The death of cash isn’t all bad.
We’re making some good money off the deal.
In late September, for instance, we told our Manward Letter readers to grab a stake in one of the most secure and private cryptocurrencies. We said as the government slaps back at currency competition, privacy will be a big concern.
The move is paying off.
After a memo from the fine folks at the Department of Justice that was quietly released on Sunday, our coin surged to start the week.
At the highs on Monday, we were up 40%… in just two weeks.
Privacy for Some
So what did the DOJ have to say?
Well, it’s exactly as we predicted. The Feds aren’t all that keen on the idea of 100% encryption. Sure, it’s fine to keep things private between the commoners. They even say it’s “an existential anchor of trust in the digital world.”
But, golly, our keepers don’t like it when we lock them out too.
In fewer words than they used, the agency begs programmers to keep the back door unlocked. It wants cryptos and other encrypted projects to keep a secret way in for the government and its chosen folks.
Many coins and companies will comply with the idea.
But some will not.
And it’s the latter that are seeing their value soar.
The crypto world is rushing toward “privacy coins.” As the death of cash hastens and governments across the globe rush to create their own forms of digital money, the premium attached to these coins will continue to grow.
It’s some good news… some profitable news.
And now we just got hit with another ray of sunshine inside an otherwise gloomy realm.
We got an offer for a credit card that pays an interesting reward…
Investing in the Death of Cash
Many cards offer some sort of annual payback. It’s their gift to you for letting them charge you 14% or more when you keep a monthly balance… and for charging the folks you shop with 3% of every sale.
Some cards offer airline miles.
Some offer cash.
We’ve even seen folks get excited about free magazine subscriptions.
But due to the advent of a trend we’ve penned about here before, some cards are giving something new – fractional shares.
Spend a few hundred bucks at Target (TGT)… get a small slice of the company at the end of the year.
Blow your paycheck at Walmart (WMT)… become a shareholder.
The idea has merit… some.
Better Than Miles
It comes thanks to a trend we started to see gain real strength last October. That’s when major brokerages first started offering investors the chance to buy just a slice of a stock.
Say Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) at $325,000 per share is a bit too rich for you. No worries. You can now buy a mere fraction of a share and join Mr. Buffett for just a few bucks.
Many brokerages offer minimum purchases of just $5… or even as little as a buck.
But with some new “micro-investing” debit and credit cards, there’s no need to worry about minimums.
Take Stash, for example.
It’s been a leader in the idea. Open a debit and brokerage account with the company and it will automatically deposit small slices of stock into an account with each dollar spent.
If the company a customer shops at is publicly traded, Stash will give him shares of that company. If it’s a small, private firm, the user gets shares of a low-priced index fund, like the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT).
How much a person gets depends on where he shops.
Most often, the return is just 12.5 basis points. That means for every thousand bucks spent, the reward is $1.25 worth of shares.
Pretty sad.
But some retailers, at least through Stash, offer higher rewards. Starbucks (SBUX) offers 2%. Netflix (NFLX) offers 5%.
Stash isn’t the only company offering fractional shares. An app called Bumped gets the job done. Betterment offers a similar plan as well. So does a company called Bits.
We’re not endorsing any of them.
We’d rather have our cash and our privacy… and will remind readers that nothing is free.
But we’ll give the idea a nod. At least it’s getting folks to invest and getting them into shares of the companies they support.
It’s something.
If there’s any good in the death of cash, this is it.
It proves there is money to be made from this trend.
About Andy Snyder
Andy Snyder is the founder of Manward Press. An American author, investor and serial entrepreneur, Andy cut his teeth at an esteemed financial firm with nearly $100 billion in assets under management. In the years that have followed, he’s become sought after for his outspoken market commentary.
Andy and his ideas have been featured on Fox News, on countless radio stations, and in numerous print and online outlets. He’s been a keynote speaker and panelist at events all over the world – from four-star ballrooms to Capitol hearing rooms – and has rubbed shoulders with lawmakers, lobbyists and Washington insiders. He’s had lunch with John McCain… fished with America’s largest landowner… and even appeared on the Christmas card of one of Hollywood’s top producers.
Today, Andy’s dissident thoughts on life, Liberty and investing can be found in his popular e-letter, Manward Financial Digest, as well as in the pages of Manward Letter. He also is at the helms of the award-winning VIP Trading Research Services Alpha Money Flow and Venture Fortunes. Andy resides on 40 bucolic acres in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, children and a steadily growing flock of sheep.
