From my non-expert perspective I agree that BTC is the ‘gold standard’. Once BTC ETFs became ‘legal’ I moved my bitcoin related holdings to IBIT. Some additional thoughts / comments:
I have been following ’crypto’ for a few years now. For all the reading on BTC and NFTs etc, I would say I still have a limited understanding. I vowed years ago that I would never go there from an investment perspective. Never say never.
I also have limited understanding of the businesses in the S&P 500. A good number of the companies I have a reasonable understanding, some not so much, but it doesn’t stop me from including a low cost S&P 500 ETF in my retirement account.
I have a very conservative mix of ETFs and US Treasuries in my retirement accounts. A couple of years ago I was looking to take on a little more risk, specifically to ‘spice-up’ my Roth IRA, and started investing in BTC with the idea that the total holding would be less than 2% of my total portfolio. I have since ‘cashed-in’ the original 2% dollar value and the remaining BTC holdings sit at around 8% of the portfolio.
It has been a volatile ride to this point. As a guiding light I generally look at global money supply. There is a strong correlation between global money supply and BTC, with the valuation of BTC tracking generally a few months behind money supply.
I have seen my initial investment show red ink on a number of occasions. I expected that and was prepared to live with that as I knew it was risky. The question for those interested in BTC is once (if) your initial investment creates a meaningful return, then what?
From my perspective BTC adoption is still in its infancy and with moves afoot to allow 401Ks to invest in BTC I still see more upside potential. But the volatility drawdowns will be more painful if the % dollar value of BTC in my portfolio increases. That being said I have found the long term US Treasuries bonds I invested in Oct ‘24 to act as a foundation in my portfolio do a good job at keeping things in balance.
I will not venture into the wild west of ‘crypto’ with NFT tokens etc. Other mainstream currencies such as ETH and SOL I have small investments in.
Jonathan, Like many this morning I opened Humble Dollar along with my Saturday morning coffee. As I digested the first couple of paragraphs my heart sank. I hoped somehow this was a hypothetical situation but I also know you are one of Paul Merriman’s Truthtellers and this was wishful thinking on my part. I finished the article with a tear in my eye and then read all the comments and well-deserved outpouring of support. It has been on my mind since. I have anonymously enjoyed the Humble Dollar website and your writings for the past few years and I have only commented once before. Shame on me. As my school reports used to say back in England “can do better”. I will try. Last night my wife and I were discussing what retirement looks like. We talked about how fortunate we are, noting that nothing in life is guaranteed and as usual I quoted Humble Dollar several times. I read your article this morning and it all felt very immediate. We have a lot more to ponder. Running the risk of getting more downvotes than Richard Quinn 😊, I will do what most Brit’s do in the darkest hour and resort to humour by quoting Blackadder: “We’re in the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun” I sincerely hope the miracles of modern science figure out your Sticky Bun. My heartfelt best wishes to you and your family.
Thank you for the wonderful article. My wife and I are using the UK as a base for European travel, will do so for the years to come and will be there in a couple of months. On the mail and communications side of things. Which service do you use in the US for mail scanning and do you have any tips from this experience? Another option we have used for phone connectivity, we purchased a mobile wi-fi device (very small / compact) and we buy/top up on-line SIM cards which are affordable (e.g. £20 for 80GB) while there. The SIM cards run on local networks such as O2 and Vodaphone. We can connect multiple devices including phones / computers to the one mobile wi-fi device. We can use our phones day-to-day in airplane mode and they function well for pretty much everything we need including phone calls. We have T mobile which also has 5GB / month internationally included with our plan, but from experience when the 5GB is used up the speed of service really slows down, so we save that as a back-up. Over the years we have been in the UK in the darker dreary rainy months but found that we simply don’t let that stop us.We have invested in good waterproof hiking gear and have a great time.
Comments
From my non-expert perspective I agree that BTC is the ‘gold standard’. Once BTC ETFs became ‘legal’ I moved my bitcoin related holdings to IBIT. Some additional thoughts / comments:
Post: Supercharging Your Retirement with Crypto: A Wise Move, or a Risky Bet?
Link to comment from August 9, 2025
Stay the course, per Barron's, S&P 500 returns by president 1953-1957 Eisenhower (R) 71% 1957-1961 Eisenhower (R) 34% 1961-1965 Kennedy/Johnson (D) 45% 1965-1969 Johnson (D) 18% 1969-1973 Nixon (R) 17% 1973-1977 Nixon/Ford (R) -13% 1977-1981 Carter (D) 31% 1981-1985 Reagan (R) 30% 1985-1989 Reagan (R) 68% 1989-1993 Bush (R) 52% 1993-1997 Clinton (D) 79% 1997-2001 Clinton (D) 73% 2001-2005 Bush (R) -12% 2005-2009 Bush (R) -28% 2009-2013 Obama (D) 85% 2013-2017 Obama (D) 52% 2017-2021 Trump (R) 67% 2021-2025 Biden (D) 56% Average 40% per term or 10%/year no mystery there
Post: Limits of Power
Link to comment from January 20, 2025
Jonathan, Like many this morning I opened Humble Dollar along with my Saturday morning coffee. As I digested the first couple of paragraphs my heart sank. I hoped somehow this was a hypothetical situation but I also know you are one of Paul Merriman’s Truthtellers and this was wishful thinking on my part. I finished the article with a tear in my eye and then read all the comments and well-deserved outpouring of support. It has been on my mind since. I have anonymously enjoyed the Humble Dollar website and your writings for the past few years and I have only commented once before. Shame on me. As my school reports used to say back in England “can do better”. I will try. Last night my wife and I were discussing what retirement looks like. We talked about how fortunate we are, noting that nothing in life is guaranteed and as usual I quoted Humble Dollar several times. I read your article this morning and it all felt very immediate. We have a lot more to ponder. Running the risk of getting more downvotes than Richard Quinn 😊, I will do what most Brit’s do in the darkest hour and resort to humour by quoting Blackadder: “We’re in the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun” I sincerely hope the miracles of modern science figure out your Sticky Bun. My heartfelt best wishes to you and your family.
Post: The C Word
Link to comment from June 15, 2024
Thank you for the wonderful article. My wife and I are using the UK as a base for European travel, will do so for the years to come and will be there in a couple of months. On the mail and communications side of things. Which service do you use in the US for mail scanning and do you have any tips from this experience? Another option we have used for phone connectivity, we purchased a mobile wi-fi device (very small / compact) and we buy/top up on-line SIM cards which are affordable (e.g. £20 for 80GB) while there. The SIM cards run on local networks such as O2 and Vodaphone. We can connect multiple devices including phones / computers to the one mobile wi-fi device. We can use our phones day-to-day in airplane mode and they function well for pretty much everything we need including phone calls. We have T mobile which also has 5GB / month internationally included with our plan, but from experience when the 5GB is used up the speed of service really slows down, so we save that as a back-up. Over the years we have been in the UK in the darker dreary rainy months but found that we simply don’t let that stop us.We have invested in good waterproof hiking gear and have a great time.
Post: Our Nomadic Life
Link to comment from June 7, 2024