Bitcoin Forum

I've gotten to the point where I've started cashing the balance out into BTC every month instead of keeping dollar reserves, since I end up using credit cards for most things anyway, especially as I'm trying to build credit right now.  Plus, the credit cards give you 1-3% cash back.

From a personal finances-perspective, this has to be the most efficient way (assuming a non-stochastic model for spending and BTC-USD prices) to manage my money, right?

Efficiency and risk are two different animals.

Not when you have 50 more years of career ahead of you I guess.  But being able to effectively purchase at a discount and hold your wealth against inflation seems like the best bet regardless.

Edit: And also no - not in an optimal control model, they're not.  Risk preference over time is an input to the model, as is the most efficient asset configuration going into each successive period.

Risk depends on the future performance of whatever you are buying or investing in.

Efficiency can be somewhat predictable if you know the present variables.

But they are different animals in my view.

You can be efficient in your purchases but if the things you are putting money into lose their purchasing power/value over time (future) then you have now a loss in terms of value. This is the result of risk (where you choose to invest your money).

Yes.

Of course people still keep money in their current accounts. It's not as if people can survive solely off bitcoin yet and it'll be a long time before this ever happens if at all (though I'm hoping we can). Banks still have their place for stuff like this and will for a long time to come.

Yep, but not very much. Minimum limit to avoid bank fees.

Fiat is a depreciating asset, after all. Holding it costs money.

Sometimes I think people on here are so against banks they can't see their benefits at all. People are still using regular bank accounts on here and haven't ditched them just because of bitcoin.

Have you ever considered the possibility that there might be a reason ?

I am diverting a significant amount of my savings to BTC at this point. I still keep a fair amount in fiat as an emergency fund but more and more is going into BTC all the time.

The 5 day period for ACH transfers is tiring, as are the mysterious $7-10 fees for not maintaining a minimum balance (no such fee existed when I opened said accounts).  There's no way it costs $7-10 monthly to host and admin the databases that contain those accounts, so its obvious that its just a revenue grab.  That's exactly the attitude of the banks across the board - chip away at whatever you can grab.  PNC is particularly bad, especially after they expanded following the "too big to fail" dialogue.

What's a checking account? :p

So do you have savings still?  I try to keep a good balance of around 4000 in both combined...but never make it lol

What's a bank?

I do this since december 2013 ... but bank blacklist client that emit SEPA to bitcoin exchange (Europe, France).
I must do this slowly and with a paypal middle man.

Stupid banks !

well, read the bulgarian crash ... with no cash and no wire transfer available.
money is freeze at the bank with no explication to the customers.

This is essentially what I do with Coinbase.  I keep a small amount in there instead of at my banks, which are now pretty much empty.  Why keep more than the minimum at the bank until it's time to pay bills?  Meanwhile, I made a ridiculous interest rate outside the bank.

Now if I could just get the bills to accept bitcoin...

It's for the peasants. Srly, it's only purpose is to house fiat until I transfer into coinbase for the deflationary stuff. 8)

Checking accounts are so 1990

Funny thing is you are part of a growing but extremely small minority who dont really use it. MOST people (there ARE alot of people who dont give a shit about bitcoin) who use checking accounts.

Is it worth mentioning that I don't have a checking account? Seriously, most of my personal value is wrapped up in Bitcoin and altcoins right now. So obviously not much room for a checking or savings account right now.

Yes, albeit not much. Diversify and diversify again for all things in life.

Exactly.  Government is trying to say that its the work of "deceitful criminals" who have caused the bank run...they forgot to mention said criminals ocupy the C-suite at said banks lol

man, some of you guys are nuts putting that much of your income into bitcoin.. it could pay off, or it could totally fuck you over in the months and years to come.

This summer I moved over everything that's not tied to my real estate investments (equity). I use that equity to buy more real estate.

After the next rally I'll probably use some (~10%) profits to buy another 4-plex/4-flat, but leaving most (~90%) of it in BTC. Bitcoin is awesome, but I still love using OPM (other people's money) in real estate.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm willing to wager total poverty against the chance at ending the use of violence-backed nation-state fiat scrip (AKA murder-money).

To OP: How do you pay your credit card bill?

Well, its a choice between a 1% guaranteed loss from inflation (much more if the US housing market doesn't see a reaction from the continued QE and assuming the stock market doesn't crash on the interest hikes from QE tapering) or an inflation hedge...right now I'm taking the hedge.

Who in the younger generation is going to want to buy houses?  We're up to our heads in student debt.

I make enough to cover them with biweekly paychecks.  Salaried, full time.

no, it's not a hedge when you have more than half of your wealth in bitcoin. a lot of bitcoiners seem to ignore that it's very possible that bitcoin collapses, yet they still have all of their eggs in a basket.

I'd guess you have a savings account, then? Checking and savings are practically the same at credit union here. Checking allows higher interest rate if you use debit card, and obviously allows you to tie a debit card to it. No fees. Have $5 in savings only because it's required to keep the checking account open which I use for auto-pay bills. I don't usually check it, though... I just keep cash at the house from selling BTC and let bills and direct deposits from employer kind of balance each other out or whatever it's doing in there. Keep debit card with me, but in past couple years, have only used it once when a tire went flat on the road and I got talked into buying four like-new tires which don't even fit because I'm a non-confrontational moron.

Use credit cards for 0% intro rates but transfer the balance to a new 0% card after. Idunno how people get so many loans out at once... CreditKarma gives me a "D" on a particular stat for only having 5 accounts open, because obviously I need 20 accounts open to be most creditworthy. Who the Hell could possibly have 20 accounts open at financial institutions?

Bitcoin is allowing "just-in-time" cash management of a bank account.

This lets the person who gets bitcoin income to use a bank account only when needed (e.g., mortgage or rent payment, etc.)    A transfer from Coinbase takes two to three business days, so if you pay monthly, for instance, you can wait right up until the end of the month to sell your coins and have the cash arrive at about the same time the payment is due.

One might think this is risky because there could be issues -- such as Coinbase canceling the order as "high risk" (which has happened to many, reportedly) but then there is also the same-day backup plan, using http://Bitcoin-brokers.org (or similar) to get a trade where cash is deposited into your bank account.

So while a person still might keep a bank account, Bitcoin enables one to manage a lower bank account balance.

Banks are so fake. They say it's your money. But if you deposit more than $10,000 cash they make you sign paperwork to tell the government about your transaction. When you keep your money in there they are loaning it out to other people. And it's difficult to withdraw large amounts of cash. I don't trust banks.

This. It is my money and I don't want to be told how to use it. I still have cash reserves as an emergency fund but more and more of my savings are melted into bit coin each month.

True, Never keep all your eggs in one basket. And as far as the question of OP is concerned  I do not have a current account, I do however have a Savings Account and a Recurring Deposit Bank account.

What do you do with your paychecks when you are paid? Are they deposited into your savings account?

Most banks offer free/basic checking accounts for people with direct deposit and/or with small ($500~) minimum balance and/or if they use their debit card "x" (usually around 5) times per month

Why not , some time you needed to make big payment it can easily done with check

and for business

Doesn't anyone else feel that your checking account is more safe?  I guess if someone does get a hold of your information.  USUALLY banks are well aware of it before it happens and don't allow the funds to go through.  Well if someone gets your Wallet information, it takes them about 3 seconds to clear out your bankroll with no way of getting it back...

I guess I would always feel safer with my money in a checking account rather then a bitcoin wallet..Plus I have automatic withdraws set up for bills and crap need to have some funds in there..

USD Fiat Inflation has actually averaged 5-8% yearly , not the reported 1-3%. There are many ways to calculate the CPI and economists like to play games and have removed Food and fuel(arguably important commodities for the average person) for the CPI that is typically published and used to generate the 1-3% numbers.


Inflation in other countries like Argentina is much worse.

This is why we have things like 2FA and wallet encryption, to make holding BTC safe.  Even Coinbase keeps their BTC in cold storage.


Yep, direct deposited.  I have a checking account, I usually just clear most of it out into cold storage BTC once the bills are taken care of.

The difference between bitcoin and tulips is that bitcoin seems to be a bit more practical.  Tulips also weren't specifically created to serve as a peer-to-peer consensus system to replace fiat currencies.

Back in 2012 internet explorer was still the most widely used browser, just saying.

Some people are slow, others are really slow. But eventually they will catch on. And we will be way ahead of them.