A summary of the the various factors that contribute to individuals feeling ensnared in what can be aptly described as "The Matrix."
This phenomenon often leads people to conform, submit, and obey societal norms and expectations without fully realizing the implications of their actions.
I am writing to connect with you and discuss a thought-provoking comparison that has recently caught my attention.
The comparison revolves around the gold reserves held in Fort Knox (or any nation state for that matter), with growing concerns over the apparent absence of recent audits, as opposed to the unique transparency offered by Bitcoin.
I recently saw a chart that really struck home. We will get to this, but it’s worth looking at an interesting trend that has emerged in the world post-Covid.
It seems that now, it's all about the supply of money rather than the cost. This shift has significant implications for both opportunities and risks in the market.
I wanted to take a moment to highlight the importance of prioritising your online privacy, especially when it comes to emailing and messaging. In today's digital age, our personal information is constantly at risk of being compromised by malicious actors. However, there are steps we can take to protect ourselves and ensure that our communications remain secure.
Image by Matthew Henry
When talking about wealth, freedom and privacy, a good place to start is with this quote:
“You will never be free without privacy. Privacy is not secrecy, it is the ability to selectively reveal yourself to the world. It is a prerequisite for freedom because private information may be used to control you.
You will never be wealthy without freedom. It is a prerequisite for wealth because otherwise it is not your wealth.” Matt Odell
There are countless examples of why it is important to protect your privacy. Now I know many are going to say, give me some examples. Well why not stop and have a little think yourself. Think about every single military conflict in human history. How many strategists do you think would have set out to plan the offence or defence in the open?
Another really great argument for privacy is the I have nothing to hide. Sure, that may be the case, but I always enjoy asking the following question back: “why does your post come in an envelope and why do your file away or shred your bank statements, why don’t you leave them at your front door” or “awesome, I’ll pop around later today to install a camera in you and your wife’s bedroom”. Now, let’s take this a little further, think mobile phone camera, your children and bathing.
Privacy ensures our freedom and ultimately protects all our future wealth. So the question is how do we get there? The answer is not overnight. It’s a process that takes years and new smarter ways are constantly being found to harvest your data, so you are going to have to be on your toes to turn the tide. Remember the saying:
“If its free, you are the product”
If it is free, ensure the software is open source and a not for profit organisation. Also don’t be afraid to pay for services that protect your privacy, if anything does go wrong, you will have recourse to damages if your privacy rights are infringed. Think about all the free services you are currently using at the moment.
Like everything, the best place is to start. Find a couple of reliable people and sources who specialise in privacy / cryptography and see what they are doing. What messaging / calling apps and social media platforms are they using (Signal) and which ones are they not using?
For email, start by migrating your financial and legal accounts to services that have encryption build-in (ProtonMail) and if you have other accounts like gmail, use PGP. This is a great article I found and had PGP on gmail setup in an afternoon - How to use PGP encryption with Gmail. Use the PGP keys you generated with desktop and mobile apps like Canarymail.
Start using VPN (ProtonMail have a service for paid subscribers); Tor (See Brave browser options), 2FA and password managers.
Also remember, owning Bitcoin on an exchange is like owning gold in a vault you have no access to or having fiat in a bank account that you can be removed from (recent examples in Canada and Russian reserves should be something you are taking note of). Start your journey with hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor and ColdCard), self hosted multisig: (Sparrow Wallet, Electrum) and maybe even build your own dedicated node: (Umbrel)
In the end, try not to over complicate things and take it slow. There will be ups and downs along the way, but remember you have to start somewhere. There are some incredible resources here: https://citadeldispatch.com/
No sponsored content, no affiliate links, no ads - The content above provides education as to general privacy and security practices. Should you choose to apply the practices described in linked content in anyway now or in the future, you do so at your own risk. Nothing shall be construed as providing consulting, financial advice or general advice.
Image by Javier Allegue Barros
Very rarely do you come across a youtube video that includes a discussion about a large number of important topics of our time. Each is then perfectly interwoven into the next to provide a holistic view of the broader topic for understanding and then action.
Complex problems can not be addressed through sound bite online news and aggressive social media platforms. There can never be a proper discussion on platforms that encourage conflict to attract views. This youtube video, has in my opinion, shown that it is possible to discuss complex problems and possible solutions to all things including learning, money, fairer systems, free market economics, truth and what lies ahead in the future.
The Distortion of Money with Jeff Booth
Jeff Booth is Entrepreneur and Author of ‘The Price of Tomorrow’. In this interview, he discusses the distortion of money, how Bitcoin can herald in a fairer system based on truth and a free market of ideas, and the transition from scarcity to abundance. Shout out to Peter and team from WBD for another fantastic podcast.
“These ideas of communism and free-market collide, and they’re both communism over time. And that sounds harsh, but it’s a control structure. There is no free market, if there’s a distortion of money, because everything else is on top of that distortion of money.” — Jeff Booth
Here is a comment from the video which I think is worth repeating:
“Came for the bitcoin got a lesson on how to be a better human. It’s what I love about the bitcoin ethos so much. It forces you to stretch and grow as a person. Jeff is a sage of a man I hope to be able to be half the man he is when I’m his age. Great interview Peter!”
This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here
Image by Hal Gatewood
There has been a lot of talk recently about bitcoin and energy usage.
The ESG narrative and how crypto mining is so bad for the environment. We even have the energy policy makers in the EU looking to ban POW crypto mining (let’s leave their last success stories out of this conversation for now … LOL).
What are the odds they are accumulating BTC themselves?
As a reminder let’s see how much energy BTC mining is used globally. Here is a link to an article that covers the results from The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) Q3 2021 study.
It’s easy to get caught up in the 2 liners, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, on why mining is supposedly so bad for the environment, but here is a lengthy conversations about the intricacies of energy and the role bitcoin is currently playing in actually solving some of our global energy problems.
Bitcoin Energy Markets with Shaun Connell
In summary, according to the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC), Bitcoin mining used 0.38% of the worldwide 50,000TW/h energy that is wasted due to inefficiencies. The Bitcoin and crypto mining industry is actually trying to solve problems and are in fact part of the solution. Many of us started in this space to fix a financial problem (gains being a small component of this), we have staying for far greater causes (the brains are here).
This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here
There are many people that have started to question the main stream narrative and the “great resignation” is clearly a function of this. At some point the topic of savings / investments for the future will come along and the obvious next question is : How do I save/invest when I have nothing left at the end of the month?
Don’t worry, I often hear this question, and I hear it more than you think. Without going into all the detail in this blog, there is a book or audio book that I would highly recommend that you read or listen to. This will put you on a path to financial freedom and answer the question above.
In its simplest form:
“Pay yourself first”
For more on this, I’d highly recommend The Richest Man In Babylon By George - S. Clason (AudioBook)
This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here
image by Chiara Bonetto
With the what and why done, the next step is the how do we set financial goals.
If you haven’t read part 1 & 2 of this blog series, see links below:
Okay, so how exactly do we set financial goals, these 6 handy steps will help:
Figure out what your priorities are and write them down. PS paper works best and do it away from your phone and PC. I like to start with the long term goals first (think 10-15 years), I then look to break these down into 2-5 year goals. After that these 2-5 year goals are broken down to <2 year goals.
Once you have this list of short term goals, define at least 3 task to complete for each goal (<2 years) and make sure you complete 1 task for each within one month.
Categorise your goals into short, mid and long-term goals. Also consider using a high, medium or low priority or 1/2/3, with 1 being the most important. Just remember to keep it simple.
Apply a SMART goal strategy. In other words, ensure they are specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, and time bound - see part 1 of this blog series for more on SMART (here if you missed it).
Create a realistic budget. Understanding what’s coming in and what’s going out, then work it to address your goals. Use your budget to plug leaks in your personal finances.
This is a key step to achieving your goals, make sure that you allocated to your goals automatically. Directed payments into a separate account/s (such as saving or investment account) or (debt or mortgage payments) via standing order or direct debits to address the first priorities in your list of goals.
Review your progress regularly to ensure you are hitting your milestones and benchmarks. If you don’t hit your targets, take some time to re-evaluate what went wrong and how to improve.
In summary, defining your goals drives you to take action so your chances of achieving them increases. Once you’ve charted your course to achieve them, you set yourself in motion toward a successful outcome.
For the observant out there, you will have noticed the subtle change in blog image from the first part to the last part in this blog series. This is how I like to think of goals. When you start, you only know so much about the journey (i.e. what you see and know to be true will change). The further you go, the more you learn and the closer you get to your ultimate goal (in the 2nd image you will have to navigate around the boat ahead, you did not know this when you started - image 1). In addition to this, if you need to get to a certain destination, just starting will get you there much sooner (over planning and over thinking keeps you from starting). Once you are out at sea, you can correct course. Do you really want to be the one that never leaves the harbour? Just like in the 3rd image - once out at sea, the destination will become clearer and you will see all the obstacles … Just START!
This blog series is dedicated to “das fibonator”
This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here
image by Chiara Bonetto
We hope you enjoyed our first blog on financial goals, if you missed it, here is a link to Financial Goals - What are they? (1/3)
“A dream without a plan is just a wish”
With the what ticked off, let’s dive into the why. Being successful with money, having financial stability and security for your family is extremely difficult to achieve if you do not set financial goals. Deciding how you are going to arrange your finances to achieve the life you want for your family and yourself, requires you to align your actions with your goals and financial objectives.
Here are 5 key reasons to set financial goals and how they’ll help you achieve the success you’ve planned:
Defining financial goals helps you define what you are trying to achieve and what success looks like. Your unique goals allow you to set course for the end goal, allowing you to make key changes to your and your families circumstances along the way.
After you have defined your goals and have direction, it’s a lot easier to create a realistic plan to achieve them.
So for example, you have a long term goal of paying down your mortgage in 10 years. Start by breaking this down into smaller targets along the way. You could set a yearly target of paying down an additional 10% per year. This can also be broken down further into a monthly target. These smaller goals and milestones will help guide your financial decisions. So if it’s increasing your family income or cutting back on unnecessary expenses, these goals and milestones help you determine the methods that would best support your efforts in reaching them.
Simply having goals helps you to keep your mind on the prize. Many don’t set goals because they fear failure, but failure is a necessary step to success and offers important lessons. Overcoming difficulties on your journey provides the focus and motivation to keep moving forward and keeps you on track.
With a clear destination defined, it’s much simpler to keep track of all the milestones you should be achieving along the way. Being able to show this progress also gives you motivation to keep moving ahead. In addition to this, highlighting where you have missed targets will give the opportunity to make changes, reprioritise or devise an alternate plan or strategy.
Accountability leads to responsibility, it’s up to you to achieve them. Owning your financial goals will in the long term contribute to them being achieved. Make sure you record your goals and regularly revisit them, it also helps to keep them prioritised. Ask someone in your family to checkin with you regularly to discuss your defined goals - this will drive accountability even more.
The long and short of it is this, setting financial goals provides the clarity needed to build the kind of life you want for you and your family. If you don’t define the outcomes you want, your journey towards financial freedom (if that’s your ultimate goal) will be significantly more difficult.
The goal of this blog was to cover off the why of financial goals. Look out over the next few weeks for the final blog in this 3 part blog series where we cover the how to set financial goals.
This blog series is dedicated to “das fibonator”
This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here
image by chiara bonetto
Christmas is just around the corner, before you know it, we will be in the new year!
At the beginning of the each year, most people are asked by their employers to work on their personal goals and objectives to ensure that they are aligned with the corporate goals and objectives.
Just like corporations, you should ensure that you to have set your own goals and objectives. I will focus on financial goals, but you should also regularly look to create and review family, health, career and other personal goals.
Paying off debt, starting a dollar cost average (DCA) savings plan (see DCA blog here) or even just putting something aside for that special holiday, a few infinity fiat currency units today (dollar, pounds, euros) can add up to a lot of scarce money (gold, silver, bitcoin) down the road.
If you do not know where you are headed, where do you start walking towards?
So to ensure you end up where you want to be - you will need to set specific financial goals.
They are the specific goals and objectives created by you when it comes to your personal finance. They are therefore unique to your personal and family situation, with defined targets for you and your family to achieve over the short, medium or long term.
Examples of financial goals include:
Saving $30k for a new car within 2 years
Having 6-month of emergency funding within 18 months
Earning an additional £1000 per month for a year
Paying off your mortgage 10 years early
Become financially free within the next 5 years
One thing you will notice is that the above financial goals are all SMART goals. The SMART acronym stands for:
Specific - This means that objectives must be clear, for example it must state that an individual needs to make more money, reduce waste, reduce environmental impact, increase sales etc.
Measurable - an individual must be able to measure whether they have met an objective. ie needs to specify an amount. For example, an individual may want a £10,000 increase or a 25% decrease.
Agreed - its important that all family members are aware of and agree with the family financial goals, this will give objectives a much better chance of succeeding.
Realistic - Objectives must be realistic. For example, earning and extra $10000 a month to start with on a basic of $1000 a month salary isn’t realistic, maybe starting with an extra $200 is more realistic, and you can build up to the $10000.
Time-bound - Objectives must have a time limit, for example 6 months or 1 year.
The goal of this blog was to introduce a few examples of what financial goals look like and secondly to introduce the SMART framework for defining goals. Look out over the next few weeks when we cover part 2, why financials goals are so important to set and finally part 3 - how best to set financial goals.
This blog is dedicated to “das fibonator”
DISCLAIMER:
This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here
