To fans of the television show Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary is familiar, as he’s a panelist on the program that showcases business ideas. He’s a Canadian entrepreneur, who started the Softkey Software Products company. It saw great success and later bought the Learning Company, before being bought itself by the toy company Mattel.

O’Leary has ideas not only about entrepreneurship, but also retirement — so check out some of his thoughts on that and see whether they might help you in your own retirement planning. They’re chiefly drawn from his 2012 book, Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women and Money: 50 Common Money Mistakes and How to Fix Them.

Image source: Getty Images.

Debt and retirement

If you’re carrying any debt, especially high-interest-rate debt (such as debt from credit cards), it’s a good idea to pay it off or shrink it considerably before retiring. O’Leary notes: “If you’re heading toward retirement with debt, now’s the time to budget like you’ve never budgeted before. I mean it.”

Paying down debts will free up more income that you can live off in retirement — and it can give you more peace of mind and help you sleep better, too, if you don’t have big mortgage payments or hefty credit card bills hanging over you in your golden years.

Your post-retirement income

O’Leary questions one common rule of thumb — that retirees should plan to need 65% of their pre-retirement income in retirement — saying:

This assumes that you will want to maintain roughly the same standard of living that you enjoyed when you worked a stressful life, working 40 hours a week away from home… Of course, you ate out a lot, bought hardcover books to read on the subway, and got a brand-new coat every winter… But in retirement, you won’t need to finance your lifestyle in the same way. There will be no commuting, fewer lunches out, and lower dry-cleaning bills.

Still, he notes that each of us should be trying to come up with the most realistic estimate of how much we’ll need in retirement instead of relying on any one rule of thumb: “If you don’t think you can go days without spending money on useless crap like magazines, gum, or coffee, then you’re going to be in trouble a few years into retirement…”

For context, know that as of March, the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit was $1,997 — about $24,000 for the year. Of course, if you earned more than average, you’ll collect more than average. (To get a good estimate of how much you can expect from Social Security, set up a my Social Security account at the Social Security Administration (SSA) website.)

So if you end up estimating that you’ll need $80,000 annually in income in retirement, figure out how you’ll get that. Here’s what such a retirement income plan might look like:

• Social Security: $30,000
• Dividend income: $25,000
• Pension income: $15,000
• Selling off part of your stock portfolio: $10,000

It’s good to have multiple income streams for your retirement, and yours could look different from the example above. You might, for example, have rental income or annuity income, or income from a part-time job.

Save more, spend less

If we want to be able to afford the retirement we hope for, O’Leary offers some good advice: “…[S]pend those last few working years socking away as much money as you can, but also use those years to practice living on a lot less, lowering your expectations, and cultivating disciplined spending habits…”

He also says: “Get a part-time job, too, while you’re at it and while you’re still spry enough to handle it.” It’s smart to save aggressively, and you might be able to do so now by shrinking your spending — and perhaps by getting a side gig for a few or many years.

Also consider coming up with a household spending budget. Using a budget in retirement is a smart move, too, as it can help you not spend more than you should. You may even keep a part-time job for your first few years of retirement. Here’s how your savings might grow over time:

Data source: Calculations by author.

When to retire — and when not to retire

So — when should you retire? O’Leary has a perfect answer: “Don’t retire until you can afford it. Throw out your plan for freedom at 55 or even 65… If you have debt, you need your job, so you have to do everything in your power to keep it.”

Only retire when you can afford it. Make sure you’ve set up a portfolio that you can draw on or collect dividends and/or interest payments from. Make sure you’ve set up sufficient income streams to support you in retirement. Keep inflation in mind and prepare for it. Don’t forget healthcare costs, either, as they can be substantial. Finally, know that there are ways to increase your Social Security benefits.

Dogecoin Sharks & Whales Have Been Expanding Despite Price Decline

According to data from the on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Dogecoin has recently seen a rise in a couple of important indicators. The first metric of relevance here is the “Supply Distribution” of the DOGE wallets carrying more than 1 million tokens.

The Supply Distribution tells us, among other things, the number of addresses that belong to a particular coin range. The indicator for the 1 to 10 coins group, for instance, measures the amount of holders who own at least 1 and at most 10 DOGE in their balance.

The 1 million+ DOGE cohort, which is the range of focus here, includes two key investor groups: sharks and whales. At the current exchange rate, the cutoff for the range converts to around $166,600. This is clearly quite a significant amount, which is why the entities belonging to the sharks and whales are considered important on the network.

Now, here is the chart that shows the trend in the Dogecoin Supply Distribution for the 1 million+ coins range over the last few months:

As displayed in the above graph, the Dogecoin Supply Distribution of the sharks and whales observed a plunge when the bearish action in the memecoin’s price first started in January.

Since the start of February, however, the indicator has reversed its direction and has been following an upward trajectory. Interestingly, this wallet increase has come despite the fact that the asset’s decline has only furthered during the period.

The trend would imply that, although the big-money investors panic sold when the drawdown first began, they have since shifted their attention to accumulating the dip instead.

In total, the shark and whale wallets have gone up by 62 (around 1.24%) since the beginning of February and are now not far from the peak witnessed back in January.

The increase in the large wallets isn’t the only positive sign Dogecoin has seen; there has also been bullish development in another indicator attached in the chart. The metric in question is the Active Addresses, which keeps track of the total number of DOGE addresses taking part in some kind of transaction activity on the blockchain every day.

From the graph, it’s visible that the Dogecoin Active Addresses has jumped to a 4-month high recently, suggesting a large amount of users have been making transfers on the network.

While the increase in the shark and whale wallets has been occurring for a while now, the signal in the Active Addresses is a more recent one. It would appear that the current low prices may have finally caught the attention of the masses, who are now coming active to make their moves.

DOGE Price

At the time of writing, Dogecoin is trading around $0.166, up around 4% in the last seven days.

Celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has thrown his optimistic stance on the crypto future under President Trump’s regime.

In an interview with Fox News, the Shark Tank star stressed that crypto is out of the “cowboy era.” He argued that the asset class has entered a “new phase” under President Trump’s administration.

Kevin had a crypto conversation with American politician Lara Trump at the crypto-themed Pubkey bar in New York, that President Trump had previously visited.

“The reason they’re not comfortable with [crypto] right now is they’ve watched the cowboy era of crypto, but all the crypto cowboys are in jail or out of business,” Kevin noted.

He referred to the high-profile fraud cases in the industry, including the debacle of FTX crypto exchange. The entire industry faced a reckoning in 2022, following the collapse of the exchange. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy in 2023.

Crypto to Become “Payment System, Investment Vehicle”

Additionally, Kevin O’Leary praised the recent pro-crypto moves by President Trump, adding that there is a “new tone with the government.”

He noted that crypto developments will “provide regulations,” which would allow cryptos to become integrated with American financial institutions.

“It’s going to become a payment system, an investment vehicle,” he told Lara Trump.

Further, he also believes that cryptos would become the 12th sector of America’s economy.

“It’s going to become part of all the sectors of our economy. We have 11 sectors. Eventually, I believe crypto will be the 12th.”

A New Era for Crypto Lies Ahead Under Trump Administration

The now-47th president recently signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. On March 7, the first-of-its-kind crypto summit was held with industry presence, including Strategy’s executive chairman Michael Saylor and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

During Kevin’s conversation with Lara Trump, Pubkey co-owner Thomas Pacchia also expressed views on the future of crypto under Trump. He called the crypto’s leadership under former President Biden, “atrocious.”

“For four years, it was a very aggressive administration. I think the biggest win was just moving on from that and not getting stuck with another 4 or 8 years of that,” he stated.

The post Shark Tank-Fame Kevin O’Leary Says Crypto Would “Become Part of All Sectors” appeared first on Cryptonews.

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

The current bearish state of the overall crypto market has triggered fears of a bear market since Bitcoin, the largest digital asset, continues to decline, reaching as low as $77,760. It is worth noting that  BTC has been decreasing from its new all-time high of $109,000. However, in spite of the notable decline, bullish sentiment might be returning among investors as they ramp up more coins.

More Bitcoin Scooped Up By Whales And Sharks

Bitcoin’s price may have been dropping for a lengthy period, but investors’ sentiment is rising once again. Amid the waning price performance Santiment, a leading market intelligence and on-chain platform, reported that buyers are beginning to return to the market, casting a bullish outlook for BTC.

On-chain data shows that large investors and traders, particularly whales and sharks, are adding more BTC to their holdings. These big investors have experienced numerous crucial turning points over the last 6 months prior to their recent BTC accumulation. In short, their modest dumping between mid-February and early March played a part in the most current crypto dump.

The recent rise in accumulation is seen among wallet addresses containing more than 10 BTC, suggesting renewed confidence in its future performance. In the past 6 days, these whales and sharks have purchased about 4,846 BTC. These cohorts have been adding to their holdings even as retail traders display heightened fear and panic.

Historically, positive trends like these have triggered an upward move in BTC’s price in the short term. As a result, the on-chain platform is confident about a bullish atmosphere for BTC in the upcoming weeks.

Given the development, Santiment has predicted that this month could perform better than the previous two. “Prices have not reacted to their buying just yet, but don’t be surprised if the 2nd half of March turns out much better than the bloodbath we’ve seen since Bitcoin’s ATH 7 weeks ago,” the platform stated.

However, this is only likely as long as BTC whales and sharks extend their huge accumulation. As high-net-worth and institutional investors solidify their holdings, Bitcoin’s supply dynamics might shift in favor of sustained growth.

Small BTC Investors Follow The Trend

This increase in buying interest was also spotted among small investors during the previous brief upswing in BTC’s price last week. Following the brief surge, small Bitcoin wallet addresses experienced an additional 50,000 wallets on the network than there were a month ago.

Data from Santiment shows that about 37,390 more wallets were created among holders of less than 0.1 BTC, usually referred to as shrimps. Furthermore, wallets containing between 0.1 BTC and 100 BTC increased by over 12,754, while those holding at least 100 BTC decreased by 6.

Given the heightened volatility in the market, this may not be a significant bullish signal. However, Santiment points to an increase in wallets holding more than 100 BTC as a sign that a breakout in the broader market might be imminent.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.