Read time 5 minutes

Welcome back to another week with Renaissance. The newsletter equivalent of all this, but without the Southern accent. It’s a big one this week so let’s gooooooo! 🎉

Each week we give you actionable intel and opportunity to assist you on the journey to financial independence. Let’s make it together. 💪

But before we get stuck in we’re showing you our friends over at Masterworks. Ultra-Wealthy Investors Fall in Love with This App (Here’s Why)

While financial markets tanked in 2022, one market saw its best performance in 277 years. The blue-chip art market – hauling in nearly $18 billion. Millionaires and billionaires love this market, but now you don’t need to be one to get access.

Masterworks is the fintech platform that lets you diversify your portfolio in this currently booming market. Their last three sales in 2022 handed investors 10.4%, 35.0%, and 13.9% net returns respectively.

After all, contemporary art prices outpaced the S&P 500 by 131% from 1995-2021 with a near 0 correlation to stocks according to Citi. Thanks to Masterworks, investing in art by Banksy, Picasso, and Basquiat is easier than using ChatGPT to automate your emails.

Want in? Offerings can sell out in just minutes, but Renaissance Subscribers can get early access by skipping the waitlist to join. 👇

Today at a Glance:

Magic The Gathering x Lord Of The Rings Card Collab - $1 Billion Business & Your $2M Investment 

All The DeFi Crypto Loans You Never Knew About Explained

FAT FIRE: The Comprehensive Guide

- And remember guys we don’t do this all for free…..well we do, but still. Honour our gentlemen’s agreement and refer a friend. 🤝 

- We’ll give you some free tailored advice to set you on your journey to financial independence. What are you waiting for!

You are: 1 referral away from a free personal financial consultation!

 Refer your friend using the link below ➡ Reply to this email, copying in your referred friend with the phrase “I want my free consultation” ➡ Your journey to financial independence starts

The Board

The Renaissance Over-Under

Business, Money Markets & Financial News

Magic The Gathering And A $2 Million Card - The One Bag To Rule Them All 💰

This may be our favourite business play and Alt investment all in one………..

- We’ve loved crossovers since the days of scooby-doo cartoons, but this crossover is something else. For a change the nerds and business executives have worked together to create something incredible.

- Magic the Gathering is a big big deal in case you’re not a nerd or Alt/collectable investor. We all know that collectable trading cards can go for a lotttttt of schmekles (money, if you’re not a Rick and Morty fan), just look at Pokémon card mania last year, NFTs, baseball cards etc.

- This is all basically Gary Vee’s wet dream, someone should sedate him over the next few weeks while this collab plays out.

- Obviously the rare cards can earn collectors a lot of money, but it’s really the executives making a killing from this already cult-classic trading card game. Along with the most loved franchise in the world………….Lord of The Rings (a match made in heaven). ⛅

- The game brought in $1 Billion for Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast division just last year - and this collab is going to make it go stratospheric! 

- This is another opportunity for a social arbitrage trade as Hasbro is public! Only the nerds will really spot this trend and understand how much this could take hold. ⚡

- But here’s where it gets not so hobbit-sized………most trading card collections have rare cards and there might be a few thousand, a few hundred, down to a few dozen of them for collectors to make a killing from.

- But in this LOTR collab, there is only one ring to rule them all in the collection (*shivers in excitement). And that fact is what is making everyone lose their minds buying packs. There is only 1 in existence and avid collectors have all put out bounties of $2.2 Million………….I’m using every bone in my body not to make a ‘one does not simply’ meme for this section, such a professional.

- Now the booster boxes top $500 in inflated prices as the search for this rare card heats up! 🔥 And if the one ring isn’t found soon, these boxes are going to soarrrrrr until it’s found by its rightful master. Better get after them!

- Even the Twitch (Kick) streamer xQc has been spending tens of thousands in his search for the ring! https://www.thegamer.com/xqc-spends-absurd-amount-of-money-trying-to-find-mtg-lord-of-the-rings-lotr-one-ring-card/ 

- TLDR ⚡; This is probably a great social arbitrage trade if you look at the macro impact on Hasbro stock! 

- Buying collector boxes gets more profitable to resell the longer it takes for the ring to be found………and it’s about a 0.00003% chance to find it in a pack, that’s a good investment with good hype.

- Plus, the business takeaway ⚡ is how to create scarcity and interest where there was none before. This is a piece of card with a ring on it worth $2M and the business will do a billion from this! How can you do a collab for your business, what partner or brand makes it a cult/nerd like offering?

- This is where the dollars are, not in common sense, but in fun speculation with things people have nostalgia for.

- This is an A* of business and how not to be boring at the same time. 👏

- And finally - after only a week tops, the one ring has been found and graded by PSA as a 9! Found by an avid collector in Canada, he put it in a bank vault, lawyered up, and started screening offers in the millions to trade it……….well played. 🤝

Me talking to my ‘investment partners’ I’ve been splitting the cost of wildly inflated booster packs with when we hear the news it was found……..

LITTLE BITS 😎

Codie Sanchez explaining her philosophy and how she made $10M by 30 - Worth the follow and look at this below- we curate to serve youuuuu 👇https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkgmT-tQwWM

7 Things I Learned From the Book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: https://medium.com/swlh/7-things-i-learned-from-the-book-the-almanack-of-naval-ravikant-2a8de34ca64f

The Most Profitable Strategy You’ve Never Heard Of: https://quant-galore.medium.com/the-most-profitable-strategy-youve-never-heard-of-34be037515ec

$11 Million in 1.5 Years From One Simple Product (and a Genius Strategy):  https://kristennwalters.medium.com/11-million-in-1-5-years-from-one-simple-product-and-a-genius-strategy-25e3a69fadad

This one really makes us stop and think at Renaissance……..maybe you can heed this better than we can.

“In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.” – Marcus Aurelius

NOSTALGIA OF THE DAY

Crypto Market & NFT News

The Best DeFi Crypto Loans You Never Knew About ⚡

- These are hard times. It’s a recession, you’re strapped for cash and you might need a loan to cover some costs.

- And maybe you don’t even want anyone to know about the loan! Enter…………the mysterious world of Crypto DeFi loans. ✨

- At Renaissance we’re gonna hit you with some knowledge, some rich dad poor dad classic shit. Debt is good, not bad - but only when it’s for asset purchases or avoiding taxable events (like selling assets and securities etc).

- Many billionaires make non-salaried income, they borrow and take out loans against the value of their company/stock/crypto/house etc.

- This money that they just get handed over is not taxable - it is debt. You may use this to grow your business, cover life expenses and avoid taxable events while just paying the returns on the loan over time.

- Well used debt is one of the wonders of the world, but understandably with interest rates and affordability so crazy right now you may be put off. However, things are very different in the DeFi space………if you have the LTV ratio you can get all the schmeckles (money) you want, no questions asked, through the power of these liquidity pools and smart contracts!

I’ll give you the TLDR on the pros early, how about that 👀: 

⚡ These DeFi loans are just like home loans, you use your crypto as collateral and loan against it!

⚡ You can borrow without a credit check, without any purpose for the loan, and even take out a loan anonymously.

⚡ Most importantly - you can get paid out in dollars or pounds just from locking up your crypto and avoiding selling. This is even better if you’re holding stable coins where the value won’t change so you won’t need to worry about the LTV ratio.

⚡ They often have very low interest rates on large sums if you put up certain Crypto, but most platforms like ETH or BTC, all the big names and nothing sketchy.

⚡ Access to the loans is basically instant instead of months from banks!

- So it’s just like a normal loan in the real world - they give you a lump sum of money and you put up your Crypto as collateral.

- The great benefit here is that you still own the Crypto even when it’s locked up so you could profit from it appreciating in value while at the same time taking the loan and living on it!

- Celsius and BlockFi, FTX - sound familiar? All filed for bankruptcy protection following the fallout from the Terra Luna collapse and their own blow-ups. 🧨

- We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again at Renaissance - you can’t trust centralised players for the finance you depend on, but you can trust logic. And the smart contracts that house it, this is where DeFi or decentralised finance comes in.

LTV or Loan to Value ratio - explained for the rookies ⚡

- We’ll start nice and easy, LTV essentially means for what you put down, you’ll get a percentage of that back as the loan in cash.

- For example: If you put down 10k worth of ETH as collateral, you’ll borrow $5K USD, your LTV is 50%.

- It’s not like a home loan which uses the house itself as the collateral, you get free money this way without having to sell your Crypto.

- Most Crypto loan platforms will max out the LTV at 80% or less, againnnn that means whatever you want to borrow you have to post even more collateral.

- The only steps involved: Connect your wallet to the platform of choice and transfer the funds for the agreed amount. Then instantly or within 24hrs the loan funds are yours! Booom, you’ve just funded your degen habits of leverage trading. 🤝

Which platform to use:

✅ Nexo https://nexo.com/earn-crypto 

- A centralised player yes, but no credit checks and approvals

- Interest starts at 0% and never goes over 14%. They take basically every Crypto you’re probably holding so we’re sure you’d find a deal.

- 15% - 90% LTV depending on the Crypto you’re giving up!

✅ Binance ……we all know them, big centralised exchange

- Again, probably every Crypto you want they’ll take it. LTV is usually always 60%.

- Loan terms are limited but flexible at 7 to 180 days, with no early repayment fees.

The DeFi options now, which are instant and there’s no checks so you can even be anonymous

✅ Aave - get your loan and watch your worries go aaveeee https://aave.com/ 

- A decentralised lending protocol with 7 chain support so you won’t have to change/swap tokens to start borrowing!

- The difference here is that it’s supply and demand based, and as such you can expect a variable interest rate depending on the token you’ve put down in their liquidity pool.

- So rates for low-supply tokens can shoot up at times. People use Aave for short-term borrowing or even flash loans (fixed-fee loans that are repaid within seconds) to lower the risk of the rate.

- LTV 35% - 80%

✅ MakerDAO https://makerdao.com/ 

- The people behind DAI, the dollar tracking Stablecoin, and this is what makes all the price tracking loans they offer possible.

- It’s not just as easy as the others to use but it’s pretty basic to understand. Interest can be as low as 0.25%! And can be up to 6% (that’s still okay for the normal world right now) but it is a variable rate.

- 54% - 99% for the LTV.

✅ Alchemix https://alchemix.fi/ 

- This DeFi lending protocol is crazyyyyy, it offers “self-repaying loans.”

- Exact same setup as all the others though, you deposit, see the LTV, borrow and then pay back. Except here the loan pays itself back……..’wut?’ I hear you ask.

- Your deposited Crypto earns interest through Yearn Finance, which can then pay down your loan and its interest.

- Limits LTV to 50%, so you’re avoiding liquidations on this one. And there’s no lock-up periods for your loan/Crypto. Crazy stuff!

Wealth Building, Personal Finance Hacks & FAT FIRE

- For the next few weeks we’re going to focus on FAT Fire. All you need to know and the breakdown of all the relevant stages with tips!

- If you don’t know already FAT Fire is Financial Independence Retire Early but on steroids.💉 It’s the kind of stuff we’re all about here at Renaissance. It’s the FIRE movement but with the intention of living an incredibly extravagant lifestyle in retirement.

- So first port of call - we’re going to show you how your FAT Fire number is calculated. This is your ultimate target and you’ll know you’re ready to retire in fat style when you hit it. 💵

- With any goal it’s always helpful to have a target to aim towards, both for motivation and clarity of what you are trying to achieve. And luckily for us, this one just requires some simple mathematics. ✖➗

- There are two methods often used to calculate your FAT Fire number. Assuming a 4% withdrawal rate (which is the standard) the formulas are as follows:

1) Multiply your expected annual retirement expenses by 25, or

2) Divide your expected annual retirement expenses by 0.04.

- Using a quick example to illustrate. Lets say your annual retirement expenses are expected to be $200,000. Your FAT Fire number would be $200,000 × 25 = $5,000,000 or assuming the 4% withdrawal rate $200,000 / 0.04 = $5,000,000.

- This is a standard approach but you could be more or less conservative with your withdrawals. For example if you wanted to assume even lower returns you could take a withdrawal rate of 3% which would give you a larger target number.

- Hit this number and you will safely be able to withdraw from your pot, live your best life on some island with no worry about running out of cash. 🏝

- This target is a lot of dolla, but of course this will depend on your retirement lifestyle. You definitely don’t want to go down in lifestyle in retirement. You could live frugally, or you can absolutely ball out and let this number be massive - which is what FAT Fire is all about!

- But beyond the luxury this fat figure affords you, just as important is the incredible buffer and safety margin. With a multiple like this you’re ready for whatever life may throw at you and will never have to worry financially again.

- Over the next few weeks we’ll provide further steps on how to get to your target and the best way to invest along the way.

- But first, here’s some inspiration of what could be at the end. Lounging in a Tuscan castle with your fat investment account. 🏰👇

Meme of the Day

That’s a wrap for this week! Meet us on Twitter to talk all about it. Where we’ll send you jokes, tips, and all important news from the world of money, business and crypto and more! (@RenaissanceDly)

Masterwork disclaimer: “Net Return" refers to the annualized internal rate of return net of all fees and costs, calculated from the offering closing date to the date the sale is consummated. IRR may not be indicative of Masterworks paintings not yet sold and past performance is not indicative of future results. See important Regulation A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.