Inspired by a Tweet ... oops ... a Thread (source) over at LeoFinance / Threads, I had to write this post. Mirco blogging is all nice and good but with one BIG ASS drawback: Not enough space to write longer form responses. Eight questions in this 'challenge'; Two to choose from. And yes, I've chosen Two, but I also wanted to elaborate a bit more as to why I've chosen the Two.
Before I go into my selection, and the reasons why: Which Two will you pick when someone asks you to do so?
Scroll down a little for the 2nd image in this post, the question and the 8 items to choose from.
That someone is yours truly, BTW. So yes, the question is asked 😉 Looking forward to your selection, and if you care to spend a bit of time to tell us why you chose what you are going to choose, would be greatly appreciated.
My Selection
My response to the Thread, was (source):
1 and 8 for me. in my country medical care is kind of free, but in the end, some parts isn't. lifetime value is high. on average a person costs about 250k/300k$ in medical care in a lifetime. 10k cash will be invested.
Honestly, it didn't take me more than 10 seconds to decide. Perhaps I decided not clever enough, but I went for what my gut was telling me. Now I had to think of all this a bit more in detail to figure out if the 1 and 8 make sense. I think it does. Care to understand how I try to explain why my gut seems to be in sync with my rational side? Just continue reading 📖
originally posted as a Thread (at Leo Finance) by @stevenson7 (source)
Number 1: Selected ... "Opportunity & Flexibility"
This was an obvious one for me. Since cash money can be used for anything. Either I can spend it on whatever I need in the short term, or I can decide to use part or all of it to invest and try to create more value from it. Not that I had so much success with investments in the past, whether that be in the fiat space (stocks, private companies, larger and smaller amounts), crypto and whatnot. That said, I still believe I'm becoming better at selecting the companies and projects that I invest in. I am in transition from what I call an 'emotional' investor to an 'objective' investor. With emotional I mean, I tend to invest in what I think are great product or service ideas, while I take less notice of the team, their capabilities, their execution abilities, financials including a sound business model that can survive the length of time etc etc.
Only after I made my selection and responded to the Thread, I started a bit of calculations. The results, in the table below. Basically, I was trying to figure out what the annual gains and the number of years do to the initial. A very conservative approach would be an annual gain of 5%. In such a scenario, thirty years down the line, the 10k$ grows into a tat more than 40k$. Uhm, that's not a lot. Therefore I flipped in some other annual gains, up to 50%. Now, a 50% gain is tremendously high you may think, especially when such gains is year-on-year. That's true. However, in the crypto space anything goes. Therefore my sunny weather scenario is just that, 50% gain year-on-year. Thirty years down the line 10k$ turns into a whooping 1.3 Billion $ (had to write Billion instead of just 'B' to make sure it is not wrongly interpreted). Darn, 1.3B$ from an initial of just 10k$? 😱
But even when going for 'just' 20% gain year-on-year, thirty years will give a value of about 2M$. A great amount to live of for the rest of my life. Perhaps not in the country I currently live in, but I could easily afford a super decent lifestyle in Thailand, or perhaps even Satoshi Island? I can think of plenty of other areas on our planet where 2M$ is big enough to deal with all living expenses for at least a 50-year timeframe.
Am very pleased with this choice, I must say. Now I just need to make the gains happen 😆
Number 2: Not Selected ... "for Obvious Reasons"
Rent or Mortgage for just a period of 6 months? One need to live in a villa in some most expensive city in the world for this one to make sense. As a homeowner, I do have a mortgage. However, due to the super low-interest rate, this selection doesn't make any financial sense to me.
Number 3: Not selected ... "for a Little Moment I Hesitated"
Who doesn't want a perfect credit score? We never know when we need to prove to others that we can manage our own funds, i.e. spend the same amount or less than we earn. Sure, when my sunny weather scenario plays out with the 10k$ cash, no need to prove anything to anybody. That will be 100%+ financial freedom from everything and everyone. But but but, any investment can go wrong, therefore I hesitated. But in the end, I have a perfect credit score already. I have never taken loans from any banks, other than my mortgage. I don't have debts, except my mortgage. Debt by mortgage is all good in our system in the Netherlands. That will not harm the credit score.
Number 4: Not selected ... "Seriously?"
I thought we all would've learned something with the few years of lockdowns. That we learned to have fun in our own countries, or neighbouring countries. That we don't need to fly everywhere all the time. Unlimited air travel isn't supporting such lessons learned. That said, am not someone who is against flying. Did that a LOT in the past, for work mostly. Still sitting on more than half a million Airmiles I collected back then, which gives me at least 5 times around the globe tickets, completely for free. Perhaps I need them when progressing with places like Satoshi Island, but am not sure if I will try to get myself a little home over at this tiny private island belonging to Vanuatu. Literally, that one is on the other side of the world from where I live today! It will take about 30 hrs of my time to travel one way. That said, such a great project they are developing over there. 100% crypto based island. With a DAO. Without majors, politicians, presidents and whatnot. The DAO will decide. How this all will develop, we don't know yet. The initial phase is still ongoing: Preparing the island for building the infrastructure and accepting the first homes. Anyway, even when I decide to travel regularly to Satoshi Island, I'll fly at least 10 times for free using my Airmiles. Any subsequent costs can be covered by the 10k$ investment gains 😉
Number 5: Not selected ... "Really?"
The 'really?' part is solely based on the requirement that I can't move the rest of my life. Though I am not a person that moves a lot, I do want to have the freedom to move around, whenever I like or desire. In my country, on average, peeps move every 7 years. I think my average is lower. The apartment I have lived in for 13 years already and still I'm not getting bored. Before I moved a bit more frequently though. Don't know what will come next, and when. But I will move at some point in time. Perhaps to this Satoshi Island I already mentioned before? Or some house outside the city where I live, more into nature, perhaps woods? Am not ready to do so just yet, so I need my freedom to move at some later time. Therefore this perk isn't one for me to select.
Number 6: Not selected ... "Clearly Not the One"
Spending between 300 and 500$ monthly on groceries, this one doesn't make sense compared to item 1. 5k$ a year = 25k$ in 5 years. I should be able to turn 10k$ into 25k$ in 5 years, rendering this selection not the wisest one.
Number 7: Not selected ... "Decided when I Read 'Car'"
Yes, I do own my own car. For ages already. Since 2013. Before 2013 I've always driven lease cars provided by my employers. When I decided to leave my last employer back in 2013, I bought the lease car I had. Still today I drive the same car. At some point in time, this one needs to be replaced, but I likely will never buy a car anymore.
I am a proponent of sharing cars. Plenty of services are being established to either rent cars relatively cheaply or even share cars with neighbours or others in our street and/or city. One of those services is Snappcar. A company I invested in back in the days when they ran a crowdfunding.
Such a great concept. A concept that isn't unique though. Many countries around the world are experimenting with peer-to-peer car sharing. Though I like the p2p car-sharing concept, I wonder if this is sustainable in the long run. Such a concept requires individuals to own a car and offer it for sharing. Maybe a better solution in the end is the rental type of service like we have already. Rental companies just need to make the accessibility of their cars better, i.e. a rental car needs to be available on our street, where we work, and wherever we go. In my country already for years, companies are around who do just that. New style rental companies, with their cars sitting in almost every larger street in my city. Cars that can be booked online, with an electronic key system to allow for quick and easy pickup. Such a model is perhaps the better one. But okay, time will tell.
As for me, I don't see myself buying a new car when the one I currently still drive isn't fit for the roads anymore. So far so good. It's a Japanese car and you know what they say about Japanese cars: They never break; They are of high quality. And honestly, that is spot on! The first-generation hybrid car that still operates (and looks) like it is just a few years old.
All in all, this choice isn't for me 💥
Number 8: Selected ... "a No-Brainer"
Health is the most important thing in our lives and we shall never cut costs in this area. Unless you don't like to get old without all sorts of physical and mental barriers and issues. In my country healthcare is kinda free. Not completely, but mostly. In that respect, this selection may not be the wisest decision in financial terms. But then again, because my country's total healthcare costs are increasing year-on-year due to the ageing of the population, the system is trying to downsize the treatments it supports. Some treatments aren't paid for, these days. Still, our healthcare belongs to the best in the world. No doubt about that. However certain rare illnesses and newly experimental types of treatments are usually not supported by our system. Also, when I emigrate to e.g. Satoshi Island, I am not sure if my Dutch healthcare system will pay for all the costs of the private hospital(s) available for Satoshi Islanders. Same for any other place on our planet. My logic is: Better Safe than Sorry. Never rely on anything else with regard to health. Therefore this item was a no-brainer for me to add the my selection.
What are your Picks?
by EDJE
all media by edje unless stated otherwise
Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha
