The first half of title is a name of a crypto podcast that I listened to routinely a few months ago when I was hungrier for understanding the dynamics of this evolving crypto space.
Jordi Alexander is one of the hosts, another former poker player who joined the space and he's the one I listened to most compared to the other hosts, simply because I liked his framework of thinking.
This guy got invited on another crypto podcast When Shift Happens hosted by Kevin. This wasn't that long ago, only a month back. At that time, I think I was very much into listening to crypto podcasts almost every other day, my mind wanted to accumulate as much info (read alpha) as possible in matters of having an edge within this space.
As a short digression, I read a post two days ago unsurprisingly about crypto again and the author made an interesting argument that people in this space are really not that smart as they made themselves to be, compared to outside our crypto bubble, with AI gigabrains, engineers solving complex computational problems, and researchers pushing the boundaries of science and technology.
Personally, I think it's all just a matter of perspective. The "financial experiments" made in this space could actually be the new frontier for valuable lessons that traditional finance will eventually adopt.
The author did mentioned that having an edge boils down to 1) be first at a particular trend/narrative 2) be smart, as in discovering market inefficiencies or generating unique alpha/outperformance and 3) be a cheater, which can be defined here as using unfair advantages like front-running or insider trading.
For the most part, I think no. 2 is easier or rather more sustainable to pursue.
No. 1 seems tricky to me, having an edge via becoming first at a particular narrative/trend is more like a short term play, get in and get out, unless the narrative is here to stay. In that case, take profits during hype cycles and potentially buy back in when the tide recedes.
Retirement & the path to real wealth
Back to the main topic, Jordi Alexander during his recent interview on WSH hosted by Kevin, was asked about retirement, specifically in the traditional sense of aiming to have a certain amount of wealth and exiting from the workforce. He said he didn't believe in that anymore.
Especially for a young and upcoming person looking to build meaningful wealth and create lasting impact in their career, the world has changed to make a traditional path like investing in the S&P 500 not a path to generating real wealth.
Instead, he argued that the most important focus for people is cultivating their skill set and their understanding of the world that's coming to allow for being useful, since when you are useful in this world, you are going to make so much money, according to him.
I think the real wealth aspect is a bit hard to understand. But from an asset perspective, it's usually sound/hard assets are considered as real wealth.
In Jordi's framing, 'real wealth' seems to mean assets that compound independently of one's labor, like "things" that generate returns or hold value across economic regimes.
Where the puck is going
Most of the above premise was based on the idea that the traditional playbook for wealth creation no longer applies in a world of exponential technological change and paradigm shifts. Jordi also offered a clear perspective on where to invest for real wealth:
- Go Where The Puck Is Going: To generate "real wealth," you have to seek out where growth is truly happening.
- Crypto is Primary: He stated that Crypto is the cleanest representation of this path. Considers Bitcoin to be the "base asset", and it's acceptable to take small risks that could have an outsized, "get rich quick" outcome.
This second one is obviously a bit of a bias take as he's deeply embedded in crypto though the asymmetric upside in emerging asset classes historically supports this view.
- Emerging Technology: The second area for investment is emerging technologies, citing examples like concepts for increasing IQ through neurons, robotics, the energy sector, or buying land at strategic places to secure property rights.
Overall, I think there's nuance here with the retirement angle. Not everyone wants to be near perpetually economically useful. Some people genuinely want to exit the pressure entirely as the arena comes with a lot of high-stakes volatility and mental/emotional turbulence.
A bit of a middle ground is having enough resources that work becomes entirely optional, even if you choose to remain engaged.
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