There goes her college fund

Joking around in a chat earlier in regards to my seemingly endless Splinterlands investments so far, the question of using my daughter's "collage fund" came up and I had to ask:

She has a college fund?

See in Finland, university is free for those who go at pretty much all levels for kids, so people don't actually put money aside for their children's education. However, I don't think that free education is going to be sustainable going into the future, so payment of some kind is likely. Now, we do put a little away for Smallsteps, but it really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, and will unlikely be more than a nice 18th birthday present or something.

This doesn't mean I am not thinking about her education or the investment it may take, it is just that the funds available don't offer much by way of return on the investment, especially over the last few years. This might change in the coming future of increasing interest rates, but that is going to be alongside inflation increasing at a faster rate, so the return will be better, but buy less.

In less than 20 hours, I will add to my Splinterlands investments by dropping in another $8000 for 2400 packs of cards (including the bonuses). This is not a small amount of money by any stretch of my imagination, but in a year from now, with Land, rents, staking and whatever else is to come, I am hoping that it will at least be above a break even point. Two years from now though, I am hoping that it will be significantly higher.

For me at least, my entire journey through crypto has had my daughter in mind and I think that this is part of the reason that I am able to continue on at this pace. I suspect that if I only had me to consider, I would play it far safer with what I spend, but put in far less effort, meaning that just like the first 35 years of my life, I wouldn't invest and therefore, would have no investment portfolio or exposure at all.

It seems counterintuitive perhaps for many that someone can become more risk-seeking with a child, but financially at least, this has been the case. I think that the reason is that if we actually want what is best for our kids and don't have circumstances that deliver it, we will have to change in some way and that will mean, opening up to some kind of risk.

Prior to getting into crypto, I had very little possibility to put anything aside for our daughter. But, even if I had been able to put away more, it was likely never going to be enough to make a significant difference in her life, with it almost falling into the "why bother" category. I know lots of people who put money into a bank account for their kids and I think they are going to be surprised to find, just how little benefit it brings, compared to how much effort it took to get it there.

But now in crypto, I have many new options that I didn't before and despite the relative risk compared to just putting money in the bank, the relative reward is far higher in comparison. But, a lot of what we are dealing with here is in the innovative and new industry territories, meaning that likelihood of survival is relatively low. But, as far as I see it at the moment, with the state of the world as it is and especially the traditional economy, the chance of survival for any investment is far from certain and is getting riskier.

If some of these investments "come good", they will far outstrip any fund I could put money into for my daughter. But perhaps more importantly, it is an active process of investment that is going to keep pushing for a while through the infancy into the maturing stages of a new industry and, an industry that is set to compete at a core level with the current economy itself, structurally.

And I think that this is what I find one of the most compelling sides of crypto, because it supports my views of the world that the current economy is broken and needs to be replaced, and I am not the only one. Thirteen years from now when my daughter is possibly looking at getting into a university, it is likely that she and her friends are not only crypto savvy, but it is just a normal part of their economic experience, as well as their social interaction. For this to happen, not only does the mainstreaming of the financial and investment sides need to happen, but full-blown business models and current industries will have integrated themselves into the blockchains and those businesses will be run by people who have been in crypto for a decade or two already.

A decade from now, this is a completely different industry, but because it affects the current economy and because it will integrate with pretty much all layers of our lives that are important to us, not taking part significantly is the largest risk, with the second largest perhaps being investing into the old economy, expecting it to perform in the future like it does now.

Perhaps the whole idea of an "education fund" is going to have to be overhauled, as education itself is likely to change significantly in the future due to automation taking jobs and, the current economic practices that are likely going to mean that all previously subsidized by tax industries are going to become more user pays. Sure, it is better to have something put away than nothing, but if that something isn't enough to cut it anyway, it could have been better used elsewhere.

I might look back on these posts and wonder what the hell I was thinking, but at least when my daughter does, she will have some insight into why I couldn't pay for her to go to university, or why she can go to any university she wants - if she chooses. And any number of other things she might want to do along the way. It is hard to say which side of the equation it will be. But if I can't pay for her university, she will have to do what I did - get a job and pay for herself.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]