Yeah, I said it.
To be clear, this article is in no way meant to offend those members of society who own, well, “members.” I love you all, I really do. But now it’s women’s time to step into the limelight and showcase our ability to make intelligent and sound financial decisions.
While this article is about guiding astute monetary behaviors, it’s fundamentally about taking ownership and autonomy over your life. Ladies, for far too long we’ve sat in the cabin while men have helmed the ship. And, while there is absolutely nothing wrong with relying on a spouse or the government to help keep you afloat, this pretense is putting you in a very vulnerable position that could affect your life, your retirement, and what you leave to your kids after death.
We needn’t look any farther than recently passed legislation in Texas known as the Heartbeat Act in which a woman’s choice to abort a fetus (or those who choose to abet the medical procedure) is in the hands of Texas civilians. Whether you’re pro-choice or pro-life is not the issue; the issue is taking away a woman’s fundamental right to privacy and choice. But this is only one example of how society impedes women’s ability to thrive the way many men do.
HOW WOMEN ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE TO MAKE PROPER EARNINGS FOR RETIREMENT
- Women still only make 82 cents to every man holding the same position
- American women make up for 2/3s of American College Debt
- Roughly 30% of women in the U.S. are stay-at-home moms w/ not passive income
- 39% of women are confident they will have enough savings for retirement compared to 54% of men
- When there is an illness in the family, the woman is generally the one expected to either take time off her job or quit her job to take care of others
- In the UK, 28% of companies surveyed said they would not hire a newlywed woman because she is more likely to want to get pregnant and start a family (even though this is now illegal).
HOW US NON-DICK SWINGERS CAN UTILIZE CRYPTOCURRENCY TO INVEST AND SECURE A FINANCIAL FUTURE
With the popularity of investing your savings via websites like Robinhood and Acorns (combined with the rise of blockchain), nearly anyone can invest in cryptocurrencies even without fully understanding its functionality or how it plays into things like capitalism, exchange rate, the World Bank, or the circulation of regular money. That’s not to insinuate you shouldn’t learn about these things, because the more knowledge you have, the better you are at playing the ever-volatile marketplace.
Luckily, Joel Peterson, a long-time crypto investor and educator has a program which is designed to teach you how to make the most of crypto to help with your investment portfolio. More details can be found at The Crypto Code
While I do advocate for both men and women to look into investing in such blockchain currencies like Ether, Bitcoin, and others, I specifically encourage women to take advantage of this new form of trading that doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Studies show that twice as many men as women utilize this new form of currency and I’d like to change that.
CRYPTOCURRENCY: HOW IT WORKS
We must first make it very clear that investing all of your savings into cryptocurrency is a bad idea. Why? Because it can be very volatile. Unlike stocks, there are way fewer signs that a market might go down or even crash, so preemptively putting all of your “eggs into one basket” is usually not the best idea. Financial advisors always encourage people to diversify their portfolios so that if one revenue stream goes down, you can fall back on others.
Why Should You Care About Cryptocurrencies?
GlobalData analytics recently predicted that revenue from blockchain platforms and services will soar from $4 billion in 2020 to $199 billion by 2030. According to a survey by Motley Fool’s service, 21 million Americans own Bitcoin with half of that number contributing in the last 12 months.
Many companies and governments are following suit of this new phenomenon. El Salvador just became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender and Venmo now lets customers buy or sell cryptocurrencies.
Answers to Questions on Bitcoin and the Blockchain
What is Blockchain, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency? How are They Related?
Essentially, blockchain is a computer program. It is where all financial transactions are securely recorded without any intermediaries in a ledger that participants or investors can see. No one can change this unless via an authorized transaction recorded on this blockchain.
In an article by Forbes, the cryptic language behind this digital currency was explained as follows: “When you buy a house, you get title insurance to make sure that no one else has filed a claim to the property. And that’s why we have title insurance companies and we pay a fee to them,” Savage noted. “But if all the title changes were recorded on the blockchain, there would be no need for this insurance or for the title insurance companies… The registration would be immutable and visible on the blockchain ledger.
“With the blockchain’s peer-to-peer transactions, she said, “you don’t need a financial intermediary, a bank, a currency exchange, or even a government. “Think about the implications of that kind of medium of exchange,” said Savage.
What does this mean for the vast number of digital currencies currently circulating the “interwebs”?
Savage explained: “You could use this blockchain ledger technology as a basis for all kinds of completely secure transactions, like property transactions. But the most popular use is with the so-called cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.” Bitcoin records transactions in the blockchain.
Is buying Bitcoin investing or speculating?
Bitcoin’s worth what people decide it’s worth each day. That’s why it fluctuates so often. There are no denoted means of governing the value like you have with gold.
However, there seems to be strong, long-term potential for a rise in Bitcoin’s value since businesses like banks, Microsoft MSFT -0.1% and Tesla TSLA +2.4% accept it and the Federal Reserve is studying the development of its own form of digital currency.
So Why Should I Invest In Bitcoin If The Outcome is Pervasively Volatile and Uncertain?
It’s reasonable to be a little nervous about investing in something whose trajectory seems unknown. However, one could argue that investing in anything – real estate, the stock market, a friend’s business – can be just as uncertain. The difference with crypto is that the returns on it can be much more significant than other investments. An excellent explanation of the Bitcoin price prediction model “stock to flow” can be found HERE.
How Do Crypto Investments Help My Future?
As a woman, you are more vulnerable to either losing your life savings or not having them in the first place. This means you have to look at all opportunities to maintain passive means of income.
Educate yourself. Understand your financial situation and what areas can be improved to ensure a quality retirement. Cryptocurrency may not be the path you want to take, but at least learn about it is so you aren’t that person at the bar with a bunch of “know-it-all-overnight investment-experts” showing off their crypto portfolios on their phones like they show off d*ck pics. Learn the financing side of crypto and blockchain so that you can formulate good, diverse portfolios that will protect you and you alone.