A lot of people have heard my moped story, but heres the math on it.

In 2016 I needed $5,000 to pay my wife’s master’s school tuition.

I didn’t have $5,000 cash at the time, but I did have bitcoin.

Bitcoin was trading at roughly $500, so I would have had to sell 10 bitcoin in order to pay the tuition.

I didn’t want to do that so I sold my car instead for $5,500.

I took $500 of that and bought a shitty moped and used the rest to pay my wife’s tuition.

So I rode the moped around the rest of the year and everyone made fun of me. Usually I play this part of the story up, but tbh it didn’t bother me. The people making fun of me were poorer than I was, they didn’t understand bitcoin or the market or even basic budgeting.

When people would make fun of me I would tell them why I was doing what I was doing. Then I would start peppering them with questions about their financial life.

ā€œOh so you financed your refrigerator? You’re still paying that off huh?ā€

ā€œYou have a timeshare you’ve never been to? How’d you get talked into that?ā€

People would generally go from laughing at me riding the moped to feeling shell shocked by me popping their bubble of comfortable delusion.

Still I drove the moped and everyone thought I was being weird and ridiculous and silly etc…

At 100k that decision was worth a million dollars.

At a million it will have been worth 10 million.

And at 10 million it will have been a nine figure decision.

100 million dollars.

I only rode the stupid moped for 8 months.

Ask yourself? Would you face 8 months of sacrifice and ridicule for 10 million in the future?

Because there are things you could be doing today that would generate that for future you.

My advice is to have your own moped moment.

Do something a little weird/cringe/out there in order to stack more sats and then check in on the sats in 10-15 years.

I think you’re going to be happy with the results.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Amazing šŸ‘

I bought a house and sold 0 bitcoin. Instead I borrowed money in an inflating currency.

Same.

Real story here isn’t the moped saved you 10btc it is that the masters cost you 10btc

That’s true

Love the story though.

Honestly, it’s kinda sick. Bet you could get $1500 for it today if you still had it.

1) WTF is wrong with a moped?

2) if you are that self conscious about what people think of you, use that moment to grow emotionally. Because that’s dumb.

3) who made fun of you? Your friends? They are not friends.

Everyone made fun of me lol this was a very weird thing to do in American culture at that time

I find it funny that I have a reputation of being ā€œfrugalā€ in my circle because I have managed to invest/save a decent amount. Even though people don’t know how much I have saved, but because I have encouraged them to save. While my family has not lived to our means we have never been deprived and embarrassingly have lived a quite luxurious life imo. I could’ve stacked a lot more but have far surpassed my original stacking goal.

Heard this for the first time when you spoke at the Cheat Code conference. Inspiring!! šŸ™ŒšŸ’œ

Crazy story! I can only have massive respect for someone like you! It takes a lot of courage, discipline and consistency to ignore other people’s opinion and stay confident with your own decisions

Cheers buddy! I’ll drink tonight one on you šŸ„‚

the real question is... was your wife's tuition worth that much?

No lol

In fact two years later she got pregnant and stopped working so she never ended up using her degree.

šŸ˜‚ 100 milly down the drain.

but you did the right thing.

It seemed important at the time šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™‚ļø I guess we were both more indoctrinated by society then.

Yeahhh! The kid bro🤠!!! Priceless!

I guess this is the question to ask with every purchase big and small. We all draw a line, it’s just a matter of where.

A moped is anyway better for the environment. I love your moped moment. Keep going! ā¤ļø

That's a nice looking ride to be honest.

I’ve lived in the same shit apartment with my gf since 2020.

We pay $800 total and the landlord must have forgotten he owns the building bc the price has never been raised.

It’s been a big reason I’ve been able to stack my ass off.

In summer of 2022. Luna, FTX, NFTs, Celsius and other cunts to their thing. Causing the bear market.

I'm in south Mexico at the time. Living in a tent in a low cost beach hostel. Printing and selling stickers to tourists. No fiat savings, no fiat income, tiny sat income. My computer died and was at the beginning of my freelance carrier. Not a lot of opportunities in bear. Fun times.

I lived with bunch of always drunk Mexicans. Any time one of them got salary, it was a cause to celebrate more. Get fancier beer instead of cheap. Buy Marlboros.

A year of struggle. My stack didn't grow, but I didn't lose any neither. I loved it. I had so much fun staying poor.

Waking up hungry with 15 pesos, walking down the road for 2-3h, selling stickers to gringos. I made 50-200 pesos a day. Enough to cover food and drink. Sold few stickers for sats too.

Please tell me you still have the moped 😁

8 months isn't that long tbh.I've been sacrificing a lot of things for almost 3yrs

Bro I wish. I sold it to some crackheads for $50 after I beat it to shit lol

Haha yes, I wear ancient clothing with rips and tears in it and I don't heat my home. I look like a bum and I know it. I don't care how it's perceived (any more). I'll buy something decent when fiat dies, or maybe next bull.

This gets the blood pumping in the morning! Talk about a low time preference, contrarian thinking, and deep conviction in #bitcoin. You earned it nostr:npub1rtlqca8r6auyaw5n5h3l5422dm4sry5dzfee4696fqe8s6qgudks7djtfs!

For real! Good guy too. Sacrifice for the family, coin also while educating others.

Inspiring!

Love the story man! I don’t really spend time talking with people that don’t have my best interests in mind. When people ridicule and stuff it’s just a reflection on their character.

Awesome stuff. Paparazzi and now scooter story. Let’s keep them coming

I'm still on my ebike. The grind will not fucking stop. Rain, hail, sleet, or snow. This is for the kids.

Great story…hope your wife values that degree! The fact that you valued her in that way was priceless though.

I am responsible for everyone in my life. That’s the way I view things. Always have.

Winds in the face

While screaming beta’s pass by

Look at me now bitch šŸ¤™

#haiku

You are an inspiration. Thank you.

love this!

Thats how legends are born.

Great story & a real world example of the power of delayed gratification !

If someone paid you 100M to ride a moped for 8 months would you do it?

Mopeds are fun though. I'm driving a super gay car right now and it's not fun.

Legend

I hate when these are called mopeds. The moped was a light motorcycle that had peddles that you could actually power the rear wheel like a bicycle.

Other than that cultural faux pas it's a great story.

/600px-Honda_Hobbit.jpg

"Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine." -- Wikipedia

-- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped

Note to self: "e bikes" are real mopeds, scooters are not

Kind of sort of. The moped made you very independent. You could get 100 miles on a gallon of gas which in the 1970s was under 1 $USD. If you ran out of fuel you could pedal to the gas station. It was a miserable pedal but it was possible.

eBikes definitely have a use though. In Portugal I saw a lot of ebikes doing food delivery. The hills were manageable with the electric motor. I still prefer the moped and I'm disappointed that it's hard to buy or find one.

Hmm. Maybe gas stations should add battery change stations for e bikes so you can refill the battery instantly at a station instead of waiting to charge

Yeah my grandpa had one of those. Overtime the term shifted when they stopped making pedal bikes like that.

My uncle had one in the 70s and it was amazing. In the late 90s one friend rigged one to run on alcohol. He started the Hempcar program.

Pedantry is underrated. Thankyou for your service šŸ˜‰

Ped means foot. This a pedal. Similar to pod as pseudopod. Also pada in Sanskrit is pathway as in walking, e.g. Dhamapada, the pathway to/of Dhama (Dharma).

You're welcome.

Pedagogy is teaching.

To be clear, I applaud it... 😃

In that case I must zap you.

Onwards 🫔

Yup. Motor scooter. I had one.

Have you kept the moped? It must hold significant symbolic value for you and your family.

I should have!

Great story mate.

🫔 amazing story!

I drove a car that leaked oil for 3 extra years to delay "selling my btc when it can pay for a new car".

Folks similarly throught I was being lazy and/or insane. Meanwhile, I'm weighing the value of removing a drip pan from our garage asap vs the value of the scarcest asset in human history!

nostr:nevent1qqsz4hkk5f8xh0nd6w7ma42xyypklhrq6hklfz0wgmrv2e03mm49gdqppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsp4lsvwn3aw7zwh2f6tcl6249xa6cpj2x3yuu6azaysvncdqywxmgrqsqqqqqpusg97l

Financing your fridge🤣🤣

I worked two jobs in college and still didn’t eat or buy anything because I needed to stack more sats. Lost like 10 pounds lmao but now I’m 2 years out of school and already thinking about how I can buy a house and retire from my fiat mine job in less than 10 years

Nobility comes from blood.

Resignations over something greater in the future is what makes someone noble.

Time-preference in behavioral economics.

Love it

Gm

Shit, that Zap just cost me a private jet in 30 years

Great deal šŸ‘ŒšŸ½

This is the content I’m here for.

Humble sat stacking.

STAY HUMBLE AND STACK ZAPS

Crazy that I f you saved the $500,

- in usd you couldn’t even buy a pedal bike now

- in btc you could buy … whatever

Here’s to pinching pennies for a better tomorrow šŸ¤™šŸ½

knowing yourself knowing what you are doing knowing what others think or don't think is irrelevant

šŸ’ŖšŸ«‚

Throughout 2022, I took every step possible to reduce my living expenses. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, expired coffee from the discount store. Every purchase was delayed until absolutely necessary, and every want had to sit on a month-long wish list before I even considered it.

I shopped for the cheapest phone and insurance rates, gave up drinking alcohol almost entirely, and cut every comfort down to its most basic, affordable version. Every spare cent went into bitcoin.

nostr:note19t0ddgjwdwlxm5aahm25vggrdlwxp40d7jy7u3kxc4jlrhh22s6qvhwqyd

How can this be? I was told early bitcoiners just got luckyšŸ˜‚

Live with your parents, by choice, rather than by force of crushing economic despair.

Thank you for the motivation, bro.

Keep stacking #sats!

That’s impressive. I’m not sure I would have had that kind of conviction.

You continue to inspire me, what a story!

šŸ‘ You're not called HOLD for nothing

Do you still own the moped?

But I thought you only had 6.15 bitty…

I do

Same same

Incredible story, not quite a moped moment, but my 85 Jeep Wagoneer gets a lot of confused looks while cruising around close to the money printer and around indebted communities.

In late 2022 (btc=$16k), my daughter begged me to convert her spared btc to fiat in order to buy a new car, though she literally lives in front of university and doesn't really need a car.

Now she's glad I convinced her not to.

I recently inherited two of these stupid things. wanna start a gang?

#Legend

Depends, could you do some awesome wheelies? Then yes!

Thank you for sharing this story. Cane at the perfect moment

Love this. My car costs less than everyone’s phone. It gets a slagging but I slag myself first to de fang it. Already it’s worth it imagine 10 more years

Discipline and conviction paid off 🫔

Its similar choice today expecting 20M in 2033. Best to get cheaper education today and stack some.

Haven’t bought a new pair of underwear in 7 years. That’s my #MopedMoment. AMA.

you did the right thing

i am very proud of you

other people are just jealous sometimes

That's actually a cool moped (didn't know they are called that in English, we call them scooters here). Man, imo, mopeds are the shit, I would ride one to 100M BTC and beyond.. šŸ˜†

This story has spoken to me, since I first heard you tell it on What Bitcoin Did.

I think of it everytime one of my no-coiner, ā€˜I’ll buy tomorrow’ friends asks me why I don’t have newer golf clubs, TV, car, etc.

This really is a mind bending technology in the current fiat economic dystopia we are all living through. Having the ability to make economic calculations and gauge opportunity cost is such a foreign concept to our reality. Even after 16 years, and an exponential rate of growth, the masses are still looking at us with that same fluoride stare

You shoulda put some fire decals on that thing.

I know someone who cycles to work as often as they can. When they do they take the savings from driving and buy #bitcoin

They call it bikecoin 😁

Absolutely love this. Legendary

Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring! My story is similar but I forgot to stack sats with the saved money. My friends with stock portfolios spent more and saved more at the same time. Probably this fact was necesary for me to discover bitcoin before my stock friends.

Legend!

Put this picture on a shirt, I will be the first to buy it.

thats a great story, i feel the same. its not about how rich you look, its about financial freedom

I've had a guy at work laughing at me for driving an old Mazda, when he spends most of his paycheck keeping his fleet of cars going and paying his part landlord on his part ownership help-to-buy scheme

I just smiled, thought of my stack and went on with my day šŸ˜„

All it needs is a surf rack and your ballin in Bali

Love it 🧔

Thanks for sharing. Any chance we have a video chat for my german YT Bitcoin only channel? It will get <2k clicks because it's english, but I would love to have some kinda philosophical takes on Bitcoin and life from you. 🧔 šŸ”„

Sure man. Happy too, maybe we could ai the whole thing so I sound German lol

Nice! šŸ”„šŸ”„ I will hit you up soon.

The key message here is to not care what other people think of you. Seriously. I wouldn’t have even bothered wasting my time trying to burst their bubbles. As soon as you start caring what others think of you, you are no longer living your own life but instead living one through their eyes - a version of your life dictated by their own perspectives, judgements, prejudices, closed-mindedness.

Ain’t NOTHING wrong with a moped too.

Took me forty years to figure out, but: "The way you learn to not give a shit what people think, is by not giving a shit what people think."

Wish I'd figured it out that early, kudos. Im doing my best, though - happily driving my 15 year old prius, using my $60 phone, and delicately talking my wife into more economical vacation destinations. Buying a 1/2 cow every year is also a big source of savings which I would highly recommend.

Fucking legend

Love this story and will share with my son. Watch the TV series - Gomorrah, all the Italian gangsters are rolling around on mopeds like that.

love it!

Good job noticing the truth and making choices based on it.

Great story. šŸ”„

could have told the wife to pay her own tuition, and bought 10 more bitcoin.....

I love it, thanks for sharing man šŸ™

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

nostr:note19t0ddgjwdwlxm5aahm25vggrdlwxp40d7jy7u3kxc4jlrhh22s6qvhwqyd

Great story!

I had my roommate pay me in btc when it was 200 bucks. Not quite the same but worked out

HODL, this WILL have been a $100M decision for you. Your friends will be in denial, disbelief, and doomerism.

Luckily I have new friends lol

Impressive!

I already keep my thermostat low but I went sub-60 after reading this.

Next step; add a wallet to your nostr account so people who are proud of you can zap your comment!

Just did it!

I was hoping you told her to get a second job because you put the $5500 on BTC

I stopped listening to people and their jokes. At some point, they realized on their own that I was right, and now they don’t even try to engage with me because they probably feel foolish.

Proof of Moped.

I once won a brand new sparkling red vespa in a random raffle at an Italian festival in Portland out of 5000+ entries. It was cool but I was too weak for it or just hadn't figured how to get it off the stand and I luckied out to sell it for $3500 to a woman collector and just on time before the rain season. I did need the money but man how I wished I would have just known about Bitcoin and bought some with it instead. šŸ˜…

funny thing is years later I rented a scooter for $30 per month for 4 months when I lived there and I realized all would have needed to do is use the side stand to keep the scooter up with no effort whatsoever.

oh how I miss that warm breeze in my hair riding my scooter around Ubudā˜ŗļø

Brilliant story. Hadn’t heard it before

Personally, I love a good moped, so would never mock that, but wow those roi figures are nuts aren’t they

Everything is an opportunity cost against Bitcoin…

In 2017 I bought a 1980 Mercedes SL with Bitcoin Cash I had just after the hard fork

Circa 5k gbp

I sold it a few months later for 4.5k gbp. Absolute hunk of junk. Leaked. Smelt. Battery died the whole time.

If only I’d exchanged those BCH for Bitcoin…

Classic example of a tuition fee en route to Bitcoin HODLer

"Moped, mo #bitcoin"

but this is the issue when creating a bitcoin circular economy, I don't want to buy a beer now that in 5 years will cost me thousands in BTC....

it works both ways, Bitcoin can't be used as money until it stabilses enough to not screw your future self off...

pizza day is a fine example at what point and at what value will it be stable money? it's only a savings account until 2035 sadly.

Opportunity cost is the same, whatever the mode of payment. In any case, hypothetically;

If no one buys anything cause they all decide they'd rather stack sats prices would plummet relative to BTC.

Whatever happens you're better off buying something when it is less in demand.

I already have a good stack, but I’m selling my Tundra right now and will use it to stack some more. And I love this damn truck

i did this 2 years ago and ended up buying the same vehicle 1 year later... the bitcoin did go up in value, but i don't think it really went up all that much. i feel like the sales friction loss really needs at least a 2X on bitcoin to make it worth it because you end up selling the vehicle for 50% less and buying one for 50% more.

but if you are just looking to mix it up, it could be a great way to make a new one pay for itself. i have also heard rumblings that new vehicles may be cheaper this year do to oversupply or something.

It’s a third vehicle and I don’t truly need it, which is why I’m doing it. It’s really getting up there in miles too, so I want to sell it while I can still do pretty well on it.

Ridiculed for driving a moped?

Tell me you're American without telling me you're American.

Sold my Tesla 2 years ago to stack…

Reaping the rewards of a low time preference. Inspiring story

I hear ya, but better to skip the moped & get one with a much bigger engine that can go as fast or faster than the cage drivers.

The Asian countries have the balance just about right with the Nmax & PCX.

The costs aren't much different & many look the same but they don't handle like it.

I bought a motorcycle out of necessity, they are so incredibly cheap

Legend shit right there. Math checks out. Sold my baby to stack.

Instead of buying a second car, I bought an eBike in 2022. I saved over 0.3 BTC, cycled more than 13,000 km, and gained an additional 900+ hours of time listening to Bitcoin podcasts.

I cycled through all kinds of weather—minus 20 degrees, rain, ice, and about a third of the distance with a child bike trailer.

On mornings when it was 6 a.m., raining, and I was cycling to the office for an hour, I would think about the stacked sats and the opportunity I was building for myself and my family.

Proof of bicycle