You’re being robbed. Every single day. Not by a person. By inflation. Five years ago, $100 bought about what $78 buys today. Nobody took your cash. It just buys less. That’s what inflation is. Prices go up. Your dollars buy fewer things. So if your money sits in cash for years, you are taking a loss in buying power, even if the number in your account never goes down. Meaning $100,000 in the bank isn't the flex you think it is... The simple fix is owning assets. Assets are things that can rise over time with prices: - businesses (stocks) - Bitcoin - gold - real estate - farmland, etc. You don’t need to be a finance expert. You just need to stop treating cash like a long-term plan. Educational only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice.

Does this sound like you? You’ve got a regular job. You’ve built a solid Bitcoin position. And you want two things at the same time: 1. Keep meaningful Bitcoin exposure 2. Increase income flexibility so you can work fewer hours Here’s a hypothetical. A Bitcoiner shows me the plan he found online: “Just sell a fixed percentage every year.” It looks fine on paper. Bitcoin is volatile. That is part of the upside. But it also creates sequence risk. If your income plan relies on selling, the year you need money could be the year prices are down significantly. Selling into drawdowns can reduce your long-term Bitcoin position. In that scenario, you’re not “taking income.” You’re selling into weakness. And that can quietly reduce your long-term Bitcoin position over time. Even if Bitcoin eventually recovers in dollar terms, you may own fewer sats because you were forced to sell when prices were lower. So instead, you design around it: Maintain meaningful exposure, but target income using listed, liquid markets with defined tradeoffs, in a way that can reduce reliance on selling your stack. At the same time, you keep meaningful cold storage, but reduce custody concentration risk so you’re not all-in on one setup. The objective is to build an additional income source that may make it easier to work fewer hours and prioritize what matters: family, health, and living your life. Because time is more scarce than Bitcoin. Hypothetical example for educational purposes only. Not an actual client. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investing involves risk of loss.

Social Security is not structured like a personal savings plan. It is a pay as you go system. That matters, because pay as you go only works smoothly when there are plenty of workers paying in relative to the number of people collecting. That is no longer the world we live in. The worker to beneficiary ratio has been falling for decades, and the projection in the chart points to roughly 2.3 workers per beneficiary by 2035. At the same time, benefits per worker have risen over time, even after adjusting for inflation, as the second chart shows. Fewer workers supporting more beneficiaries, plus a higher benefit load, is a sustainability problem. The math tightens. Here is where people get confused, so let’s talk about the Trust Fund. Where does the Trust Fund come from? In years when payroll taxes collected are more than benefits paid out, Social Security runs a surplus. That surplus cash does not get invested in productive assets like stocks or real estate. By law, it is exchanged for special U.S. Treasury securities. Think government IOUs credited to the Social Security trust accounts. The government uses the cash as part of its general financing. Social Security holds the IOUs. So the Trust Fund is not a warehouse full of money. It is mostly a record of how much the Treasury owes Social Security. What happens when Social Security needs that money? When benefits exceed payroll taxes, Social Security redeems those Treasury IOUs to get cash to send checks. But redeeming an IOU does not create cash out of thin air. The Treasury still has to come up with real dollars. And there are only a few ways to do that: - raise taxes - cut other spending - borrow more - create new money Now zoom out and be realistic about incentives. Cutting spending is politically hard. Raising taxes is unpopular and can push capital, businesses, and high earners to friendlier jurisdictions over time. So the path of least resistance is usually more borrowing and, indirectly, more money creation. That is the quiet tax. Inflation is brutal for the very people Social Security is supposed to protect. Why? Because many retirees live on fixed monthly incomes. Even with cost of living adjustments, there is a lag, and their real world expenses can rise faster than the check. Groceries, insurance, rent, and medical costs do not wait for an annual adjustment. This is why relying on Social Security as your primary retirement plan is not a plan. It is a gamble on politics and demographics. Don’t treat Social Security like your foundation. What to do instead: - build your own retirement assets early - create at least one additional income stream over time - keep flexibility in retirement age and spending At 21st Financial, we help clients build portfolios and plans that do not rely on any single moving piece. Educational only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

The 3 ways working Bitcoiners accidentally become forced sellers. 1. No liquidity buffer means no freedom. Most people have conviction but no plan for short-term needs, so when life happens, the sale is not a choice, it is a requirement. Car trouble. Medical bill. Taxes. A layoff. A move. A wedding. A kid. If you do not have a high-yield, cash-equivalent buffer, Bitcoin becomes the emergency fund and the opportunity fund. 2. Leverage turns volatility into liquidation. This shows up in a lot of forms: margin, personal loans, credit cards, “low monthly payment” financing. It also shows up as gambling with leverage. You can be right long-term and still get wrecked short-term when a payment is due, collateral gets marked down, or the market moves against you. If you borrow against Bitcoin, you need a bulletproof plan. Low leverage. Conservative assumptions. Clear rules for what happens in a drawdown. If you do not have that, the leverage is the plan, and the plan is liquidation. 3. “Never sell” is not a plan if you cannot fund life. LIVE! Live your life! The only thing more scarce than your Bitcoin is your time. Keep exposure, and build income with so you are not forced to sell. That can look like: - high-yield, short-duration Bitcoin credit instruments designed for cash flow with a smoother ride than spot - using options in a disciplined way to generate premium income, with clear tradeoffs and risk controls, instead of gambling with leverage That is portfolio design. Choose a volatility level you can actually hold. Decide whether you want income, growth, or some of both. Use listed, liquid tools to structure it in a way that fits your life and your taxes. This is where a fiduciary advisor can save you an insane amount of money over time. Not by predicting Bitcoin. By preventing the costly mistakes that compound against you for decades. At 21st Financial, we help working Bitcoiners build a plan to hold through volatility, fund life, and stay in the game. In some cases, income can be structured in tax-aware or potentially tax-deferred ways depending on the account type and the implementation. Educational only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

GOLDMAN’S CEO REPORTEDLY OWNS BITCOIN A report circulating today says Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon holds a small amount of Bitcoin. Reportedly speaking at the World Liberty Forum in Florida, Solomon said his holdings are “very, very limited,” and that he’s not a Bitcoin forecaster, just an observer. He previously described Bitcoin as volatile and speculative, and said in 2024 he didn’t see a clear use case. Agree or disagree, the bigger point is simple: Bitcoin is showing up in more mainstream portfolio conversations. At 21st Financial, we help clients build Bitcoin exposure that fits their life. That can mean prioritizing long-term growth, prioritizing income, or blending both, with volatility dialed up or down using listed, liquid instruments. Educational only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Most people think you only have two choices: 1. Own Bitcoin and accept the ride. 2. Avoid Bitcoin because the ride is too much. That’s a false binary. Over long windows, Bitcoin has been the best-performing major asset (for example, 2014 to 2024, it ranked #1 in most calendar years). But yes, it’s volatile. That part is not propaganda. So the real question isn’t: “Do I want Bitcoin exposure?” It’s: “How do I want to package that exposure?” Because you can pursue Bitcoin-linked upside without taking the full spot drawdown profile by using structures that deliberately trade some upside for smoother outcomes: - Bitcoin-linked preferred equity (potentially tax-deferred dividend income, typically lower volatility than spot exposure) - Systematically selling options (harvests premium, can reduce realized volatility, and can fund cash flow) So instead of “sell Bitcoin to fund life,” the framework becomes: - Keep exposure. - Tune volatility. - Target cash flow. - Use the tax code correctly. If you’re a Bitcoiner who wants to diversify custody risk and you’re tired of the narrative that the only way to live is to sell, there are cleaner solutions than liquidation. Educational only. Not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Advisory services offered through 21st Financial LLC.

Strategy just bought 2,932 more BTC for ~$264 million, at prices near $90,000 per bitcoin. Notably, a portion of that capital came from STRC preferred stock issuance, about $7 million raised through the ATM, alongside common equity. As of January 25, 2026, Strategy now holds roughly 712,647 BTC, acquired for ~$54.2 billion at an average cost near $76,000. Capital markets are being used, in real time, to convert dollars into Bitcoin.

BlackRock filed for a new iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, pairing Bitcoin exposure with income through covered calls on IBIT.

Silver hits $100 per ounce.

Gold above $4,800.

When Bitcoin is denominated in Iranian rials (IRR), large price increases primarily reflect significant currency devaluation rather than changes in Bitcoin’s underlying supply. This highlights how outcomes can differ depending on the unit of account. In periods of currency instability, the measuring currency itself may be the primary source of volatility. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This content is not investment advice or a recommendation.

Sometimes it’s not the asset that’s failing, but the currency used to measure it.

One way to evaluate Strategy ($MSTR) is by looking at shares per bitcoin. Shares per Bitcoin is calculated by dividing diluted shares outstanding by total Bitcoin held. It is the inverse of “Bitcoin per share” and represents how many shares are backed by one Bitcoin on the company’s balance sheet. Over time, this metric has declined, meaning: - Bitcoin holdings have grown faster than share dilution - Each Bitcoin now corresponds to fewer shares outstanding - Existing shareholders have gained exposure to a larger Bitcoin balance per share, on a fully diluted basis This metric does not measure stock price, returns, or future performance. It simply reflects balance-sheet structure and capital allocation efficiency over time. For investors analyzing $MSTR, shares-per-Bitcoin can be a useful supplemental lens when assessing dilution versus Bitcoin accumulation. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.

The Federal Reserve cuts rates for the second time in 2025, down 25bps to 3.75%-4.00%.

BTC 120k

21st Financial is the only investment advisory firm you’ll see on Nostr.

21st Financial is the only investment advisory you’ll see on Nostr.