How a blogger who buys €500 of Bitcoin every month since 2017 plans to retire early, and the lessons he learned along the way.
Motivations for buying Bitcoin (BTC) are numerous: a hedge against inflation, financial independence or even hopes for a Lamborghini and life in the sun.
For “Mr. ERB,” a keen blogger and Bitcoin enthusiast, it’s all about retiring early. ERB keeps a detailed account of his finances on his blog and spoke to Cointelegraph about his Bitcoin retirement plan.
He told Cointelegraph that he first “got interested in Bitcoin in summer 2017,” when a coworker briefly brought up the decentralized peer-to-peer currency.
However, “the price was about 2,000 euros at that time and I thought it was too late for investment.”
A familiar story for Bitcoiners when they first enter the space, ERB told Cointelegraph that he soon stumbled across a Bitcoin podcast where Trace Mayer predicted Bitcoin would hit one million dollars.
Interest in the FIRE moment (financial independence, retire early) coupled with a newfound passion for Bitcoin changed his mind:
“That’s when I understood I’m not late, but actually early. I saw bitcoin as a great possibility for reaching early retirement, and bought my first coins in October 2017.”
ERB’s Bitcoin strategy chooses Bitcoin over dollars. Source: er-bybitcoin.com
ERB hatched a retire with Bitcoin plan. He set a target retirement goal of €1,000,000, contributing €500 a month, every month. His first contribution–or the first time he ‘stacked sats’–was in 2017. Five years later, “the success has obviously been great,” he told Cointelegraph.
Green is the Bitcoin price, orange is the retirement pot in Euros. The dotted line is the amount of cash invested so far. Source: er-bybitcoin.com
“I don’t think I could have made similar returns on any other strategy. Not to mention, the bitcoin strategy is extremely simple and doesn’t require active investment management. You buy and you hold, and then you keep buying more.”
The blog ERB runs details how the current return on investment is over 450%. Compared to using the S&P as an investment vehicle (44%) “that’s a 10x, and it’s going to be 100x.”
Over the course of the investing journey, ERB has gleaned valuable lessons. He speaks cogently and wisely about how Bitcoin underpins his values:
“My worldview pre-Bitcoin was pretty narrow. Life looked like school – work – retirement – death. Nowadays, I think slightly differently. The ultimate goal [now] might be better described as entrepreneurship and self-sovereignty.’
Related: Redditor stashes away BTC worth $100 for 100 years in public library
ERB shared useful nuggets of advice with those new to buying Bitcoin. He explained to Cointelegraph:
- “Keep mining fiat, keep buying Bitcoin.” And don’t try to get rich quickly because “you’re not gonna.”
- “Give yourself 5 years” to really get to know Bitcoin (that works out at one year more than a Bitcoin halving), and really take the time to learn. Listen to the right podcasts, read the right books and learn if “it was a good idea to invest in Bitcoin.”
- “Resist the urge to orange pill everyone around you,” particularly early on in the Bitcoin learning curve. ERB admits he may have some “damage” to certain relationships due to his overexuberance in Bitcoin at an early stage of his Bitcoin education.
- Finally, HODL. While the March 2020 crash in the price of Bitcoin down to $3,600 “felt really bad,” ERB explains that “in hindsight, those were the best times to buy.”
United States spot ETF looms closer, ERB is fast approaching the quarter of a million-dollar milestone–while a United States spot ETF looms closer. As his blog surmises, “cut costs, stack sats.”
