10 years ago, I graduated Uni with no debt and about $1,000 net worth.
My first job (engineer) paid $100k/yr. After taxes & expenses, I saved $70k per year for 3 years.
With $200k net worth, I lived on $5k per year and for the past 7 years, I worked only 30% of the time – just enough to cover my expenses without dipping into my savings.
This year I sold bitcoin (bought for $7,000. sold for $1,000,000). My target to retire-retire was $800,000, so I’ve finally reached my goal.
The sell orders executed so fast that I don’t know where to put it. I already stuffed every US bank that I have to the $250k FDIC max, but my last sell order exceeds that. I’ve applied to open bank accounts with maybe 100 banks in the US, and I’ve only succeeded in opening 1. My requirements:
[1] No monthly fees
[2] No inactivity fees
[3] No phone or phone number required
[4] Online Banking with 2FA support (TOTP, Webauthn, or email)
99% of the banks that I’ve tried to open with auto-deny me. My credit is great. When I call and ask why, they say something about the information I gave them not matching their records. The ones that have an appeal process told me “the system” denied me, and there’s nothing they can do – even supervisors.
My long-term plan is to buy a small condo in a city and a lot of land in the country. But it’ll probably take me 6-24 months to find and finish those deals, and in the meantime I want to keep my money somewhere safe.
I’m also a bit worried about the USD tanking. I’ve looked into banks in Europe and Canada, but Canada requires a tax ID and I only speak English. Can anyone recommend a very stable bank abroad (with English language support) that a US American can open remotely that meets the above requirements?
Where would you put your money if you were in my situation?
This analogy is only valid if you don’t have a bank account.
It is valid criticism for me to say that I’m moving the bitcoin into the bank account, because that is the equivalent of dumping a truck load of motor oil in the lake, whereas bitcoin is the equivalent of dropping one drop of motor oil in the lake.
I also fly once per year. Honestly that’s worse. I’m aware of the harm that I’m causing. I try to minimize it. But bitcoin is far better for the environment than tradfi companies.
No, the analogy is comparing disposing motor oil at the county recycling center which causes some pollution to dumping it in the river which saves me money but causes 100,000 times the pollution.
Using my bank for a transaction causes pollution but 100,000x less than if I used Bitcoin.
You can’t say my dumping used oil in the river to make money is wrong then. It’s a drop in the ocean compared to what the entire planet does with pollution.
Per transaction energy use is the correct way of looking at the problem.
Imagine you had an alternative like an electric powered jumbo jet that was just as fast and convenient but was 100,000 times less polluting per passenger.