As a boy I collected postage stamps. My collection had U.S. unused stamps going back to the 1920s and plate blocks (attached groups of four or more stamps) covering the years from 1965 to 1975. Kids and adults collected things such as coins, comic books and stamps. You collected mainly for the satisfaction of collecting; but there was also a monetary aspect. Back in 1975 the Scott Catalogue said the suggested value of my collection was supposedly four times greater than the postage value and the value was going up.

My thought was I would pass along my stamp collection to my children, but neither had any interest. I tried to give it away to various nieces and nephews, but there was no interest. As a final resort, I looked at selling my collection on eBay or a similar site and discovered that unused stamps were selling for forty to eighty percent of the postage value.

I was not too surprised when I saw the value of the stamps had dropped. The newer generations dont collect stamps so the demand is down. In checking around the same thing happened to coins, comic books, baseball cards and Hummel figurines.

In spite of all this the price of one bitcoin exploded to nearly $20,000 a few months ago. As I write this it is valued at $9000. But what is it really worth? According to two experts about $20.

A pair of economists decided to value bitcoin based on the time honored formula of P=MV/Q which translates to Price of currency equals Money circulating times Velocity (times it changes hands) divided by what it has actually bought.* By their equation a bitcoin is worth $20, so it is presently 450 times overvalued. However, to traders using a platform like bitcoin revolution test or similar, this valuation could be a good thing as they try to increase their Bitcoin portfolio at lower prices in attempts to sell as the value increases over time.

After this evaluation, another economist thought the first pair were underestimating the use (velocity) of bitcoins in the hands of drug dealers and other criminals and came up with a value of $600 for each bitcoin. But these are the valuations of economists. The actual value of a bitcoin remains unknown, however, this doesn’t stop millions of people investing in the online currency. Essentially this means that judging the value of Bitcoin can be confusing, so if you are going to be using this cryptocurrency make sure you have a rough idea of what exactly you are doing. Correspondingly, you may want to check out websites like Bitcoin Loophole to gain more information on this, so you are aware.

Bitcoin can actually be traded and even spent on some websites like Amazon. Many users look to websites like cryptoevent.io to recommend reliable trading sites where people can trade their bitcoins automatically without hassle, in order to generate a profit. In recent years, cryptocurrency trading platforms have soared in popularity with more and more people choosing to trade Bitcoin in line with market trends. You can find further Bitcoin trading resources on the bitcointrader website. Above all doing plenty of research is crucial if you want to make a profit from trading Bitcoin.

I used to enjoy winter nights looking at the stamps in my stamp collection, just as comic book collectors enjoyed reading the stories and numismatists marveled over the history associated with their coins.

Reference:

* 23 April 2018. Lionel Laurent. The true value of bitcoin. Bloomberg Businessweek. p.29-31

Jack Marrion

Jack Marrion provides research and consulting services to insurance companies and financial firms in a variety of annuity areas. He also serves as director of research for the National Association for Fixed Annuities and as a research fellow for Webster University.

In 1994 he wrote a book to help banks market investment and insurance solutions to their small business clients. In 1996 he produced the first independent hypothetical return monthly publication comparing all index annuities on the market, and in 1997 created the first comprehensive report of index annuity sales, products and trends, “Advantage Index Product Sales & Market Report” (quarterly).

His insights on the annuity and retirement income world have appeared in hundreds of publications. In 2006 the National Association of Insurance Commissioners asked him to address their annual meeting and teach regulators the realities of index annuities. He was invited back in 2009 to talk to the NAIC about the effects of aging on senior decision-making. He is a frequent speaker at industry functions.

Prior to forming Advantage Com­pen­dium, Marrion was president and owner of an NASD broker/dealer with offices in nine states. Previous to that he was vice president of a life insurance company and vice president of an NYSE investment banking firm. He has a BBA from the University of Iowa, an MBA from the University of Missouri, and a doctorate from Webster University.

Marrion can be reached at Ad­van­­tage Compendium. Telephone: 314-255-6531. Email: ­marrion@advantagecompendium.com.