In the words of the great Warren Buffett...blah blah blah.
Warren hates Bitcoin, Ethereum, and cryptocurrency. He barely thinks the internet is a thing. And yet, he is super successful in his investment approach, and has been for decades. Decades! A lot of us in the cryptoworld would be seen as prophets if we had been successful in Bitcoin for even 1 decade, and he as 5 of them. It's a bit cringey to see people in the cryptoworld quote someone who thinks they are reckless idiots for investing in this space. I get the instinct...learn from the best to up your own game. But from where I sit, especially in cryptocurrency investing, committing as much as you can to your own approach is critical. Critical!!
Notice I said approach, not goals, plan, strategy, portal, use of professional advice, asset class, or technique. Your investing approach can embrace all of those elements. For me, the most important starting point is your Investing Goal.
Your investing goal is more or less the reason why you are doing anything with your money other than receiving income and paying bills and liabilities. Since we are talking about cryptocurrency here, and because this is one of the strangest, most hyped, most hated, and most volatile asset classes you can mess around with, it can be really helpful to clarify your goals.
Your cryptocurrency investing goal should answer the basic question: Why am I putting my hard-earned money in cryptocurrency?
That is a bit broad, so here are some questions to ask yourself about your goals:
1. Do I need profits right now, I mean NEED THEM?
2. What is the entertainment value of investing in crypto?
3. What is the educational value of investing in crypto?
4. What is my timeline for showing profits or cutting losses? When do I need my initial investment back?
5. Does anyone else depend on the money I am investing, or in any profits I hope to make?
Here is how I would answer my own questions.
First, I don't need any of the money I am putting into cryptocurrency now, or, really, ever. It would piss me off and embarrass me if I lost everything, and it would suck all around, but I am still able to reach my financial goals and fulfill my financial obligations without it.
Second, I get a lot, let me repeat, A LOT of entertainment value out of investing in this space! I love it! It is so weird that I can't help but get drawn in. There is almost infinite complexity, possibility, creativity, and even community in just opening my eyes and mind to what has been developing here. It is super, super fun for me. I need to remind myself of that when I lose money on gas fees or can't afford to fully stake some coins or both, or when I flame out on BetFury. This is fun, so I am willing to pay some toll fees in order to keep having a good time. It might seem like I am over-emphasizing this point, but for me, remembering the fun is vital. I was a competitive athlete at one point, and the mindset I developed for that domain can really creep into other domains and get me focused on performance, winning, and being pissed off if I eff up - or especially if the "Referees" are against me (I'm looking at you BetFury random number algorithms!! lol). I know myself well enough to predict that if I get too caught up in winning, I will start to hate it, start to make rash decisions to try to pull out a last second victory, and will miss out on a lot of new and exciting experiences. That's just me, but you should think about it yourself.
Third, I get some educational value out of this space. Mostly it is way over my head. I have looked at some of the explanations of what blockchain is, and I follow along pretty well about the role of miners and the various proofs of this and that, but my goal here is not to master this body of knowledge. I respect the folks who know this stuff, but it's not my jam, so a little goes a long ways. Likewise with Technical Analysis. To me, every TA article seems to say some version of "the XYZ Polygon indicates that if it goes up it will go up, but the ZYX Rhombus says that if it doesn't do that it will go down." I know people make way bigger bucks using valid approaches to TA than I ever will, but again, not my jam. So, for me, the educational value is pretty low, but the learning often is really fun.
Fourth, I can have a long timeline. Essentially, if I make insane money, I can move my timeline up. If not, I can wait. And as much as I would really like my initial investment back, there is no ticking clock on when. Or even if.
Fifth, nope.
If you put all of that together, my engagement in cryptocurrency investment fits very cleanly in the "hobby" category, where I am using my own money to have fun. It's like someone else working on classic cars, or collecting vinyl, or shoes. It might make them money, but that's not the point.
Beyond that, I have a few more specific goals, which are part of the reason why I entered this space.
Essentially my entire savings are in US dollars or in equities that would need to be liquidated through US brokerages. Inflation and the insane political and civil animosity going on these days makes that feel very vulnerable. I would like cryptocurrency to help me hedge against that.
And, I also want to get back out there in the big wide world, and with all my assets tied up in US dollars, I am very interested in a form of liquidity that "plays straight" no matter where in the world I am visiting or living. Again, I would like cryptocurrency to help me live more freely without borders.
So, that's it. I realize I am lucky to not NEED my cryptocurrency investments to pay the bills. That enables me to be a bit more mellow about all this and not feel like I have to make rapid decisions. This space is absolutely perfectly crafted to make you feel that if you are not moving your money into $QUAB, or the legendary FerrariBulgariCoin, TODAY you will miss out on your best opportunity for financial independence. If you have a clear investing goal, you can resist impulses to pile into rash choices.
If you have different goals than I do, you might need to churn faster, hustle harder, take bigger risks, cash out more often, get out in front of emerging altcoins and all sort of things. Or, in the opposite direction, you might need to find a good platform where you can start to dollar-cost average your other assets into Bitcoin and only Bitcoin to hold your wealth. Who knows?
Well, I guess, you do!
I hope that this post helps you take a little time to clarify your investing goals.
What tips do you have for how to sort yourself out on what you want to accomplish in the cryptoworld?
~~~~~~
Exchanges and Wallets I Use and Enjoy
BlockFi -- https://blockfi.com/?ref=12bc0247
Celsius -- https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/160685ab0a
eToro -- https://etoro.tw/2KjXsOn
Gemini -- https://gemini.com/share/zqegnlh9
Faucets and Sites I Personally have Earned Crypto
Cointiply -- http://cointiply.com/r/p9Gyy
BetFury -- https://betfury.io/?r=601502337521da79ce95370b
Earn Tokens with Real Value for Free...Not Much, But Free!
Presearch -- https://presearch.org/signup?rid=2078735
Fun, Free, and..."Maybe They'll Pay Off Someday" Sites
FreeBitCo.in -- https://freebitco.in/?r=41144131
FreeEthereum.com -- https://freeethereum.com/?ref=120579
Pi Network -- https://minepi.com/PopPop6
And a fun new entry that I hope to review very soon...RollerCoin! https://rollercoin.com/?r=kl4g3m6h
