What if you could retire without ever selling your best assets? Sounds wild, right? Let’s talk.
Hey there,
I was scrolling through my usual financial feeds the other day, and it hit me: almost everyone’s giving the same old advice about retirement. You know the drill: save, invest in a 401(k), hope the stock market keeps going up, and then, at some magical age like 65, slowly start selling it off to live.
Honestly? That just doesn’t feel right anymore. It feels… fragile. Like it was designed for a world that doesn’t exist. Today, it feels more like a plan for survival, not thriving.
What if there was a different way? A way to actually retire, live comfortably, and never sell your best-performing assets? Because here’s a little secret the truly wealthy have known forever: they don’t sell their best stuff. They leverage it.
And now, thanks to Bitcoin, that same playbook is open to pretty much anyone.
The “Sell Everything” Plan is a Trap
Think about it. When you sell an asset, what happens?
- Taxes: Uncle Sam usually wants a piece of those gains.
- Lost Future Growth: You’re giving up all the potential for that asset to keep growing for you.
- Shrinking Wealth: Your net worth, at least that specific bucket, just got smaller.
It’s like cutting down a money tree to get its fruit. Sure, you get the fruit, but now the tree can’t grow any more.
The rich, they don’t chop down their money trees. They borrow against them. This isn’t about getting rich quick or trading. This is about building a long-term strategy for actual financial independence. I like to think of it in three simple phases.
Phase 1: Building Your Bitcoin Foundation
Before you can do anything else, you need to build your base. This is the most important part, and it’s all about patient accumulation and security.
- First, Become a Bitcoin Owner (and Believer). This is about conviction. You’re buying Bitcoin because you believe in its long-term value, its scarcity, and what it represents. Most people do this with Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA)—buying a fixed amount regularly (say, $100 every week), no matter what the price is doing. It takes the emotion out of it.
- Then, Lock It Down (Serious Security Here). Once you have your Bitcoin, you absolutely must take it off exchanges. Seriously. Your retirement stash needs to be in your control. The pro move is multisignature (multisig) cold storage. It’s like a digital safe deposit box that needs multiple keys to open, making it incredibly secure against theft or loss.
Phase 2: The ‘Borrow, Don’t Sell’ Move
Once your foundation is solid, you can move to the active part of the strategy. This is where you turn your asset into cash flow without selling it.
- Wait for the Right Moment. You don’t just jump into borrowing. You wait for Bitcoin’s big bull runs, which typically happen in 4-year cycles. When Bitcoin’s price is soaring, that’s your window. This gives you a bigger safety cushion.
- Borrow Against Your Bitcoin. This is the cool part. Instead of selling, you use a portion of your holdings as collateral for a loan from a specialized platform (like Unchained or Ledn).
- Live Off the Loan (Tax-Free!). The money you get isn’t income; it’s a loan, so you don’t pay capital gains tax on it. You just pay the interest. This is your retirement “paycheck.”
The golden rule here is to keep your Loan-to-Value (LTV) low. This is super important. Aim for a 25-35% LTV. So, if your Bitcoin is worth $1 million, you’d borrow maybe $250,000. This low LTV is your best defense against a market crash.
Phase 3: Manage the System and Repeat
This isn’t a “set it and forget it” plan. It’s a cycle you manage over the long term.
Every 4 years or so, as Bitcoin goes through its cycles and hopefully appreciates significantly, your collateral becomes worth even more. You can then:
- Take out a new, larger loan based on the new, higher value of your Bitcoin to fund the next few years.
- Or, if your LTV on the first loan is now super low, just take a second, smaller loan.
You’re effectively creating a system where your Bitcoin funds your lifestyle, potentially for decades. You keep the asset, you keep the potential for future growth, and you keep the tax benefits.
Is It Risky? Yes, But You Can Play Smart
Okay, let’s be real. There’s risk involved. The biggest one is liquidation risk. If Bitcoin’s price drops too much, your lender might force-sell your Bitcoin to cover the loan.
But you manage this risk by:
- Starting with a super low LTV (25-35%).
- Only using your long-term Bitcoin holdings, not trading money.
- Having some extra cash or Bitcoin on the side in case you need to add more collateral during a big dip.
- Borrowing when Bitcoin is strong, not in the middle of a crash.
Think of it like owning a house with a mortgage. If your house value dips, you don’t panic and sell, right? You just keep paying your mortgage. Same idea here.
Stop Planning for Yesterday
The old rules for retirement don’t really work anymore. We’re living in a new world, and it’s time for a new plan. A plan where you:
- Never sell your best assets.
- Live off tax-free cash flow.
- Pass down a growing legacy.
That’s how the truly wealthy do it. And with Bitcoin, it’s how you can do it too.
Own. Borrow. Repeat.
It might just be the strategy that lets you live free, die rich, and leave more. What do you think?