Episode notes
Holding Bitcoin is not a financial plan. That is the starting point of Morgen Rochard's new book, Bitcoin Personal Finance, and of her return to the show. Bitcoin can fix the money, but it does not fix under-saving, spending habits or the money scripts people carry with them. Her book aims to help readers build a plan with Bitcoin as the core balance sheet asset rather than a token allocation.
Morgen is the founder of Origin Wealth Advisers and a financial planner who works with Bitcoin-holding clients. In her words, there are plenty of personal finance books and plenty of Bitcoin books, but none that combine the two to show people what to do once they own Bitcoin.
Stephan and Morgen discuss what Bitcoiners and the fiat world each get wrong, and matching assets to when the money is needed, using the example of a preschool fund put into Bitcoin near the top. They also cover how large a fiat emergency fund should be, and why forced selling tends to arrive with job losses and bear markets. She explains why most homes and renovations are consumption, why single rental properties often earn less than a REIT, and how leverage magnifies the damage when something goes wrong.
They also get into debt as a campfire that can become a wildfire, and the narrow case where a Bitcoin-backed loan makes sense. Morgen explains that borrowing to fund spending has sent some of her clients back to work. The conversation closes on spending-based retirement planning, tax planning versus tax preparation, charitable giving, trusts, and why she prefers educating children over restrictive trust rules.
Timestamps:
00:00 — Intro
00:21 — Why She Wrote Bitcoin Personal Finance
01:11 — Holding Bitcoin Isn't a Financial Plan
02:45 — What the Fiat World Gets Wrong
04:02 — Hot Trades vs Your Actual Goals
05:40 — Chasing Returns vs a 20% Savings Rate
08:23 — Match Assets to When You Need Them
11:31 — How Big a Fiat Emergency Fund?
15:52 — Is Your Home a Store of Value?
18:02 — Rentals vs REITs vs Bitcoin
19:31 — Leverage and Single-Property Risk
24:06 — Debt Is Like a Campfire
27:16 — When Bitcoin-Backed Loans Make Sense
30:05 — Spending-Based Retirement Planning
32:12 — Tax Planning Isn't Tax Preparation
35:09 — Trusts and Trusting Your Kids
36:58 — No One-Size-Fits-All Allocation
Links:
- Morgen Rochard on X: https://x.com/MorgenRochard
- Origin Wealth Advisers: https://www.originwa.com/
- Bitcoin Personal Finance (book site): https://bitcoinpersonalfinancebook.com/
- Bitcoin Personal Finance on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1394394055
