Aunty might be considered weird because I do things differently.  I think I was different from birth, much to the chagrin of my poor oriental traditional mother who struggled with the stigma of being a divorcee (at a time when no one was divorced) and worked hard to support her family of 4.  She was strong, independent, and strict.  I was spoiled, lackadaisical, and lazy.

She never chased a hot stock tip, would only play Keno in casinos, voted Republican, and believed in being debt free while keeping her money safe and sound in bank accounts and solid stocks.  I, on the other hand, spent like there was no tomorrow, got into a mountain of debt in my 20’s, jump from investing guru to guru, went all in on options (just before the 1987 crash), love the craps table, vote for Independents, and occasionally bounce checks without feeling too terrible.

I am NOT a person to follow.  However, if you have the belief that money is just a tool and not some special commodity that has to be protected, then use it to invest depending on your risk tolerance.  Cash flowing real estate is for conservatives that want to grow a solid class of asset that can be passed down, exchanged, and give peace of mind.  The problem with real estate is that it takes a substantial amount of money to get started.

A gift from our government

Aunty’s number one advice to anyone – young or old – is to have a Roth IRA.  It is a gift from our government, allowing us to put money away for our golden years with unlimited growth and ZERO taxes throughout.  If you have enough in your Roth IRA to purchase cash flowing real estate, you could set yourself up for monthly rental income that can be drawn out without penalties or taxes after age 59 1/2.  There are rules that must be followed to maintain the sanctity of the IRA but it is well worth the effort, imo.  If you don’t have enough to do that, then please consider investing some of it in crypto currencies, i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.

The reason I suggest using a Roth IRA (or regular IRA) for bitcoin investing is because you don’t have to file a tax return or pay taxes on the investment.  The IRS rules for reporting gains and losses on cryptocurrencies are evolving because it is so new.  In an IRA, you can buy, sell, make a profit, take a loss, exchange between currencies and build up a war chest for your future, without reporting it.  Perfect for a cruiser like Aunty.

Aunty used to use BitcoinIRA.com for that purpose.  However, they required at least $50,000 to open an account.  I couldn’t open my kids accounts with them because of that [they may have lowered the minimum opening amount].  Their trading fees of 10% per transaction were super high, though they were very professional. They had a break up with their custodian, Kingdom Trust.  It was rather nasty and I just rode along and by default ended up with Kingdom Trust.

Thus, I now use Kingdom Trust for bitcoin investing in my Roth IRA.  It turned out to be a good default.  $500 is the minimum opening!  This is great because the kids can now have IRA accounts there.  Transaction fees are a flat $150 – big savings on large buy/sell orders but steep for small orders.  Instead of having fees taken from IRA account balances, you can set up an outside bank account or credit card, which is much better  because IRA funds are precious.  IRS rules on IRAs allow this – another gift from our government!

If you do open an account with Kingdom Trust, use it to buy crypto currency rather than letting it sit.  Monthly fees are charged so just using it to park your IRA funds is not a good idea.  It will take some getting used to filling out docusign forms to deposit, withdraw, buy, sell, etc. but the folks at Kingdom Trust are very nice – and many times I get the same person helping me on the phone, which is also nice.

What is Bitcoin?  Truth is, Aunty doesn’t really know

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are difficult to define and many people think they are a sham.  There is nothing that backs them up in value, so they are considered fiat currencies.  Did you know that all “real” currencies such as the US dollar, Euros, yen, etc are also fiat currencies?  Their value is based on nothing but faith in a government.

Aunty doesn’t really understand blockchain technology and the basis for bitcoin but does believe in using it as a tool for potential explosive growth.  Proponents liken it to when the internet first appeared back in the 90’s with the World Wide Web. This was before Amazon, Google, Apple, etc.  No one understood it in the beginning and now it is part of our daily lives.

Safe or sorry?

My mom (also known as Granny) would probably not have invested in bitcoin if she were still alive today.  It isn’t for most people because of the great unknown associated with it, but I would strongly recommend it to everyone, in a Roth IRA, with Kingdom Trust using just 10% of available assets.  Because the possible potential is gnormous.  The downside would be a 10% loss in your portfolio.

I have an extreme fear of heights and avoid crossing bridges over freeways or hiking and climbing cliffs.  I also have a fear of missing out on winning big.  With cryptocurrency, the greatest fear that I have is choosing the wrong cryptocurrency so I stick with the more traditional ones such as Bitcoin BTC, Ethereum ETH, Ripple XRP, and now Ethereum Classic ETC.  To follow the prices and keep up with the news, I use Coindesk.com.  I also use the Blockfolio app on my phone to get a picture of the holdings that I currently have.

The biggest mistake I have made in this venture is getting too greedy.  Set a “sell” target and stick to it.  Two years ago, Ripple (XRP) went from 17¢ to $3.30.  It has since returned to a range near 20¢.  If only I had sold the 200,000 coins that cost a bit over $3,000 and sold at its peak, I would be sitting pretty today.  Ah well.  I did eventually sell as the price of Ripple slid down much too quickly and made enough profit on the trade to cash out and withdraw the initial investment, but the “if only” continues to haunt as a good lesson about when to sell.

Aunty is also afraid of riding roller coasters and bitcoin investing is like being on a roller coaster with feet on the ground and a computer screen in front. I also tend to buy at the wrong time but the prices move up and down so much, it works out well enough.

Ready, Fire, Aim

That is the name of a book by Michael Masterson, a guru that Aunty admires.  Perhaps I need to learn to aim before I fire.  I am working on it but not with much priority.  I do believe, whatever order we do things, or the choices we make, we need to fire – sooner, rather than too late.