A Brief Guide to Investing in Crypto for Retirement

Change happens, whether “the system” likes it or not. 

Of course, the system is always late to the party. At first it refuses to go. Then it sees that the party is happening, even as it insists that the party is altogether stupid. Then…well, the system joins the party, pretending all along that it knew this was going to be the party of the year. 

To wit, an email I got recently from a reader in Southern California, who has retirement dollars he wishes to roll over completely into crypto.  

His old-line brokerage firm, which I won’t name, tells him he can’t own crypto in his retirement account—i.e., the system doesn’t like the party and it doesn’t want any of its friends to go.  

So, the reader in question, Frank, wanted to know how he should go about investing in crypto for retirement. 

Frank had two questions, which I’ve summarized and generalized below since I know many people have similar concerns:  

1. How do you feel about rolling retirement cash over to a self-directed IRA that allows investments in crypto? 

2. Should you stick to investing in bitcoin or invest in other cryptos as well? 

These are good questions…particularly today, as we venture into the financial version of what people were singing about in Hair way back yonder in the ’60s: “the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” An era of change, disruption, and awakening that is as much financial as it is social. 

So, Question 1.  

There are several self-directed IRA providers that offer access to crypto. There’s iTrustCapital, BitcoinIRA, CoinIRA, BitIRA, and others. While I can’t speak to the merits of these individual providers, what I do know is that owning crypto as some part of your retirement account is a brilliant idea. 

How you accomplish that doesn’t really matter: a crypto-IRA or by putting some of your investible assets into a traditional crypto exchange such as Coinbase or Binance.US. I opt for the latter approach. 

On to Question 2, of which I have more definitive thoughts. 

I absolutely would spread my assets across more than just bitcoin. 

I am a bitcoin fan, no doubt. But there are many—many!—other cryptos I would own as well (and I do own as well), starting with Ethereum. It’s the largest position in my personal crypto portfolio.  

Ethereum is establishing itself as the backbone of decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens.  

I expect Ethereum, which at time of writing was in the $3,000 range, to see prices of $25,000 to $40,000 ultimately. 

And then there are smaller projects—so-called alt-coins—to which I would definitely want long-term exposure. (Ethereum is technically an alt-coin, though it’s gotten so big now that it probably no longer belongs in that category.) 

Here’s a rough breakdown of how I’ve divvied up my personal crypto investments: 

• 40% in Ethereum 
• 20% in bitcoin 
• 40% spread across crypto projects in three categories: 
  • Ethereum competitors 
  • Major decentralized finance players 
  • Several NFTs, or non-fungible token cryptos 

(Note: I’ve not included stablecoins on that list because they’re not investments; they’re basically cash.) 

The system—government and traditional finance—is rebelling against change. But the rebellion is no match for the revolution afoot.  

Having some portion of your retirement assets in crypto—even just 5% or so—will fare thee well in coming years.