Blog
Exit Into What? The Curious Case of Bitcoin
Whenever I present Bitcoin to a seemingly curious disciple, an infamous question always pops up: “And did you sell?” It’s disappointing but I don’t hold it against them. Bitcoin aside, a person without investing experience has no preference of holding assets to worthless cash. Most people think in terms of “making money”, effectively asking whether …
Sector Boost With QDVE For ETF Investors
As an buy-and-forget investor, you’re probably tracking a diversified index such as the S&P 500 or MSCI World. This is a great strategy which historically outperformed 90%+ of actively managed funds. Still, based on your knowledge, expectations, and risk tolerance, you might give a personal twist to an index investing portfolio. What is a Sector …
5 Cold Storage & Hardware Wallet Misconceptions
Many beginners to self custody are at risk of making expensive mistakes due to lack of knowledge. Although I’ve covered best practices at length, I want to write about the most common misconceptions beginners have regarding cold storage. If you’re new around here, this post might save you hundreds of thousands down the line. 1) …
VWCE and Chill is Unnecessarily Expensive
VWCE won the hearts of many European investors due to its suitability for: A one-fund portfolio Global diversification Set-and-forget investing – no rebalancing, no tracking asset allocation. That’s all great. However, $VWCE has a TER of 0.22% (plus internal transaction costs and dividend leakage). Many beginners still consider this low-cost. And it is, but not …
Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low (Book Notes)
Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength by Steven Low is one of the best books on structuring a complete bodyweight training routine. I love that it’s evidence-based, that it goes deep into various aspects of health and fitness, and doesn’t rush into presenting actual exercises or routines. Of course, as the …
Why You Can’t Create “The Next Bitcoin” (The Network Effect)
Every cycle, there are people that claim that their favorite crypto project will be “the next Bitcoin”. Usually this is because their choice is faster, cheaper, more private, or better in any arbitrary parameter that they value. This is unrealistic and misleading. I won’t debate whether those attributes make a blockchain “better” or not. Let’s …
Not Everything is a Short Squeeze
Short Squeeze is a term that’s often misused since 2021. In this post, I’ll explain exactly what it means and how to correctly describe various market phenomena. Let’s start with the basics: What is Shorting? Shorting or short selling is a strategy where a trader bets on an asset’s price going down. In other words, when you “short” …
SPYL vs SPY5 – What to Choose and Why?
If you’re a new European investor, you’ve probably researched SPYL and SPY5 for your US exposure. In this post, I’ll explain exactly what’s the difference between the two and give a recommendation. SPYL Ticker symbols: SPYL, SPXL, SPSA; ISIN: IE000XZSV718 SPYL (SPDR S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc.)) is an ETF tracking the S&P 500 – an …
Cold Wallet vs. Hot Wallet (Hardware & Software Wallets)
I keep getting questions whether it’s worth it to buy BitBox02 or Keystone 3 Pro if they already use MetaMask/Exodus/TrustWallet and have written the seed phrase on paper. Yes, it’s absolutely worth it. In this post, I’ll explain a few benefits and protections you gain with hardware wallets that hot wallets don’t offer. But first, …
Bitcoin Mining Isn’t “Solving Difficult Math Problems”
The common way content creators explain Bitcoin mining to their audience is: “… Miners are solving difficult math problems…” This is false and misleading. Nobody is “solving difficult math problems” or the even cringier version “difficult mathematical equations“. Please share this post with anyone claiming to be an educator and using such terminology. What is …
SGA Preterm Baby: One Year Weight & Length Charts (Adjusted and Unadjusted)
Our son was born one month prematurely and small for gestational age (SGA). In this post, I’ll share his stats until first birthday, to give parents in similar situations an idea about their babies’ potential development. In summary: don’t worry. In general, they catch up until their 2nd birthday. In our case, he surpassed the …
CSPX vs SPYL – What is The Best US ETF
A US ETF is usually the core of most investors’ portfolios. I’ve already covered the most popular UCITS ETFs (CSPX, VUSA, IUSA), but since late 2023, we have a new contender: $SPYL. In this post, we’ll analyze whether SPYL can dethrone CSPX as the best US ETF. CSPX Ticker symbols: CSPX, SXR8, CSP1; ISIN: IE00B5BMR087 …
Recover Accounts on Different Hardware Wallet
Although I regularly cover hardware wallets and the seed phrase management on my blog, there is one concern that I’m often asked about. I’d paraphrase/summarize it as: “If my hardware wallet malfunctions after the company goes bankrupt, will I lose my money?” And the answer to that question is: no. As long as you have your …
Can Bitcoin Reach One Million Dollars?
Can Bitcoin reach million dollars? Undoubtedly! Probably not this cycle, but why am I so sure that it’ll happen at all? Well, let’s forget about Bitcoin for a moment. Let me take you on an eye-opening journey… And by the time you’re done reading, you’ll be as certain as I am. House Prices in 1963 …
Receive Tax Free Dividends in The Netherlands
If you’re a long-term index investor residing in the Netherlands, you can receive dividends tax free. Although I’m not a big fan of dividend investing, I still want to share some strategies that ETF investors can utilize without much effort. Basically, you’d leverage the tax treaties and tax codes of different countries to legally avoid dividend …