This is What Not Thinking Out Loud Looks Like

I can transact a payment from anywhere in the world provided there’s a phone line, instantly, wherever I am. Swipe, P.i.N, done. I use PayPal between Pura and I to trade BCH or BTC for Fiat and, when we do, I receive confirmation immediately in my email—instant. Phone bill—instant. As soon as I click purchase or ok, accept, agree to charges, whatever it says and wherever it says it, from any app, from anywhere in the world, I can see the transaction pending in my bank account—instant.

Phone bill, online purchases, in-store debit, BitPay or PayPal transactions and all of the other ones I didn’t list, all you need is a phone line and, from anywhere in world, a transaction reversal is instant takes seven business days to process. 🤔 The huh?! It’s the same phone line, the exact same one that was just used less than one minute ago to debit my account before I even fully released the mouse button—gone! You debited my account faster than my central banking authority could notify me it was debited, instantly. Refunds, however, require seven business days and I’m just supposed to be cool with it like “of course, while I’m at your mercy, keep the money.”

_Pixabay

Who categorized schoolgirl uniforms in the sexy column?! You’re not helping, ladies. Look, the wOrd ‘schoolgirl’ should’ve been your first queue that it’s wrong. Schoolgirl uniforms are not sexy, there’s nothing sexy about them, quit doing that. Ladies, stop it, I know how excited you are to rock the sluttiest gear you can find on Halloween—rock it, it’s just around the corner! But leave the schoolgirl uniform on the hanger, children wear those, they’re not sexy. Be a French maid or a topless barista or something, anything else. Schoolgirls wear schoolgirl uniforms—not ladies.

Watch this: “Conspiracy theory.” I have a conspiracy. I’m friends with conspiracy theorists. Let’s conspire together, you and I, about conspiring. People cringe when they read conspiracy theory or when they hear it in passing—they shouldn’t. And “Kardashian,” “tax,” and “regulation” shouldn’t be so widely accepted either—how backwards can we possibly be as a unit?

Conspiracy theory, by definition, is an explanation of an event that invokes conspiracy by sinister and powerful actors, often political in motivation, when “other explanations are more probable.” Exactly, to a T, spot on, dead nuts, whatever catch phrase your culture uses to describe “exactly,” insert it here. That’s exactly how the rulers of this globe control their little corner of the world but to say the two words together, out loud and, in the vicinity of listening ears, is frowned upon. Kardashian, taxes, tax, getting taxed, regulation, regulatory—all ok, perfectly fine. Conspiracy—not ok. There we go again, collectively as humans, practicing our backwards way of rational thinking. What else?

You ever think about how valuable the things are you do for free in comparison to the things you do that cost money? Say you spend 10 bucks on a new phone case and then watch a street performer cover Personal Jesus better than Depeche Mode for free. A year from now, you won’t remember what color the case was but you’ll never forget that performance. Or the time you watched your team win a championship for free from the comfort of your own home with some friends, you’ll never forget that. The price you paid for the shoes currently on your feet, as you read this, you barely have a ballpark estimate and you paid for them yourself. This is what not thinking out loud looks like.

Those of you banking in the US who have a checking account and, that checking account is not managed by Charles Schwab, you might want to reconsider that. I never knew about Charles Schwab, either. Look, it’s a necessary evil, I know this. But let’s be realistic. Nearly every single one of us has a checking account and not enough of you are familiar with Charles Schwab—let’s fix that.

I just found out about them before we left the country, one of Pura’s students told us about it, free ATM withdrawals. F.r.e.e, as in $0, from any ATM, anywhere in the world—worldwide free ATM withdrawals. If there’s a Diebold machine—use it for free. What happens is, at the end of every month, Schwab reimburses all of your ATM fees, it doesn’t matter how much the machine charged you or what the total is you accrued—reimbursed!

I’ve been programmed for so long to only visit the corresponding ATM of my branch—lame. I would get on my app, locate the proper ATM, then drive all the way across town to save $3 in fees. It never dawned on me all cash withdrawals around the world should be free—thanks, Chuck!

You can set it up online, too, just like you did Coinbase. Open a Brokerage account, that’s what it takes, which automatically has a free checking account linked to it with free withdrawals, free checks, free everything you’re not accustom to having for free. And the brokerage account too—you can actually watch your money and see what they’re doing with it, watch it be traded and assist in trades, etc. Unlike B of A, Wells Fargo, HSBC, etc, not a single one of them allows you to view what they’re doing with your money. You see “checking, savings,” that’s it—values and no action. At Schwab you see “brokerage” first, plus the action, and “checking” second which you can still manage and transfer back and forth, invest, save, pay bills, etc. One more.

The long game always wins. With the exception of snakes like Bernie Madoff, the long game always wins. Always, always, always, always, always.

• Annuity - One payment, one time.
• Pension - Multiple payments over time.

Annuities are lump sums, they’re similar to an IRA or a 401k—put ‘X’ amount of dollars per week toward an annuity and, in ‘25 years’ or, whatever terms you decide, you’ll have a balance of ‘XYZ’ that you can withdraw, pay taxes on, and do whatever you want with—it’s yours. Pensions work differently. A pension is a trust that is set in place by you and your group (trust) that is a revolving door of payments. Young contributors pay into the trust which is then distributed to the receiving parties of the trust—aged receivers previously young contributors. Let’s do some math.

Say you set up an annuity with a brokerage firm like Fidelity. Go over your needs with your account manager and cover all of your future concerns, they give you options, you discuss the terms and, at some point, you invest. You allow them to manage your finances for you—you’ll automatically transfer $100/week to their firm for a minimum period of 25 years and, so long as you don’t touch it before you’re 55 years of age and penalize yourself, you’ll have a 1/4 million dollar check in 25 years. I’m not a broker, I’m making these numbers up as an example but they’re not far off. Age 55, $250k, spend it however you want. That’s how an annuity works—the short game.

Pension—the long game. That same $100/week compounds over 20 or 30 years time. What you once paid $400/month to fund can be withdrawn at $2k/month until you die. We’ll refer back to age 55 again so you can see how valuable the long game is. By the way, I’m not suggesting investing one way or the other, absolutely not. Diversify—invest both ways and with as many firms as you can afford, I’m just explaining how the long game always wins.

Ok, your annuity at age 55 is worth one $250k check. Pension, at age 55, is worth $2k/month until you die. By the time you turn 56, your pension has already returned (ROi) $24,000. In 10 years and three months, your pension matched the value of your annuity at $250k and you’re barely 65. 10 more years, another 1/4 million. If you make it to 85, another 1/4 million, tripling the value of your annuity for the same investment that pays you as long as you’re alive. That’s the long game, pension—the long game always wins. Always, always, always, always, always.

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