www.markholder.org

Bitcoin is going to (insert 6 or 7 figure number here) by 2020! or Bitcoin is a scam/fraud/only useful to criminals/going to zero in 2020! Digital currency is the future, like it or not (I prefer the anonymity of cash, myself). Whether Bitcoin or any of the thousand or so other crytpocurrencies will survive central and commercial banks developing their own digital coins remains to be seen. In the meantime, the major cryptos remain actively traded. But how does one trade an ephemeral yet seemingly permanent asset? It doesn't help when articles like this appear on the same website, on the same day: Bitcoin and crypto in general rose in price during the recent US/Iran exchange of hostilities, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good hedge against chaos, as price fluctuation is a mainstay of crypto at this time. As always, invest only what you can afford to lose, should you decide to enter the market. And, as always, what your reading is merely opinion and not to...

First, an apology for using the term "frenemy." I hate this word but find it useful for this post. What is compound interest? From our friends at Wikipedia: Compound interest is the addition of interest to the principal sum of a loan or deposit, or in other words, interest on interest. How does it work? With stunning efficiency. For instance, if you have an interest-bearing savings account, compound interest is your friend, as your banking institution will pay interest (albeit a minisule amount these days) on the principal dollar amount. Over a long period of time, compound interest is earned on both the principal and accumulated interest, eg $100 principal + 5% interest = $105.00. Left untouched, your next round of 5% interest will be paid on the $105.00 balance, resulting in a sum total of $110.25. This is a simple (and unrealistic, in terms of interest paid) example of money making money. If, however, you have debt on an interest-bearing loan, compound interes...

I'll start by assuming you've heard of Bitcoin and perhaps some of the other cryptocurrencies, such as Ether and Litecoin. If not, a quick web search is in order. If you have been following the prices of cryptos, you'll no doubt be as stunned as the rest of the world by their volatility. 2017 was the year of All Time Highs being met swiftly and regularly, while 2018 to the current date of this writing is considered the "crypto winter". While the current price represents roughly 80% decline from the all time highs reached in December 2017, even this is not the greatest drop the 10 year history of Bitcoin. What lessons do we take from the wild ride that is crypto? Lesson One: Volatility is an inherent part of the landscape, at least for now. Dizzying highs and gut-wrenching lows are the norm. If you can't handle volatility, avoid crypto like the plague. As always, NEVER invest more than you can afford to lose. In a high volatility environment, such ...

Twenty-eight percent of Americans have nothing in their savings accounts and another twenty-one percent don't even have a savings account, according to a recent survey. Another survey revealed that a majority of Americans can't cover an unexpected $400 expense without going into debt. It wasn't always this way, nor should it be now. Saving money isn't hard, but it does require discipline. It doesn't even require a savings account, if cash is your thing (if so, I fervently suggest keeping your stash in a safe or other lockable box, preferably one so heavy as to deter stealing the whole box). The amount of how much to save is a shifting target; I've been told to save amounts ranging from "all you can" to certain percentages to whatever change is in pocket. A figure that works for me is ten percent. Ten percent is the amount prescribed by many religions. Also known as tithing, the practice predates currency, when one was expected to sacrifice...

I am in possession of one ounce of 99.9% pure silver. The coin is an  American Silver Eagle , purchased to commemorate the birth of my son (technically the coin is his, hence my reluctance to use the word "own" in the opening sentence). It's big. It's beautiful. It makes a clinking sound unlike any US coin since the early '60s. It also has a face value of one US dollar, but don't be fooled. A silver dollar is worth more than $1.00. Because of the silver content, a silver dollar is worth at least $19.34 as of this writing. Factor in variables like year of production, etc and the value will increase. You may be asking why. The answer is simple: Silver, and even more so, gold, is money, and has been for 5000 years. The paper in your wallet is currency, issued by a government, reliant on the stability of and peoples' faith in said government. It wasn't always this way. Coins have been free of silver since the mid-1960s, Nixon took the US dolla...

Let's be clear on one thing: this is not the world your parents meant for you to inherit. The world they had in mind was a much safer, more stable world. Sure, there were surprises no one saw coming, but this is true in day-to-day life just as it is in the bigger picture. The end of the Cold War caught us all by surprise, as did 9/11, to name two examples. The wholesale outsourcing of jobs to cheap labor markets was not something your parents anticipated, although the precedent had been set decades before. One would do well to remember that American industrial jobs moved to the South to escape unionized labor and seek favorable tax policies; that those jobs have continued to move in search of greater profits, lower wages and regulations can be seen as the logical conclusion of policy. Besides, in your parents time, if you left one job, you could always find another. Times have changed, indeed. Your parents couldn't foresee a time when savers would be punished for s...

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. - Ephesians 6:12 Knowing your enemy is a skill that requires patience and understanding. As the quote above indicates, the enemy isn't always an individual, but a mindset or process. In ancient times, the problems wasn't necessarily the citizen of a Roman territory going about his business, the problem was Rome. This is not meant to excuse all abusers (think Nazi SS officers and the "following orders" excuse), but people for the most part are decent. However, powers, processes, and zeigeist can lead even the strongest astray. In our time, greed, fear, and hate are all great enemies, alone or in combination. Those in power, be it world leader or bank branch employee, can use any of the above to keep the rabble in place. Never forget: you are the rabble to the person on the opp...

Inspiration has many sources. I prefer to stand on the shoulders of giants. This series is inspired by many profound thinkers, chief among them  Philip K. Dick . Dick, or PKD, was a science fiction author, a visionary whose work and influence loom large over the present time. Indeed, it was Dick who best predicted artificial intelligence and virtual reality. He also predicted misuse of technology as a means of social control. Paranoid, drug-addled and the unwitting recipient of a series of spiritual experiences, PKD is the patron saint of our time. Remember, it was he who warned us our toasters would be spying on us. If PKD described the black iron prison that keeps us enslaved.  Terence McKenna  sought to teach us how to break out of it. Psychedelics, spirituality, science, any tool that works is to be used. McKenna advocated finding a new operating system to replace the buggy one in use, while reminding us that this is not a dress rehearsal. Life is to be liv...

The 21st century has been a wild ride and we're only 19 years into it (or just beginning, according to the theory that places the beginning of a new century roughly 20 years after the turn of the calendar date). Uncertainty is the prevailing mood of our time. Wall Street and the general economy appear to have uncoupled. Those responsible for the economic crash of 2008 have gone unpunished. Military action has spread across the Middle East, while domestic strife is commonplace. How we got here has been recorded in numerous books and documentary films, and a history of the road to 2019 is beyond the scope of this post. Futureproofing will be a series devoted to tips on how to cope with the uncertainty of the present era. These tips will draw on ancient wisdom, new ideas, maybe even a few hunches. The ideas certainly aren't written in stone, nor are they to be considered legal or financial advice - see a carefully vetted professional if needed. It is my hope the Futurep...

The migration of markholder.org to Blogger will begin in the coming days. The absinthe post was a test run and it looks good. I'm undecided how to handle some older posts, as many are well over a decade old. The Futureproofing series is still current and will make the migration and new posts in the series will appear soon after. This is an interesting process from writing HTML code to using WYSIWYG editing; I'm undecided as to which I prefer.