02-11-2025 
Preserving wealth
11 February, 2025
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In today’s market, we are staring at all time highs across what the experts are calling “The Everything Bubble.”
The question we need to be asking isn’t just how to grow your wealth. That has largely been figured out, but how do we preserve it under pressure? The “store of value” narrative has gained momentum across asset classes, from traditional dividend stocks to fine art, rare wines, luxury collectibles, and even Bitcoin itself. But as the financial landscape shifts, it’s time to reassess what it truly means to protect the capital you’ve worked hard to accumulate.
For those who’ve reaped the benefits of high-growth investments—whether in tech stocks like Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) or blockchain assets—the temptation is to stay in the game forever, chasing ever-higher returns. But understanding when to pull profits and shift into conservative, stable stores of value is the mark of a seasoned investor. This is where traditional assets like dividend-paying stocks or simple cash-flowing businesses come into play.
The Growth Phase: When to ride the wave
Take Nvidia, for instance. Its stock has outperformed the broader market, riding the artificial intelligence (AI) wave with unprecedented momentum. For those who invested early, the returns have been staggering—but at some point, the “meat of the trade” has been consumed. Does this mean you should abandon Nvidia or similar high-flyers entirely? Not necessarily. The key is to rebalance. Lock in gains by reallocating a portion of your portfolio into more conservative plays, ensuring you’re not overexposed when the inevitable market correction arrives.
The same logic applies to Bitcoin.
Initially designed as a peer-to-peer payments network with some properties of gold, Bitcoin’s public narrative has shifted to being “digital gold“—a store of value with limited functionality as a payment system. But let’s not forget: Bitcoin was meant to facilitate fast, borderless transactions and its value was tied to utility as much as scarcity. Today’s “store of value” narrative may miss the broader opportunity that blockchain technology presents—namely, the ability to open up data silos while enhancing security, privacy, and payment efficiency.
So, I think there is room for Bitcoin, broadly speaking, to disrupt new sectors and remain in a growth phase, but it has to shake out the bad actors, pumpers, and the lunacy of the “it’s going up forever” crowd.
Conservative Plays: The case for dividend stocks
If you’ve realized significant gains in high-growth assets, shifting part of your portfolio into conservative, income-generating stocks is a prudent move. Take AT&T (NASDAQ: T) as an example. While it may not deliver the explosive growth of a tech stock, AT&T offers consistent cash dividends and occupies a strategic position within the surveillance economy. Its deep entanglement with national infrastructure means it will likely remain a cornerstone of the United States economy, even in turbulent times.
Investing in companies like AT&T provides not only steady income but also stability. These are businesses that continue to perform, even when markets wobble, offering a reliable hedge against the volatility of more speculative investments.
Swiss Timepieces: Tangible, portable stores of value
During the pandemic, there was a CoinGeek Conference in Switzerland. I was at a bonfire in the Alps with a group of Swiss bankers. Over “snake bread,” beer, and sausage, I asked how their wealthy clientele preserve capital over time from their perspective.
One of them spoke up immediately and said, “Make your money how you make your money. But as you mature, move profits from high-growth assets into stable fiat currencies around the world, precious metals in your home and Swiss timepieces on your wrist!”
He explained that life is not just about growing and preserving wealth—it’s about owning something tangible, functional, and beautiful too that you can pass on as part of your legacy. And in a world where the digital and physical often collide, having a piece of value that you can wear on your wrist is an underrated form of security.
For those looking to preserve wealth outside traditional financial markets, Swiss timepieces do offer a compelling option compared to things like fine art, fine wine, designer purses, or classic cars. A Rolex, for instance, can be easily transported across borders, traded hand-to-hand, and is recognized and very liquid anywhere on earth. I can’t imagine what kind of nightmare it would be to bring a Picasso through an airport. Can you?
This might be changing, thanks to blockchain entrepreneurship, though!
In the meantime, brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet are more than just luxury items—they are generational heirlooms engineered to last and appreciate over time.
Unlike most consumer goods, which suffer from planned obsolescence, Swiss watches are designed to outpace inflation and retain their value across decades. They’re not typically high-return investments, but they offer a unique combination of liquidity and portability over time, which makes them quite a bit like good money, and definitely a useful store of value.
Cash-flowing businesses and real estate
For those looking to grow their money more consistently or create cash flow, investing in private businesses or cash-flowing real estate can be a powerful way to preserve wealth. Unlike speculative assets, these investments provide steady income streams and are often more resilient to market fluctuations.
A well-managed rental property or a stake in a profitable small business doesn’t just protect your capital—it grows it conservatively. These are the types of investments that outpace inflation without exposing you to the roller-coaster volatility of the stock or crypto markets.
Rethinking Bitcoin’s store of value narrative
The idea that Bitcoin is simply “digital gold” is a dishonest oversimplification. Bitcoin was originally designed to be a scalable, peer-to-peer payments network that could operate with the security and immutability of no other type of technology. The modern narrative, which positions Bitcoin as a static store of value, ignores its foundational utility.
This is where BSV enters the conversation. Unlike BTC, which has leaned heavily into its “digital gold” narrative, BSV focuses on scaling Bitcoin to its original vision. By enabling low-cost, high-speed transactions and removing data silos while enhancing privacy and security, BSV represents the next frontier in blockchain utility. It’s not just about storing value—it’s about creating an open, secure data economy where identities, assets, and payments can be attested to without sacrificing privacy.
There are trillions of dollars in stuck economies that cannot be liberated in any other way. Only a blockchain can open them up, and only BSV can scale to do it. This is an almost completely unrealized opportunity, and it seems silly not to have at least a toe dipped into it.
The balance between growth and preservation
In the end, the smartest investors know that it’s not about choosing between growth and preservation—it’s about balancing the two. High-growth assets like Nvidia, Bitcoin, and tech startups offer incredible upside, but they come with significant risks. As you accumulate wealth, it’s crucial to rebalance your portfolio, pulling profits into more stable, conservative assets that protect your capital.
Whether it’s through dividend-paying stocks like AT&T, Swiss watches, or cash-flowing businesses in your neighborhood, there are countless ways to ensure that your wealth not only grows but remains secure. And in the ever-evolving world of blockchain, the greatest opportunities lie not just in speculation but in building systems that enhance privacy, security, and global payment efficiency.
On a final note, there is also a lot to be said for investing in yourself and your mental, physical, and spiritual health, finding the right spouse to empower you to succeed, and building valuable relationships. The dividends here are a lot harder to quantify, but they are a crucial aspect of everyone’s lifestyle, and if you can’t get these things right, everything else will suffer because you’ll be trying to hold your marriage together or filling the cracks in your mind and body with drugs, therapy, sick days, etc…
You only get one body, and you only live one life. Make these things count!
In an unpredictable world, the key to financial success isn’t just making money or acquiring other assets. The key to all success is finding balance and enjoying the journey while accumulating and keeping steady control of yourself and the world you’re building!
Watch: Reviving the true value of blockchain—utility
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