Comparing Bitcoin to tulips is the easiest way to show people you make claims without doing any research.
I recently re-read the book 1984. Here's what I learned from it:
1) War is an industry.
Egotistical leaders will start wars for no reason.
Knowing what's going on around you is important, but taking ownership and focusing on your own path is MORE important.
2) Knowledge is power.
Whoever controls the media controls the population.
A lot of popular TV channels are owned by political parties and corporations.
3) Your beliefs may be wrong.
Question how you came to believe what you do.
Your parents may not know as much as you give them credit for.
4) (Most) Politicians don't care about you. They work with whoever pays them most.
Depending on who you are, the same politician could enhance or destroy your life.
If you don't learn the history of money you won't understand how money works.
If you don't understand how money works, you won't understand how fiat currencies work.
If you don't understand how fiat currencies work you won't understand why Bitcoin has utility.
Banks can no longer get away with offering 0% interest on deposits.
Apple started offering a savings account a few months ago and offered ~4% interest on deposits.
Total deposits recently reached $10 billion!
I created a personal finance course!
This course is for you if you:
1) Are a beginner to personal finance
2) Want to learn how to budget or build up your savings
3) Are trying to improve your credit
4) Are unsure of how to pay off your debts
It’s divided into three general sections:
1) Changing the way you think about money and make financial decisions
2) Giving you the tools to live below your means - budgeting, tracking expenses, or increasing income
3) Working towards building wealth for the long term by making the right decisions when it comes to your debt and savings goals
A bit about me:
I worked in the financial industry for 7 years. During this time, I noticed a trend of people making the same financial mistakes over and over again. Most people make these mistakes regularly, and it can cost them thousands every year.
The financial industry is built on taking advantage of these mistakes. A mortgage charging 2% interest isn't profitable, but a credit card charging 29.99% is.
The worst part is that these mistakes could easily be fixed, but most people don't have the time or energy to do the research.
I created this course with all of that in mind. This course is fairly condensed (2-3 hours of content) and costs 99 USD, but this investment will be worth $1,000+ if you apply what you learn throughout your life.
If you're interested in improving your financial situation, you can enroll here:
courses.rajatsonifinance.com
Most people don't realize this:
On average, Americans own their houses for ~8 years before they sell.
This means most of their mortgage payments go towards interest on the amount they borrowed.
The payments hardly helped them build equity or pay off the amount they borrowed.
Bitcoin is changing money, just like:
Amazon changed retail
Netflix changed entertainment
Uber changed transportation
Airbnb changed hospitality
YouTube changed education
There will always be innovation that displaces old technology.
If you don't adapt, you get left behind.
McDonald's is a company that buys real estate. The real estate is rented to people using the McDonald's franchise name and systems.
The business is simple. It doesn't sell the best burgers. The food isn't always hot. Sometimes they give you the wrong order.
And yet $100 invested in 1982 would be ~$30,000 today.
Sometimes the simple route is the best route.
To save in Bitcoin, you need a MINUMUM 4-year time horizon.
Right now, the price of BTC (the currency used on the Bitcoin network) is volatile in terms of all assets and fiat currencies because it's not yet widely used as money. Keep in mind that more countries and businesses are adopting it over time.
Two months from now, 1 BTC may be worth a lot less than it is today. In ten years, the purchasing power will very likely increase because:
1) The supply is fixed at 21,000,000 BTC.
2) The amount being issued will decrease by 50% every 4 years until ~2140 (the next "halving" is sometime in 2024).
3) 92% (~19,000,000 BTC) of the total supply has already been issued, and a lot of it is locked away in cold storage.
4) A huge chunk of the issued supply of BTC is likely lost forever (people have lost the keys to their wallets or the wallet was damaged somehow and they didn't have a backup of the seed phrase). The lost supply is estimated to be around 4,000,000 coins.
5) Bitcoin adoption will increase over time. This will lead to an increase in demand. Increased demand + decreased supply = price is forced to go up.
Bitcoin and BTC provide the following utility:
1) The network is censorship resistant. This is so valuable because the current world reserve currency CAN be censored.
US sanctions on Russia have destroyed the trust the world had in the US Dollar. Any country that has problems with the US is in danger of losing its reserves.
2) Bitcoin is decentralized. Nobody controls Bitcoin. Nobody CAN control Bitcoin. Bitcoin is software that runs on computers spread around the world. It's simply a ledger of transactions. A record of who owns what.
That record can't be changed because there are now 16,939 computers running the Bitcoin software. These computers are confirming the validity of the ledger. You can shut down 1 or 2 or 10 or 100 or 1,000, but try shutting down every single one of them, because the locations of more than 10,000 of them is unknown.
3) Bitcoin is a form of secure base-layer money and is comparable to the SWIFT system the world currently uses.
Fees on BTC transactions are considered high, but it's important to consider that Bitcoin transactions are expensive because of the security. When compared to SWIFT, the transactions are NOT expensive... But they ARE much faster (30 mins to 1 hour vs 3 to 5 business days. These networks are used for LARGE transactions.
The lightning network is a layer two solution (its run "off-chain" using a new network of payment channels), and is built for SMALL transactions. Transactions cost 0.00000001 Bitcoin (1 Satoshi, or a fraction of a penny today) and take 1 second to complete. The lightning network requires trust in a third party, so it's not as secure as "on-chain" teansactions. The fees reflect this.
4) Bitcoin can be traded 24/7. Half of the world doesn't have to stand still because it's outside of banking hours in the US.
5) The entire world can use Bitcoin to store value, instead of just those who have access to a stable banking system.
You may say "I would rather invest in stocks," but you need to realize... most of the world can't buy US stocks, but most of the world can buy Bitcoin.
6) Bitcoin is secure. In the 14 years that Bitcoin software has been running, the network hasn't seen a single exploit (exploits are always at exchanges or on hot wallets that are always connected to the internet).
Take the time to learn about Bitcoin. You won't be disappointed!
Tbh I would rather get term insurance over whole life (that's what people usually push because it pays the most)
LIFE INSURANCE is PROTECTION, not an INVESTMENT.
If someone is telling you to buy insurance as an investment, they're likely getting paid a lot of money to do so.
"It's called gross pay because it's disgusting how much money you would have made before taxes."
You can't say the system screwed you if you're spending $800/month on takeout, $100/month for streaming services, and $1000/month on car payments.
Eat out less, cut down streaming to 1 or 2 services, and NEVER borrow money to buy a luxury car.
You just saved $500+/month. 🤯
Credit card (CC) debt is a big reason a lot of people will never build wealth.
If you're in CC debt, getting out of it is A VERY IMPORTANT step in the right direction.
Here's how you can pay off your CC fastest:
1) Know how much you owe.
If you don't know this number, you don't know how much you need to PAY BACK. This is like your destination on a map.
It's ALSO a lot easier to accumulate more debt because you don't see the balance growing.
2) Understand that this is temporary, but patience is key.
It might feel like paying off your card is taking forever.
As long as you track and limit your spending, it'll be a lot quicker than you think. I promise.
3) Make sure you're aware of everything you spend money on.
$1 spent on your CC is $1 you'll have to pay back in the future.
Is a $400 pair of shoes worth it if you pay it back with 20 hours of work?
4) Make more than the minimum payment.
If you have a $5,000 balance, paying $100 more than the minimum payment every month is going to cut your payback time from 21 years to 4 years.
You would pay $4500 less in interest in that period.
5) ONLY use your credit card to buy NEEDS; avoid use if possible.
It's unrealistic to think that you shouldn't use your credit card.
Imagine not being able to pay for food because you're waiting for your next paycheque. Not eating will ruin your finances AND health.
6) Make sure you celebrate the milestones.
Paid off $1,000? Do something you enjoy (just don't go all out and ruin your progress). You deserve it.
It's impossible to stay on track if you don't celebrate the journey.
7) Start a budget and make sure you stick to it.
Habits are what keep most in debt. Using a budget will expose those negative patterns.
8) Learn about compounding, and how lenders use it against you.
Once you pay off your credit card, use compounding to your advantage by investing!
9) Call your bank and place a freeze on your account (last resort solution).
Learning about credit card debt (Step 8) is a MUCH better way to permanently get rid of a bad spending habit.
Bad habits that you don't grow out of always come back to haunt you.
P.S. If you're interested in learning about creating a plan to get out of debt or learn how money works, take my course.
This $99 investment will give you hundreds of thousands of dollars of value over the next 20-30 years.
Netflix listed a job for an AI product manager.
The pay is $300,000-$900,000.
This is happening while writers are striking to get paid more.
Set your own wage - don't rely on someone else to care about you.
Owning assets and starting a business is the only way to do so.
Whether it's related to money, health, relationships, working out, etc...
The best thing about education is that you just put in the time and energy ONCE, and you get to use the knowledge you gained FOREVER.
If you drive a Toyota and the people around you THINK you're broke, upgrading to a BMW will make their thoughts a REALITY.
When you deposit money in a bank it's not being kept "safe." It's being used to take risks and earn a profit.
Banks will lend your money to someone else and earn a massive spread (you get 0.01-3%, they charge 10%+ in certain cases).