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Showing posts from September, 2021

How much will people spend in their lifetime?

By combining the The BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) spending data and the lifespan data from the WHO (World Health Organization) or SSA (Social Security Administration); we can calculate how much the US average household will spend in their lifetime. The average 25 year old will spend $3,819,103 in his/her lifetime.  This assumes the average person lives until 85 years old and spending habits correspond to the 2019 BLS spending data and there is no inflation.  With the same assumptions, the average 45 year old will spend $2,498,923 and the average 65 year old will spend $1,030,723. Lifetime Spending with Inflation The Historic US Inflation Rate has been around 2.25% (https://www.multpl.com/inflation).  Age Average Lifetime Spending With 2.25% annual inflation 25 $3,819,103 $7,760,036 45 $2,498,923 $6,081,902 65 $1,030,723 $3,201,717 The numbers reflect the impact of 2.25% inflation.  Even though historically 2.25% annual inflation occurred, it doesn't mean ...

8 Stocks to invest in that give you exposure to Bitcoin and Crypto

As of writing this post, there is no US Listed Bitcoin ETF.  So here's a List of a some stocks you can trade in regular brokerage accounts to get exposure to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies without having to open a specialized Cryptocurrency account.  Also, these are registered securities, making them eligible for SIPIC insurance against theft or brokerage defaults, unlike holding Cryptocurrencies in digital wallets.  1) GBTC   Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is the most popular traditional investment vehicle to get exposure to Bitcoin with around $30 Billion USD.  The drawbacks are that it can trade at a large premium or discount to NAV as there is no mechanism to easily redeem shares of the trust for Bitcoin and since the trust is a Pink Sheet (not traded on a primary exchange) there aren't any Option contracts available to trade. 2) RIOT, MARA, HUT These are Bitcoin mining companies so they will have natural exposure to Bitcoin.  There are many others, but these st...

6 Things that make Crypto interesting right now

  Without going into a super deep dive, here are 6 discussion points:    1) Store of Value This was one of the original arguments for Bitcoin, a trustless technology system that allows you to trust the system without having to trust other parties you are transacting with a predetermined finite supply.  Big early advocates are ‘Gold bugs’ and people worried about hyper-inflation as modern governments continually ‘print’ money.  Popular ones include: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), ZCash (ZEC) 2) Smart Contracts Beyond a trustless currency, platforms emerged to have censorship resistant software leading to ‘smart contracts’.  Programmatically executed transactions without the need for intermediaries.  Popular ones include: Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT) 3) Stable Coins These are digital currencies that are tied to the value of a more or less stable asset like US dollars.  Their main use is to transfer...

How much do people spend at different ages in the United States?

Consumers on average around $63,000 but depending on the age it can range from just under $40,000 (25 and under) to close to $80,000 (45 to 54 year olds).   Detailed spending data for 2019:  The BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), conducts surveys and publishes the data on their website ( https://www.bls.gov/cex/ ).  Below is a graph I compiled to show the different groups. A consumer is considered a household (from their website: "A consumer unit consists of any of the following: All members of a particular household who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other legal arrangements").  The graph was created using python's plotly package https://plotly.com/ Its quite interesting that it increases to about age 50 then slowly comes down.  My opinion is that this is due to people starting families and decreasing as children leave the nest.  With a growing concern for our aging population, I hope society and governments figure this out and offer ...