I can’t help but feel like I’ve failed myself. I guess I’m just trying to say, don’t mess around with your life savings because of a new shiny toy.
I’ve been the classic example of a modern-day ‘Bitcoiner.’ I was living my life like a normal person with a good job that paid well and had put my savings into stocks in 2011. Despite my investments doing well, I couldn’t help but get lured in by the possibility of Bitcoin after I googled ‘what is Bitcoin?’ in 2017 and sold all my stocks to go ‘all in’ around the $5,000 mark.
I was so passionate about Bitcoin that I didn’t care for the terrible bear markets and continued to put my entire earnings into BTC. I even shorted BTC with BTC on Bitmex when it crashed from $7,000 to $3,500, probably my best trade ever that just gave me more BTC.
I got lucky and got a job that paid in BTC and hodled as much as I could, stacking up 20 BTC eventually. I was feeling on top of the world until the market dropped from $70,000 to $35,000. I decided to take a risk and use my BTC to purchase a house with the intention of renovating it myself, which ended up costing me way more than anticipated.
Focused on my home renovation project, I had to take a break from my well-paying job and ended up selling more BTC than I had anticipated. To make matters worse, my ex-wife sued me, and I had to spend even more of my BTC on that.
Prior to this, I was debt-free, and now I have $40,000 of credit card debt. Despite having my well-paying job back, I still feel like I’ve failed myself. All this is to say, don’t make the mistake of taking risks with your life savings just because of a new shiny toy.
I’m sure many of you can relate to my story. I was so caught up in the ‘Bitcoin hype’ that I ended up making some bad decisions. I sold all my stocks and went all in with my entire savings and earnings on BTC, without thinking through the consequences.
Despite this, I was still naive enough to believe that the market would remain high and risked my entire savings to purchase a house, which ended up costing me more than anticipated. I had to take a break from my well-paying job, resulting in me selling more BTC than I had anticipated, and my ex-wife sued me, resulting in even more BTC spending.
In the end, I had $40,000 of credit card debt and no BTC left. My story is a cautionary tale. Don’t get caught up in the ‘Bitcoin hype’ without thinking through the consequences. Don’t mess around with your life savings because of a new shiny toy. Be smart and only invest what you can afford to lose.