Been seeing a lot of threads the last couple of weeks about people wanting to opt out of fiat but not sure how. Thought I'd share my experience.

It might sound more like prepping, but this is what I did to be able to transition out of the fiat system for the long term. Might not work for everyone.

My experience is a culmination of what I learned from the North East Black out in 2003, GFC in 2008, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Irma in 2017, and of course more recent events.

1. Get out of Consumer Debt

Debt is slavery.

Do whatever you can, as fast as you can, to get out of debt.

The only debt I've ever taken on was student loan debt and got out of that as fast as I could, but I've seen people get wrecked, and I mean to the point of breakups and near suicide, because of how much debt they've taken on.

Those suggesting that you can "borrow" against your bitcoin... Unless your a financial savant and can predict the future...

2. Build a Base

Food and other provisions

At minimum, having 3 months worth of provisions is enough to get through short term crisis. But as of recent events, 3 months wouldn't cut it.

Personally, it's a 1 year food and provisional supply... The motto is two is one. One is none. So that year could end up being 6 months depending on how things go.

Precious Metals

I know around these parts, people sub the precious metals. But there's a saying...

In an financial crisis, you sell what you can, not what you want.

Precious metals won't make you rich, but they'll keep you from being poor. It's financial / economical insurance.

Much like Bitcoin where 1 BTC = 1 BTC, 1 oz of gold/silver = 1 oz of gold/silver yesterday, today and tomorrow. And much like food stuffs and provisions, you want to keep a few months worth on hand and tucked away.

Example:

You have $3,000 in monthly expenses, and gold price at a low is $1,700 an ounce, you're looking at 2 oz of gold to cover yourself for the month. For 3 months, that's 6 oz. You can do the same with silver, or you can divide it up between both gold and silver and then tuck them away.

A little bit here goes a long, long, long way.

And no, I don't regret having them nor do I intend to get rid of them any time soon.

Physical Cash

Yes, it's dirty fiat, but we still live in a fiat world. The most important thing to do is TAKE IT OUT OF THE BANK and keep it in physical cash.

Before Bitcoin, I was holding 3 months of expenses in cash. Then I got into precious metals, and only keep a months worth of physical cash now. More on Bitcoin as reserves later.

Cash is more of a rainy day fund. Yes, it's losing 15% (according to shadow stats) every year, but this is the kind of funds you want to use first if there's any kind of emergency.

Having a good sound base or foundation helps you become antifragile. It helps you sleep at night when the markets are taking a massive dump or the weather decides to go all ex-girlfriend/wife (or boyfriend/husband). Physical cash and precious metals are great to have on hand as they are both private, off the grid and very liquid. Having a good food and provisional supply of goods helps your resources last longer.

When the lockdowns in 2020 happened, and even now with supply chains broken, you'll still have what you need to maintain your every day and stay comfy.

Grow your own food

We recently started doing this. We have our own little vegetable garden (in the city), and my brother raises egg-laying chickens where he lives (in the suburbs). It helps reduce the cost of food each week, and we trade often. My brother recently made a connection with a rancher, and we both went in on a half-cow to split between our families which is about a years worth of meat.

3. Accumulation mode

With the above taken care of, you can go into beast mode for accumulating.

Note: You can build your base while accumulating as well. It just takes a while as you're spreading yourself thin.

Build your Bitcoin base

My goal was to build a years worth of expenses in Bitcoin. This is my permanent Hodl savings. I based the amount of BTC needed on the LOWEST price point at the time ($15K at the time) in order to weather severe market down turns (80%) and crypto winters.

Because I had a solid base built up, no debt, I just stacked hard and stacked fast, foregoing all the "fun" stuff, got to my goal and continued stacking. I'm still stacking.

Get educated

Learn as much as you can about Bitcoin. Don't just look at it as "number go up" or "muh hardest money ever," but really learn about its all about.

Learn how to...

• create and keep to a budget
• learn about taxes
• protect your privacy and stay private
• coinjoin and how to manage your coins
• create your own banking system of hodl wallets and spending wallets
• start and operate a node
• trade peer-to-peer in person or on platforms like Bisq
  • get off the Coinbase / Cash App / Strike tit. Those are good places to start, but those aren't places you want to stay in for long. Especially if you're looking to actually LIVE on Bitcoin.

More importantly, learn to measure and price things in Sats. This is a simple one, but a real tricky one that takes practice. If you want to see true value of goods and services, measure it as stuff-against-stuff.

4. Transition mode

Earn Bitcoin

It's one thing to constantly buy/exchange your fiat for Bitcoin, but it's another when you start actually EARNING Bitcoin.

Start small

Ask your employer or clientele to pay you in Bitcoin or, if you're still stuck in fiat land, get a portion of your net wage in Bitcoin. The worst thing they can say is "No." But in the case that they do want to pay you in Bitcoin; they can either (a) start accumulating Bitcoin and then from their reserves, start paying you or (b) you can refer them to places like BitWage or Strike. The former is the better IMO.

If they say "no" and refuse to even bother, then maybe look for another place of employment or find another way by either converting your wage yourself or finding another place of employment that will work with you.

Pay yourself first

When you start earning bitcoin, PAY YOURSELF FIRST. That goes into a permanent hodl wallet. No acceptions.

Spend / Replace

If you've never been to the gym; you don't go to the gym and immediately squat 200 kilos on day one. You warm up with small light weight. Same deal here. Start small.

• If you're earning Bitcoin: Then spend/replace doesn't really matter here.
• If you're still in fiat: Using platforms like Cash App/Strike to swap out of fiat immediately is a second best way to go.

Learn to use the market highs and lows to your advantage when you make purchases

Example: Was paid recently in Bitcoin when the price was at $46K (roughly). Price dropped to $45K. Went out to lunch with the misses at a place that accepts crypto (we helped them set it up), and while we're spending, we're also taking on capital loss too which I will definitely use come tax time.

Another example: I bought some BTC when it was at $36K and then it spiked to the high $60K. I used the opportunity to purchase some equipment for my business and I also made a charitable contribution. I was able to deduct my business equipment and take the deduction for the charitable contribution.

5. Continuation

Stay educated

Keep learning about monetary history and Bitcoin. The ocean of knowledge here is vast and deep.

Increase your skillset

Learning a trade, a craft or a skill will definitely help you in the long run. A friend of mine spent time learning to become an electrician while working in construction. He wanted to be paid in Bitcoin, but because his job won't, he decided (after getting his certification) to go out on his own as an electrician and charges his fees in Bitcoin.

6. Help build a local Bitcoin Economy

This has been a more recent endeavor of mine for a few months now and that is to help build a local Bitcoin economy.

Using Bitcoin online is a great first step, but when you are able to use Bitcoin at your local cafe, retailer and for other goods and services you're helping to spread Bitcoin adoption in the most natural way possible: through trade and commerce.

If you don't use it, you lose it. Especially in North America where we still look at and treat Bitcoin like a stock only to be held by "diamond hands." Yes, by all means hodl, but know that there are other cities and countries that are making the world they want to see. Fiat isn't dying. It's dead. They know it as do you.

I've been at this since 2010. It took me a long time, slowly and steadily, to build a base. It wasn't a smooth transition too and there were a lot of mistakes made, but ultimately, because of all the things I've done above, I was able to completely transition out of the fiat system a few months ago and started to live on Bitcoin entirely.

Market down turns like what's happened in the last few days (and will probably drop lower) don't impact as much when you know you've got a good foundation to stand on. This goes doubly so when you look at things in terms of sats and not dollars. See where the REAL volatility is.

I'm not saying or suggestion that you have to do what I did, but my experience from 2008 lead me to do things this way. You need to find your own.

Hopefully, this helps inspire or sparks some ideas. If you've got any ideas, or experiences of going off the fiat ship, I'd love to know too.

Happy stacking.

Edit: Added a part 6.