We spend 40-50 years of our lives working for money, but when it comes to learning how money works, most people won't be willing to set aside a couple of hours.
I started learning about Bitcoin in 2020. Before I started learning and really spending time reading books and learning financial history, I thought it was a scam.
I was stuck in the narrative that US Dollars will always be money, and I was always too tired after work to spend the time questioning this belief.
The pandemic allowed me to take a few hours of my time every day to learn about how money works on a deeper level.
Instead of commuting, I started going for walks and listening to podcasts about money, economics, and the financial system.
I started going down the rabbit hole of what the federal reserve is, why it was created, and who it benefits.
Making better decisions with your finances requires that you develop knowledge and learn about money in your free time.
Here's what most people miss: money is whatever a majority of the world believes it is.
The US dollar is considered "money" due to political force. Most of the world uses it for trade, and a majority of people are willing to keep it to store value.
Over the last few months, more countries have been saying that they're willing to accept other currencies in exchange for natural resources.
For example, Saudi Arabia is making agreements with countries like Kenya to accept the Kenyan Shilling for oil. In the past, Saudi Arabia ONLY accepted US dollars!
This may not seem like a huge deal (Kenya has a small GDP compared to other countries), but what happens if Saudi Arabia starts making these deals with more countries? What happens if the BRICS currency actually starts being widely used?
The future may not be Bitcoin (even though I think it is), but US Dollars are only used as money because a lot of people agree that they have value. In reality, they're not scarce and can be created at will by a small group of people (similar to BRICS).
Think of bitcoin as insurance against the current financial system and fiat currencies. If the current system breaks down, BTC's censorship resistance, limited supply, and ease of portability will make it very useful as money.
The important thing to consider is that you don't need to buy a lot of insurance to get protection. I could get a $1m life insurance policy for the next 20 years for ~$50/month.
It works the same with Bitcoin. You can buy tiny amounts (as little as $0.01 if that's all you can afford) to be protected in case things do end up going wrong with USD.
Before I started understanding how Bitcoin worked, I thought of money only as a way to get what I wanted. I would recklessly spend everything I earned on things I didn't need to impress people who didn't care.
Today, I understand that money is a tool to design your life the way you want it to be. Making better decisions isn't difficult, but spending the time to learn before you need to make those decisions is important.
I know it's stressful thinking about money, personal finance, and investing. Putting aside some time will completely change your perspective on what's going on in the world around you.
Truly spending time to learn how money works could put you ahead of the curve over the next 20-30 years. It could mean not having to work past 40 or 50 (if you don't want to) when others are forced to work in their 70s.
Bitcoin takes power away from the people at the top and gives it to the people at the bottom. Most people will continue to ignore it and wonder how they missed it in 10 years.
Spending a few hours to learn over the next few months could completely change your perspective!
