Distributed Investing
It's not that hard to regain control over your capital. But it means taking more responsibility.
Notice the Trends
The Wall Street Silver Squeeze and the Meme Stocks getting crushed in early 2021 highlighted the ferocity of the guard dogs protecting the legacy financial (brokerage/clearing house) system.
Trudao (a.k.a. the evil Canadian Communist dictator) showed us how political dissidents could have their banking services shut off in an instant without a court order. This has extended even to those suspected of being affiliated with or donating to the Truckers FreedomConvoy Cause. #HonkHonk!
And as we speak a whole country is on the verge of being shut out of the SWIFT system for interbank financial telecommuncations (a messaging layer for international bank payments).
Who is guarding your capital?
If you're lucky enough to escape scrutiny from the Leviathan and happen to live in a relatively free developed economy, you might be okay keeping your savings in the bank and your investments with your stock broker or 401K/Pension provider. For now at least.
But perhaps either way you should consider diversifying your investments away from the increasingly tenous and rapidly weaponized 3rd party financial services platforms.
What does this mean?
It means – to some extent at least – taking your money out of the banks, and moving "custodied" retirement accounts into self-custodied trusts where you maintain full control over your assets, for one.
Maybe you don't have access to a bitcoin or gold retirement account where you can custody your assets. But these are two assets you can own almost anywhere, no matter the "tax wrapper" they are kept in.
Depending on the political climate where you live currently, you may want to think about acquiring land for yourself and your family as well. Or moving just 10 miles further outside the city from where you are now.
Art is another one to consider. But this is one where it's harder for a pleb to grok the domain and avoid getting scammed.
Reduce Counterparty Risk
Reduce counterparty risk by diversifying into these assets to the extent you are able and to the extent it is safe to do so:
- Buy bitcoin. Keep it in Green Wallet on your phone or offline in a Jade or Trezor hardware wallet, for example. Back up the passphrase in multiple places secretly and make these fireproof, waterproof and theft-resistant. Never keep your bitcoin with a custodian if you can help it, unless you plan to spend it or sell it via said custodian within the next few months. Never keep your bitcoin keys or passphrase in digital form or upload them onto any phone or computer. Write passphrases and information about private keys on paper or stamp it in metal.
- Buy gold if you think there are people around you with whom you could barter, or to whom you could sell for cash if need be, especially if you don't know anyone who would buy your bitcoin from you. South African Krugerrands and American Gold Eagles are two good choices if you go this route.
- Buy land or real estate if it affords you greater freedom, enjoyment, diversified cash flows, or flexibility.
- Buy art if you know what to look for and you have a plan to secure it and transport it if you ever have to move or "bug out".
- Lastly, buy guns and ammo and learn how to use them. These can be good tools for barter in a pinch as well. One 9mm handgun, with proper training, can deter many types of threats, and might even be useful for hunting in a serious SHTF situation.
To balance this out, keep in mind there will always be places and periods of time of relative peace around the world. If you get overly stressed out trying to become self-sovereign and custodying all your assets at home maybe take a step back and try to re-assess your situation. Do you perhaps just need to move somewhere where the grass is greener? Are you actually living through a severe or prolonged state of emergency now (one which threatens your livelihood)? If not, take a breath and think about how you might slowly adopt a more self-sovereign lifestyle.