Thoughts From the Finance Factory

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Cryptocurrency Galaxy

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Navigating the World of Cryptocurrency:

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the characters visit the planet Magrathea which is home to the planet building industry.  Bitcoin is much like Magrathea and the Alt-coins in the cryptocurrency universe are like the planets that get built.

What are Alt-coins?

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. Altcoin is a combination of two words: “alt” and “coin”; alt is short for alternative and coin as to do with currency; together they imply a category of cryptocurrency that is alternative to Bitcoin itself.

The majority of altcoins are forks of Bitcoin and are slight changes to the underlying Blockchain. Altcoins are the later alternative cryptocurrencies launched after the immense success Bitcoin had after its release in 2009. After the Bitcoin became a success, many other peer-to-peer digital currencies have emerged in an attempt to imitate it.

In General, altcoins are alternatives to bitcoin because they tend to improve and solve the Bitcoin protocol’s limitations and features. Alternative currencies aim to be better substitutes to Bitcoin, or serve different niche markets. (more…)

Regret! What is it Good For?

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“Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently” – Charles Dudley Warner

Regrets we all have them. Many people think about the what could have been if only they had done this or that. Regrets can be very destructive to your financial life. I’m not saying that mistakes are bad. Quite the opposite, everyone makes mistakes the detrimental part is when you don’t learn from the mistake and let regret creep in.

The next time you begin to have a life regret or financial regret I want you to think about Ronald Gerald Wayne. Don’t know who Ronald Wayne is? That’s OK I will share a little bit about his story. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs are known as the founders of a little company called Apple. I know crazy right? Well what if I told you that Ronald Wayne was the third founder of Apple. How could you have never heard of a 10% co-founder of Apple? (more…)

Market Volatility! It’s What They Do!

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There is a funny GEICO commercial that says Moms call at the worst times as the guy is fighting his way through a Mission Impossible like scenario. The commercial ends with It’s What They Do. I was recently reminded of this commercial the other day when I heard volatility in the markets is near all time lows. The markets are supposed to go up and down it’s what they do.

It is fair to say that volatility in the stock market is in rare territory these days, particularly at the lower end of historical norms. The VIX has never logged a close below 9 but is currently down near the lowest levels in history.


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6 Ways To A More Fulfilling Retirement

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Picture this—it’s Friday afternoon, your work is done, and you have the weekend ahead of you. But what makes this weekend different than any other weekend is that a two-week vacation is following it. You wish your colleagues well, they express similar thoughts, and you head toward freedom.

Of course, you’re excited! Travel, new experiences, time away from the mundane, and time to recharge.


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8 Ways Blockchain Will Change the World

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In part one we discussed the basics of Bitcoin and Blockchain. Now we will look at some interesting places Blockchain may revolutionize the future and a couple of places it is making a difference today. Digital currencies, like Bitcoin, are interesting for the future. However, I am more excited about what Blockchain can and will do in the future. I will look at 8 potential uses for the technology and how I think it will change how many things are done today.


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Bitcoin for Dummies

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There has been a lot of exposure in the last few years talking about Bitcoin and “crypto-currency”.  There is a ton of misinformation and confusion about it so I decided to create a blog series looking at the history and future of currency and blockchain.


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What Financial Health Means To Me

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The financial world is an uncertain place. My parents have never been very good with money. This lead me to have an unhealthy relationship and bad habits with money. My parents had decent jobs, but were always struggling to make ends meet because they lived beyond their means. I know whoa is me, everyone has a sob story but not having good financial role models makes it very hard for kids to know what to do when it comes to earning, saving, and investing their money.


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Is College Worth The Investment?

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What do Ty Warner, Bill Bartman, Ralph Lauren, Ray Kroc, Wally Amos, Steve Madden and Sim Abraham have in common? Besides being successful business men none of them have college degrees. If you have not heard of them you should google them. Their stories are impressive. We all know the stories of Mark Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs dropping out of school to found Facebook and Apple but there are thousands of examples of unbelievably successful individuals who did not graduate college.


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