Most people think about income in fiat currency, spend it in that currency, and rarely convert it into other assets. This thought experiment flips the script: what would a year of your salary buy in Bitcoin across different market phases?
Step one: pick a number
Pick a round annual income, say $60,000, and treat it as a fixed pool of purchasing power. In dollar terms, that pool buys roughly the same basket of goods year over year, minus standard inflation.
Step two: convert into Bitcoin at different periods
Converting $60,000 into Bitcoin near a market peak buys a small number of coins. Converted near a market trough, it buys significantly more coins for the exact same dollar amount. The salary stays constant; its Bitcoin-denominated purchasing power swings dramatically based on market timing.
Test Salary Conversions
Plug your annual budget into the live simulator to see today's BTC count.
Test Salary →Step three: run it forward
Imagine converting a chunk of past income into crypto and holding it long term. Depending on entry timing, that allocation could outpace inflation significantly or experience heavy drawdowns.
Why this exercise is useful
This comparison highlights why timing matters when converting stable cash flow into volatile assets. It underlines the rationale behind dollar-cost averaging (DCA) to smooth out purchasing power swings over time.
Run your own numbers
Enter any hypothetical dollar amount into the SpendCoins simulator to analyze real-time purchasing power relative to historical market benchmarks.