🚨 You’re not as financially free as you think. 🚨 You cut expenses. Saved aggressively. Executed the FIRE plan. But there’s a catch most people never talk about: Your freedom still depends on a system you don’t control. Most FIRE portfolios are rooted in fiat. That means inflation risk, tax code changes, and permissioned access to your wealth. It's a fragile foundation. You don’t own the system you’re relying on. 401(k)s, brokerages, IRAs, real estate — they all depend on rules, policies, and access controlled by someone else. And those rules can change. In 2020, RMDs were paused. Since then, Congress has added withdrawal penalties, emergency access clauses, and shifting contribution limits. These aren’t theoretical risks — they’ve already happened. It's a sober reminder: Your financial independence is only as strong as the system allows. Bitcoin offers an alternative. It’s self-custodied, borderless, and supply-capped. Sovereign. With bitcoin, you control the asset — not a brokerage, not a bank, not a government. And beyond resilience, bitcoin adds asymmetric upside. While index funds return ~7% annually, bitcoin is still early in its adoption curve and globally misunderstood. Even small allocations can meaningfully accelerate your path to FIRE. This doesn’t mean abandoning what works. But it does mean being honest about where your plan might break — and upgrading the foundation to something stronger. The FIRE strategy is about freedom. But if you still need permission to access your wealth… Are you really free? I unpack all of this in my latest issue of FIRE BTC: 📶 Financial Independence, Upgraded — Why bitcoin belongs in your FIRE plan — How it adds both resilience & acceleration — What most FIRE portfolios are missing 🔗 Read and subscribe here:

📶 Financial Independence, Upgraded

FIRE BTC Issue #30 - Taking financial freedom to the next level

Just got done listening to this OP_RETURN focused episode of @npub1hw4z...lg0q with @Guy Swann and I LOL’d at the end when he signed off with “that’s just my 2 sats.” 😆🤣 BTW, I enjoyed this one Guy!

🏠 Paying off your mortgage is a huge mistake IMO 🏠 Saylor agrees 🧵👇 If you already own a home or plan to buy one, not having a mortgage is leaving massive money on the table. A mortgage is the every-man’s way to perform a Pierre Rochard-style speculative attack on the fiat system. You put downward pressure on the USD by shorting the dollar and upward pressure on bitcoin by buying it with the proceeds. You are siphoning value out of the fiat world and into the bitcoin world. You are hastening the dollar’s demise while pumping bitcoin’s rise. You end up with two assets instead of one, funded by steadily debasing debt that you’ve sold to a fiat maxi who then sells it to the Fed. You’ve now got two things working for you: A house you get to live in + A stack of sovereign BTC funded by fiat debt that gets weaker every year Paying off the mortgage kills that setup. You’re left with one asset (the house) and less exposure to the asymmetric upside of bitcoin. Of course, you need to be smart about using any kind of leverage. But a mortgage is a tool that can help you get wealthier while sticking it to the fiat system. “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world.” - Archimedes A mortgage is your lever. Bitcoin is your place to stand. I write about bitcoin, financial independence, and using the system’s flaws against itself. If that sounds like your kind of rebellion, subscribe for free: firebtc.substack.com

FIRE is powerful. But it still runs on fiat. What happens when the system wobbles? This week’s issue of FIRE BTC is about upgrading your path to financial freedom with bitcoin. From permissioned to sovereign 👇

📶 Financial Independence, Upgraded

FIRE BTC Issue #30 - Taking financial freedom to the next level

Bitcoin can’t be downgraded by Moody’s.

There is nothing wrong with sats, and changing to bitcoins is encouraging mediocrity and complacency. We should challenge people to reach for greatness, not enable people to settle for less.

Here it is… Steak n Shake accepts BTC. Seamless experience and the burger and tallow fries were GREAT! 🍔 Paid with 100% sovereign sats from my lightning node at home (and immediately replaced them) using @ZEUS

🎲 EVERY DECISION IS A BET 🎲 Most people play not to lose. I play for positive EV. Here’s how it works, and why most people get it wrong 👇

🔥 Most people chasing FIRE are aiming for a number 🔥 $1M. $2M. $5M. But what if the target is wrong? Here’s why your share of 21 million BTC matters more than your net worth: 🧵👇 The FIRE formula: → Figure out your annual expenses → Multiply by 25 → Invest in index funds → Retire when you hit the number It works…if the system keeps working. ⚠️ But the dollar is a moving target: 💸 Debased 🧾 Taxed ⚖️ Politicized 🤝 Dependent on trust Your “freedom number” floats in a system that’s leaking value. Bitcoin offers something different: 🔒 Fixed supply ⚙️ Predictable issuance ⛓️ No middlemen 🧠 Just math and time No bailouts. No printing. No permission needed. Reframe: Your financial independence isn’t just about how many dollars you have. It’s about how much of the 21 million you’ve secured. That’s your position in the next system. 📊 📈 Index funds grow. 🏠 Real estate appreciates. But both expand: New shares. New homes. New taxes. New rules. 🟠 Bitcoin doesn’t expand. It concentrates. Every sat increases your share of the pie. FIRE folks love tracking progress: 🧮 Net worth 📉 Expenses 📆 Time to FI Try this one: What % of the 21 million do I own? It’s simple. Scarce. Measurable. And it can’t be inflated. The earlier you claim your share, the better. ⏳ You don’t need to beat inflation. You need to exit it. 🚪 Stacking bitcoin = opting out. FIRE says: “Buy freedom with money.” 💵 I say: “You need freedom money!” ₿ Start measuring wealth in sats, not dollars. You might be closer to freedom than you think. Your true wealth is your share of a system that can’t be printed, frozen, or inflated away. Secure your slice of the 21 million. Then go live free. 🗝️✨ If this thread clicked for you, you’ll love my newsletter: FIRE BTC. Each week I explore how bitcoin can accelerate financial independence… without permission, inflation, or fragile systems. Subscribe free: firebtc.substack.com

🧵 How to make smarter money (and life) decisions using a poker player’s mindset: Most people chase certainty. But in the real world, especially on the road to financial independence, you’ll never have it. That’s where Expected Value Thinking comes in. Let’s break it down: 👇 🎲 Life is a series of bets. Every decision (buy or rent, save or splurge, hold or sell) is a bet on an uncertain future. Expected Value Analysis (EVA) gives you a framework to make the best bets, even when outcomes are unpredictable. 🃏 The poker analogy: Say you’re holding a 20% chance of winning a $600 pot, and you need to call a $100 bet. Your EV: (0.2 × $600) + (0.8 × -$100) = + $40 You’ll probably lose the hand… but if you keep making this bet, you come out ahead over time. 🚀 Bitcoin is the most asymmetric trade on the planet. If you think there’s even a 25% chance BTC hits $1M from $100k today, then a $1k investment has an EV of $2,500. In poker terms: you’re buying $2.50 for every $1. That’s a bet worth repeating. ⚖️ FIRE (and life) is all about tradeoffs, and EVA helps you weigh them. Rent vs. buy? Take a sabbatical? Start a business? Running the EV forces you to factor in risk, reward, and flexibility, giving you clarity in uncertain decisions. 🔁 Process > outcome. Don’t judge decisions by whether they worked out. Judge them by whether they were smart bets. EVA helps you make consistently high-EV choices. Over time, those add up to financial freedom. 📈 Want to level up your decision-making? I wrote about using Expected Value Thinking to strengthen your FIRE + bitcoin plan. Check out the full post here, and subscribe if you dig it:

🧠 Expected Value Thinking

FIRE BTC Issue #29 - Making decisions like a poker player

💥 UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH 💥 Fiat money was needed and beneficial. Gold was fair, scarce, and trusted. But it was slow and couldn’t keep pace with a rapidly globalizing world. Fiat fixed gold’s speed problem, but at the cost of fairness. It let governments print at will, fueled debt bubbles, and hollowed out trust. Fiat was never the endgame, but it was a much-needed bridge from old sound money to new sound money. Bitcoin is where we go next: digital, scarce, global, and decentralized. It delivers gold’s discipline with fiat’s speed, leaving behind the middlemen, inflation, or political control. It’s time to cross the bridge. FIRE BTC issue 28 just dropped. I break down how gold, fiat, and bitcoin each shaped the global system — and why bitcoin completes the arc. Read the full post →

🌉 The Bridge We Had to Cross

FIRE BTC Issue # 28 - Gold couldn’t keep up. Fiat filled the gap. Bitcoin finishes the job.

Saving feels like a scam. You did everything right. Worked hard. Spent less. Saved more. And you’re still falling behind. It’s not your fault. The system is rigged. The dollar is built to lose value. That’s why saving doesn’t work. Wages lag. Costs rise. And the “safe” path just delays your collapse. You’re not undisciplined. You’re saving in a broken system. New FIRE BTC just dropped: 💸 Why saving feels like a scam 🧱 Why bitcoin fixes the foundation 🔥 How to opt out before it’s too late

💸 Why Saving Feels Like a Scam

FIRE BTC Issue #26 - Fiat money broke your future (but bitcoin fixes it)

Trump has turned up the heat on global trade, but he's playing with 🔥! Eliminating America's trade deficit sounds good, until it risks triggering a global dollar shortage. The Triffin Dilemma isn't theory anymore. Bitcoiners, pay attention.

🧨 Trump Be Triffin, Bro!

FIRE BTC Issue #25 - The Triffin Dilemma is being challenged

I spoke to a group of billion-dollar family offices last week about bitcoin. They are almost 0% allocated right now. Get the inside scoop on these high-powered investors in my latest newsletter issue 👇

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 A Family Office Affair

FIRE BTC Issue #24 - Family offices have trillions of dry powder to buy bitcoin

Even if you take an initial 1% allocation to bitcoin, here's what most likely will happen: Your 1% grows to 3% AND You start to understand bitcoin better THEN Your 3% grows to 5% AND You add an add'l 5% bc you understand bitcoin better Allocate ➡️ Understand ➡️ Growth 🔁

My buddy has $270,000 sitting in a bank account earning 0.00%. 😱 He thinks he's being safe. I told him he’s guaranteed to lose. FIRE BTC Issue 23: "Cash is Trash" is live. 👇 Here's what I'd do instead: firebtc.substack.com/p/cash-is-trash

My dad just reminded me of this card I gave him as a kid. Classic!

Gold bugs are typically loud about bitcoin's lack of intrinsic value. Gold is used in jewelry and electronics, among other goods in the real world. And yet gold’s market value exceeds its industrial use value many times over. What gives? I explore the myth of "intrinsic value" in the latest issue of FIRE BTC 👇

🙃 The Intrinsic Value Myth

FIRE BTC Issue #22 - A common critique of bitcoin, refuted

An AI bot that automatically extracts a readable and usable recipe from the SEO-optimized hellscape of a normal recipe webpage.

A buddy of mine showed me yesterday that he has $270,000 sitting in cash in an account that pays 0% interest. I told him that's crazy. He asked what I would do with it. I told him by the end of Monday, I would have $270k less cash and $270k more bitcoin. We are not the same.