00:01 hey everyone I have a lot less Bitcoin
00:04 than I otherwise might have if I had
00:07 done things differently in the last 10
00:08 years and I wanted to cover why that is
00:11 and what I would do differently if
00:13 anything the last 10 years as well as
00:15 cover a very important concept people in
00:17 Bitcoin talk about which is that
00:19 knowledge of Bitcoin is on an as needed
00:22 basis or another way of put that is to
00:25 say people find out Bitcoin on a need to
00:28 know basis because heavily plays into my
00:31 story now I’ve covered sort of a high
00:33 level of why I got interested in Bitcoin
00:35 and what it has done for me but in this
00:37 video I want to go into a lot more
00:38 detail um about my story specifically in
00:41 the hopes that it will be helpful okay
00:43 so I sold bomgar Corporation in 2014 I
00:46 had spent 11 years building the company
00:48 built it up to more than uh 200
00:50 employees and more than 57 million in
00:52 annual revenue over the course of 11
00:54 years I sold the company in
00:56 2014 and I did not have a money problem
00:59 at that time I was in a good spot um I
01:02 had enough money that won I never had to
01:04 work again for the rest of my life uh at
01:07 that time I could have chosen to never
01:08 work again another day in my life I
01:10 could not only have not had a job I
01:13 could have afforded a full-time
01:14 executive assistant for the rest of my
01:16 life and uh at least part-time if not
01:19 full-time household help if I needed it
01:21 for the rest of my life so there I was
01:23 in 2014 so the first time I heard about
01:25 Bitcoin was in 2014 and you might think
01:28 but wait if you if if you heard about
01:31 Bitcoin in 2014 you sold your company in
01:33 2014 why didn’t you buy a bunch of
01:35 Bitcoin in 2014 well first of all I
01:37 dismissed Bitcoin as one of a million
01:39 different Technologies I heard about in
01:41 2014 so why would I believe this one was
01:43 going to become a big deal when numerous
01:45 other Technologies I was constantly
01:47 hearing about were just falling by the
01:48 wayside so I didn’t take it seriously
01:50 but also the main reason was because I
01:53 did not have a need to know Bitcoin is
01:55 on a need to know basis and I did not
01:57 have a need to know because I didn’t
01:58 have a problem the amount of money had
02:00 in 2014 was enough to cover me for
02:03 everything I wanted to do as long as I
02:05 lived a modest life and had you know
02:07 relatively modest Ambitions uh with
02:10 regard to what I was going to do with my
02:11 life um so in 2014 you know I didn’t
02:15 have any debt uh my house was paid off
02:17 cars paid off you know and I I was all
02:20 set um now again I couldn’t go crazy and
02:22 I needed to live a modest lifestyle but
02:24 I was all set so if somebody came to me
02:25 and said yeah but you you know you could
02:27 invest in Bitcoin and make way more
02:28 money I would have said yeah but I have
02:30 enough I have enough that if I invest
02:32 just in the stock market you know a 6040
02:35 stock Bond portfolio or whatever if I
02:37 just do the same thing normal people do
02:40 I’ll have enough money to accomplish my
02:41 near-term goals and so I did so there I
02:44 just didn’t have a need in 2014 so uh
02:47 fast forward to 2017 and 2018 um I had
02:50 spent a substant I don’t know if it was
02:52 you know the majority but I had spent a
02:54 substantial amount of the money that had
02:56 uh been acred over those 11 years in
02:58 politics and public policy so the
02:60 legislature pays
03:02 $23,500 a year Yes you heard that right
03:05 $23,500 a year that is the entire salary
03:07 for a legislator and so I had taken more
03:10 than a 90% pay cut to uh dedicate that
03:14 season of my life to politics and public
03:16 policy and so a 90% pay cut combined
03:20 with the fact that I started spending
03:22 heavily on politics and public policy
03:24 not only for a bunch of Elections I was
03:27 uh cared a lot about including my own
03:29 but also lots of public policy
03:31 initiatives 501c3 nonprofits 50 uh C4
03:35 advocacy organizations 50 C6
03:37 organizations political action campaigns
03:40 called PS you know I was heavily funding
03:42 a lot of that different stuff so um even
03:44 though the money amount of money I had
03:47 you know could have sustained a a
03:48 reasonable lifestyle for the rest of my
03:50 life that is not what I wanted to do
03:52 what I wanted to do and my favorite um
03:54 you know my favorite quote or
03:55 inspirational quote is the quote about
03:57 the arena and uh I meant to print it out
03:60 and I didn’t but it’s uh you know uh
04:02 basically the uh uh the credit goes to
04:05 the you know blood soaked and scarred
04:08 people who are actually in the arena
04:10 changing the world rather than the
04:11 people uh you know criticizing them from
04:13 the grand stands you know who are not
04:16 even uh you know in play so I love that
04:18 quote anyway uh and I’ll read it on a
04:20 separate uh you know separate video um
04:22 but that’s the way I wanted to live my
04:23 life I wanted to get in the arena I
04:24 wanted to change the world for the
04:26 better I wanted to you know I wanted to
04:27 have the highest possible impact I could
04:29 possibly we have in the fastest way
04:32 possible and that was expensive that
04:34 cost millions of dollars between 2014
04:37 and 2018 so by the time I bought my
04:39 first Bitcoin in late 2017 and early
04:42 2018 um when the prices initially uh the
04:46 the Bitcoin I bought was between
04:48 $6,400 and you know probably
04:51 $9,800 so that initial Bitcoin from 2017
04:54 to 2018 is up between 10x and 15x and I
04:58 bought a little bit uh I mean that
04:60 enough to sort of matter but not really
05:01 enough to matter so uh for the theme of
05:04 this video the reason I don’t have a lot
05:05 more Bitcoin one because I did not have
05:08 a need to have something
05:09 transformational financially in 2014
05:12 that that need did not exist because
05:13 stocks and bonds were good enough for me
05:16 in 2014 to do what I needed to do and I
05:18 thought at the time that was you know I
05:21 was not going to end up needing
05:23 substantially more financial resources
05:25 than I could generate by just keeping my
05:26 assets in the stock market U so 28 rolls
05:29 around and still I have a problem but
05:31 not a big problem the problem is I’ve
05:33 spent millions of dollars trying to
05:34 change the world and you know create
05:37 positive impact largely successfully I’m
05:39 very I mean I’m very proud of the fact
05:40 that of all the money I’ve ever spent on
05:43 efforts to change the world almost all
05:45 of it bore fruit which is which is very
05:47 rare for anybody doing advocacy work um
05:50 I mean it’s very regular that you sit
05:52 down with somebody who spent millions or
05:54 even hundreds of millions of dollars
05:55 trying to change the world and ask them
05:56 how they feel about it and they’re like
05:58 half of it was a complete waste of time
06:00 and the other half of it sort of mixed
06:02 bag that is the normal response you get
06:04 from somebody who spent a lot of money
06:06 trying to change the world is half the
06:08 money was a waste the other half was a
06:10 mixed bag but they’re pretty sure enough
06:12 good came out of all of it to make it
06:13 worth it that’s not how I feel about the
06:15 impact you know I’ve made in the world I
06:17 feel very good that almost all I mean
06:20 maybe 98% 99% a very very very high
06:23 percent of all the money I’ve given to
06:25 things all the money I’ve spent all the
06:27 uh you know the the things I’ve been
06:28 involved with I feel very good about the
06:30 impact in the world they’ve had uh but a
06:31 huge part of that is every single dollar
06:33 I spent I spent just vast amounts of
06:35 time researching and studying what I was
06:38 doing so that every single bet I was
06:40 placing in an effort to change the world
06:42 was extremely like massively analyzed
06:45 and calculated and all that so so I I
06:48 felt very good about the money I had
06:50 spent uh between 20 I should say we me
06:53 and my wife because you know we make all
06:55 of the major financial decisions
06:56 together and um obviously so these are
06:59 you know credit goes to her for uh for
07:01 being uh you know willing to team up on
07:03 a change the world campaign that cost a
07:05 ton of money um so anyway we had spent a
07:07 substantial amount of money between 2014
07:08 and 2018 so the reason first reason I
07:10 don’t have way more Bitcoin than I I
07:12 have is because I didn’t need Bitcoin
07:14 back in 2014 so I ignored it because the
07:16 stock market was just barely good enough
07:19 to accomplish my financial needs in 2017
07:21 and 2018 um I bought Bitcoin but I was
07:26 in the process of embarking on a very
07:28 expensive uh um uh political Campaign
07:31 which was initiative 65 which was an
07:33 effort to bring a medical marijuana
07:36 program to the state of Mississippi so I
07:38 started that initiative I funded that
07:40 initiative I I did I did I hired the
07:42 entire staff for that initiative I I
07:45 mean that initiative was my baby from
07:47 late 2017 all the way through the
07:50 election and the ballot initiative in
07:52 2020 and then ultimately the Supreme
07:54 Court overturned it in 2021 and then we
07:57 got the uh we got the program
07:58 legislatively in 202 2 so that from 2017
08:02 to 2022 um you know a large portion of
08:05 that especially through you know the
08:07 first half of 2021 I mean that was my
08:09 baby it cost millions and millions and
08:12 millions of dollars and I was reluctant
08:14 as I was embarking on that to put a
08:17 bunch of Capital At Risk so my thought
08:19 process was well look i’ I know I’m
08:22 going to have enough money uh you know
08:24 to fund this thing with you know my
08:26 current strategy I don’t have enough
08:28 time to go research Bitcoin and how you
08:30 know how likely it is to succeed and
08:32 what the volatility is I just don’t have
08:35 I don’t have a need to solve a problem
08:37 that where the pain is high enough to
08:39 buy more than a relatively small amount
08:41 of Bitcoin so I bought a relatively
08:42 small amount of Bitcoin in 2017 and 2018
08:46 and then just focused on you know
08:48 initiative 65 the medical marijuana
08:50 campaign that was a full-time I mean
08:51 literally a full-time job in addition to
08:53 my legislative service for all of 2018
08:56 all of 2019 and all of 2020 and then you
08:59 know I mean that was it was super
09:00 intense for about three and a half years
09:03 um I mean just super intense so again I
09:05 did not have the time to research
09:07 Bitcoin and also I was just reluctant to
09:10 put Capital at risk that I thought I
09:12 might need to continue to fund the
09:15 medical marijuana campaign in
09:17 Mississippi and the reason I’m you know
09:18 I’ve talked about this in other places
09:20 but the reason I’m passionate about that
09:22 issue is I lost both my parents to
09:23 cancer when I was in my 20s uh both of
09:25 them died in a lot of pain even with all
09:27 of the best uh medication and the best
09:29 pain killers in the world and I deeply
09:31 believe after tons of research that had
09:34 medical marijuana been available to them
09:37 when they were in the you know in
09:39 hospice and both in the process of dying
09:41 of cancer that had medical marijuana
09:43 been available to them it would have
09:44 significantly helped with the pain and
09:46 especially the nausea uh in both cases
09:48 my mom had a very uh in both cases in my
09:50 mom’s case with ovarian cancer and my
09:53 dad’s case um with lung cancer even
09:55 though he never smoked so it was not
09:57 smoking related but my dad got lung
09:59 caner cancer
09:60 metastasized to his brain um in both of
10:03 their cases nausea was just a huge
10:05 problem inability to keep down food
10:07 inability to have an appetite and uh
10:09 medical marijuana is just fantastic for
10:11 that so I was passionate about the issue
10:12 and I absolutely wanted to see that
10:14 campaign through and I did not want to
10:16 risk Capital that I knew I had uh that
10:19 could fund that campaign and result in a
10:21 win and I just didn’t have the time or
10:24 the risk appetite at that time to risk
10:27 Capital uh knowing that I had to finish
10:30 that job and get that uh initiative
10:32 passed so ultimately we collected
10:34 228,000 signatures that’s insane
10:37 228,000 signatures which was extremely
10:41 cost intensive you know labor intensive
10:44 and costly to just aass an army of
10:46 people to go get 228,000 signatures um
10:49 and then we had to run a massive
10:51 campaign on top of that um you know for
10:54 all of that so um and I’ll get to more
10:56 of that in a minute here so um in 2018
10:59 around comes
10:60 2018 and I buy again enough Bitcoin to
11:03 to matter a little bit but not really a
11:04 lot and then I move on and you know
11:07 continue the good fight on you know
11:08 legislative stuff uh public policy
11:10 Criminal Justice Reform the medical
11:12 marijuana campaign I do all of that well
11:14 in
11:15 2020 um the legislature my fellow
11:18 colleagues in the you know Mississippi
11:21 legislature um screwed me over by
11:24 putting an alternative ballot initiative
11:26 on the ballot so I had done it the right
11:27 way collected 228,000 sign but the
11:30 legislature has the right to propose an
11:31 alternative ballot initiative and they
11:34 were trying to Scuttle the whole thing
11:36 to make it go away and the best way they
11:38 knew to do that was to confuse the issue
11:40 by putting an alternative ballot
11:42 initiative on that was also about
11:43 medical marijuana now the truth is their
11:46 initiative would have not resulted in an
11:47 actual medical marijuana program it was
11:49 essentially an effort to confuse the
11:51 voters and mess the issue up so much
11:54 that uh you know it would fail at the
11:56 ballot um so anyway so what what would
11:59 have been an easy campaign to get that
12:01 passed in 2020 once again resulted in an
12:04 extremely expensive campaign because now
12:06 we had to explain to all the voters why
12:08 they were going to see two different
12:10 initiatives on the ballot in 2020 here
12:13 in Mississippi and how they were
12:15 supposed to distinguish between the two
12:18 and what they were and why there were
12:20 two and that cost millions of more
12:22 dollars on top of that so rolling into
12:26 2021 I had a serious problem I mean
12:30 again going back to the theme that
12:31 Bitcoin is on a need to know basis and
12:34 people find out about Bitcoin on an as
12:37 needed basis I suddenly in 2021 had a
12:40 very serious need to figure out what I
12:43 was going to do to try to claw my way
12:45 back to you know even close to where I
12:48 was back in 2018 before all of that or
12:51 even back to
12:53 2014 uh back uh you know at the peak of
12:56 my US dollar denominated uh net worth
12:59 back in 2014 so I had this Bitcoin uh
13:02 from 2017 and late 2017 and early 2018
13:06 which again had a had a cost basis of
13:08 between $6,400 was the cheapest cheapest
13:11 cheapest Bitcoin I ever bought in that
13:13 period and the most expensive Bitcoin or
13:15 not the most expensive but the the
13:17 average was probably in the
13:19 $9,800 something like that so again up
13:21 15x from the cheapest cheapest point but
13:24 sort of most of it was probably in the
13:26 ballpark of about up 10x uh today but
13:29 again the problem was I hadn’t put
13:31 enough money in Bitcoin from back then
13:33 for even that 10 or 15x upside to be
13:36 transformational because again I did not
13:38 have the time I didn’t have the risk
13:40 appetite I just I didn’t have the need
13:42 and so I was basically messing around
13:44 with it I mean that’s what I was doing
13:45 in late 2017 and early 2018 as I was
13:48 messing around with Bitcoin the problem
13:50 is if you mess around with Bitcoin and
13:52 you put a pretty small percent of your
13:53 net worth in Bitcoin then even though it
13:55 goes up 10x you’re like well heck if you
13:58 put 1% of your net worth in Bitcoin and
14:00 it goes up 10x then you have 10% more
14:03 money well 10% more money is way better
14:05 than just 1% but if somebody’s like wow
14:08 that’s totally transformational you feel
14:10 super rich you’re up 10x on your Bitcoin
14:12 it’s like yeah but if it’s 10x on one%
14:15 you only have 10% more than however much
14:17 money you had before which for most
14:19 people they would not describe as
14:20 transformational so I had put I there’s
14:22 probably more than 1% but it was not
14:25 again it was not enough to really matter
14:27 uh back then okay so fast forward to
14:29 2021 I have a serious problem which is I
14:33 have spent you know not only have I
14:34 spent the majority of the assets I have
14:36 from 2014 I’ve done that multiple times
14:39 at this point in 2021 and again largely
14:42 successful I mean the medical marijuana
14:44 campaign passed with 74% of the vote uh
14:47 I mean we got it on the ballot it’s the
14:48 first time that anyone in the history of
14:50 the state of Mississippi had ever gotten
14:52 anything on the ballot over top of the
14:55 objection of the Mississippi legislature
14:57 I mean it’s just it was incredible like
14:59 I mean we just did something nobody else
15:00 had ever done before and then obviously
15:02 we had to go you know fight the fight
15:03 the fight to get the program passed in
15:05 the legislature once the Supreme Court
15:07 invalidated the uh ballot initiative
15:09 process um but anyway all that to say
15:12 when all that happened around RS 2021
15:14 and I have a serious need I have a need
15:17 to know you know uh if bitcoin’s on an
15:21 as needed basis I am now in the as
15:23 needed part of people which is I got to
15:26 figure out I got to figure out how to
15:28 get back to where I was and so I was
15:30 started looking at all the assets I
15:32 looked at real estate I looked at stocks
15:33 I looked at bonds I looked at everything
15:35 and I came to the conclusion with every
15:37 other thing I could invest in it was not
15:40 going to get me where I wanted to go you
15:42 know I’ve got private Investments for
15:44 example Prosper on the island of Raton
15:46 uh that could pay off you know huge but
15:48 it’s not liquid meaning I have stock
15:50 that has a sort of assigned Book value
15:53 that’s worth a lot but it’s not liquid
15:55 there’s no way I can pay bills with that
15:57 and there’s no Marketplace to sell that
15:59 stock today which means I have a you
16:01 know I have have wealth related to
16:03 private Investments meaning not publicly
16:05 traded I have wealth related to private
16:07 Investments but you can’t you know you
16:10 can’t live on uh you can’t live on uh
16:12 you know paper numbers right it’s you
16:14 got to be able to turn it into something
16:15 real that you can buy stuff with and my
16:17 private company Investments are not in
16:19 that category um so anyway so I had a
16:22 serious need to know so in 2021 after
16:25 thoroughly evaluating all the different
16:26 you know opportunities and assets I came
16:29 to the conclusion that Bitcoin was
16:31 likely the only asset that had the
16:34 upside necessary to get me where I
16:36 wanted to go and even though I had spent
16:39 down the vast majority of the assets I
16:41 had acquired with the sale of bomgar
16:44 Corporation in 2014 I still had enough
16:47 that if I put them in Bitcoin I could
16:50 start to get back to where I was before
16:52 and potentially over time even Beyond
16:55 where I was before um so that’s what I
16:58 did I started in 202
16:60 uh I think I may have bought some
17:01 Bitcoin in 2020 but probably I was
17:03 probably in 2020 just watching my you
17:05 know 2017 2018 Bitcoin go up uh I think
17:09 it was 2021 that I really started buying
17:10 more Bitcoin especially after it peaked
17:13 in uh you know the early part of the
17:14 year in I think March or April or
17:16 whatever it was as the price started
17:18 coming down I was like all right I’ve
17:19 got to load up on this and I got to load
17:20 up on this like in a big way so I
17:22 started buying Bitcoin I started buying
17:24 more Bitcoin I started buying more
17:25 Bitcoin so I bought through the 2021 dip
17:28 from $69 ,000 or
17:30 $64,000 down to $30,000 I was buying
17:34 buying buying I think my single largest
17:36 buy uh the single largest buy of Bitcoin
17:38 I’ve ever done was for $39,000 and so
17:42 the price had gone up to 64,000 it had
17:44 come back down it was dropping
17:45 consistently of course I knew I was not
17:48 going to be ever be able to time the
17:50 perfect bottom of the market so
17:52 ultimately when I had the liquidity and
17:53 I had the conviction meaning I had done
17:55 enough research and to uh to be certain
17:58 I was making a good investment I think
18:00 the the largest single purchase of
18:02 Bitcoin I ever made was for 39 or just
18:04 under
18:05 $39,000 and that was in the summer of
18:08 2021 uh but then I continued to buy on
18:10 the way up and back down in 2021 and
18:12 then when 2022 came around and it just
18:14 started going down and down and down I
18:16 was like this is my chance Bitcoin is
18:18 Blessing Me Bitcoin is going to give me
18:20 a chance to ratchet what started at I
18:23 don’t know whatever it was a few percent
18:25 or you know somewhere above 1% but not
18:28 enough to matter of net worth from way
18:30 back in 2017 2018 to I ratchet it up to
18:33 you know as I was making these purchases
18:35 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% uh you know
18:40 60% and then uh in probably coming into
18:44 2023 I probably had between um I don’t
18:48 know it was above 60% of my liquid net
18:50 worth again not company not counting
18:52 private companies but of my uh liquid
18:54 net worth I probably had you know call
18:56 it 60% something like that in Bitcoin
18:58 and then in 22 I ratcheted up even more
19:01 and more and more probably to 80% and
19:04 then in 2023 uh as we got into 2023 I
19:07 was like okay I’m at like 80% Bitcoin
19:10 here I want to ratchet it up more but I
19:12 need some sort of assurance that if
19:15 something bad happens with the banking
19:17 system it’s not going to get blamed on
19:18 bitcoin and uh I was finally given that
19:21 you know blessed by that in March of
19:24 2023 when Signature Bank Silicon Valley
19:27 Bank and um uh whatever the other one
19:30 was signature Silicon Valley Bank and
19:32 the Third Bank that uh that got taken
19:34 over by the government only one of them
19:37 was insolvent the other two were
19:38 assassinated literally the government
19:39 came in and said you’re banking too much
19:41 with the crypto industry and we’re just
19:43 shutting you down because we can um
19:46 which you know that was only discovered
19:48 in retrospect at the time they said they
19:50 were shutting them down because they
19:51 were insolvent but ultimately after they
19:53 were audited it was it it turned out
19:55 they were not insolvent so only one of
19:57 the three Banks actually was insolvent
19:59 the other two were just fine and the
20:01 government just took them over anyway
20:02 because they figured hey if we’re taking
20:04 out One bank that serves the uh crypto
20:07 sector we might as well take out all
20:09 three of them and you know that will
20:11 hurt the industry um ultimately rather
20:13 than hurt the industry even though it
20:15 made you know it a little harder for
20:17 some of the participants to get bank
20:18 accounts um the effect was Bitcoin went
20:20 up and so that was the final signal I
20:22 was looking for that was like wow okay
20:25 three Banks blow up and get you know
20:27 taken over by the government and bailed
20:29 out and rather than go down you know
20:31 nobody’s blaming this on bitcoin which
20:33 of course had nothing to do with it and
20:35 nobody’s blaming this uh you know nobody
20:38 is you know sort of uh running away from
20:41 Bitcoin instead they’re running to it
20:42 like everybody’s like wow the money in
20:44 the banks are is not really safe like
20:46 they got bailed out this time by the
20:48 government but what if the government
20:50 had decided to teach everyone a lesson
20:52 and you know not bail out those people
20:54 and a lot of those Banks had a lot of
20:55 business accounts that had more than
20:57 $250,000 in them them so if you’re a
20:60 startup company and you’ve just raised
21:01 $5 million and Silicon Valley Bank goes
21:04 under and you know 4.75 million of that
21:07 disappears and the FDIC gives you you
21:09 know 250,000 you know you’re upside down
21:11 you’re you’re you’re toast um so when
21:14 that happened in March of 2023 I was
21:16 like okay you know the banking sector
21:18 can blow up and it doesn’t get B blamed
21:20 on bitcoin and rather than the price
21:23 going down because everyone’s scared the
21:24 price actually goes up because
21:26 everybody’s understands you know they
21:28 understand that Bitcoin is the one thing
21:30 the government can’t do that to uh and
21:32 can’t take over and all that uh so the
21:34 price went up so that’s when I started
21:36 ratcheting from 80% of my liquid net
21:38 worth up to where I am today in the
21:40 ballpark of uh it’s probably just a
21:42 little north of 97% of my liquid net
21:44 worth um so that’s a very long story I
21:47 understand a very long story but uh the
21:49 summary of all that story is why don’t I
21:51 own more Bitcoin one because I did not
21:55 have a need to know back in 2014 and
21:59 education on bitcoin is on an as needed
22:01 basis and I just didn’t have a need to
22:02 know in 2014 uh in 2018 I still didn’t
22:06 really I mean it was certainly growing
22:08 but I still didn’t really have a need to
22:10 know in 2017 and 2018 which is why the
22:14 amount of Bitcoin I bought was again I
22:16 don’t know pick a number but it’s you
22:17 know not it’s it’s a number that’s above
22:19 1% but it was sort of less than enough
22:21 to matter in 2017 and 2018 and then fast
22:25 forward to 2021 when I was in full-on
22:29 need to know basis I am officially
22:31 hunting for an asset that can get me
22:34 back where I was uh and Beyond back from
22:37 you know when I sold bomgar Corporation
22:38 in 2014 and after a rigorous examination
22:41 of everywhere I could possibly put money
22:44 uh determined that Bitcoin was it and
22:46 then ultimately I did what I always do
22:48 when you know I’m get interested in
22:49 something I learn everything there is to
22:51 know about it and then I read everything
22:53 against it so I have read every single
22:55 book that’s ever been written that was
22:57 anti- Bitcoin or anti- crypto or
23:00 critical of Bitcoin or crypto to make
23:03 sure that I’m not missing anything to
23:05 make sure that they don’t have a
23:06 compelling argument that I haven’t
23:08 thought of that affects whether I think
23:10 Bitcoin is the best investment in the
23:11 world and after all of that rigorous
23:13 examination I can continue to increase
23:16 increase and increase the amount of
23:18 Bitcoin uh I have so um one thing I
23:21 don’t think I’ve ever talked about is
23:23 what is my overall Blended cost basis my
23:26 guess my guess is that’s in the sort of
23:30 let’s call it the low 30,000 um so you
23:33 may be thinking wait low 30,000 you’ve
23:35 been in for Bitcoin for seven years
23:37 eight years now how are how is your cost
23:40 basis in the low 30,000 why is it not
23:42 down at pennies well because a
23:44 relatively small amount of the Bitcoin I
23:46 bought was back in 2017 and 2018 when it
23:49 was between you know 6,400 and 9,800
23:53 like that’s just a relatively small
23:54 percentage of the total even though I
23:56 still own that Bitcoin um that’s a
23:58 relatively small part of the whole and
24:00 I’ve been buying all the way up and all
24:02 the way down so uh I bought a lot of
24:04 Bitcoin Below $177,000 in 2022 but
24:07 that’s offset by the fact of the that I
24:10 made the single largest individual
24:12 purchase in 2021 at
24:14 $339,000 so when you average all of that
24:17 in when you we you know you total up all
24:19 the Bitcoin I’ve ever bought uh divided
24:21 by all the money I’ve ever paid for it
24:23 or I think it’s actually the reverse but
24:25 regardless when you when you divide one
24:27 number by the other number to figure out
24:29 okay on average what is the price I’ve
24:31 paid for the average Bitcoin over the
24:33 entire period of time I’ve been invested
24:35 in Bitcoin it’s probably somewhere in
24:37 the low 30,000 so has that been
24:40 transformational for me yes now if we
24:43 because you know Bitcoin at 97 uh or
24:46 98,000 a coin is has means it’s tripled
24:49 um now normally tripling is not a big
24:53 number but you’re but in this case we’re
24:55 talking about tripling all of my liquid
24:57 assets at the time that you know this
24:59 journey started in 2021 uh or I should
25:02 say that this journey started in Earnest
25:04 in 2021 and tripling is a huge deal if
25:07 it applies to all of your assets now in
25:10 this case it doesn’t apply to all of my
25:11 assets it applies to 97% of my assets
25:13 which is basically all of my assets so
25:16 if I had wanted to I could have bought
25:18 Bitcoin as low as
25:20 $64,000 sat on it and then bragged to
25:22 everybody that my Bitcoin was up 10 to
25:25 15x uh but the problem was that would
25:27 have been true but per the previous math
25:30 I covered if you have 1% of your assets
25:32 in Bitcoin and it goes up 10 or 15x that
25:35 means you have 10 to 15% more which for
25:38 most people 10 to 15% more of their net
25:40 worth of all of their you know liquid
25:42 assets is not transformational I mean
25:45 that’s you know obviously helpful but
25:47 it’s not transformational which means
25:49 you got to put more than you know 1% in
25:52 um and for most people I say you know
25:54 when they ask me about retirement
25:55 accounts I’m like I don’t know if it
25:56 were me and I was in their situation I’d
25:58 put in 20 or 30% uh because that way if
26:00 it goes up you know substantially it’s
26:03 real money but at the same point it’s
26:05 not like they’re you know eating cat
26:07 food if the investment doesn’t work out
26:09 um even though obviously it’s extremely
26:11 painful you know to have 20 or 30% of
26:13 your assets in anything that doesn’t
26:14 work out but in this case I think the
26:16 risk profile of Bitcoin is so low that
26:19 that’s you know I would be very
26:20 comfortable and in my case I’ve got you
26:22 know way higher than that again of total
26:24 liquid assets including retirement funds
26:26 that’s 97% now that does not count some
26:29 emergency funds that Rachel manages that
26:32 I do not have the legal right to and
26:33 that was set up back in 2014 uh I had
26:36 them wire uh a small part of the money
26:39 of the proceeds to uh of the sale of
26:41 bomgar Corporation to uh bank accounts
26:44 that Rachel controls that I don’t
26:45 control um so and I told her I was like
26:48 look I have a very high risk appetite
26:50 and you know since we had sort of agreed
26:52 that I was going to manage the you know
26:54 the vast majority of our assets I was
26:56 like we really need a fund that I can’t
26:57 touch you know to make sure that you
26:60 know we can still put food on the table
27:01 even if nothing I ever do works out um
27:04 so anyway so that 97% does not include
27:07 the funds that Rachel manages because um
27:09 I have no literally no legal right to
27:12 those funds no say over those funds and
27:14 I don’t want to because the entire
27:15 purpose of setting it up that way is to
27:17 make sure that we had some
27:19 diversification um I guess not
27:21 diversification in the traditional sense
27:22 because it’s a relatively small amount I
27:24 shouldn’t say diversification to make
27:25 sure we had an emergency fund so that um
27:28 you know that those funds that she
27:30 manages plus the 3% that I manage that’s
27:33 not in Bitcoin is our emergency Reserve
27:35 fund but again that’s you know a very
27:37 small percentage of the total and for
27:39 the liquid assets that I could possibly
27:41 invest in Bitcoin we’re at 97% Bitcoin
27:44 um and the rest is like a smattering of
27:47 stocks and bonds and whatever normal
27:49 people who are not bitcoiners invest in
27:51 anyway so all that to say the reason I
27:53 don’t have more to to resmar for the
27:55 second third or fourth time is I did not
27:58 have need to know I was not desperate
27:60 for a solution in 2014 or 2018 and by
28:03 the time I was in 2021 the prices were a
28:05 lot higher so even though I ultimately
28:07 committed the you know the vast vast
28:09 vast majority of all the assets I had to
28:11 bitcoin I was buying most of that
28:14 Bitcoin in 2021 2022 2023 and 2024 and
28:20 the lowest the price has ever been at
28:22 any point from 2021 to the present is
28:25 15,500 so by definition even my absolute
28:29 best timed Investments are whatever
28:32 15,000 into 100 is whatever that’s you
28:34 know however many per you know X that is
28:37 but again even that that’s offset with
28:39 Bitcoin I mean I’m I made a sixf
28:41 figureure investment in Bitcoin at
28:42 68,000 as well so like all of that has
28:44 to be average so that’s why my average
28:46 cost basis is probably in the low 30,
28:48 thousands which means that I have triple
28:51 the assets I would have had I not gone
28:54 down the Bitcoin Road well I should say
28:56 had I left that in stocks and bonds
28:57 they’d be up some
28:59 so instead of tripling you know those
29:01 same assets would have been up I don’t
29:02 know some percentage um but they were in
29:05 the stock market until I bought Bitcoin
29:07 with them so you know most of those
29:09 assets were benefiting from the the
29:11 upside of the stock market for most of
29:12 that time period because the way I
29:14 bought Bitcoin was literally wiring you
29:17 know funds from uh either Charles Schwab
29:20 or Fidelity or wherever they were um in
29:22 retirement or not retirement accounts
29:24 but investment accounts wiring money
29:26 from investment accounts to coinbase to
29:27 buy Bitcoin so those funds were in
29:30 Investments until the very last second
29:32 before they got Comm uh committed to
29:34 bitcoin but regardless the Bitcoin is
29:36 still again if you triple if you triple
29:38 your entire net worth is that
29:40 transformational yeah I it feels
29:42 transformational to me you know three
29:44 times as much coming from where I was
29:46 after having spent the majority of my
29:48 funds multiple times you know you take
29:50 any amount of money you have and drop it
29:51 in half and then drop it in half again
29:53 and you know maybe a third time and it’s
29:55 like you’re not going to have a whole
29:56 lot or you know maybe not a whole lot
29:58 but but you’re going to have way less
29:59 than you used to and but if it’s enough
30:02 to matter and in my case I was able to
30:04 Triple what was still enough to matter
30:06 um yeah that’s transformational that’s a
30:08 big deal and given the huge amount of
30:10 upside that Bitcoin still has in my
30:12 opinion um you know I think bitcoin’s
30:15 got an easy 10x you know Michael sailor
30:17 says bitcoin’s going to go to 13 million
30:19 a coin which is 130x from where we are
30:21 today so yeah if it goes 130x where we
30:23 are today I’m going to be fantastic um
30:27 if it only uh reaches PA with the price
30:28 of gold which is about between 9x call
30:30 it 9x where it is today yeah if I triple
30:33 my money to get where I am today and
30:35 then I 9x it again that’s pretty
30:38 fantastic um so any amount any amount of
30:41 money you have that you’re investing in
30:43 Bitcoin if you do the same thing I did
30:44 which is buy as much Bitcoin as you can
30:47 um then you know as it goes through a
30:49 10x multiple between now and 2030 that’s
30:52 10x and if that’s a 10x a meaningful
30:54 percentage of your net worth that ends
30:56 up being a big deal um so that’s my
30:58 story had I bought a lot more Bitcoin a
31:00 lot sooner I’d have a lot more Bitcoin
31:02 and a lot more wealth in US Dollars I
31:05 just I didn’t have the motivation uh
31:07 motivation meaning the need I did not
31:09 have the need for Bitcoin in 2014 or
31:11 2018 and by the time I got around to
31:13 buying substantial amounts of Bitcoin
31:15 with a high degree of conviction with
31:16 deep research you know way down the
31:19 Bitcoin Rabbit Hole knowing everything
31:20 there’s to know and reading all the
31:21 books against it and for it and all that
31:23 by the time I got to doing about all of
31:25 that I was buying most of the Bitcoin I
31:27 own in 2021 2022 2023 and 2024 and in
31:31 those four years again you know Bitcoin
31:34 was a lot cheaper than it is today but
31:36 it wasn’t on fire sale prices I could
31:38 have had in 2017 or 2018 or the
31:41 practically steel I could have had
31:44 buying Bitcoin back in 2014 if I had
31:46 bought it when I first heard about it so
31:47 um anyway hopefully that story is
31:49 helpful um hopefully it helps you
31:51 understand that everyone’s Bitcoin
31:53 Journey probably looks like mine it does
31:55 not involve getting in on bitcoin early
31:57 buying a ton of it the very first time
31:59 you hear about it and then becomeing you
32:01 know unfathomably Rich that is virtually
32:04 nobody’s story because I don’t know
32:06 anybody that buys Bitcoin when they he
32:08 hear about it for the very first time
32:09 nobody buys anything the very first time
32:11 they hear about it and when it’s still
32:14 around four years later and they’re like
32:16 wow this thing’s still around I should
32:17 take this seriously nobody goes and
32:19 dumps 97% of their entire net worth into
32:22 something that they only heard about or
32:23 took seriously the second time virtually
32:26 everybody does what I did which is you
32:28 hear about it and ignore it a few years
32:30 goes by you hear about it you take it
32:32 seriously to buy it enough a little bit
32:35 then a few years goes by and eventually
32:36 you get where I got which is you have an
32:38 actual real legit need and when you have
32:41 an actual real legit need well then you
32:44 buy a lot of Bitcoin and for me that
32:47 actual real legit need that led me to
32:49 buy you know to convert 97% ultimately
32:53 of my liquid net worth into Bitcoin was
32:55 a need I did not have until 2021 and and
32:58 that means you know 2021 2022 2023 and
33:01 2024 those prices were the prices I was
33:05 buying most of my Bitcoin at which again
33:07 is why my probably average cost per
33:09 Bitcoin is in the again my best guess
33:11 would be the you know low $30,000
33:13 something like that so hopefully all of
33:16 this is helpful in your own Bitcoin
33:17 journey I here to help you in any way I
33:19 can I try to share as much detail about
33:21 my own journey and my own life as I
33:23 possibly can with the help that it with
33:25 the hope that it will help you
33:27 understand how your journey fits with
33:29 all this and that your journey is
33:31 probably not different than mine um and
33:34 hopefully if I did anything differently
33:36 first of all I don’t regret any of the
33:38 uh the money I’ve spent on anything I
33:40 don’t regret any of that um because look
33:43 you can’t change the world by sitting on
33:45 money money is intended to be spent and
33:48 had I not undertaken the things I did
33:50 the eight years I was in the House of
33:52 Representatives in Mississippi or the
33:54 you know three and a half years I spent
33:56 full-time working to bring uh a viable
33:59 well-regulated you know medical
34:01 marijuana Pro program to Mississippi had
34:04 I not done any of those things we
34:05 wouldn’t have them uh the medical
34:07 marijuana program in Mississippi now has
34:09 50,000 patients 50,000 people are able
34:14 to use the medical benefits of medical
34:16 marijuana without risking being arrested
34:19 and had I not done that those 50,000
34:21 people every day would wake up wondering
34:23 if they’re either allowed to use it or
34:26 if they’re going to you know use it
34:27 anyway and risk getting arrested
34:28 and humans should not be in that
34:30 position with a medical product so um so
34:32 anyway so I don’t regret any of the
34:34 money I’ve spent on any of that sort of
34:36 stuff even though if I had it today
34:37 obviously I could buy way way way way
34:39 way more Bitcoin um but I don’t regret
34:41 any of that because the positive impact
34:43 it had on the world is the point of
34:45 money the point of money is to make
34:47 yourself and your life better the life
34:49 of your family better and the life of
34:50 everybody else better and so I don’t
34:53 regret any of the money I’ve spent again
34:55 even if you made me audit every dollar
34:57 I’ve ever spent I would still say
34:59 probably 98% 99% is things I’m proud of
35:02 that I would do again I maybe 1% or 2% I
35:05 would say yeah that was a waste of money
35:08 like that went nowhere and you know
35:09 positively affected nobody but um but
35:13 anyway it was I I feel really good about
35:15 all of that and I feel good about the
35:17 amount of money I still had left to buy
35:19 Bitcoin because it was still enough to
35:21 matter and being being enough to matter
35:24 is a big deal um and again if it 10 if
35:27 it 10x is from here or if 100x is from
35:30 here or 130x is from here like Michael
35:32 sailor thinks it will well all of that
35:34 is a huge deal and a very positive
35:36 impact um for me personally and then I
35:39 can do the exact same thing with that
35:40 money that I did with the last money
35:42 which is turn it around and use it to
35:44 positively impact the world so that’s my
35:46 plan to do it and to do it over and over
35:48 and over uh till the day I die
35:50 positively impacting as many people as I
35:52 possibly can every which way I can with
35:55 uh Bitcoin the engine of wealth that
35:58 makes it all possible so have a
35:60 wonderful day everyone and hopefully
36:01 Bitcoin can be the engine of wealth for
36:04 you that it has been for me enabling me
36:06 to achieve objectives that I otherwise
36:08 would not be able to and feel great
36:11 about where things are and the exciting
36:13 future ahead have a great day everyone
36:15 thanks
