Cosmos

Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. Today’s guest is Colonel Vince Lindenmeyer. 

Vince is a socially conscious entrepreneur and investor who desires to heal others through the sacred activism community of a 501/C3 nonprofit organization. He is the principal of Beacon 4sight Group, a nonprofit advisory firm. Veterans, women, and minorities start nonprofits or businesses to close the economic equality gap. 

He serves on the 4urban.org Black Votes Matter Institute of Community Engagement Boards. Director Colonel Linda Meyer served a 26-year career with overseas tourists to Korea, Egypt, Qatar, and Iraq, earning the Bronze Star medal. 

As an educator, Dr. Lindenmayer has taught face-to-face and distance learning over the past 20 years. He’s earned a Bachelor of Science and Systems Engineering from West Point, United States Military Academy. 

And MSN Logistics Management, MD and MA, Strategic Studies, the United States Army War College, and a Ph.D. in education. He’s an extraordinary American, and I’m glad and honored to have him on this show. Vince, are you there?

Colonel Vince

Yes, Cosmo, thank you for that wonderful introduction.

Cosmos

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this podcast. I’m grateful for it. Vince, can you tell me and the audience more about yourself, your background, and how you got started?

Colonel Vince

Well, of course. 

I grew up in Clemson, SC, so I have a bit of a southern accent. My father was a professor of industrial engineering at Clemson University. He taught several army officers who were going to Clemson to teach at West Point, the United States Military Academy. My father’s students asked my brother and me, “Why don’t you apply to West Point? You guys are Eagle Scouts, and you have decent grades and athletes. They would love to have someone like you.” 

So, we became the first-generation military. My grandfather came from an A family of professors. Professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, in the Chicago area. My other grandfather was a high school basketball coach, as were many teachers with the grandmothers and mothers. 

So, we are a teaching family. I have a background. You talk about extraordinary. Americans: I have a Scandinavian and German background; my family immigrated to the United States in 1880. They settled primarily in Illinois in the Peoria Farm country area, then moved to the Chicago area for more education and opportunities. 

My father then went to Northwestern and began a teaching career that took him to the University of Nebraska, Ferris State College, where I was born in Western Michigan, and Kalamazoo. He finally settled at Clemson University, where I lived since 3rd grade, graduated, and then went into the military in the late 80s; I served a full career. 

It was funny, though. In Clemson, I started my first business selling Clemson novelties. One of them was a Clemson fan. I have it here. Suppose we’re doing a video call, too. 

So, I always had an entrepreneurial bug, and the entrepreneurial bug served well in the military regarding creative solutions. Sometimes, you work for a boss in the military. They don’t want an entrepreneurial spirit or mindset, so retiring and realizing I’m 47 was good. I have a retirement check to cover bills, which lets me take some risks. Let me be an entrepreneur and investor. Let me see where this can go. 

So, I started with some learning development and building courses for folks. Unfortunately, many people don’t want to invest in building an online course. They don’t want to pay for it, and they can’t build the revenue on the other side. 

So, after about two years of struggling after the military, like many veterans do, struggling to find what it is they are passionate about, I was charged by my wife, a nonprofit leader in North Omaha, who had a stroke. I was hoping you could visit him and make sure his nonprofit continues because we’re doing a big bus tour this summer, and we have to have it be a go. 

So suddenly, a retired military officer was There. I sprang to action; I had a mission. I had to go into North Omaha, which was uncomfortable territory. No one looked like me. Everyone was African-American. You know Omaha; believe it or not, Omaha, NE, is one of the most segregated cities in the country. There’s North Omaha. Omaha is for African Americans or the South, Omaha is for Hispanics, and there’s W. Omaha for the suburbs and all the whites. 

So I went into North Omaha, and suddenly, I was uncomfortable and had to use my education and experience to help. It was a different culture, and it was exciting. I had a mission. I had a reason to get off the couch, which sprung into action. 

Hey, I could be a nonprofit advisor. I could help folks start nonprofits, help them with strategy, and build revenue lines. Build a sustainable and successful nonprofit. So now my new mission is to help women, veterans, and minorities start nonprofits and sometimes businesses. To close the economic equality gap, it’s been very rewarding, and thanks to Bellwether, I’ve learned time management. Divine time management, I call it when I do nonprofit advising on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work on other days. Larger deals involve sweat equity and bellwether bear projects, where I am vested in the equity. A strategic initiative or organization, or an LLC or corporation, is fun, too.

Cosmos

Wow, Vince, this is amazing. You’ve been in the military for all these years. After that, you’ve shifted to entrepreneurship, business, and nonprofits. You’re doing so much for the economy, the inequalities, and all of that. Also, you have been into the cryptocurrency space and into investing, too.

So, my question is: What is your strategic vision regarding, like, from the moment you left the military to the point where you decided to be an investor and enter entrepreneurship, and how did you get into the crypto space? Into entrepreneurship simultaneously.

Colonel Vince

I made typical corporate investments in the military, with a Roth IRA and my normal investments. I do still have a stock portfolio. I wouldn’t consider myself a Bitcoin maxi, where I put my whole stock portfolio into Bitcoin. So, I’m very diversified. We own a home in South Florida, which is a great investment. We also have a home in Nebraska, where our son is a student. 

We have real estate, stock equities, and retirement funds. We have a generous retirement package with our retirement checks and some VA disability, and my wife works, so we have some consistent monthly income. I learned about cryptocurrency. I was at the US Strategic Command and served there from 2012 onwards. I retired in 2016. Keep in mind that Bitcoin was born in January 2009. 

So, in 2012 or 2013, I had a senior civilian call on government service level 14, a very high-level rank GS 14. Mike approached me and said,” Hey, Colonel, have you heard about Bitcoin? It just jumped from $100 to $200. And the only way you can get it, though, is to mine it”. I was like, wow, that sounds pretty hard. I’m thinking about setting up a mine in my garage. What do you think? Well, like, uh, it sounds pretty hard. I don’t know. Like, that’s the first time. So, could you believe buying Bitcoin or mining Bitcoin at 100 or 200 a bit? It’s like, Oh my gosh, back in the day, so.

That got me started, and then I can’t remember when the exchanges began, like coin base and all that. So, as soon as Bitcoin got on an exchange, I decided, Hey, I probably should buy. And so I started watching that to remember when Bitcoin was 1800. I don’t know if you wish you could jump on it then, and then, you know, it shoots up to 10,000 and drops to 3600. And I’m like, man, that’s a deal. Wow, 3600. I’ll do that. Well, even, you know, last year when it dropped. November 22. I’m unsure how far it dropped, and I was like, Hey guys, that’s a bargain. I’m always telling my friends and family. 

For example, just do $25 a week. This dollar cost averages into Bitcoin; don’t look at the price. If your family ever has.1 Bitcoin, you’re going to be one of the wealthiest families in the world. If you have more than 0.1 Bitcoin, 1 Bitcoin is about $6000. So that’s very affordable. For what? You’re what the future holds for Bitcoin, and I would love to get into you. Let’s build the argument for why Bitcoin. 

Cosmos

So, Vince, when your friend first contacted you in 2012 or 2013, what was your mindset around cryptocurrency and Bitcoin? Because it was very. It was a new technology, and nobody had even heard about it. And when it was going at $100, what was your view of it, and how did it evolve over the years? How did you go about mining it or purchasing it? And all of that.

Colonel Vince

Unfortunately, Cosmos, I did not. I just planted the seed. But because it came from the source of someone who was very analytical, the mission of US Strategic Command at the time was all space, all cyber, and all nuclear missions across the United States of the Joint Forces. And so, the cyber mission is cryptographic. It’s very mathematical. And if you want to hide a message, it will be cryptographic, right? And so, cryptocurrency is a cryptological Currency. 

So, it’s coded. Bitcoin was very complex. A math problem needed to be solved to mint the next block of Bitcoin, and then the miners, of course, got an award. In January 2009, a group or a mysterious individual, Satoshi Nakamoto, started this. I collaborated and built this program based on it, and there is a Bitcoin white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto. 

You can go back to the original author, who’s still anonymous to this day and who’s disappeared. That also makes Bitcoin immutable because there’s not one person you can interrogate to get the answer. You know, there’s not a sinister person who can capture Satoshi Nakamoto and break the code. It’s a mystery. 

And it’s a complex math program. What cautioned me way back then was that the 100 and 200 were OK. I need a server; I don’t know about that. Oh, it takes a lot of electricity. Oh, wow. How much, like, is it going to spike my electric bill? I don’t know about that. Oh. It gets hot. Oh, man. I need a cool room. Oh, it’s loud. It’s going to keep me up at night.

So, there are all these things in my head. It’s like, man, please give me that problem. Let me go back to 2012, when Bitcoin was $100. Back then, those problems were not like they were here, and uncertainty was like they call Fudd, right? Fear uncertainty and whatever the D is.

Cosmos

How would you even know at that time? You know, like, it’s like so many things happen. But at that time, how could anybody know where it would reach? But Vince, for the sake of the audience, like many would not, they wouldn’t know much like we know the basics of cryptocurrency. But from your Perspective: What should people know about cryptocurrencies in their current generation? Is it the future of the world?

Colonel Vince

Well, I wouldn’t categorize cryptocurrencies altogether. I consider Bitcoin and altcoins. And there’s some caution to be had with altcoins first because there are mean coins.

Celebrities push dot coins, but they don’t have a function. The other problem is that there are whales. So, we call people with a ton of a big stack a whale. And so on. The altcoin sign means that you don’t know who owns it. The primary amount of that altcoin or cryptocurrency, and they can manipulate the price with dumps of selling or buying.

And so it’s easily manipulated. On the other hand, Bitcoin. Is it perceived as digital gold, and why do we say that? Well, it’s 21; there’s only 21 million that will ever exist. Be in existence, so it makes it a deflationary asset. I said it was a deflationary asset. 

So, as we live in a world of inflation, Suddenly, eggs go from $2.00 to $5 a dozen or even more. Milk or any food cost is inflationary. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is deflationary because there are fewer and fewer in existence to be capped at 21 million, so in April, we recently had the haven. The happening is that minors, once they produce a block of Bitcoin, are now only awarded 3.125 Bitcoin. They used to be awarded twice that 6.5 bitcoin.

And so there is not just perceived scarcity. There’s a known scarcity of bitcoin. Meanwhile, on the other side, when the US government prints currency, There’s more printing; there’s just more production of currency; there’s more debt; there’s more financing of wars; there’s more financing of. Infrastructure acts, so there’s more spending, debt, and deficit, which is inflationary. And many people feel that the fact that the government is printing so much Fiat is an eventual train wreck. I have confidence in our government and our national security infrastructure in the GDP, the gross domestic product of our country, and I don’t have a concern. 

So much as to the overprinting of money. I would love a lower mortgage rate to refinance my home in South Florida. So I’d have more discretionary money, but I can’t control everything. What can I control? Well, I can convert the dollar cost average into Bitcoin.

Cosmos

It’s deflationary, and there’s only so much Bitcoin out there. You’re mentioning what’s happening because it will create more perceived scarcity. But my question is: how is it like, you know, the US economy? In 2022, a lot of inflation happened, and people are talking about it. Vision Girl or a recession followed by another inflationary time because they’re just going to print more money. 

So, how do you see Bitcoin being perceived by the masses from within in 10 years, given the recession, inflation, and all that’s going on in the money printing process?

Colonel Vince

Well, we have to look at what other countries are doing. Countries like Ecuador, Argentina, and Turkey are now considering purchasing Bitcoin. Some countries purchase Bitcoin and try stabilizing their entire economy as a deflationary asset. Bitcoin crossed a huge threshold; just a week ago, it was 1 billion with a B transaction. So it’s here to stay, which doesn’t include the Lightning network.

Let’s go back to what Bitcoin is. It’s decentralized, so it’s one of the most revolutionary. One aspect of Bitcoin is its decentralization. Instead of being controlled by one central bank, every node has its ledger. They all validate and record every transaction, so as many nodes as there are on the Bitcoin network, they all have the same billion transactions recorded. 

No single entity has control of the ledger, but it’s immutable. What is immutable? Well, it’s a public ledger and a blockchain, so you can record information on the blockchain. It’s transparent and secure. If any node becomes corrupted or hacked, it’s thrown off the network. 

So, this is a deflationary asset with only 21 million bitcoins. Unless they’re lost, you know you don’t have your keys anymore, and you can’t do that. We can discuss how you secure your keys and all that. It’s considered a financial one. Trustworthy system. 

So that’s why countries are now saying, you know, we can’t trust our currency. Our inflation is going through the roof. We need something that’s deflationary—that is, a trusted financial network. And then that’s just a bit of the Bitcoin network, and now there’s the Lightning network. You’re doing the microtransactions when you upload just one or two bitcoins, maybe ten at most. 

Everything is in the Bitcoin white paper. We should also post that in your show notes because that’s the core. For those who want to return to their original document, each Bitcoin contains 100 million Satoshis. 

So think about just living off Satoshi’s ten years from now. Hey, I’m going to Starbucks. Oh, that’s 15 Satoshis. You know, 100 million within a bitcoin, so you will have one in 2024 and then twenty 3410 years from now. That’s worth $1,000,000, and you’re. Just. You’re living off Satoshis and doing transactions on the Lightning network here in Deerfield Beach, FL. I could have a lightning network here, and I’m, like, 2 miles away from it.

 There are a bunch of restaurants, and you know, it’s torture here, Cosmos, because I could smell the wonderful aromas of food in my backyard. But I could create a lightning network here and be the transaction hub for commerce near me. Again, the whole network supports that, and that’s the Lightning network. 

You can have a lightning node; I want to research that more. Another thing about Bitcoin is that some countries run their mining networks off volcano energy. You know, it’s energy that they wouldn’t have used anyway in Ecuador, and some are using wave technology. 

So it’s all this people say. While Bitcoin is bad for the environment, it uses unused energy. Primarily, it takes raw energy. And it goes from raw energy creation. Cryptological energy, which is Bitcoin itself, is a store of energy because you can use that Bitcoin for transactions later in life, so it’s secure and uses energy positively. 

People are tracking, you know, hey, are you using electricity, coal, or renewable energies to mine your Bitcoin and the Bitcoin miners? That industry is always changing, transforming, and adapting. I would say adapting because, you know, Bitcoin. The reward is cut in half, from 6.5 to 3.125 per block. 

Well, now they have to figure out where the rest of their revenue comes from. Their revenue just got cut in half when they’re mining now, so they must look at it. OK, we need transactions to be. Are. The transaction fees so that they’re getting into transaction fees and making sure they’re the first to settle a transaction and get that fee. 

So that network is becoming more adaptive, more fast, and more resilient, just like an entrepreneur would, and it’s. The trading at some mines and some mining stocks has been slow. Umm. MicroStrategy is a company that Michael Saylor owns, and it is a profitable company in the software field. They compete with Microsoft and the big boys and big girls software companies.

 So they have income, but when they have profit, they buy bitcoins. So they have—one of the largest bitcoin stacks of any company, over 180,000 bitcoins. If not, I believe it’s raised over the last six months to about 220,000 bitcoins, so they’re equivalent to many. ETS electronically traded funds, and there are over 14 ETFs right now that are scooping up Bitcoin like crazy. Now that Bitcoin has recently slumped, you’re looking at, well, why come? It hasn’t Skyped yet. There is still some manipulation, and some whales are releasing a lot. Of Bitcoin to help out some of the ETS. 

So there’s a lot of deals going on because now we. The institutions want to get into Bitcoin, so they’re making deals where it’s like, hey, release that Bitcoin slump, the price so that we can get in at a lower price. So, there’s some of that going on. There’s a macroeconomic trend with the Fed and rates, and now there’s a lot of influence. It’s almost managed as much as the Dow Industrial and is a gold commodity, so it’s compared against all those daily. OK. But many feel, and I feel myself, that Bitcoin will be 100K by the end of the year. So, it’s 60 now. So here are my Cliff notes for the listener.

Cosmos

So, Vince, there’s a lot of debate about the future, right? There’s a lot of debate right now. We’re living in a fiat currency, and then there’s the common knowledge that all fiat currencies eventually go to 0. Then, people say we will revert to a gold standard. 

However, another group says that cryptocurrency is the future, like our money being pegged to a cryptocurrency or something like Bitcoin. So, from your perspective, are we returning to physical gold, or do you think digital gold? It will be more prominent, and the physical goal will be something like a relic of the past.

Colonel Vince

Gold is nice; people talk about corruption, and you know which fiat currency, gold or bitcoin, serves which one. The corrupt more, or which one does illicit transactions more, and there’s a lot of Illia. Dirty money buys gold, and people stack gold bars in their basements. And you know, just as much as someone would take Bitcoin. But again, bitcoins are on a ledger. 

So, the FBI tracked Bitcoin transactions to find people engaging in criminal activity. So, the ledger is transparent and can be tracked over time. It is. It isn’t very easy, but it can. There are wallet IDs and all that, so actually. Bitcoin is not as easy. A money launderer, as it first came out to be with some of the, you know, dark web transactions that people would talk about. As far as legitimacy. I don’t know if you’re old enough to sell a house yet and have a big settlement of $50,000 or more. When you do a bank transfer of $50,000 or more, have you ever noticed how long it takes to get into your bank account?

Like seven days, sometimes you’re just like, when will this money hit? When is it going to hit? People routinely transact 50,500 thousand dollars on the Bitcoin network for fees that are just, you know, hundreds of a percent of the total transaction, just a few dollars. Look at cross-border transactions, can you? Fly with $10,000 or more currency without reporting it. When you go through the airport,

Cosmos

No, you must report it.

Colonel Vince

You report it, and then can you tell how heavy $10,000 worth of gold would be?

Cosmos

I mean, no; I mean it easily. One gold coin is now around 2000 or more. You just have 5,000.

Colonel Vince

So it’s not that much, but gold can be if you’re trying to make a major transaction. Its weight alone could hinder crossing the border or making an international transaction. 

So, Bitcoin is characterized by its speed of transaction, its lack of weight, the existence of a ledger, and the willingness of the network to validate it. I intend to send you a large sum of Bitcoin, and you want to receive it. 

The networks are ready to validate it and get that money to you immediately because they want the fee and the banks out of the business. Of course, double-checking everything and taking seven days to do that in the Fiat world again, over $10,000 triggers a lot of government checks, with the government saying, OK, we need to check that transaction and see the legitimacy of what’s going on there. But it only happened to me when I was selling a house.

Cosmos

So, Vince, we’re noticing that Bitcoin is increasing in value over some time, but a lot of people say that it’s too volatile or it keeps going up and down, and then and then, like, they don’t know whether they’re going to lose money or make money. 

So, what would you tell people who are afraid of investing in Bitcoin because of the volatility?

Colonel Vince

There’ll be some natural volatility with Bitcoin, especially as it is more susceptible to macroeconomic indicators. The stock market has rates like the Fed meetings, with rates staying high and liquidity low. One thing that helps Bitcoin is that when there are many low rates and lots of liquidity, and people have extra money, Bitcoin skyrockets. 

So, the high rates do not help Bitcoin at all. I go back to the limited number of Bitcoins, the fact that it’s becoming institutionalized, and with countries, Bitcoin is becoming more and more of a scarce commodity, a scarce asset, and becoming more legitimate regulations. As you said before the show, they are being paved, maybe not in India. 

But there’s crypto.com, which came out of Singapore, and they’re very regulated there. They have every certification under the sun, and I am very bullish on crypto.com as a great exchange. For the entire Asia, Asia continent, and Far East continent, because they have the legitimacy, the inspections, and the auditing that keep them above the fray, people will find ways to make transactions even if the government makes them illegal. There will be a Lightning network. There’ll be people carrying it in—Bitcoin on hard drives to be able to make transactions and so on. I see Bitcoin being further legitimized in every country. 

And while the US will still have an international standard with the dollar, there’s the oil standard that all oil must be traded with the dollar. There’s some illicit oil exchange between Iran and Russia. But for the most part, that was part of the OPEC deal way back with President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s. Is it true that all oil would be traded on a dollar standard? Let’s take a look at the history of the dollar. The dollar came off the gold standard in about 1974 with President Nixon, and then it began deteriorating ever since. 

So, when did you unwind the dollar to the gold standard? Then, you quickly try to tie it to an oil standard. There’s no way oil in the dollar is now linked, but it’s still very volatile when looking at what oil can go from $40 a gallon to over $120.00 when it’s closer to 40 than the Permian Basin in Texas. We’re not going to drill in the Permian Basin. It costs too much. 

But as oil goes above 60/80, they’re like, Alright, trucks, we’re going to “drill, baby, drill” in the Permian in West, TX. And as it goes over 100 now, it’s a boom-and-bust town in Texas. If you’ve ever been there, I did some consulting for them for an oil company, and that was after I retired. I had my partner, and I had $40,000 to spend. I said, hey, can we put this in Bitcoin? And he said, no, let’s not do that. And I’m still kicking myself; I didn’t do that.

Cosmos

But you still haven’t invested enough, and you’re like, Oh, wow, this works. You know? It’s not like you missed out completely in that period because many people completely missed out, or they’re just understanding it right now. But you understood it like years before. But Vince, one of my questions is, Yeah, you talked about the gold standard. 

And that was taken out in 1970. And then we had the petrodollar standard, or the dollars for oil, right? But right now, we see that with the bricks with the bricks system. There’s a depolarization going on like they’re there, and it doesn’t seem like the Petrodollar system will last forever. 

So my question is, What kind of monetary system would replace the current one? What is the current system, and will cryptocurrency or Bitcoin be involved in the future of monetary systems? OR is the new standard.

Colonel Vince

I have seen two parallel systems for several decades, and people say the dollar right now isn’t backed by anything. Well, having been in government, the military returned the dollars. If the US government perceives things not going the way it needs to, it backs up issues with our military. 

So, our dollar is backed by our defense. You know, our defense industry and budget are over a trillion dollars. A year’s budget, and it’s not going down. I would find I would consider myself. Much more of a. International sovereign soft power. Retired Colonel, now where I would like to see a lot more dollars put into the State Department to build countries. Equalize the impoverished to build systems and ways to do that. The less can be more on equal footing with those that have everything. 

Americans should be considered very fortunate that we’re in the top 2% of wealth. Then again, I said, “Hey, if you have Bitcoin, you’re going to be in the top percent of the top 2% of wealth anyway, so the argument is Because We do have increasing globalization. And the dollar is still going to remain powerful.”

 So, I see these two parallel systems moving together and eventually merging. 3040-5060 years from now, they’re doing the same and saying that people will look at Bitcoin as a much harder asset than the dollar because it goes back to digital gold with only 21 million. And then there’s the 100 million Satoshi in every bitcoin. 

So, there’s this whole additional economy. Underneath, the one Bitcoin, where you could live for life—with just one Bitcoin one day, you’re living for life here. I could support my family on Satoshis, but because our government runs on dollars, they won’t subsume. And begin everything with Bitcoin or Satoshis. It’ll be a very similar parallel system—some—for many decades.

Cosmos

I see the future is filled with so many possibilities, right? Because the entire concept of cryptocurrency just came out in the 21st century, like when we came out, like when the new century came out like 2000, and we were living in that time, we could not even imagine that there would be something outside of fiat money—or gold and silver. 

But here we are. You know, and then and then, things change so fast that the majority of the people who are taking the time to understand these concepts.

So, one thing I would have to ask you, Vince, is for somebody who is new to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and has no idea what it’s about. What would you like? What would you advise them regarding getting? Where can they go to get more education about this?

Colonel Vince

That’s a great question. Cosmos, again, we talked about the White Paper, which is very academic, but if you want to go to the source and learn more about religion, you go to the original text, right? So, is Bitcoin or religion? Not necessarily. But there are some Bitcoin Maxis who swear by it. 

Again, here is the Bitcoin white paper, which I’ll give you, or you can look up a link. There’s also bitcoinmagazine.com, which has 21 days of Bitcoin online learning. You can register and get free Bitcoin learning for 21 days. It teaches you all about Bitcoin. 

So I usually recommend that to folks who just want to learn more, and they award you with Satoshis. When you finish, those are two steps. I would also look to find a group. 

There are some neat folks on Twitter, and there’s a Bitcoin army on Twitter, though there are still people who are shilling altcoins, too. For those who are, there’s the Bitcoin therapist, like Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy. 

So there are some people out there that you can follow and be encouraged by daily. Some. Hourly, with good Bitcoin encouragement, hold your Bitcoin so it’s not influenced; it’s a strong community out there. 

So, as you say, you know one branch can be easily snapped, but a bundle of branches will bend, and you need to find a community. Once you. Realize that, hey, there’s some potential in Bitcoin. What should I do? It’s like, oh, and hey. He says the dollar cost averaged $25. Well, you know, go to Coinbase or Crypto.com and just buy it on an exchange, and then when you start to learn more, you’re going to be like, Hey, I need to get my Bitcoin off the exchange because it could be seized, and I want to hold it myself so you can start to become, you know, more of a Bitcoin maxi later. 

But you know the only way you can buy Bitcoin is. Going on an exchange, I also like Swan, the Swan Bitcoin Company, and I can give you a link that you could put in the show notes as well, where people can go to Swine because it’s a Bitcoin-only company. They also have ways to roll your IRA into Bitcoin if you want to Invest dollars in Bitcoin and have it grow tax-free. 

Those are some options, and you know, learning through the community. I would give you three steps: learning from the white paper, learning from the 21 days of Bitcoin and bitcoinmagazine.com, and learning from a community.

Cosmos

That is amazing, but it’s like, and I do hope that people listening to us will take a look at this and get more educated about not just Bitcoin but cryptocurrencies in general. Things move quickly because we live in a different world in the 21st century. 

And so, Vince, I wanted to ask you a quick question. Beacon for Side Group, your nonprofit advisory firm. Could you tell the audience more about that and what it does?

Colonel Vince

Yes, I have a company, Beacon 4Sight Group, and the website is beacon4today.com. Again, we help people envision their dreams. Many people have heartstrings and finally want to pull them to stand up for their dreams. When they struggle and transition from one career to another, they finally have made enough money to say wow, I’m passionate about this. I was just conversing the other day with some folks about my age. 

I’m 55 years old. And they’re all transitioning out; they’ve already transitioned out of military service, and now they’re transitioning out of government service. And they’re like, I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up, and it goes back. The sacred activism community mission that my wife runs, the Reverend Dr. Cynthia Ramirez Lindmeyer, brings people together around things that break their hearts. And when you gather 5 to 8 people with the same mission and passion, they can change the world. 

So, when people say, I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up, I say, well, what breaks your heart? And then, usually, they say, I don’t know; I’ll have to think about that. But then there’s the reason we have the Beacon 4Sight Group: people finally realize I know what breaks my heart, and I want to do something about it. And I think a nonprofit is the solution. 

Well, we sit down with them, and we kind of go through, you know, a feasibility study on that. I also have a medium article on beacon foresight. Channel that I can put in the show notes, and it’s like, you know, the ten steps to starting a nonprofit. Off it, and it is like, OK, well, what’s your cause? What are you passionate about? What breaks your heart? Well, feasibility study-wise, is anyone else doing what you’re doing? Do you want to partner with them? Do you need to start a nonprofit? 

So, we kind of scrutinize whether this nonprofit needs to be started. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of nonprofits that start daily, so we want to ensure that we do need to start another. Can you just partner with someone, and we choose a name? We submit the tax-exempt status, you know, and then we go through filing for incorporation with the state. We get the FBI, and we get the state nonprofit corporation. We do the 501C3 paperwork and the 1023 EZ and then wait. While waiting, we’re helping them with tasks we manage on an Asana board. 

So, we have a very well-organized process, and we’re. Very low. Low-cost, high-value firm. Few people will start a nonprofit and meet with you for eight weeks to build the systems, processes, your brand, and your marketing for just 1500 dollars. 1499 is our start-up package. We have recently been working with folks in Maui. In Hawaii for the fires that devastated the island of Maui and the state of Hawaii. And they have funds. But people want to start nonprofits to be eligible for the available funds. 

So, we’re helping via distance over Zoom and getting folks to start their nonprofits. We help several veteran nonprofits. We help people with mental health and suicide awareness. We have two equine therapies. Nonprofits at the moment. There are two kidney disease nonprofits for minorities, just several great organizations, and again, every time I plug into someone else’s mission, I have a reason to get off the couch and help.

Cosmos

Vince, that is amazing. And I would. I would want more awareness to be put out for these nonprofits because this is helping the world and making it a better place. And Vince, how can our audience connect with you and learn more about you, your work, your nonprofits, and all of that?

Colonel Vince

I say it would be Beacon 4Sight Group: get.com. You can reach out for a consultation right there. That website was designed by Mundo Designs with Soul, a scene out of Argentina. They have all-women companies; Argentina’s inflation is through the roof.

So we love that every time we get a website design through Soul and Her Women in Argentina, we put food on the table. 

So, it’s a fun, neat, and engaging website that starts with what breaks your heart. Pull your heartstrings, and it’s really fun. I encourage people to look at how she does business. We have a great collaborative network of businesses. We do what we do well, but we also have a strong team and collaborative network to connect you with people who do great work for great value.

Cosmos

That is amazing. Vince and Vince, thank you so much for coming to this podcast and sharing your wisdom about Bitcoin. Also, just like economics, this is important knowledge because we live in these different times, right? 

There have been thousands of years of human history, and then there are the 20th and 21st centuries. The economy has undergone a radical change, and I do hope that you will listen to this podcast later.

Colonel Vince

Thank you so much. I would just say that. It’s one action item for any of the listeners, by $25 a bitcoin. I do it every Sunday evening. Did you know that you can only buy stocks Monday through Friday?

You can order it and put a stock order in over the weekend, but you don’t buy anything until Monday morning at 9:30 Eastern Time. So, the stock exchange is not open 24/7. You know the Bitcoin network is open 24/7, so when you buy an order, you buy it.

It’s a 24/7, seven-day-a-week thing. So, I like to buy my Bitcoin on Sunday night because it usually slumps over the weekend. After all, people are selling it over the weekend. And I don’t know; maybe I’m wrong. Some people say, you know, buy it on this day, but I do it on Sunday night. So, make a recurring investment of $25 a bitcoin every Sunday night. You buy $25, and maybe it’s a dollar fee, or you can buy Bitcoin on cash out. And Venmo. 

So, you could cash in. You can have a Bitcoin account on your Cash app so that anyone can start today. That would be my 1:00 ask: figure out a way to buy Bitcoin but find the community because I told you before the show I had the young football player helping me move to Lincoln, NE. He was buying $25.00 of Bitcoin a week, and then a year later, I asked him, how’s your Bitcoin doing? I had to sell it to make payments on my truck. 

I believe he was a stick and broke because he didn’t have the community; the bundle of sticks that bend doesn’t sell your Bitcoin. He didn’t have anyone telling him to do that. 

So he sold it, and it’s back. You know, one day it’s going to be like that. I was when someone told me Bitcoin was 100 or 200, or back when I had ten Bitcoins and I sold them. I don’t have ten bitcoins today, but anytime you sell Bitcoin, you will regret it later. Maybe two years, five years, or ten years later, you’ll wish you hadn’t sold, so hold on to your Bitcoin and just the dollar cost average, give up a cup of coffee, and get some Bitcoin in your portfolio. And that makes you extraordinary. American.

Cosmos

Thank you for that insight, Vince. We all appreciate that, and I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s something extraordinary within every one of us, and we must awaken it and unleash it until next time. 

Bye for now.