds year over year the same as your gains; Remember that.
This is not correct! Why should we suffer because of the monetary policy set by the Fed? Remember we never voted for any of these jokers who caused so much hardship to us and the rest of the world. The Federal Reserve’s policy of printing trillions of dollars and buying up government taxes creates an unsustainable situation that could lead to the dollar’s monetary collapse.
Everyone thinks it can’t happen here, but it can. No one is immune to stupidity and hubris. Jerome Powell and the rest of the Federal Reserve have made a bad case about it. Do they honestly believe they can control the financial lives of millions of people? How crazy do you have to be to believe this? When people lose faith in the dollar, it’s all over, folks, and that day is coming sooner than you think. Inflation running at a clip of 7% is a good way to scare people away from the dollar. I’m not saying it’s imminent, but the overall trend is not good for the US
So with all this financial turmoil, how do you save effectively for retirement?
Bitcoin is your new retirement account
Bitcoin is the perfect retirement vehicle for a number of reasons. The first is that it is designed to appreciate forever. There are only 21 million coins that will ever be produced. This is called an inelastic supply. This means that as the demand for bitcoin increases, the price of bitcoin will also increase due to a lack of supply. Did you know that an estimated three million coins have been lost, so the total supply will be closer to 18 million when the last coin is produced in the year 2140?
The inelastic supply of Bitcoin is exactly what you would see in a pension fund. Investing your retirement savings in Bitcoin will secure your future retirement needs to a point where you can live comfortably.
Bitcoin is the perfect retirement vehicle because you are in control of your assets and not the bank or a wealth manager. Believe it or not, none of these players have your financial interests at heart. Banks and asset managers are in the business of making money for their business and themselves. This means there are a bunch of hidden fees that you have to pay them to manage your money. This hides the actual cost of keeping your money in a bank and will go to great lengths to ensure you don’t fully understand all the fees. These entities want to take your money and you to shut up.
When you compare this experience to buying and holding bitcoin, the experience couldn’t be more different. The price of bitcoin is transparent, and fees associated with buying, selling and sending to a non-custodial wallet are not hidden. This price transparency gives you a better picture of how much you spend on fees. The cost of holding bitcoin for the long term is low. Buy a cold storage hardware wallet and you’re good to go. There is no ongoing cost to store your bitcoin wealth. The money you save on fees alone by investing in bitcoin instead of a 401(k) or IRA will add up over the years.
What cannot be underestimated is the fact that you control your wealth and not your pension administrator. The economy isn’t exactly great right now, and with inflation rising to 7%, having easy access to your wealth in times of crisis will make all the difference. Can you imagine a bank run where you can’t withdraw money? Can you imagine your stock portfolio going to zero? This can happen to all of us. Lebanon is a good example of what can happen when the debt bomb explodes and everything becomes unaffordable. You will wish you had bitcoin! Fortunately for you, it doesn’t have to end this way if you buy bitcoin now.
Forgoing a 401(k) or IRA may seem like a radical idea, but have you stopped to think about why you invested in a 401(k) in the first place? What benefit do you get out of it other than having money when you retire? The most obvious reason beyond saving for the future is the tax breaks you get from investing your money in the stock market.
I understand; it becomes very attractive when you can deduct the pension contributions from the tax liability. You are forced to do it if you think about it. The government tells you that we will take more of your money if you don’t invest your money in the stock market. Pension investment is not entirely a free will choice.
If there were no tax relief, would you be saving for retirement? Would retirement even be a concept? That’s for another article, but you get my drift.
Saving for retirement with self-managed bitcoin won’t reap any tax write-offs at the end of the year, but you get the peace of mind of knowing your wealth is completely safe and valuable. I’ll gladly take that trade-off any day of the week. Who would you rather have control of your wealth? Big banks or yourself? What do you trust more, Bitcoin or stocks? This is the choice we all have to make.
This is a guest post by Robert Hall. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
