Good day everyone.
As I continue to learn more and more everyday about bitcoin, lightning and blockchain technology, I’m fascinated by how many people have the amount of intricate knowledge they do about bitcoin and Stacking SATs. I’m still learning and I think that’s probably the same for the most seasoned bitcoin Maximalist’s . Today I’m interested in a few things I’ve listed below and if anyone has done this or know someone who has done this or if it’s even possible.
- Does anyone have this implementation
already where it comes directly out? (Not just taking cash from their paycheck afterwards)
- I’m also wondering if I’m able to take the
money that I put into my 401k and stop that
and put it into bitcoin?
- Two things I hear very often, take your
coins out of the exchange and start your own
lightning node. I know a littl about nodes but
can someone point me in a complete end-to-
end startup and setup for this?
Thanks in advance for anyone who decides to
help answer my questions and supports this
discussion by sending some SATs. I really
love this community and know this
(bitcoin) is the next major event in most of
our generations lives.
1a. Your employer would have to facilitate $ coming directly out of your paycheck before it hits the bank, so fat chance on that happening. The next best thing is to set up a scheduled buy with a company like Swan Bitcoin or even Cash App on the day you get your paychecks.
1b. If you get a node set up and have a self-hosted wallet, Swan let’s your automatic buy go to that address instead of their custody!
2a. Depending on who hosts your 401k you may be able to buy bitcoin inside of it very easily. I believe Fidelity allows this. If you are still employed with the same company, you probably cannot move your funds to a different company that allows bitcoin purchasing if yours doesn’t.
2b. If you are Self-Employed you have more options. Are you?
Not self employed, i work for the state govt for the last 15 years. I’m gonna have to ask around on how I might accomplish this.
Your 401k funds may be “stuck” in their account, but there are some alternatives which aren’t as perfect such as buying Microstrategy stock, stock in bitcoin mining companies or even a Grayscale asset like GBTC, but those are all just gambles and don’t provide much that you are looking for.
1 - not sure I understand the wording of the question, but I think you’re asking if some people hold all of their money in bitcoin except for the cash they need to spend. There are people that do this (there are even tech companies whose entire balance sheets are in bitcoin) - they usually have enough bitcoin to survive if the price drops under $10k. Not recommended for most. Makes sense for most people to continue using fiat for life things since its more stable at the moment, and stack bitcoin in the meantime.
2 - definitely not going to tell you to stop funding your 401k (especially if you’re getting an employer match), but I’d try to do both. It’s really up to you and depends on your situation. The most conservative thing to do is think of it as currency diversification. No one knows of bitcoin is going to be gradually introduced into the world, or if there will be some doomsday black swan event. I THINK it’s safe to say if you a 401k and stack even a small amount of bitcoin weekly, you’ll be just fine.
3a - yes, take your coins out of an exchange! Hold your own wallet, and make sure you’re familiar with the best/most secure/(ESPECIALLY) most fool proof way to do this. Unchained.com has a bunch of great resources for this (single-sig vs multisig, plus easy guides for setting up multisig, which is what they recommend). The concept of self-custody is one of the main points of bitcoin, and countless people have lost access to bitcoin held in exchanges.
3b - Lightning nodes are new to me, but umbrel.com will get you everything you need to set up a bitcoin node (and/or a lightning node). When it comes to mining or running a node, contributing to the security and decentralization of the network is your main incentive. If that goes over your head, that’s ok, I’d just spend some more time learning about what that means and how to do that before getting into it. You’re not going to profit at all from running a bitcoin node, very little at the moment from mining, and idk what it is for running a lightning node.
For setting up ur own bitcoin node, check this playlist out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kb7TobTNPI&list=PLCRbH-IWlcW2A_kpx2XwAMgT0rcZEZ2Cg :)