"A burden shared may either be halved or doubled, depending on the heart that receives it." (just wanted to quote Elrond lol)

Agree. But wonder if it's a function of necessity or the everyday citizen putting in the ~100hrs of study needed. Hoping for the latter but expect the former... *digital sigh

Unfortunately for this community / many others, being early is initially indistinguishable from being wrong

But that's precisely when the upside is largest...

^^^ this is the way. all readers (including myself) are shuddering from the cognitive dissonance

i appreciate the thoughtful response. A lot of food for thought.

Bit of sidebar: I have a few friends working high stress, lucrative but ultimately unfulfilling jobs and they've mentioned that their ultimate goal is to save as much as possible until middle-age then switch to a second career which aligns more w/ their sense of fun (eg trader -> make nature documentaries) + live minimally w/ max autonomy. Think the underlying actual goal aligns with how your tackling life. But not having that psychological safety net of ABC $ / [BTC] prevents them from executing now. If I zoom out, I actually think there's a large cohort of folks I know that aim to do something similar / get off the hedonic treadmill. Anyways, long way to say, good on you to actually walk the walk

@atyh Serious question, how much does one have to save up to try to live a life like yours (with some modest safety net in case I find out I'm incapable of living that way)? Do you still have to be a "productive" member of society or able to literally live off the land? Or better phrased, how much capital and time do you need to save and learn to execute this?

But 100% agree, its death by a thousand cuts and a machete blow (federal + state + city taxes) if you live in select urban areas.

Calvin & Hobbes (*no one talks about anymore)

Yes, created by inefficient vehicles of storage for economic value (i.e fiat in bank account and not put to work) (also, risk not applicable to those with access to best vehicles like PE / VC couple decades ago) (i.e unfair playing field)

I do very much sincerely hope that in
the next decade that AI supercharges productivity (even the playing field so that meritocracy is the only game left). Resulting in...

Governments treat citizens as "customers," no need to "trap" folks for tax harvest (eg tax to give up citizenship), provides equal opportunity (not stipend) to all "customers"

Or I guess stack Sats, learn how to be relatively self sufficient (literally like build fire / shelter / etc) and wait it out in a place like Argentina (maybe in near future)

Kind of ranting. I'm not educated enough to offer a solution but I know a problem when I live it.

KIND MESSAGES IN CAPS is gently frightening. like a baby alligator

The strategic reserve (and other sovereigns entering) increases BTC adoption but ultimately goes against the ethos and end-use cases of BTC? Curious what % of BTC supply being held by sovereigns is the sweet spot today (and how that changes over time). @Michael Saylor maybe you can enlighten as well when you are avail.