Lumifer comments on How long will Alcor be around? - Less Wrong

30 Post author: Froolow 17 April 2014 03:28PM

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Comment author: Lumifer 17 April 2014 05:01:40PM 5 points [-]

Alcor goes out of its way to avoid having anything that could be a debt, and is careful to maintain funds that can be used to continue to keep its patients preserved.

So Alcor has, essentially, something like an endowment fund the investment returns from which pay for the expenses of maintaining the cryo facilities.

That raises an interesting question of what will happen to Alcor in the case of a purely financial crisis -- say a market crash or a hyperinflationary episode...

Comment author: James_Miller 17 April 2014 07:10:24PM 1 point [-]

Some types of financial crises would destroy them unless they could attract new donations. But by investing in stocks and land you can protect yourself from hyperinflation.

Comment author: Lumifer 17 April 2014 07:50:00PM 1 point [-]

But by investing in stocks and land you can protect yourself from hyperinflation.

You can't protect yourself from hyperinflation and volatility at the same time. If you are afraid of volatility you put money into cash and fixed income instruments which are highly exposed to inflation. If you are afraid of inflation you put money into hard assets and stocks, but these are risky investments and are subject to considerable volatility.

Don't forget that you also MUST earn sufficient return to cover the running expenses.

Comment author: James_Miller 17 April 2014 08:45:58PM 4 points [-]
Comment author: Eugine_Nier 18 April 2014 04:28:24AM 5 points [-]

Also, I'm not convinced those would protect against hyperinflation, given the kinds of things countries suffering from hyperinflation tend to do.

Comment author: Lumifer 17 April 2014 08:53:53PM 5 points [-]

Yes, you can buy TIPS the return on which is, to a first approximation, zero.