TL; DR Breakdown
- The US paid its citizens $1,200 to cushion them against Covid-19 effects.
- If one had invested the funds in Bitcoin (BTC) instead, they’d have profited 912 percent.
The Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on global economies. As a result, nations took interventions to cushion their people from its effects. The US did, too, through a stimulus package.
It launched the Economic Impact Payment (EIP) Act in April 2020. Through the EIP, also known as the CARES act, Americans were eligible for a payment upwards of $1,200 for single persons.
They received the first disbursements by mid that April. The funds were meant for bettering their welfare, but what if they chose to invest them instead?
If you had invested your $1,200 stimulus pay in BTC, commodities, or stocks then, what would you have made? Also, which of the three mentioned options would’ve been most lucrative?
Here’s a comparison of the returns you’d have recorded between then and now. The assumption is that all the start dates are 20th April 2020. And the end date is 11th November 2021.
Investing your stimulus in BTC would be most profitable
According to CoinDesk, 1BTC exchanged for $7,129.26 on 20th April 2020. Therefore your check of $1,200 would have bought 0.1683 BTC.
At the time of writing, BTC exchanges at $65,012.89. Your 0.1683 BTC holding would be worth $10,941.67. As such, you’d have made a profit of $9,741.67, representing a 912 percent return.
How would the math pan out if you chose gold instead? According to the Bullion Rates website, one gram of gold sold for $54.496 then. Consequently, with $1,200, you’d have acquired 22.02 grams of the metal.
At press time, gold is trading at $59.859 per gram. Thus your investment would be worth $1,318.10, coming to a profit of $118.10 at a rate of 110 percent.
Another option would’ve been to invest the stimulus check in silver. Again Bullion Rates shows that silver went for $0.4923 a gram on 20th April 2020.
Using that rate, you’d have bought 2,437.5 grams. But today, one gram of silver would cost you $0.8102. Hence your stash would be worth $1,974.90, a return of 165 percent!
Brent would’ve earned you a tidy sum
Alternatively, you’d have opted to invest the stimulus check in natural gas. $1,200 would have bought 674.16 million British Thermal Units (MMBtu’s).
One MMBtu back then went for $1.78. Today, you’d buy one MMBtu of natural gas at $5.106.So your investment would be worth $3,442.26, making you a profit of $2,242.26, a 287 percent gain.
You could also have chosen to invest in Brent Crude. Statista records that one barrel sold for $18.38 on 20th April 2020. Your stimulus check would’ve bought you 65.29 barrels of Brent.
The buying price has since ballooned to $82.10 a barrel at press time. Consequently, your initial investment would be worth $5,360. That would be a $4,160 profit showing a 477 percent growth.
Besides the commodities mentioned, you could also invest your stimulus check in stocks. How would that have played out?
According to Yahoo news, the Dow Jones’ value was 24,242.49 points on 20th April 2020. At press time, that had shot to 29,420.92.
That change is a 121 percent increase. Your $1,200 investment would therefore be worth $1,452. That’s a profit of $252
Similarly, the site records SP 500 index’s value as 2,874.56 points on the date. The figure has grown to 3,545.53 points by the time of writing.
The index has thus grown 123 percent during that period. A $1,200 investment would be worth $1,476 today, a gain of $226.
Finally, if you went the Nasdaq route, you’d have made a profit of 134 percent. That’s because the index’s value was 8,650.14 points on 20th April 2020.
This figure stands at 11,553.86 points at the time of writing. From the increase, you’d therefore have profited by $408.
