I'm not really the sort of person who likes to make new year's resolutions. I always feel like if you put something out there like that, there is more of a chance you are going to fail. In fact, the second Friday of January has officially been designated Quitter's Day due to the fact that most people abandon their resolutions by then.
Instead, I prefer to make what I call lifestyle changes and I do my best to start them immediately. Research shows that it takes something like 18 to 254 days for a behavior to become a habit. That's pretty big span right? I'm sure some people use the idea that they made a resolution as motivation and that is more than enough for them. Congrats. As for me, I need something a little more.
What I do think is helpful to me is setting goals. I'm happy to say that as of the other day, I reached one of my goals that I set a while ago.
It is time again for another Finance Friday/Friday Finance. This is a series I started where I talk about random bits of financial stuff that I have seen, gathered, or experienced during the week. I hope as a reader you find it informational, entertaining, or both. I also hope it can generate some good discussion and edify the community.
After the recent market dip due to the announcement of Deepseek, it is nice to see things starting to recover. I wouldn't be surprised if after a few more news cycles we don't see BTC hit a new all time high. Then again, I've read people calling for a drop back down to $75K. Who knows. I kind of feel like we are starting to get to the point where I need to start watching the markets more closely. I dropped the ball last cycle and didn't take gains when I should have. I don't want tha to happen again.
It probably seems a little lame when you look at my main account, but I finally hit 5000 HP staked with my 
Somehow, I let 
Pretty sad right? I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed by the experience. I'm not giving up yet, but I am thinking about shifting gears. The HYPE token has been a big mover in the markets lately. It's the native token for the HyperLiquid platform. It might be a long shot, but then again this thing could be the next BNB or SOL, so I went ahead and moved another $100 USDC into the platform so I could purchase four of the HYPE tokens at $27.
The cool thing is, I use Coinbase to make a $20 purchase of USDC every month. Coinbase allows you to send USDC directly to the Arbitrum network with zero fees, so although I had to pay a bunch of gas to move that first $50 over and bridge it from ETH to ARB, the second batch of USDC was free.
We will see how it goes.
If I did have one item you want to call a resolution this year, it was to finally set up some kind of estate plan for my wife and I. We have talked about it for a while that we need a will or trust in place so that if something happens to us we know our assets will be safe. It's one of those things that you talk about, but you never actually get around to doing. Perhaps if you have kids you do, but since we don't, I have just been putting it off.
I finally got around and called a lawyer the other day to help us get something set up. We have a six page form we need to fill out and a meeting with a lawyer at the end of February.
This does lead me to two questions that I am hoping the #silvergoldstackers community and others can give me some insight on. If I had to guess, I own less than four figures in silver rounds and bars. Do I put that on the form? No doubt my collection will only continue to grow, but is that something I should put down? If so, do I write it in as one of my investments or as "other valuables" or however they word it.
Then, as a follow up, how much of my crypto do I declare? I've been staying under the radar for a bit due to the IRS not really having a solid plan. I know one day I will need to be fully transparent and I am ready for that, but is this the way I want to do it?
What do you think?
I kept my tokens staked, but I didn't participate in the rewards. Then, the other day I decided what the heck I will give it a shot. I was impressed to see that I earned something like 97 tokens for only doing a portion of the tasks. Given the fact that the token is just shy of $1 right now, that's nearly $100 in basically free money for doing some really simple tasks.
It's safe to say I will be doing the tasks from now on. I'd also like to get one of the Tiger NFTs, but they are so expensive. I couldn't afford one back when they launched and as of right now, that really hasn't changed. We have been getting some decent airdrops for holding the tokens though.
If you haven't checked out Travala, I encourage you to follow the link above and see if it is something you might use.
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or 
