The FIAT Ponzi Scheme

A Ponzi scheme is one whereby money is generated by someone bringing in more people who pay the person who brought them in, such that those who get in early do very well and because there is no real product, ultimately it collapses.  Those who get in last often lose everything.  The Ponzi scheme collapses because it is unsustainable, which is why they are illegal.  They are also known as Pyramid Schemes which is definitely not what bona fide Network Marketing companies (MLMs) are.  This is why MLMs are legal and can offer an ethical supplementary income if the product is useful and beneficial.  See my Networks page for some that I have found to have excellent products that I use both clinically and for myself for their great natural health benefits.  Where the end products have a real benefit to the consumer then the MLM has an ethical reason to exist in my opinion and isn't much different in structure to a company based in a single building.  This difference is that in an MLM people determine their own hours and their income is proportional to the effort they put in.  MLMs aren't a get rich quick route, and many people often don't put the effort in and don't make lots of money. 

If we consider that since the Gold Standard was dispensed with in 1931, banks are now allowed to lend 9 times more money than they have assets to support, this is ultimately unsustainable because there is something like 4 times as much debt in the world as money.  This makes the current FIAT system the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, and it's on the brink of collapse. 

It is a house of cards that is artificially propped up and was ready to fall when the current Plandemic distraction conveniently came along.  It remains to be seen if this crisis will be used to hasten in a new digital currency agenda and if it will be used to provide a scapegoat for the coming collapse, along with the war in Ukraine. 

When there was the big financial crash in 2008/9 the UK public were forced to pay ultimately when the Government used our money to "bail out" the banks. Not many people realise that in 2014, the law was changed so that future collapses of a Bank would be rescued by a "bail in" system whereby the Banks use their Savers' and investors' money to make good any shortfall.  Pension Schemes are woefully under-performing too, often relying on the tax exemption gain more than actually managing shares and performing better than the market average. With the current plandemic, many companies may struggle to survive in which case shareholders are liable to have to pay the bills and/or lose their money.

Index-linked Funds are no different in essence to the shenanigans that the Banks got up to in the noughties by creating AAA rated mortgage products that had no real value. This led to the collapse in 2008/9.  Some companies included within Index-linked Funds are as valueless as the old AAA mortgages.  One aspect of the plandemic is to distract people from the coming collapse of the FIAT system that will ultimately occur due to it's fragile and fundamentally dishonest construction.  If you go down the financial rabbit hole you will realise that FIAT collapse and collapsing the economy will usher in Digital Identity and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).  This is the thin end of the wedge.  Along with other changes, such as the abolishment of cash and Universal Basic Income (UBI) this will potentially lead to a Social Scoring system as implemented in communist China.   This type of Totalitarian Technocracy is exactly what the World Economic Forum (WEF) would like to establish under the guise of the Great Reset and the 4th Industrial Revolution. This is not a conspiracy when the UK Government refers to the Great Reset and the 4th Industrial Revolution on a number of their official website pages, along with Digital Identity and recently advertised the job of Head of CBDC.

Ultimately, it is debatable as to whether there are any truly safe havens for savings and pensions.  I have come to the conclusion that Cryptocurrencies are no riskier than any other options at the moment.  On that basis you may decide that it's a good idea to spread your risk amongst the different markets, including bullion.  This is NOT financial advice - just my thoughts about the whole system and what I'm currently doing in an attempt to achieve financial security.  My choices are not necessarily right for you.  It is up to you to make your own assessment, and perform your own due diligence before doing what you think is best for you in your own situation and circumstances.

Digital Currency isn't going away!

Bitcoin (BTC) was the first decentralised digital currency that started in 2010 and spawned the financial venture into the cryptocurrency era. When it started, Bitcoin were given away for free, and there are many who wished they hadn't lost them or used them to buy a pizza!!  Others, such as Ethereum (ETH) and now a myriad others, followed suit with new ones coming (and going in some cases) all the time.  At the time of writing this, BTC had recently hit the heady heights of $64,000, closely followed by a big drop to below $20,000. It is still looking likely to be one of the biggest growers in investments in the long term. There are now some big financial institutions and players who are getting involved.  With recognition from the likes of Tesla (you can buy a car with BTC), VISA and other corporations using BTC as a currency to store their cash, the idea that it is going away is receding into the distance.

Various different countries are looking at launching Centralised Digital Currencies, including the UK through the Bank of England.  Centralised digital currencies are bad news because they enable the State and/or whoever controls the Bank (all Banks without exception are privately owned by the elite) to use your centralised digital currency account to curtail your rights and freedoms.  Mastercard already have a (currently) voluntary credit card that restricts your spending based on the perceived carbon footprint from your purchases. China already has a Social Scoring system whereby 'good' behaviour that obeys and follows the CCP State gets rewarded.  This may seem all very well, but those who speak out against policies they don't agree with are restricted both financially and through the restriction of their human rights to travel and visit locations etc. This all happens via the Chinese citizen's mobile phone.  Microsoft has already patented (Patent No. 060606 - I joke you not) a system whereby good deeds, as measured by monitoring technology such as an implanted microchip, are rewarded akin to cryptocurrency mining. The converse ability is clearly equally possible whereby individuals can be punished and restricted.  Should this be introduced, it isn't a question of whether the system is ever going to be abused for control, but when. This is a very slippery slope to start out on.

People need to recognise the dangers and resist such a centralised financial evolution. It threatens the existence of cash too.  Decentralised cryptocurrencies on the other hand, remove the ability of the State to use finances in such an individually manipulative manner. It is partly for this reason that I have been trading (in a small way) with cryptocurrencies for the past 3 or 4 years, although much of this was sitting tight and waiting for the recovery of Bitcoin and Ethereum after the big crash not long after I started!  It is a volatile market and requires a steady nerve at times, and trust that the markets will recover if there's an unexpected drop whilst I'm out walking Boots or working away from home.  The plus side is that gains can be quick too.  If you are going to invest in cryptocurrencies I would recommend starting small - with a sum you can afford to lose if it all goes pear-shaped, and once you've got the hang of what's going on then you can always invest more.  eToro for example allow mock trading (with both cryptocurrencies and shares) so you can play the markets as if really happening, but with virtual money so you lose/gain nothing and just learn and practice how you decide to operate.   There are over 400 different cryptocurrency coins and tokens, depending on which platform you decide to trade from. Some cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and may be launched with the sole intention of a smash and grab raid on the coffers of the unwary/naive.  Not every one is going to "go to the moon/stars", and as with any investment, do your due diligence, don't get too greedy and be happy with the profit you take! I stick to the better-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) etc and just dabble in a couple of potentially upcoming ones such as GSX which is asset backed by gold and other mining rights.

According to many of the top Cryptocurrency gurus (of which I am definitely not one!) such as Simon Dixon, it is highly unlikely and would be a rather silly move for countries to try to ban Bitcoin etc.  The money that has been wasted due to the COVID lockdowns etc has to be repaid at some point. Banks can counterfeit money which they call Quantitative Easing (QE) but ultimately, they will need to raise taxes. Provided all countries counterfeit their money at the same rate, it should reduce inflation whereby your currency reduces in value in absolute terms. Clearly those countries who have wasted most money and have printed most (such as the UK and USA) are at greatest risk of inflation relative to all the rest who have done significantly less QE, if any.  Recognising cryptocurrencies and taxing trading proceeds etc offers the potential for substantial future tax revenue generation, not to mention the ability to obtain data.  Contrary to the narrative that drug dealers and crime cartels love cryptocurrency for laundering money purposes, the blockchain method of recording transactions provides a definitive and indellable record that cannot be denied and that could therefore argued to be more incriminating than a way to avoid notice. Future Capital Gains Tax on cryptocurrencies is probably inevitable.  Canada has already demanded that BTC trades are identified.  It is therefore inevitable, in my opinion, that some aspect of records will be made available to Governments to enable taxation of the cryptocurrency space and data mining too.

I have listed some of the many cryptocurrency purchase and trading websites on the Platforms page for those who want to get hands-on and do the buying/trading themselves.  Understandably, this can be very daunting for those who know of cryptocurrencies and the investment potential they offer, but don't have the confidence to wade in. There are plenty of information resources on the www including various YouTube channels such as Simon Dixon, and CoinBureau to name just two.

Bullion

In the spirit of spreading your assets and risk to try to minimise any loss, whilst still offering some growth potential at a time when Stock Markets are going down in response to rising inflation, precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum are traditionally a relatively safe haven. BullionVault offer great online prices with storage for private investors, and have been regularly praised in the financial press over quite a few years, which gives confidence that your investment with them is as safe as possible. You can take delivery if you want but how do you use it to buy your groceries?!! We need both a system of wealth storage and a system of transaction that we can use on a daily basis that remains outside of the system if we ae to avoid social scoring as enabled by digital identity and CBDC and a way of transferring between the 2 systems. I'll keep you posted if I find a solution to this. On a note of warning beware Glint that appears to offer this - it is financially unstable and you could lose everything you put into it from the information I've heard. Do your due dilligence....

Many people are looking to see how bullion can be a way of not just storing wealth, but using it on a daily basis. 7K Metals appeared to enable this via its Sound Money Wallet app but this loophole has now been closed by the regulatory authorities in the USA.  They are bring out a credit card linked to the account but then transactions would not be off-grid. It offers a half solution in that at least you can store wealth in bullion and pay from it, but using the card means there's a money trail that won't exclude the user from any social scoring limits associated with them personally. There are some other benefits associated with 7K Metals such as the gold/silver coins but again, they would have to be traded and converted into whatever currency is in use at the time (FIAT now or CBDC in future) for everyday transactions, so the only potential benefit is wealth storage at present.