How many bitcoins do I need to retire in 20 years?

[jeffhuys]

I see a lot of people saying "just one", why are you so sure? It's just been a few years since bitcoin began, anything could happen at anytime. It could be worth $0.10 tomorrow, no-one knows! 

[sgk]

I see a lot of people saying "just one", why are you so sure? It's just been a few years since bitcoin began, anything could happen at anytime. It could be worth $0.10 tomorrow, no-one knows!  

Exactly.

The OP's question if fundamentally flawed. It assumes that the price variation in Bitcoin is predictable. (It also assumes the price can only go UP, which is even worse assumption).
No one knows what Bitcoin will mean after 20 years, so we should stop answering the question like we're holding a crystal ball in our hands. Anything can happen.

KEEP CALM

AND

KEEP WORKING HARD FOR A BETTER LIVING

[futureofbitcoin]

Obviously no one knows. That's why we answer with our predictions or hopes. It's much better than being a party pooper and not contributing something that's relevant to the question.


Perhaps even if bitcoins aren't worth that much in 20 years, we would be able to retire relatively cheaply because of abundance from technological innovation and automation. We may have stuff like vertical farms, producing enough food for everyone on Earth a few times over.

[azguard]

I see a lot of people saying "just one", why are you so sure? It's just been a few years since bitcoin began, anything could happen at anytime. It could be worth $0.10 tomorrow, no-one knows!  

Exactly.

The OP's question if fundamentally flawed. It assumes that the price variation in Bitcoin is predictable. (It also assumes the price can only go UP, which is even worse assumption).
No one knows what Bitcoin will mean after 20 years, so we should stop answering the question like we're holding a crystal ball in our hands. Anything can happen.

KEEP CALM

AND

KEEP WORKING HARD FOR A BETTER LIVING

Your right.
You wont have anything if you dont work to make something for yourself.

For bitcoin no one knows what will it be in next five not in 20 years so keep it you never know what tomorrow will bring.

[randy8777]

Tricky question as bitcoin fluctuates wildly and is unpredictable. I would say be safe and buy 10 Bitcoins . If the price of one drops incredibly low, Buy 100-1000

no one here knows what exactly will happen. at this moment the average bitcoiner can't afford to buy 20 or 30 coins as they have plenty of bills to pay and such. if you really would save some coins you should have done that when bitcoin was just worth a few bucks.

[infofront]

Every answer to the question just needs an "if" at the beginning.

If bitcoin becomes the new paradigm, one would probably be enough.

[BillyBobZorton]

Every answer to the question just needs an "if" at the beginning.

If bitcoin becomes the new paradigm, one would probably be enough.

Well, the Winklevoss brothers are predicting that paradigm shift in 10 years apparently:

http://nypost.com/2015/03/17/winklevoss-twins-believe-bitcoin-will-wipe-out-cash-in-future/

AUSTIN, Texas — The Winklevoss twins predicted a “cashless society” by 2025 as they continued their push to popularize the troubled virtual currency bitcoin.

So there.

[vrm86]

Well, the Winklevoss brothers are predicting that paradigm shift in 10 years apparently:

http://nypost.com/2015/03/17/winklevoss-twins-believe-bitcoin-will-wipe-out-cash-in-future/

Anyone who has such pile of BTC would say the same and spread that word among people

[pereira4]

Well, the Winklevoss brothers are predicting that paradigm shift in 10 years apparently:

http://nypost.com/2015/03/17/winklevoss-twins-believe-bitcoin-will-wipe-out-cash-in-future/

Anyone who has such pile of BTC would say the same and spread that word among people

Even if they have an agenda, is not that far fetched. If Bitcoin is the TCP/IP for money, 10 years would bring us to the first stages of mainstream adoption.

[asuryan180]

Tricky question as bitcoin fluctuates wildly and is unpredictable. I would say be safe and buy 10 Bitcoins . If the price of one drops incredibly low, Buy 100-1000

I hope you are joking, you would say be safe and buy 10 bitcoins? Even if the price does not drop you will want to buy the 100-1000 i would go with at least the 1000 and hope they go to a high enough, price above inflation because what is the point in having 1000 bitcoins worth 20,000 dollars each but it costs 500 dollars for a loaf of bread!? It is far to far into the future lets hope that we still have bitcoin in 20years or something better or bitcoin evolved, who knows?

[btc.to.moon]

If btc=$1m then I need only 1 BTC to retire

[BillyBobZorton]

I see a lot of people saying "just one", why are you so sure? It's just been a few years since bitcoin began, anything could happen at anytime. It could be worth $0.10 tomorrow, no-one knows!  

Exactly.

The OP's question if fundamentally flawed. It assumes that the price variation in Bitcoin is predictable. (It also assumes the price can only go UP, which is even worse assumption).
No one knows what Bitcoin will mean after 20 years, so we should stop answering the question like we're holding a crystal ball in our hands. Anything can happen.

KEEP CALM

AND

KEEP WORKING HARD FOR A BETTER LIVING

It's easier than that. If Bitcoin becomes mainstream, maybe not 1, but 10 should be enough to retire safely. Why you ask? well simple, mainstream = number of adoption will require that the price is a lot higher than what we've seen thus far. It's maths. If BTC surpasses current electronic payment methods, it would be worth more than 100K if you compare the marketcaps.

[BitmoreCoin]

If btc=$1m then I need only 1 BTC to retire

You mean today's $1m.

[dinofelis]

It's easier than that. If Bitcoin becomes mainstream, maybe not 1, but 10 should be enough to retire safely. Why you ask? well simple, mainstream = number of adoption will require that the price is a lot higher than what we've seen thus far. It's maths. If BTC surpasses current electronic payment methods, it would be worth more than 100K if you compare the marketcaps.

Will be hard to do with at most 7 transactions per second
VISA alone does about 1000 times more...

[Erdogan]

It's easier than that. If Bitcoin becomes mainstream, maybe not 1, but 10 should be enough to retire safely. Why you ask? well simple, mainstream = number of adoption will require that the price is a lot higher than what we've seen thus far. It's maths. If BTC surpasses current electronic payment methods, it would be worth more than 100K if you compare the marketcaps.

Will be hard to do with at most 7 transactions per second
VISA alone does about 1000 times more...

Et tu, dinofelis.

Bitcoin is not a payment system.

[Mikestang]

Lets say I want to buy bitcoins today and store them for 20 years to use a my retirement fund.  Live comfortably, but don't need to buy a yacht or anything.  How many do you think I would need to buy?

Impossible to answer, bitcoin may not even exist in 20 years.  I guess the only answer one could give would be "more than you think".

[cellard]

Lets say I want to buy bitcoins today and store them for 20 years to use a my retirement fund.  Live comfortably, but don't need to buy a yacht or anything.  How many do you think I would need to buy?

Impossible to answer, bitcoin may not even exist in 20 years.  I guess the only answer one could give would be "more than you think".

Lol Bitcoin will for sure exists in 20 years. The blockchain is the best invention on the 21 century and Bitcoin will be the leading currency/store of value. This is not a "oh but facebook surpassed myspace" thing.

[GreenStox]

I think atleast 100 bitcoins to be safe.

I predicted that 1 bitcoin can be worth 700k$ if all the current GLOBAL GDP is flushed into it, of course in 20 years the global gdp can be much higher (or lower if these nutjob CB will cause global collapse) so a 700k$/bitcoin is really the cap, so you need like 100 bitcoins to have 70 million $ which hopefully will be enough for your greed

[mrhelpful]

The # of bitcoins relay back to the price.

So obviously the lower the price, the more quantity you need to get a retirement lol. You may need like 10,000 or more if the rates are super lower.

Right now, if you do the preev current rates for dollars - 10,000 = $265k which is reasonable to get a $50k house in las vegas or somewhere else on in the mid west and retire.

[maku]

I think atleast 100 bitcoins to be safe.

I predicted that 1 bitcoin can be worth 700k$ if all the current GLOBAL GDP is flushed into it, of course in 20 years the global gdp can be much higher (or lower if these nutjob CB will cause global collapse) so a 700k$/bitcoin is really the cap, so you need like 100 bitcoins to have 70 million $ which hopefully will be enough for your greed

If we are talking about distant future (yes. 20 years in bitcoin world is like 1000 years in real life) and our current technology. I would rather don't point at exact numbers. We all are probably wrong in our assumptions. In 20 years we could already have bitcoin 2.0 or some other form of cryptocurrency or no bitcoin at all.