This is an opinion editorial by Robert Hall, a content creator and small business owner.
Do you dream of retiring someday? 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 make more money. What are we supposed 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 isn’t bad advice per se as we can’t keep working forever. Having money to rely on after you stop working is prudent financial planning. As you know, a whole 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 out for millions of Americans. For example, the S&P 500 10-year annualized return was 14.25%. This isn’t bad when you take it at face value, but once you factor in inflation, this number becomes much lower. Instead of reaping the entire 14% gain, your purchasing power adjusted for inflation is more like 12% after you factor in the Federal Reserve target of 2% inflation target every year. If inflation continues the way 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; keep that in mind.
This isn’t right! Why should we suffer because of the monetary policies set by the Fed? Mind you, we never voted for any of these jokers causing so much hardship for us and the rest of the world. The Federal Reserve’s policy of printing trillions of dollars and buying up government treasuries is creating an unsustainable situation that could lead to the monetary collapse of the dollar.
Everyone thinks that 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 come down with a bad case of it. Do they honestly think they can control the economic lives of millions of people? How crazy do you have to be to believe this? Once people lose faith in the dollar, it’s all over, folks, and that day is coming sooner than you think. Inflation raging at a 7% clip is a good way to scare people away from the dollar. I’m not saying it is imminent, but the overall trend is not good for the U.S.
So with all of this economic turmoil, how do you effectively save for retirement?
Bitcoin Is Your New Retirement Account
Bitcoin is the perfect vehicle for retirement for a variety of reasons. The first is that it is designed to appreciate into perpetuity. There are only 21 million coins that will ever be produced. This is called an inelastic supply. This means that as demand for bitcoin goes up, the price of bitcoin will also go up due to the scarcity of the supply. Did you know that there have been an estimated three million coins lost, so the total supply will be closer to 18 million by the time the last coin is produced in the year 2140?
The inelastic supply of Bitcoin is exactly what you want to see in a retirement fund asset. Investing your retirement savings in Bitcoin will secure your future retirement needs to the 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 some assets manager. Believe it or not, neither of these actors 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 saving your money with a bank, and they will go to great lengths to ensure you don’t fully understand all the fees. These entities want to take your money and for 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 are spending on fees. The cost of holding your bitcoin long term is meager. Buy a hardware wallet for cold storage and you are 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 can’t be understated is the fact that you control your wealth and not your retirement administrator. The economy is not exactly excellent right now, and with inflation surging to 7% having easy access to your wealth in times of crisis will make all the difference. Can you imagine a bank run during which you cannot withdraw cash? 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 are going to wish you had bitcoin! Luckily for you, it doesn’t have to end up 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 having savings for the future is the tax breaks you get from investing your money in the stock market.
I get it; it becomes very attractive when you can deduct your retirement contributions from your tax liability. You are being coerced into doing that if you think about it though. The government is telling you that we will take more of your money away if you don’t invest your money in the stock market. Retirement investing is not entirely a free will choice.
If there were no tax breaks, would you save for retirement? Would retirement even be a concept? That’s for another article, but you get my drift.
Saving for retirement with self-custodied bitcoin won’t reap you any tax write-offs at the end of the year, but you get the security of knowing that your wealth is entirely secure and appreciating. I would gladly take that trade-off any day of the week. Who would you rather be in 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 those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.