Author: Bitcoin New Dad

Imagine hearing these words from your doctor:

“…unfortunately, you only have one year left to live…”

How would you feel? What thoughts would be going through your head?

These were the words my Mom heard recently. You see, in one huge unexpected curve ball of life, she went from traveling the world together with my Dad during retirement…to being bedridden with a diagnosis of an aggressive and late-stage brain cancer.

To be honest, it still hasn’t fully sunk in yet.

Just half a year ago (spring 2024 time frame), we were in Japan enjoying a trip together. And yet, a few months after that trip, my Mom was sitting in the ER room being told there was a tennis ball sized tumor in her brain.

…with only one year left to live…

Time is precious. And time is short.

Why am I telling you this?

Having a front row seat to my Mom’s cancer diagnosis has been a harsh reminder that we only have a finite amount of time left. The problem is, we DON’T know how much (or little) we have.

Maybe it’s 50+ years. Maybe it’s only 1…

With the wisdom gained that time is short and time is precious, I’ve been asking myself the question,

“How do I want to spend the precious time I have left?”

For me personally, I know I made the right choice (made before my Mom’s diagnosis) to take an some extended time off work.

I affectionally call this my “mini-retirement”. And today, I want to try and convince you why you should take one too (and how to actually do it).

Let me explain.

The tail end

Years ago, I came across this Wait But Why article that made me sad about how little time I have left with my own parents.

Spoiler alert from the author, Tim Urban:

“it turns out that when I graduated from high school, I had already used up 93% of my in-person parent time. I’m now enjoying the last 5% of that time. We’re in the tail end.“

Here is the last 5% of time left to spend with parents, visualized:

Of course, this doesn’t factor in an aggressive late stage brain cancer diagnosis either.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that there is nothing more important that I could be doing with my time (especially right now with young kids in the mix) than spending it together with my family.

Sometimes, that might mean going on a big family vacation together.

Other times, it is spent making a nice home cooked meal and enjoying it together.

It also means, on random Tuesday mornings, going to the neighborhood park to play with my daughter and just soaking up her giggles while she goes up and down the slide over and over again!

And of course, it also means having the time to fly back to North Carolina multiple times a month to hang out with my Mom while she is undergoing radiation and chemo treatments.

My goal is to maximize what little time my family has left together. THIS is exactly why I’m taking a mini-retirement right now.

And it’s exactly why I think you should take one too.

The art of a mini-retirement

I know, I know…you are probably thinking, “good for you trust fund kid, but I live in the real world with bills to pay each month. I can’t just take off an extended period of time from work”.

Let me just say, I’m not a trust fund kid. Actually, it’s quite the opposite – I grew up under the poverty line and qualified for reduced fare lunches at school (another story for another day).

I’m also not someone who raked in millions of dollars selling a startup company. For what it’s worth, I tried twice, and fell flat on my face each time (another story for another day too).

Like you, I live in the real world. I have a mortgage to pay, tuition bills each semester, vacations my family wants to take, and new experiences we want to do together too.

Put another way, I understand that money makes the world go ‘round.

So, when I say it is feasible to take a mini-retirement, I mean it.

Most importantly, I’ll show you how I was able to do it while NOT irresponsibly spending down the family emergency fund or just YOLO putting everything on a credit card without a way to pay it back.

I hope by now, you are wondering how this could be possible, especially at a time when it feels like life is getting harder and harder?

Sneak peek – it’s bitcoin!

Quick – before you just x out of this blog post thinking “bitcoin is not for me”, I think you owe it to yourself to at least entertain how it could work.

At least from there, you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Time freedom – the ultimate goal

While on my mini-retirement, I have the time to take my daughter to a playground on any given weekday. And while there, to actually be present and play with her rather than be glued to my phone responding to Slack messages from co-workers.

I have time to fly back to North Carolina to hang out with my Mom.

I have the energy to work on side projects too (like writing this blog)!

And I’ve also been able to start losing that spare tire around my waist from stress eating while just figuring out new Dad life.

I’m guessing you’ll have a completely different list of priorities. That’s a good thing. My point is just that, having MORE control of your time is something we should all strive for.

Not for everyone

With that said, I fully acknowledge a mini-retirement might not be right for everyone. For instance, I have a doctor friend who loves what he does, feels a deep sense of purpose at work, and gets paid handsomely in the process.

I think he should keep going.

But, for any parents reading this thinking, “I’m only ‘meh’ about my job and would like to spend more time with my family if money weren’t a problem”, keep reading!

Ultimately, I want to show you how I got financially comfortable with the money side of things to take a mini retirement.

Down the rabbit hole

First things first. In order to explain how I funded my mini-retirement with bitcoin, you and I have to be on the same page about what the heck bitcoin is (and isn’t).

Luckily for you, I’ve written a 101 level primer about bitcoin that other parents have said has been helpful (link). I wrote it with fellow parents in mind – so no technobabble, jargon, or hard to understand concepts.

After you have a baseline understanding about bitcoin, I’ll then be able to show you just how bitcoin can be used to fund your mini-retirement.

However, that will need to happen next time. Right now, it’s Monday morning and my family is enjoying a fall foliage trip together in the Hudson Valley.

Time is precious. And time is short.

Until next time!

(here is the link to my bitcoin for beginners guide one last time: https://bitcoinnewdad.com/lesson1/)

“STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS…!”

As soon as I heard these words over the PA system, out of habit, I started picking up the pace.

But since I was still at the top of the subway staircase at the time, it meant I started running down, in hopes of shaving off a few seconds (and of course, not tumble down the stairs in the process)…

“STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS…!”

Having lived in New York City for over 15 years now, I knew the subway doors were closing soon. And that I was about to miss the train if I didn’t hustle!

Of course, at the same time, the smarter side of my brain knew it didn’t really matter if I missed any particular train. Because worst case, after a few minutes, another one comes…ready to shuttle me wherever I need to go.

Yet, I still found myself running…!

This time around though, I didn’t get far. Actually, it wasn’t even close.

After just a few steps, I could see down to the platform level. And I saw that the subway train doors had already closed. Since I was (at best) only halfway down the staircase, it meant I had missed the train…

Defeated, I walked down the rest of the stairs. And while waiting on the platform level for the next subway to come, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself for literally running like my life depended on it!

Old habits die hard…

Of course, just like I already knew, it did not matter.

A few minutes later, another N train came and took me to Union Square, where I was getting lunch with an old friend and fellow Dad who was in town for a work trip.

Missing the bitcoin train

During lunch, of course, I asked my friend, Stan, whether he’s into bitcoin.

What Stan told me stood out. And it’s what I want to talk about today.

You see, Stan told me that while he has seen the headlines about bitcoin, he had not seriously considered investing in it yet. A big part of that reason was that he knew prices were near all time highs (for reference, bitcoin all time high was around $73,000 while it was roughly $69,000 at the time that Stan and I caught up over lunch).

Effectively, he felt like he had “missed the train” on bitcoin so it wasn’t even worth studying / researching / investing in anymore.

While I can see where he was coming from, I believe the EXACT OPPOSITE is true.

I believe he is NOT late. If anything, he is still EARLY. Very early.

Let me tell you how I’ve come to this conclusion!

How many people need bitcoin?

Based on my research, if I’m being extra generous, I’d say there are 10 million people around the world who own a non-trivial amount of bitcoin (ie. more than $10,000 USD worth).

On one hand, you might think, that’s a LOT of people already. And that there won’t be that many more people who want / need bitcoin…

On the other hand, when I look at this number, I think, “wow, one day, bitcoin is going to be used by ALL 8 billion people on earth!”

And that means, we’re at 0.1% adoption right now.

So why do I think all 8 billion people on earth will need bitcoin? To explain, I’ll start by zooming in to why I, as a parent, need bitcoin. And then, I’ll zoom out to show why you, and other parents, and ultimately, all 8 billion people need bitcoin too.

Zooming in

Simply put, as a parent with two young kids, I need money for (a) today and (b) tomorrow (ie. the future).

For “today”, I need money to buy things like groceries, diapers, to pay the bills, etc.

But more importantly, I need money for “tomorrow” because I know that the future is uncertain. Maybe something bad happens like losing a job, or someone in the family needing to go to the emergency room, or even something as annoying as the AC unit breaking in the middle of a heat wave…

My point is, these curveballs that life throws my way each come with a price tag. And often, a big price tag too!

Worse, I have no idea when they will happen. But I’m smart enough to know they will come.

So knowing this, I must be ready for whatever and whenever life throws these curveballs at me and my family.

For me, personally, the way I make sure my family won’t feel pain WHEN these things happen is to…have money, of course! (and going forward, I’ll refer to this kind of money needed for the future as an “emergency fund”)

Hopefully, the concept of an emergency fund isn’t controversial to any parent out there!

So now, let’s talk about the problem with emergency funds.

The problem with emergency funds

Even if you are being a responsible parent, and regularly putting away a portion of your hard earned money into an emergency fund each month, you are still getting f*cked.

Why? Because the cost of everything is going up up up.

And what that really means is the money you’ve so diligently put away in your emergency fund to protect your family is actually losing its power over time.

As an example, imagine you have $10,000 in your emergency fund today. If your AC unit were to break today, maybe it would cost $3,000 to fix (30% of your emergency fund).

Now, imagine the AC didn’t break. Instead, a few years pass by, and you still have the same $10,000 in your emergency fund. But because the cost of everything keeps going up, the same AC repair now costs more like $5,000 (or even more). Now, all of a sudden, 50% of your emergency fund is gone.

Do you see how as the cost of everything goes up, the power of your emergency fund (ie. what you can buy with it) goes down?

Again, hopefully there isn’t anything controversial about this.

So now, finally, I’m sure you are wondering how bitcoin fits in? So let’s go there!

Say hello to bitcoin

Bitcoin is a much better tool to put into an emergency fund. That’s because with bitcoin, instead of the power of your emergency fund getting eroded away, you’ll find that the stuff you are able to buy with it (ie. your purchasing power) INCREASES over time.

That means your emergency fund is getting MORE powerful over time. (this is a good thing!)

For context, I wrote more about the idea of life getting easier vs. harder in case you wanted to have a read.

As an example of this in action, when I first bought bitcoin in 2013, it cost $500 per coin. At the time, let’s assume I exchanged $500 from my Bank of America account for 1 bitcoin. And by plopping that 1 bitcoin into my emergency fund (ie. not touching it), now in June 2024, it would be worth over $60,000.

I don’t know about you…but $500 gives me a tiny feeling of safety from future uncertainty. But $60,000 gives me A LOT more of a good feeling that life can throw some major curveballs my way, and yet, my family won’t feel the pain since we know we can pay for it.

That’s why my family owns bitcoin as part of our long term emergency fund!

The longer we hold bitcoin, the more valuable it becomes! And for me, as a parent, that means, over time, I feel less stress about future uncertainties wrecking havoc on my family.

Trust me, this is a good feeling!

Zooming out

I know I’m not the only parent out there with an emergency fund to protect against future uncertainty. Virtually all parents I talk to grasp this concept and many already have an emergency fund in place.

And now, slowly but surely, fellow parents are having their own “ah ha” moment that bitcoin in the emergency fund is a MUCH better way to protect against future uncertainty.

And with it, more bitcoin adoption!

You might be thinking, “I don’t have kids”. Or that your kids have already grown up and moved out of the house. Well guess what, the AC unit doesn’t care. When it breaks, you better have an emergency fund you can use to pay for it. Otherwise, get ready to suffer…

Basically, I believe everyone needs an emergency fund with bitcoin in it because we all need to protect against future uncertainty!

Adoption is increasing

Remember, today, we’re at 0.1% bitcoin adoption.

And while I can’t tell you how much adoption there will be next week, month, or even year…if I zoom out, it’s clear to me that more and more people are coming around on how important it is to own bitcoin to make life easier.

What happens to the price of bitcoin?

Here’s the kicker. There is a fixed supply of bitcoin (21 million). And no one can make or print more of it.

So as demand for bitcoin increases, but there isn’t more supply of it…what happens to price?

There is only one direction it can go.

Up!

To be clear, I’m not saying in the short term that the price of bitcoin is going to be a straight line up. Rather, in the short term, it goes up down up down and up again…

But, zooming out, I’m confident that:

1. as more people adopt bitcoin (because they realize it helps make their lives easier)

+

2. there is only so much bitcoin to go around (ie. it’s scarce)

=

3. in the long term, the price of bitcoin will be higher than where it is today

Conclusion

As of June 2024, you haven’t missed the bitcoin train. Actually, you aren’t late to bitcoin at all. If anything, you are still very early.

And there is still a lot of upside to be had!

I feel terrible for my friend and fellow Dad, “Jarren”. (not his real name)

Recently, we caught up over coffee. And even though it was only 10am in the morning, he was already on his 4th cup of the day…

To put it nicely, he was a zombie. And that’s because he hasn’t fully slept through the night in over 4 months…

Ouch.

You see, he has two young kids (one is 3, the other is ~6 months old). And both are waking up multiples times per night right now. Which means, he is waking up multiple times per night too.

As a fellow Dad, I feel his pain.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of sleepless nights dealing with sick kids who can’t fall asleep or stay asleep. And I know that after just a few nights, I become a zombie too.

So…I can only imagine how much of a zombie I would be if I was didn’t get a solid sleep in 4 months straight.

Luckily for me, waking up in the middle of the night is the exception. Not the norm. Even though just like Jarren, I also have two young kids (one is 3.5, the other is 9 months old now).

So, why is one of us getting good sleep while the other is a zombie?

I believe it comes down to different sleep strategies (or the absence of one).

Nature vs. nurture

Sure…there is certainly an element of “nature” at play. I’m not discounting that maybe my kids are just naturally better sleepers than Jarren’s.

But, I’m much more on team “nurture”.

I believe the main reason my kids consistently sleep through the night, while Jarren’s do not, is because of a difference in strategy around sleep training.

You see, my wife and I have nurtured the sleep skills (ie. sleep training from Taking Cara Babies – highly recommended). And we’ve stuck with it, even though it required some short term crying it out.

So now, when my kids go to sleep each night, I feel confident they’ll stay asleep all night and not wake up until 6:30am – 7:30am the next morning!

However, Jarren has adopted a different strategy. For one reason or another, he doesn’t want to do sleep training with his kids. And in my opinion, this is why he is paying the price of feeling like a zombie.

Why am I telling you this?

I believe it’s vitally important to have a strategy when it comes to sleep. Teaching your kids how to fall asleep on their own, and how to go back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night, is a super power!

Similarly, I believe you need a strategy when it comes to bitcoin.

So today, I’m going to show you mine!

For what it’s worth, the strategy I’m going to show you has let me take two different 1.5 year long mini-retirements (when each of my kids were born so I could just focus on being a Dad). It’s the same strategy that is accelerating the path for both my wife and I to both plan for early retirement. And it’s the same strategy I’ve used for over 10 years and have no plans to change anytime soon.

Best of all, it’s a simple strategy that I believe any parent can adopt right away. Actually, it’s so simple that it’s just two words: ACQUIRE / RETIRE.

Let’s dig in below!

Part 1: Retire

Let’s work backwards from the ultimate goal.

For most fellow parents, I believe the reason you are busting your butt at work for 40 hours a week is to provide for your family and to build up an emergency fund to protect against future uncertainty. I know that was my goal.

So then, ask yourself, what happens if money is no longer a problem?

Maybe not “I have a golden toilet” type rich, but let’s imagine that for the next +10 years, you know with 100% confidence you’ll be able to buy groceries, eat out at restaurants, pay for your house, go on vacations, cover your kids tuition bills, etc.

Would you still keep working?

When I ask this question to fellow parents, the overwhelming majority tell me they’d take a break.

This is the ultimate goal of my ACQUIRE / RETIRE strategy: to be able to NOT work (if you don’t want to) while still being able to afford the costs of life.

Of course, some of you reading this might think, “I love my job…it gives me purpose!” And to that, I say, “Great! By no means do you have to retire, but having the option isn’t a bad thing either.”

So now, imagine instead of going to work, you get back EIGHT hours a day from Monday through Friday. What would you do with that time?

Maybe you’d take your kids out to explore museums and parks. Maybe you would start writing that blog thats been inside your head. Maybe you would learn a new skill like woodworking or cooking. Or maybe you would exercise more.

The possibilities are endless!

But in order to make any of this a reality, you have to understand it doesn’t come from just continuing to do what you have been doing. Put another way, just going to work and collecting a paycheck is not going to put you on the path for early retirement (or even a mini-retirement).

So how do you get on the path for early / mini retirement? You guessed it – you are going to need some bitcoin in your long term portfolio.

So let’s talk about that next!

Part 2: Acquire

When bitcoin finally “clicked” for me, I had two realizations.

a) the name of the game

First, I realized the name of the game was to simply acquire bitcoin. While this sounds obvious, I can’t tell you how many parents I know who tell me they grok bitcoin, and yet…don’t own any yet.

How much bitcoin you’ll need is nuanced. At end of the day, it’s different for everyone based on where you live, how old you are, how many kids you have, what your current financial situation looks like, when you want to retire, etc.

This might sound crazy, but Blackrock recently put out a report that they think the ideal bitcoin allocation is 28% of your portfolio (link).

While nearly 1/3 of your net worth tied up in bitcoin might not be realistic right away, owning ZERO bitcoin is also not going to work. Why? Life is going to continue getting harder for you and your family.

b) trading bitcoin is a fools errand

Second, I realized that trading bitcoin (ie. buying today, selling tomorrow, repeating over and over again in the short term) was a fools errand.

That’s because it would require spending lots of time watching minute by minute price charts. And since bitcoin trades 24 hours a day, it would mean needing to watch price charts AROUND the clock.

No thanks.

And even if I did successively “buy low and sell high” and make some gains in the short term, then I would incur a hefty tax bill (short term capital gains takes away roughly 1/3 of your gains).

No thanks.

Finally, bitcoin is very volatile in the short term. Roughly a month ago, it was up to $73,000. It then proceeded to drop down to $57,000. And now, it has rocketed back to $66,000. And if you miss out on a few key moments when bitcoin is going up, you are going to miss out on the majority of the upside.

No thanks.

So…how do I acquire bitcoin?

I keep it straight forward – I simply buy bitcoin when I have some extra money (ie. the amount I would’ve either put into a savings account or used to buy stocks instead just goes to buying bitcoin).

As an example, let’s say that after paying all my bills this month, there is $1,000 extra that we don’t need and plan to save. Old me would’ve bought some index funds (ie. SPDR). New me just buys $1,000 worth of bitcoin instead.

And then, I just HOLD it (ie. don’t sell).

Boring, right? But boring is good!

As an example, back in 2013, I first bought bitcoin when it was only $500 range. I’ve held on, and now, that $500 initial investment is worth $66,000. Not bad, right?

Boring is also good because it let’s me focus on what really matters – being the best Dad I can by spending more time with my family.

Conclusion

Buy bitcoin (to get the upside). Hold bitcoin (for the long term).

That’s the whole strategy!

If you can do these two things, I believe you’ll find yourself moving along the path for early retirement. Just like what has happeneed for my family. And just like it has for many other families too who simply buy and hold bitcoin as part of their long term portfolio too.

Next time

Among bitcoiners, “HODL” is a term you’ll hear every day. Simply put, it means “hold on for dear life”. What that really means is…DO NOT sell your bitcoin!

Why? Because you’ll need bitcoin to achieve the ultimate goal…early retirement.

Sounds easy right to just hold, right? In theory, yes. But in practice, this is incredibly difficult thing to do. Next time, I’ll tell you some war stories about HODL’ing bitcoin as the price was rocketing…as well as when the short term price was tanking.

I almost stepped in dog shit earlier tonight.

Luckily, I dodged it at the last second. Otherwise, my evening walk would have been ruined. And unfortunately, someone else in front of me was not as lucky, based on the shoe marks that I saw in the pile of poop.

Now, instead of enjoying an evening walk, that person was probably scraping dog shit off the bottom of their shoe.

Yuck.

I see dog shit everywhere

The truth is, when living in Brooklyn, avoiding dog poop has become a part of life. Over time, it becomes second nature to see it / dodge it, no matter if I’m playing on my phone while out on a walk, pushing a stroller around, going for a run, etc.

And after long enough, I stopped getting mad about it.

At least, that’s how I felt. Until recently.

You see, while on vacation in Tokyo, I got used to a different standard – one with clean streets! (is that too much to ask for?)

I kid you not when I say this, but I did not see ANY dog shit for three whole weeks. Actually, it was the exact opposite – everything was so clean. No dog poop. No trash. No junk laying around. That included sidewalks, roads, subway stations, public bathrooms, etc.

It was lovely. And I got used to it. So now, back in Brooklyn, I can’t help but see dog shit everywhere.

Yuck.

Why am I telling you this?

Of course…you already know this is somehow related to bitcoin. So let’s just go there.

Bold claim: I believe that bitcoin will make more people pick up their dog shit.

Yes, you read that right – I believe bitcoin is going to help make streets poop free!

And I know this sounds ridiculous at first glance. You are probably thinking, “how could some magic internet money help get rid of dog poop on sidewalks?!”

Let me explain.

“Should I pick up my dog poop?”

To set the context, I don’t have a dog. But I can imagine multiple scenarios where if I did have one, that I could forget, simply not see, or even choose not to pick up after my dog poops.

Scenario 1: I was supposed to get paid today, but didn’t. And in this scenario, I needed that money to buy dinner tonight. And while out on a walk, I don’t even notice my dog pooping (since I’d likely be on my phone the whole time desperately searching for other ways to put food on the table).

Result = more poop on sidewalk

Scenario 2: I’m distracted thinking about the missing paycheck and forget to grab a poop bag before heading out on the walk. So even if I see my dog pooping, I can’t do anything about it.

Result = more poop on sidewalk

Scenario 3: I see my dog poop, but I’m stressing about the lack of food options for dinner and decide, “f*ck it”, and just walk off since no one is around and I have other pressing problems to deal with.

Result = more poop on sidewalk

Do you care more about the short term or long term?

One thing I know is, in these scenarios, if I was stressed figuring out how to feed my family tonight, I would be significantly discounting how my decision to pick up (or leave) the dog poop affects my long term future.

Too abstract? Let me be more specific.

Rationally, I’m sure all of us would agree that a dog-shit-infested neighborhood isn’t good for anyone. But, at the same time, I know that if I was consistently stressed about how to feed my family, I would’t be thinking much about:

• potential resale value of houses in the neighborhood 10+ years from now
• what happens if more people in the neighborhood also decide to stop picking up after their dogs (after following my example of not picking up)

After all, if I can’t even feed my family tonight…how much am I going to care about how clean the neighborhood is in the long run, or how much a house down the street might sell for 10+ years from now.

Right?

And that leads to…you guess it, more scenarios where I don’t / I can’t / I won’t pick up after my dog.

Yuck.

Life is getting harder

There are many reasons why someone doesn’t pick up after their dog. And I believe that it’s mostly related to money problems.

Maybe you don’t feel the urgent kind of stress about how to put food on the table tonight. But nonetheless, it’s the same underlying kind of stress figuring out how to afford gas, pay next month’s rent, cover the cost of an unexpected doctors visit bill, save up to buy a house, etc.

Lots of people are stressed about money

Right now, over 75% of people in the United States live paycheck to paycheck (source).

That is crazy high. Just think about it – it means 3 out of every 4 of your friends / co-workers don’t feel secure they’ll be able to afford the cost of life next month without getting their paycheck.

And even a quick scroll through LinkedIn will show you a decent number of people around you are losing their jobs right now.

If that’s not bad enough, the cost of food, gas, rent, and everything else is going up. And it’s going up faster than before. And not to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s not going away anytime soon (source).

More expensive

If the cost of everything is going up, let’s do a thought exercise.

Will there be more (or less) people who are living paycheck to paycheck? (I think there will be more)

And if more people are stressed about short term money issues, will they think about and care about and plan more for their long term future? (I think it will be less)

So what does that mean for dog poop on the streets? Sadly, I think it means more poop.

Yuck.

---

How does bitcoin fit into all of this?

Now, imagine the opposite scenario.

Instead of being stressed trying to put food on the table, you know with certainty that you can buy dinner tonight. Tomorrow. And well into the future.

And instead of feeling like everything around you is getting more expensive…for you, everything is getting more affordable. And bigger ticket items that once felt out of reach are also becoming more feasible to buy one day.

(sneak peek: this is what happens when you own bitcoin)

Another bold claim. I know.

Let’s look at this in action!

In a previous post, I showed you how the price of a house getting cheaper in bitcoin terms. To recap, back in 2017, it would have cost you ~315 bitcoin to buy the median home in the US. But now, in 2024, to buy a similar median sized house, it would only cost ~7 bitcoin.

And just as basic math reminder: 7 < 315

The same applies no matter if it is a house, car, tuition bill, insurance, gas, groceries, or even how much it costs to put food on the table tonight.

Everything gets cheaper in bitcoin terms!

As a side note, after thousands of hours of study / research about bitcoin, I’ve come to a rational conclusion that things will continue getting cheaper in bitcoin terms. (btw – this is why my family owns bitcoin)

Back to the dog poop…

So now, imagine it’s 2030-ish time frame (ie. roughly 5-10 years in the future), and you are out walking your dog. Now, the price of a house has trended down from 315 bitcoin, to 7 bitcoin, and now…all the way down to just 1 bitcoin.

And lucky for you, in this scenario, you own 1 bitcoin! (because for one reason or another, you pulled the trigger and bought 1 bitcoin in 2024 after reading a blog post from a random Bitcoiner Dad)

So while out on a walk, the same bad thing happens again – your paycheck didn’t go through.

But this time around, instead of wracking your brain about how you are going to afford dinner tonight, you know with certainty that your family won’t go hungry. Worst case, you know you have 1 bitcoin in your possession and you could sell a tiny fraction of it to buy food at any time.

So when your dog stops walking and starts pooping, you notice since you aren’t frantically on your phone researching how you are going to feed your family tonight.

Result = less poop on the street

Or imagine since you aren’t spending brain cycles wondering why your paycheck got delayed, you remember to take a poop bag when you head out for the walk.

Result = less poop on the street

Or maybe even better, even though you don’t want to pick up after your dog (because after all, who really wants to pick up poop, right?), you pick it up anyways.

Why? Because you are now planning to buy a house in the neighborhood (since it only costs 1 bitcoin and you own 1 bitcoin!).

Result = less poop on the street

My point is, when you own bitcoin, the trend is that life starts getting easier because things get cheaper. And as it does, you worry less about money in the short term. And that matters because I believe you’ll be significantly more aware how your decisions today affect your longer term future.

In this case, I believe it’ll mean you are more likely to pick up your dog shit because you will have more incentives to care about your neighborhood in the long run (since you can now afford to buy and live in the neighborhood long term).

An overnight sensation?

To be clear, I’m not implying in any way that the day you buy bitcoin, all your money worries go away.

But longer term, it does!

First, it starts off with less and ultimately no stress about food related costs. Then, it expands to feeling less stress about weekly expenses like gas, or how you’ll afford to take the family out to a nice restaurant.

From there, it keeps expanding to less stress about monthly expenses like rent / mortgage. And of course, it keeps working too even for bigger ticket items like the cost of a vacation, or buying a car, house, etc.

As a Bitcoiner and parent, this is the trend I’ve personally experienced. And it’s a similar trend I’ve heard from other parents who own bitcoin too.

Honestly, it’s a great feeling to worry less. And something I truly wish and believe every parent can experience for themselves. (it’s the reason I write this blog)

Is it too much to ask for clean streets?

Here is where it gets really interesting. Let’s say life is getting easier for you (ie. things are getting cheaper because you own bitcoin). And, life is getting easier for your neighbor too because they also bought some bitcoin. And then, the same thing starts happening for even more neighbors around you.

In this kind of neighborhood, do you think there will be more dog shit on the streets? Or less?

I believe it will be significantly less. And that is a better version of the future I’d like to live in!

Further down the rabbit hole

When you learn more about bitcoin, you’ll come across the expression of, “lowering your time preference”. Simply put, to lower your time preference just means to think about and care about your long term future instead of just optimizing for what is convenient or easy in the here and now.

In this post, I focused on the decision to pick up your dog shit today (because you now care more about the long term resale value of the neighborhood).

Of course, the opposite is also true. That is called having “high time preference”.

To learn more about the concept of how bitcoin affects your time preference, check out this presentation (~30 minutes) by Saif, the author of multiple best selling bitcoin books.

It’s a big idea with profound impacts!

Next time

Of course, the concept of time preference doesn’t just affect dog poop on the streets either.

I’ve now become aware how it also impacts the foods I eat (and avoid), the things I buy (and forgo), the content I consume (and ignore), as well as how I think differently about relationships, family, friends, etc.

Next time, I’ll tell you how I applied the idea of “lowering my time preference” in other parts of my own life. Sneak peek: I look better, feel better, and am a better parent because of it.

Right now, my world is upside down.

It’s 4am and pitch black outside (as you would expect). But, both my kids are up…which means my wife and I are up too…

Why?

We’re all jet lagged! Our bodies are still on Tokyo time. Even though physically, we’re back in Brooklyn.

Now, don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining! In the grand scheme of things, being jet lagged and up at 4am is a SMALL price to pay for the amazing vacation we just got back from.

Going fast

In my previous life, a 1-2 week vacation is all I had the time for. I don’t know about you, but it always felt frowned upon at work to ask for more than that. Maybe if I was getting married and taking a honeymoon right after, I could ask for more. But outside of special situations, 1-2 week vacations were the norm.

So that meant trips (even those halfway around the world) were only for 1-2 weeks at a time. And in order to maximize those few precious days of vacation, it meant I had to jam pack the schedule every single day. Jet lagged and all.

Fun…but also tiring!

Before kids, it was doable to power through starting at 8am and finishing each day late in the evening. And then to repeat that again the next day. And the next as well.

But now, with two young ones, the reality is, we move much slower. So slow that 1-2 weeks isn’t enough time.

Going slow

That’s why it was extra special that this time around, we were able to spend not just one, and not just two, but three full weeks in Tokyo.

What that really meant was that we had the luxury of time on our side to go slow and actually “stop to smell the roses” along the way!

Here’s how it played out:

• some days, we didn’t get out the door until lunch time so that my 8 month old could have her first nap at home instead of in the carrier / stroller
• we were able to spend plenty of lazy morning / afternoons hanging out at neighborhood playgrounds so my 3 year old could explore and burn off some energy
• we had 8 rain days in total, but it wasn’t a problem because we could easily flex our schedule, knowing we still had many more days to tackle our list of outdoor activities

Why am I telling you this?

In my previous article about how life is getting harder for many parents, I explained how bitcoin reverses this trend.

And what I mean is: owning bitcoin makes your life EASIER. The obvious way is that it makes things cheaper / more affordable.

But it does much more than just that. It also gives you back your precious time. More time to spend with your family. More time to relax. More time to exercise. More time to work on hobbies and side projects.

I know it sounds crazy at first, so let me explain!

How bitcoin gives you back your time

Most of us work 40-60 hours per week. That includes getting ready for work, commuting to work, working, and / or thinking about work.

Why? So we can make money.

Why? So we can pay for the costs of life. After all, the mortgage needs to be paid. Tuition bills too. A tank of gas isn’t free. And neither are groceries.

But, as things around us continue getting more expensive, we end up needing to work even more to just keep up. That might mean picking up an extra shift, doing more in your current role in hopes of getting a promotion sooner, or even working a second job.

But since there only 24 hours in a day, the more of that time you are working, the less time you have to spend with family, to relax, to exercise, and to work on a hobby / side project, etc.

Not a good trend…

In contrast, when you own bitcoin, the OPPOSITE happens.

Things get cheaper!

As an example, look at what is happening to the price of a house in bitcoin terms…it’s going down down down.

In the early 2017 time frame, it would have cost roughly 315 bitcoin to buy the median house. But today, that same house would only cost 6.7 bitcoin.

For anyone skimming past this, that 6.7 bitcoin is MUCH LESS than 315 bitcoin!

I believe by 2030, it will still be cheaper and cost significantly less than 6.7 bitcoin to buy a house.

And it’s not just for housing either. The chart looks similar for other big ticket items too like cars, tuition bills, etc.

Over time, as life gets easier (because things are getting cheaper), something else happens.

Your relationship with your job changes too.

Maybe you’ll realize…

• you don’t need to work extra shifts or a second job anymore
• you don’t like the current type of work you are doing, and can now finally afford to change careers
• you currently work full time but are able to step back to part time only
• you can retire early and spend that time doing your hobby / side project instead

Put another way, because you own bitcoin, and feel the effects of life getting cheaper, you won’t need to work as much. And that means, more time back each day!

As a busy parent, I’m hoping it’s clear that having more time back is a good thing.

What? How? This sounds too good to be true…

Even as I write this, I am fully aware that this sounds too good to be true.

But yet, I keep coming across more and more parents who also own bitcoin and say they are getting back more time too.

It’s why I hold bitcoin. And it’s why I was able to spend the past 3 weeks on a nice, relaxing, and slow paced trip to Tokyo.

25 hours in a day?

Let me be clear. This isn’t an overnight fix. On the day you buy bitcoin, you won’t magically experience an extra hour of free time. And it might not happen the next day either.

But zooming out, with a multi-year horizon, the direction is clear. Things get cheaper when you own bitcoin. And that leads to less need to work for and stress about money.

And that leads to MORE time back for you and your family.

I showed you above, but let me show you again. The price of a house going LOWER and lower in bitcoin terms.

Do you want more time?

I can’t say this enough, but in order to benefit, you have to own bitcoin.

And in order to get comfortable to buy bitcoin as part of your long term portfolio, you’ll have to invest some time to learn about it first.

Here is one the videos I’ve shared the most (made over 7 years ago) to introduce bitcoin:

Deeper down the rabbit hole

What if I was to tell you that instead of bitcoin just giving you back more time…that bitcoin IS time.

To explore this big idea further, read the article, Bitcoin is time.

Recently, a friend and fellow Dad told me how life was getting harder for him.

And for his family too…

That’s because both him, and his wife, were busting their butts saving up for the down payment to buy a house. But the longer his family looked for their dream house, the more house prices have gone up. And in the past few years of searching, he now feels priced out of everything except fixer-uppers.

And he doesn’t want a fixer-upper house!

This isn’t the exception either. Zillow recently reported that the income you needed to buy a typical home has soared 80% since 2020.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t get an 80% raise in the past few years.

And if you are like me, and also didn’t get that big of a raise recently…I’m sorry to say, but life has gotten harder for you and your family too.

That’s what I want to talk about today.

Two paths in life

I see two very different paths parents can take in life. One in which life gets harder financially. And another where life gets easier (at least financially).

And why should you care?

I believe once you see where the harder path leads, you’ll realize, like I have, that it is not sustainable. And along the way, you’ll see that it will mean more pain and stress for your family too.

Seeing and feeling the pain is a good thing though. It encourages us to actually make change happen. So let’s look deeper into this pain that we’re all feeling.

And before we do, here’s what I mean by a “harder” life:

• one in which things get more expensive around you, and at a faster rate than you get pay raises (like how much additional income you need to buy a house according to Zillow!)
• one in which you spend more time stressing about how you’ll pay for things (like where to live, how to take your family on a nice vacation, covering the costs of an unexpected car repair, etc)

On the flip side, here’s what I mean by an “easier” life:

• one in which things around you get more affordable over time (I know I know, this claim sounds outrageous right now, but by end of this article, it’ll make sense!)
• one in which you spend less time stressing about how you’ll pay for things like tuition bills, after school activities, etc.

Food for thought

Given the choice, I would expect all parents would rather put their family on a path where life is getting easier instead of getting harder.

Right?

After all, no one wants to:

• feel like they can’t buy a good house in a safe neighborhood
• think twice about signing your kids up for extracurricular activities because of how much it costs
• freak out seeing a huge bill from an unexpected ER room visit
• work overtime shifts or start driving for Uber in the evenings (after already working a full day) to help make ends meet

And yet, the reality is, MOST families are currently on the harder path in life.

Not a good trend

As parents, when we are on the harder path, it means we are spending less time with our families (since we’re working more / picking up a second job). And even when we are at home, it means we’re not really present because our minds are still stressing about money related problems.

And as things continue to get more expensive, you can extend this out and quickly see it’s not sustainable.

And yet, it’s the path most of us are barreling down. Again, not a good trend.

Why I’m writing this

I think it is messed up that for most parents, life is getting harder and harder.

As a Dad of two, I know that parenting is hard enough as is. And I’m also not a genius, but I know that having ever increasing money related stresses on top doesn’t help.

So, I want to show you a different path. This is a path my family has been on for over 10 years now, and a path where we don’t have plans to get off anytime soon. And best of all, it’s a path that I believe all parents can move over to (sneak peek: yes, it involves owning some bitcoin in your portfolio).

Let me explain!

The bad news

As I said above, as parents, we find ourselves on the hard path.

There are two things happening that continues to make life harder (at least financially):

• obvious thing: each kid comes with a price tag (ie. diapers, clothes, medical expenses, tuition bills, etc) that you have to keep setting aside money to pay for
• not so obvious thing: the cost of everything is also going up – groceries, rent, insurance, tuition, the price for a house. All going up. And worst of all, now, it is going up faster than you are getting a raise / promotion.

Since the price of everything is going up, like for my friend who is house hunting, it means he can either:

1. try to save more / faster for the downpayment (ie. but in the process, life is getting harder because he has to work harder)
2. settle for a fixer-upper house (ie. life is still getting harder because there will be ongoing costs related to fixing up the house or potential costs for private school if he is zoned into a crappy public school system)
3. continue renting (ie. life is still getting harder because rent prices keep going up too)

Simply put, life is getting harder…

The good news

The good news is that there is a different path we can switch over to.

In truth, there always has been. But previously, it required a lot of work.

Previously, it meant some combination of working a day job AND investing. This could include things like (a) buying rental properties, (b) stocks, or (c) starting your own side hustle.

Whether called “financial independence”, “FIRE”, etc, the goal has always been to get to a point where you don’t have to trade your time for money anymore (ie. working a 9-5 for a paycheck). Instead, more and more, you rely on your portfolio of assets to pay for your lifestyle.

For many years, I was diligently following this path, having worked up to two rental properties, a diversified portfolio of stocks, and maxing out my 401k each year.

And my goal was to get to the point where the dividends from my stock portfolio covered my mortgage. And for the income from my rental properties pay for other monthly expenses like grocery bills, doctor visits, etc.

Along the way though, I realized a major flaw – this path required a lot of work. And I mean, A LOT of work.

Effectively, in addition to working a full time job, in the evenings and weekends, I was now also moonlighting as a combination of a stock trader, property manager, and small business owner.

After all:

• AC units on rental houses love to break down in the middle of summer…and when an angry tenant calls, I have to drop everything and get it fixed
• Stocks take time to research and a portfolio takes time to re-balance…each with potentially complicated tax implications
• Owning / operating a side hustle is a full time job to get up and running

So yes, while I was “getting ahead”, I was also working around the clock.

Now, I see a much better path for my family. One in which our financial life becomes less stressful (a good thing!). But one without sucking up all my free time and energy to fielding tenant issues, reading up on 10K/10Q statements, or trying to constantly grow a side hustle (a good thing too!).

And as a Dad with two young kids, I believe this is a much better long term path to take!

Hopefully by now, I’ve at least piqued your interest enough to wonder, “what is this path and how do I get on it?”.

If so, keep reading!

Here comes bitcoin…!

To be transparent, I believe you’ll need to own bitcoin in order to move onto this easier life path in the long term.

And to be clear, I’m not saying that owning bitcoin will fix all of your problems. Far from it. But, at least, for financial related problems (like how you are going to afford to buy a house), it can help relieve some of that stress.

So, how does bitcoin exactly come into the picture?

Simply put, bitcoin is the thing I believe all parents should own in their long term portfolio.

Why? Because when you do own bitcoin, things will starting getting MORE affordable. (and to be clear, this is a good thing!)

I know, you are thinking, “this sounds too good to be true”. So let’s look at an example to make this all make sense.

Example:

Roughly 10 years ago (2014 time frame), the price of bitcoin ranged from $250 – $1,000. Let’s assume somehow back then, you bought ONE bitcoin.

If, during that same time frame, you decided to then sell that ONE bitcoin, you could roughly go out for a nice omakase sushi dinner date night with your spouse.

Yum!

But, if instead of spending that ONE bitcoin for dinner, let’s assume that you held on to it as part of your long term portfolio (I recommend you do for at least 5 years…more on that here).

Now, poof, in this example…a few years goes by and now it’s 2017.

By 2017, you would immediately notice that same ONE bitcoin can now buy you a lot more than just a sushi dinner. By 2017, the price of bitcoin ranged from a low of ~$5,000 and a high of ~$20,000. So, if somewhere in 2017, you decided to sell that same ONE bitcoin, you could now pay for something much bigger, like a nice vacation, a home renovation project, or maybe even one years worth of tuition bills.

Not bad, right?

Now, imagine you didn’t get the sushi dinner in 2014, and you also didn’t spend it in 2017. Instead, you continued to hold it all the way until 2024.

Now, in March 2024, one bitcoin is worth north of $70,000. That means, that same ONE bitcoin you bought back then can now pay for a new car, make a major dent in the down payment for a house, etc.

(I hope you see where this is going)

What’s going on? Over time, owning bitcoin means increasing your purchasing power.

Visually:

• 1 bitcoin in 2013 = sushi dinner
• 1 bitcoin in 2017 = nice vacation or home renovation project
• 1 bitcoin in 2024 = new car, big dent in downpayment for a house
• 1 bitcoin in 20xx = new house? early retirement?

Put another way, instead of feeling like everything is getting more expensive, things will start to feel more affordable for you and your family.

Of course, it doesn’t happen overnight. The rub is that you’ll need to commit to hold bitcoin for at least 5 years (read here for more background).

Looking ahead though, I would not be surprised if that same ONE bitcoin (that used to only be able to buy a dinner back in 2014) becomes enough to buy a HOUSE in the next decade!

Remember, still that same ONE bitcoin you bought back in 2014!

And also, remember that you are getting this upside without the additional work that you would’ve needed to do (ie. fixing broken AC units, researching stock reports, etc) in order to get ahead.

So, if it had been my friend (who is currently trying to buy a house), and back in 2014, he was the one who bought a bitcoin, this ONE bitcoin could now make a big dent in his downpayment and let him afford his dream house.

I’m sure you are thinking, “I don’t have a time machine though!”. No problem. The same thing applies in 2024. Over the next multi-decade time horizon, my bet is that things around me will continue getting more affordable…as long as my family keeps holding bitcoin in our portfolio.

Recap

By owning bitcoin, my family has noticed that we are moving into a different path in life (at least financially). That’s because instead of everything getting more expensive, things feel like they are getting MORE affordable and MORE within reach.

And along the way, I’ve found that I also have more free time / energy to focus on what really matters. My family!

This is why my family owns bitcoin. And it’s why we will continue owning bitcoin for the long term.

Next time

Here is where it gets really interesting!

Let’s say because you read this blog post and buy some bitcoin. And over the next 5 years (since that is the minimum time horizon you need to commit to own bitcoin in order to get the benefits), you also start feeling like life is getting easier too.

This is great, but…it’s only the beginning of how your life really starts to change (for the better). And it’s what I’ll talk about next time!

To be the first to get notified when that blog post comes out, make sure you subscribe!

As of late February 2024, I believe 99% of parents still see bitcoin the wrong way.

And I believe it’s causing parents all around the world to miss out on owning the MOST important asset that can help make life easier for them and their family (at least financially).

But not you, fellow parent!

That’s because in this article, I’m going to shine a whole new light on bitcoin (ie. The way I see it, which is a rational position developed over thousands of hours of study)

Why should you care?

Because with this new perspective, I believe it’ll put you ahead of 99% of other parents so you can actually evaluate if / how bitcoin can help your family’s financial future.

How most parents see bitcoin right now

Recently, I went out to dinner with a group of Dads. And of course, bitcoin came up in conversation, especially since the price has more than doubled in the past 6 months. (currently, it is around $60,000 as of Feb 28, 2024).

During dinner, one of the Dads said something that stuck out to me:

“…sure, the price of bitcoin has gone up a lot recently. But it’s just going to crash again soon…”

And the thing is, he is right…IF you only look at bitcoin with a short term horizon. Unfortunately, the reality is, that’s how most parents view bitcoin today.

Specifically, I believe 99% of parents are saying “no” to bitcoin right now because they think it is:

1. more akin to a lottery ticket and / or something you gamble on
2. something you have to day trade like a degen
3. A high risk thing you definitely don’t hold for the long term

I don’t blame them for having this perspective. But at the same time, it is exactly the opposite way I see bitcoin.

The price goes up. The price goes down.

Like I said, I don’t blame all my fellow parents out there who still see bitcoin more akin to gambling or speculation and decide to stay away.

That’s because on a short term time horizon, bitcoin looks crazy. One minute the price of bitcoin going up (violently), and then down (violently), and then up again, and then down again.

For instance:

• in early January 2024 (right before bitcoin ETF’s were approved), the price was roughly $45,000
• right after the approval, the price shot up near $48,000
• by late January 2024, the price dropped significantly down to $40,000
• now, in late February 2024, the price is up significantly to $60,000

That’s a lot of up and and down price movements in a short period of time!

And when viewing bitcoin like most parents do, it is easy to conclude that in order to make money on it, you have to time the market (ie. buy it at just the right time and then sell it at just the right time…over and over again).

Now let’s be honest honest. No one can time the market. Especially over and over again.

And even if you could perfectly time the market, my bet is that no sane parent would want to spend all day (and all night) obsessively staring at their computer screen, looking at price charts, and timing each buy and sell trade.

Actually, that sounds like a nightmare to me.

When looking at bitcoin through a short term lens, it easy to see why most parents shy away.

How I see bitcoin

To me, all this short term price change is just NOISE. And I try my best to ignore the noise.

Am concerned when bitcoin drops by 10% in a day? No.

Am I selling when the bitcoin goes up 10% in a day? No.

How? Why? What? Let me now (finally) tell you how I see bitcoin!

Bitcoin is boring

If there is one key concept I want you to take away, it is that bitcoin is BORING (in the best way possible).

Yes. Boring. Even though in the short term, the price is going up and down and up and down.

Here’s why.

Instead of something you buy / sell / buy sell over and over again, I see bitcoin as a thing you simply just buy. And hold. And hold some more. And continue to hold for even longer.

Boring, right? But trust me, as a busy parent, this is a good thing.

And instead of a thing that you plan to sell in a few days / weeks / months to “buy low sell high”, bitcoin is something that you hold for at least 5 years. (For context, I’ve already held it for 10 years, and don’t have any plans to sell anytime soon)

Boring again, right? But, as a busy parent, having a boring investment is a good thing.

Basically, I see bitcoin as a boring long term savings account. Very similar to how I see my savings account at Bank of America.

But, it has ONE KEY difference. And that is…

My bitcoin long term savings account grows in value much MUCH faster than my Bank of America savings account!

Of course, I’m not talking about it going up in the next hour, day, week, month, or even year. Because in those short term time frames, it can be up or down significantly, just like it has been on for the past few days.

But if I zoom out over a multi-year time horizon, it’s very clear which way the price of bitcoin is going.

And that is…UP!

Don’t believe me? Look at this chart:

You can see that the price is steadily going up in the long run, right?

And before you think, “I’m late to bitcoin…it’s leveling off already”, take a look at the y-axis. Notice that it is moving up by an order magnitude each notch (ie. 1 —> 10 —> 100 —> 1,000 —> etc).

That means even though it looks like the price of bitcoin is leveling off, it’s still actually going up by a LOT (ie. from $10k to $100k, there is $90k of upside even though on the chart, it only goes up by one notch).

With this in mind, the next logical question might be, “how much work is required to own bitcoin to get in on the up side?”.

Here is the beautiful thing: nothing. With a long term view that bitcoin is a savings account, all you do is just buy some. And then hold it. And hold it more. And keep holding it (for at least 5 years).

It’s just like what I did growing up with birthday money. I put that money into a savings account at my bank and watched it grow over time.

I’ve come to a conclusion, after many hours of study, that the longer I own bitcoin, the better I do. And the less I try and do with it (ie. trade it, time the market, etc), the better off I am.

This is why I treat bitcoin as a boring long term savings account.

Number go up

I’m sure you are now wondering, “how does the price of bitcoin keep going up? And doesn’t that mean there will just be an epic crash around the corner?”

Great questions.

There is SO much to say here, which I’ll do so throughout this blog. But at a high level, there are foundational features of bitcoin, and that are unique to bitcoin, which makes the price go up (in the long run).

One is the 21 million fixed supply of bitcoin paired with an ever increasing demand for it. Another is the concept of proof of work. And another is Nakamoto consensus.

While each of these appear to be straight forward concepts at first, over time, the more I’ve come to understand bitcoin, the more I’ve developed a rational perspective that yes, indeed, in the long run, the price of bitcoin is going up.

Again, I promise I’ll write more about these later on!

Recap

If you want to really understand bitcoin, think about it as a boring long term savings tool…knowing that it consistently goes UP over the long run.

That way, all the short term price action just becomes noise that doesn’t matter.

With that said, it’ll be tempting to try and make moves in the short run. And that’s what causes people to get wrecked.

To avoid this, mentally commit that when you buy bitcoin, you won’t sell it (no matter what!) for at least 5 years.

That means no trying to time the market in the short term. No trading it back and forth. No taking leverage. No gambling.

Boring, right?

But again, boring is good. At least for me, by following this recipe and holding for long periods of time, I’ve found found that bitcoin has dramatically help build my family’s emergency fund.

Going further down the rabbit hole

Each of us starts off as a bitcoin skeptic, who thinks it’s either a scam or it is overvalued (ie. going to crash soon). Slowly, but surely though, as each person learns about bitcoin, they change their mind.

Recently, I came across a good article and podcast of a skeptic who has now changed his mind.

First, read the article, “Why I Bitcoin”.

Then, have a listen:

TL/DR:

• as a parent without bitcoin, life will get harder
• as a parent with bitcoin, life will get easier

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Last week, I got a letter from Jackson’s school.

It was clear this was a tuition bill. And I knew it was going to be a large bill too.

There was no way to miss the fact that $35,000 was due. The amount was bolded, highlighted, and in large font at the top. And in order to lock in Jackson’s spot, I needed to pay in full by the end of the month.

In the past, even though I knew a big bill was coming, I would still stress about how to pay for it. Maybe it meant transferring money over from the emergency fund. Or selling some stocks. Or eating out less leading up to it.

However, last week, when I received the tuition bill, I didn’t stress at all. Instead, I just turned around, paid for it, and went back to my life.

As a parent, that was a really good feeling.

There was zero stress involved. And zero anxiety about how / where the money would come from.

Now, to be clear, the reason I’m telling you this is NOT to brag. Rather, I want every parent to have that feeling, just like I did. And it’s something I think every parent can experience too!

Below, I’m going to show you how it’s possible by laying out two different paths:

1. the default path most parents are on, where life keeps getting harder
2. a new and different bitcoin path where life starts getting easier

After seeing both, I bet you’ll have an “ah ha” moment how bitcoin can help your family…just like it has helped my family, and continues to help my family too.

Let me explain!

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Life without bitcoin

I don’t know about you, but as a parent, I’m aware of how much things cost.

In the past few years:

• my average grocery bill has gone up
• utilities cost more
• it is more expensive to eat out
• the hourly rate to hire help (nanny, cleaner, handyman) is higher too

On top of that, I’ve also noticed that the price of everything is going up faster than Tiffany or I get a raise. Now, I’m not a rocket scientist, but in the long run, I know this is NOT sustainable.

It’s not sustainable because as things get more expensive, more of each paycheck goes towards covering the basics needed to stay afloat. And that means less money is being set aside for savings or a rainy day.

This is dangerous! As parents, we intuitively know accidents will happen and emergencies will pop up…which WILL require money to pay for. All the while…less and less money is available.

It’s like walking a tight rope where any slip could spell disaster. And this is what I mean when I say life is getting harder.

But here is the thing…

It wasn’t always like this

When our grandparents were in their prime, it used to be that one person worked, and that job was enough to buy a house and provide (roughly) live a middle class lifestyle for the family.

Then it shifted.

When our parents were in their prime, it became more common for both parents to work in order to buy a house and provide for the family. But they could still (roughly) maintain that middle class lifestyle.

And now, it has shifted again.

Even though both parents are working, for many, it still isn’t enough to buy a house, provide for their family, and slowly to get ahead in life.

“Why” this is happening requires a deep dive into macroeconomics, monetary history, and more…and it is a deep dive we we will take together later.

But for now, just looking at the data, we can see that life is getting harder:

• more than 60% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck (source)
• 40% have less than three months of expenses saved (source)
• the average American has over $6,000 in credit card debt (source)

Again, not to beat a dead horse, but this path is not sustainable.

Want to buy a house?

The average price of a house in the United States is nearly $540,000 (ie. more than HALF A MILLION dollars) (source). Just 5 years ago in 2017, that house would have cost $385,000.

That is a massive $155,000 increase…in just 5 years!

So unless you got a massive raise at work, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but life got harder for any family trying to buy a house in 2023 vs. 2017.

And sorry to continue being the bearer of bad news, but things will KEEP getting more and more expensive in the future too (ie. your grocery bill will never be as cheap as it was a few years ago and school tuition fees aren’t going down).

Ouch.

Now, before this gets too depressing, let me show you an entirely different path.

A happier and easier path.

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Life with bitcoin

I know it sounds a bit crazy, but by owning bitcoin, you will start seeing things getting CHEAPER over time.

Yes, I said it. Instead of things getting more expensive, things will get CHEAPER and easier to afford.

I know, I know…this sounds too good to be true.

So let me explain. And this is important because once you have this “ah ha” moment, I bet you’ll see bitcoin in a whole new way.

Hungry?

Back in 2011, some guy paid 10,000 bitcoins in order to buy two large Papa John’s pizzas for his family (source: Investopedia).

Can you believe that? TEN THOUSAND bitcoins!

Now fast forward two years. In 2013, a reporter paid “just” 10 bitcoin for a large group to eat a sushi dinner (source: New York Times)

And remember, 10 is WAY less than 10,000!

Now, fast forward again.

In 2023, you can buy a brand new Tesla Model Y for just 1-2 bitcoin (ie. 1 bitcoin = $31,000 USD as of this writing and a Tesla Model Y costs ~$47,000 USD).

So now, imagine you are that reporter from 2013 with 10 bitcoin. But imagine, instead of using your bitcoin to buy the meal, you held onto it instead.

Now, as that reporter, 10 years later, you could use just 1-2 of those bitcoin to buy yourself a new car! And you’d still have 8 bitcoin left over for other life expenses, like tuition bills, vacations, home renovation projects, and more.

Wild, right?

What is more wild is that by following this rough trajectory, in 2030, 1 bitcoin might be able to buy a house! (or at least be enough to cover a big chunk of the down payment)

I’m getting carried away…let’s get back to the main point.

The main takeaway is that with bitcoin, life gets easier because things get more affordable. And as a parent, this is a good thing.

How to get on this path?

All you have to do it buy and hold some bitcoin.

Then, just wait. And wait.

And wait some more.

The longer you can afford to wait, the more stuff that the bitcoin will be able to afford.

For the reporter in the example above, if they held onto their bitcoin for 10 years, they would’ve seen that instead of just being able to afford a meal for 10 bitcoin, they could now buy a new car PLUS have 8 bitcoin left over in their emergency fund!

Over time, as a parent, as I’ve continued seeing bitcoin become more valuable, I find that the stress of how I’m going to afford to pay for groceries, or diapers, or school tuition bills just goes away.

And that is a good thing!

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The choice is yours

Would you rather live a life where things are continuously getting more expensive? A life where you have to work harder and harder just to provide for your family?

Or would you rather move on a path where life is getting cheaper? One where you don’t have to stress about how you are going to pay the tuition bill or any other big ticket item that pops up?

As a parent, this is the easiest decision I’ve made. I choose to own bitcoin in my family’s long term portfolio.

And guess what, you get to make the choice too!

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Misconception #1: “you were early, I am late”

At this point, you might be thinking, nice story…but “I am late” and won’t see that kind of upside.

This is a big misconception. Actually, the best days are still ahead.

Jesse Myers, a fellow Bitcoiner, Stanford MBA graduate, and former Bain consultant came to this same conclusion – expecting bitcoin to be worth a whopping $10 million a coin in the future (source: Substack).

Exactly when? Of course, no one knows for sure.

But his analysis is spot on about big the opportunity is. What I’m trying to say is, you are not LATE to bitcoin. Instead, if anything, in 2023, we are still very early.

That’s why I’m holding and not selling anytime soon.

Misconception #2: “I bought bitcoin yesterday…life isn’t easier yet”

Zoom out.

There is a lot of noise when comparing the price of bitcoin now vs. what it was 1 minute ago. Similarly, versus yesterday, last week, last month, or even last year.

This is just short term volatility. Ignore the noise.

Instead, zoom out further and look at the price of bitcoin over a multi year horizon. And when you do, it becomes very clear what is happening.

The price is going up!

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Conclusion

When you own bitcoin, life get easier. However, it doesn’t happen overnight.

But, if you can just hold on, you will see that things around you are becoming more affordable!

Next

Thank you for reading the bitcoin for parents series. I hope you’ve had some real “ah ha” moments along the way about what bitcoin is, and more importantly, why you should care.

If you got value out of this series, feel free to subscribe so I can let you know when my next bitcoin for parents series is published. In it, we’ll go one level deeper down the bitcoin rabbit hole so you. This includes where to buy it, how much to buy, when to buy, and more. Again, no jargon. No technobabble. And no complicated strategies involved.

Until next time!

As a parent, I know that your time is precious. So I want to thank you for spending your precious time with me to learn about bitcoin!

By the end of this article, my goal is for you to have a clear understanding of what bitcoin is, and more importantly, as a parent, why you should care.

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Remember…

We started the “bitcoin for parents” series exploring the idea that money makes the world go around (lesson 1). And this matters because, like it or not, as parents, we need money in order to provide for our families.

There are diapers to buy, unexpected doctors visits, and more! And each of these require money to pay for.

And without money as the tool to facilitate all these trades, all I have to say is “good luck” trying to figure out how salt you need to trade for diapers, or how many diapers it costs to pay for a doctors visit…

After establishing that money is a necessity, we then looked at what makes money good quality vs. bad quality (lesson 2). As a reminder, this matters because if we find ourselves holding bad money (like Zimbabwe Dollars), it can cause a lot of financial pain for our family. And that’s something we, as parents, must avoid at all costs.

Finally, we saw what happens to different quality money over time (lesson 3). As a recap: bad quality money will go away (like the Zimbabwe Dollar), while good quality ones will appear.

Now, with all of this foundation in place, let’s see exactly how bitcoin fits in. And to make it as easy as possible, let’s do it in reverse, starting with lesson 3.

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(from lesson 3) good money comes

TL/DR: bitcoin is a new kind of money

Yes, it might feel anti-climatic or boring, but I want us to intentionally focus on the idea that bitcoin is just money for now. And that money is nothing more than a tool that makes it easier to trade back and forth, now and in the future, for all those products and services that we need.

The reason I want to focus here is because, in contrast, when 99% of people first come across bitcoin, they immediately try to figure out how a blockchain works, the bitcoin monetary policy schedule, or even how miners operate.

I am PURPOSELY going to skip over these low level “how” details (for now).

Why?

Through many conversations with fellow parents first learning about bitcoin, I’ve found that focusing on these “how does it work” level details is the fastest way to get confused or lost.

It’s the ultimate expression of not being able to see the forest from the trees…!

Don’t worry, later, in another series of articles, I’ll go through each of these details. But for now, as busy parents, I believe it is most important to first have an “ah ha” moment from a 30,000ft view.

So, keeping it simple: bitcoin is just a new form of money.

Zero to One

In January 2009, just 14 years ago, bitcoin launched. And in that short time, it has already been adopted by millions of people around the world.

With that said, in the grand scheme of things, bitcoin is still young and largely misunderstood. Even today, you’ll still hear critics / skeptics refer to it as:

• a ponzi
• a house of cards
• a scam
• something that will collapse any minute now

Luckily, this perspective is quickly fading away from public opinion.

Why?

It’s because the price of bitcoin has already popped! And intuitively, each of us knows that ponzi’s and scams die after the price pops.

So…since the price of bitcoin has already popped, it should be dead. Right?

And what if the price of bitcoin hasn’t popped just once, but has popped MANY times already?

Such as in…

• 2011 (from $100 to $10)
• 2013 (from $1000 to $200)
• 2018 (from $20,000 to $3,000)
• 2021 (from $69,000 to $15,000)

Since the price has popped multiple times…bitcoin should DEFINITELY be dead. RIGHT?

Answer: no!

Actually, the opposite is happening. After “popping” again in 2021 (from $69,000 down to $15,000), bitcoin is predictably on the rise once more ($31,000 as of this writing).

That’s why the misconception that bitcoin is a ponzi or scam is fading away – it just doesn’t hold merit anymore.

And on top of that, notice after each pop in the price, that bitcoin actually comes back bigger and stronger than before.

Now, consider this catalyst:

• BlackRock (ie. the BIGGEST money manager in the world) is applying to offer a bitcoin ETF for their customers (source). And so is Fidelity (source), another multi trillion dollar asset manager. And more companies are also submitting requests for ETF approvals too…

Now, add on these additional catalysts:

• bitcoin is a part of multiple 2024 US Presidential candidate platforms
• publicly traded companies are buying bitcoin (like Tesla, Square, MicroStrategy)
• countries like El Salvador and Bhutan are openly acquiring bitcoin
• bitcoin is part of the front page of CNBC all day, every day

For me, by slightly zooming out and focusing on the forest from the trees, I see bitcoin thriving as a new form of money!

How? Let’s talk about that next.

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(from lesson 2) not all money is equal

TL/DR: bitcoin is a better quality money because it is scarce

Bitcoin isn’t just a new form of money that is just slightly better. Instead, bitcoin is much MUCH better quality compared to everything else.

And that matters. Let me explain…

Remember what happened to salt as money (from lesson 2)?

At first…

People were willing to trade their time (doing a job) and being compensated in salt, because salt was rare (ie. scarce). And because it was scarce, salt served as good quality money because it could preserve value over time.

Later…

As entrepreneurs figured out how to make / find more salt, salt became worth less (and less). Put another way, salt became bad quality money. And as that happened, less and less people were willing to be paid with salt or to trade for salt.

The journey of salt (from a good money to a bad money) happened as it became easier to make more of it. To be explicit: as it became easier to make, it became less scarce. Taken to the logical conclusion, once salt wasn’t scarce anymore, it lost it’s ability to hold value over time. And eventually, it stopped being money.

What does this have to do with bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the opposite of salt!

There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin. And no one can ever make more of it. No matter how hard they try.

Put another way, bitcoin is perfectly scarce! So unlike salt, it won’t suffer the same fate since again, no one can make / find more of it.

(side note: just how this 21 million limit is enforced is a fascinating journey down the bitcoin rabbit hole. And from thousands of hours of intense study, I have come to the conclusion, like every other Bitcoiner before me, that the 21 million limit is here to stay.)

Of course, scarcity isn’t the only thing that makes bitcoin a better quality money. There are many more, like how it incentivizes long term saving behavior, how no one can counterfeit it, and more (all of which you’ll learn about as you go down the bitcoin rabbit hole)…

But for now, the big takeaway is that all good quality money must be scarce. And bitcoin is the most scarce of them all – more than gold, US Dollars, Zimbabwe Dollars, or salt.

And all else equal, the more scarce a money is, the better quality it is.

Now, here is the kicker. History tells us when a significantly better quality money is available, it gets adopted!

This matters, because money makes the world go around.

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(from lesson 1) money makes the world go around

TL/DR: because bitcoin is the best quality money, it is becoming the thing everyone wants to save with and earn too

The genie is out of the bottle. Bitcoin is going mainstream. And as we speak, there is massive adoption happening globally for this new and better quality money.

At the grass roots level, individuals like me are buying and holding bitcoin as a long term investment.

There are now over 1 million unique wallets holding at least 1 bitcoin:

At the corporate level, companies like MicroStrategy are also buying and holding bitcoin as a long term investment. Since buying their first bitcoin just 3 years ago, they’ve already accumulated over 150,000 bitcoin (worth ~$4.5 billion USD). And they are continuing to buy (having most recently bought ~13,000 in June 2023)!

MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 12,333 BTC for ~$347.0 million at an average price of $28,136 per #bitcoin. As of 6/27/23 @MicroStrategy hodls 152,333 $BTC acquired for ~$4.52 billion at an average price of $29,668 per bitcoin. $MSTR https://t.co/joHo1gEnR0

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) June 28, 2023

Next, places like the Houston Firefighters Pension Fund (source) have recently started buying and holding bitcoin as a long term investment.

And at the city / state / country level, the same thing is happening. As an example, El Salvador has made bitcoin legal tender (source) and Bhutan has been acquiring bitcoin too (source)!

And soon, remember, BlackRock, Fidelity, and many other companies will start offering a bitcoin ETF.

The future is here…it’s just not distributed evenly

Even though bitcoin adoption is increasing every day, in the grand scheme of things, it is still very early.

Today, 99% of parents still don’t really get bitcoin. But everyday, that is changing.

And today, most companies / governments are still getting their head wrapped around bitcoin too. But that is changing as we speak.

While the world is figuring out bitcoin, that means you are actually ahead of most! And like any investment opportunity, those who are earlier to identify this long term investment opportunity have more upside to gain.

To be clear, I’m not saying the short term price of bitcoin will be higher today than it was yesterday, or higher this week vs. last week. But what I am saying is that by understanding that bitcoin is the best quality money, and that the best quality money wins over time…it’s clear to see that bitcoin is becoming the money that makes the world go around!

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Conclusion

1. bitcoin is money
2. bitcoin is a significantly better quality of money
3. Bitcoin is being globally adopted as the money that makes the world go around

And now, as a parent, you understand something that 99% of the world is still trying to figure out. And that gives you a distinct advantage!

Specifically, you now have a clear framework to evaluate if / how bitcoin should be a part of your family portfolio, just like I’ve realized that bitcoin is part of mine.

Next

In lesson 5, let’s me show you what life feels like as a parent who owns bitcoin. Sneak peek: it’s a good feeling.

The work day had already started. But instead of joining a scheduled meeting, I was outside frantically scouring the neighborhood, looking for “Red” (Jackson’s toy train).

You see, it wasn’t just any toy that went missing.

Rather, it was Jackson’s first ever “favorite toy”. And as a toddler, this was his most important possession! So of course, right after we got back from our morning walk, Jackson noticed Red was missing.

This wasn’t good because I was already late for work.

And since I had a work meeting to join, I tried giving Jackson another toy to play with. But that didn’t work.

Then, I tried to assure him that we would look for Red later in the day, but that didn’t work either. And finally, I even tried to let him cry it out…but that just made him more angry while shouting “Red!” over and over again.

Eventually, I buckled.

Halfway through the meeting, I messaged my co-workers and told them I had an “emergency”. And that emergency was going on a search and rescue mission for a toy train…!

For the next hour, I went outside, retracing the path we had walked earlier in the morning. And along the way, like a madman, I checked under piles of leaves and behind rocks on the sidewalk hoping to finding Red.

Eventually, I gave up.

And since I couldn’t find Red, I devised a “desperate times call for desperate measures” backup plan. The plan was to go to the toy store later in the day, to buy a new toy train (that looked like Red), and try to pass it off as the original…

Luckily, I didn’t need to go with the backup plan.

That’s because after I got home, I emptied out all the contents from the diaper bag. And lo and behold, Red was in there all along (wedged deep inside one of the inner compartments)!

Crisis averted…

For context, the “missing train incident” occurred roughly a year ago, when Jackson was 1.5 years old. And actually, I had forgot about it until recently, when Jackson (now 2.5 years old) was playing at home and found Red buried at the bottom of his toy box.

You see, Jackson has since moved on to many other favorite toys. And even though Red was his first love from a year ago, now, he couldn’t care less about that toy train.

And that’s what I want to talk about today!

What does this have to do with money?

Red used to be Jackson’s favorite toy.

And back then, I would’ve told you with a high degree of confidence that Red would continue to be his favorite toy for a long time too (since it was his first love).

Yet, just one year later, Jackson doesn’t play with Red anymore. He doesn’t ask for it. And if Red went missing again, he wouldn’t notice (or care).

The same thing happens with money.

Day to day, we all think that the money we use (right now) will be the same money that we continue to use (in the future). But, looking at history, we see the opposite – we see that (good) money comes and (bad) money goes.

Let me explain. And more importantly, let me help connect the dots why, as a parent, you should care.

Get paid in salt?

Many many MANY years ago, in exchange for doing back-breaking manual labor, you would get paid with salt (source: NPR).

Yes…the same kind of salt that costs just $1 for a huge bag at Trader Joes today…

You see, back then, salt was hard to find / make. Put another way, it was rare. And it was desirable. Which made it valuable. And because salt was valuable, people were willing to trade for it, including their precious time / energy doing manual labor in exchange for it.

As a matter of fact, to see how prevalent salt was as money, the word “salary” (ie. the amount of money we make at our job) comes from “sal” (Latin for salt)!

And yet, salt isn’t used as money anymore.

Why is that?

Bad money goes away

I’m glossing over thousands of years of history here, but at a 30 thousand foot overview, and in simple terms…

As time went on, people figured out how to find / make more salt.

And as they did, something interesting (but predictable) happened. Salt became less and less rare. And as that happened, it became less and less valuable.

The net effect was that over time, no one wanted to be paid in salt anymore (since it stopped holding its value).

Remember now, from lesson 2, that not all money is equal. So at one point in the long arc of history, salt started as “good quality” money (before it was easy to find / make). But, as it became easier / cheaper to make, salt became bad quality money.

And eventually, it got so bad that salt stopped being used as money all together.

Skeptical? If so, just ask yourself if you’d accept a bag of salt as compensation for doing 40 hours of work.

I sure as hell wouldn’t! Why? It’s only worth $1 for a bag at Trader Joes!

Next, I have a feeling that you might be thinking, “salt was money THOUSANDS of years ago…that can’t happen anymore”.

Ah…but it can! And it does. Let’s take a look.

Money printer go brrrrrrrrrrr!

For many reasons beyond the scope of this blog, around 2008, the government in Zimbabwe decided / was forced to / had no choice but to print more money (source: Wikipedia).

At first, by a little. Then, some more. And then…more.

Taken to the logical conclusion, you can probably imagine what happened to the money used in Zimbabwe. (sneak peek: it suffered the same fate salt did as more and more of it was made)

What do you see in the picture above from Zimbabwe during this period of time? This is a man heading to the grocery store with a literal wheelbarrow of Zimbabwe dollar bills. And he doesn’t seem worried that someone might rob him.

And I think we can all appreciate that if / once you have to cart this much money around to just buy groceries…that the money you are using is / has lost its value at being the tool to help you trade for products / services you and your family needs.

Just like salt stopped being money when it became too easy to make more of, the money in Zimbabwe became bad quality (as more of it was being printed). And eventually, it got so bad that people stopped accepting it entirely.

The takeaway here is that even though it doesn’t happen everyday, bad quality forms of money do go away.

Still skeptical that bad money goes away? Here is a list of 10 other forms of money that have also gone away recently (source: Wikipedia).

(And as a complete aside, if you want a collectors item, you can buy a $100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill on eBay)

Good money comes

Now, the next question to ask is, “what happens when a bad quality money goes away?”

Remember, money makes the world go around (lesson 1). We need money to trade – to be compensated for the work we do, to buy products (ie. diapers, food), services (ie. doctors visits), etc.

So, imagine you are a parent living in Zimbabwe. And the money you used last year / month / day becomes so bad quality that no one accepts it anymore.

Does that mean you won’t need to buy diapers anymore, or put food on the table, or continue paying for doctors visits?

No. No. And no!

Money is still needed to make these trades possible.

So what do you do?

Simply put, as that parent living in Zimbabwe…you would demand to be paid in a new form of money that is better quality (Zimbabwe switched to US Dollars – source). And you’ll start buying products and services with this new money too since that is what everyone else accepts.

Before you know it, the old (and bad quality) money will go away, to be replaced with a better quality money in its place.

What does this have to do with bitcoin?

Now that we’ve established three key concepts (lesson 1 – money makes the world go around, lesson 2 – not all money is equal, and now, lesson 3 – good money comes and bad money goes)…

We are finally ready to see where bitcoin fits into all of this!

And I know, while it doesn’t feel like it, you are actually 99% ahead of other parents on your way to having your “ah ha” moment about bitcoin.

Trust me, it’s going to feel putting in that last puzzle piece on your 1000 piece puzzle!

So let’s have that “ah ha” moment together here.