Dare to Change Life Coaching & Mentoring

Tag: bitcoin

  • My Take on Cryptocurrency Investing – Now and Then

    My Take on Cryptocurrency Investing – Now and Then

    If you pay any attention to the financial news over the last week or so, you know that there has been a significant correction in the “crypto world.” 

    A couple of days ago one of family members who invested ALL his investable money in Bitcoin said, with a deep sense of frustration in his voice: “I lost a LOT of money…damn it!” 

    So, today I’ll talk about my take on cryptocurrencies – now and then.

    As you might have guessed, I belong to the Baby Boomers generation (although have only one “baby” LOL) and, like many of Boomers, am concerned about the weakening U.S. dollar and the U.S. economy that is sinking more and more into unprecedented debt. 

    I believe that gold is one of the main hedges for weakening U.S. dollar (or any other fiat currency for that matter), the “real money.”

    However, it’s not the only hedge that we can use to protect ourselves from economic calamity.  

    Many people (especially Millennials and generation Z, less so the Boomers) are excited about cryptocurrencies – “digital money” that can be used to pay for [some] products and services outside of traditional banking systems. 

    Cryptocurrencies use a blockchain platform, which is a decentralized technology spread across many computers that manage and records transactions, which makes it more secure and independent of local banking systems.

    Although theoretically, we can use gold and cryptos to pay for “things”, they are mainly used as storage of value as well as a vehicles for speculation. 

    When many financial commentators and investment letters’ editors were forecasting the Bitcoin price to hit $100,000 per coin or even higher, many newbie investors who are late to the “Crypto party” were willing to pay high prices.  Bitcoin skyrocketed to over $64,000 on April 13, 2021…and lifted up many other cryptos with it, just on pure enthusiasm and emotional hype.

    Then on May 13th, Tesla founder Elon Musk made waves when he announced his company would no longer accept bitcoin as car payments…and the crypto markets have had rough going ever since…

    Bitcoin is down 33% since hitting its all-time highs, and Ethereum is down 23%. Many other cryptos (altcoins) are also down double-digits.

    So, Elon Musk is behind the latest pullback, after he announced his company would no longer accept bitcoin for car payments…

    He said that Bitcoin is “very bad for the environment. It uses a lot of coal. We’re not going to take Bitcoin anymore.”

    This is a really stunning change-of-heart for Musk because just two months earlier, he bragged that Tesla would accept Bitcoin as payment for cars! And in February, 2021 Tesla invested $1.5 billion of its corporate treasury in Bitcoin… And now, out of the blue, Musk is ranting about bitcoin mining not being eco-friendly.

    So, needless to say that the volatility in cryptos is not for the faint of heart. Many people still remember the Crypto Crash of 2018.

    And newbies, many with the never-fading hope to “get rich quick”, are always at greater risk for being on the wrong side of the transaction…

    Volatility is a great environment for traders, not for investors. And so, cryptocurrencies’ trading right now is a paradise for traders.

    However, if you’re an investor and don’t want to live in a state of fear over short-term volatility in ANY assets, please remember the basic investing principles –  buy low, sell high, be patient, and keep emotions out of investing decisions.

    I realize it’s easy to say and much harder to implement when you see boasting posts and interviews of the crypto millionaires…(yes, the lucky “rich quick” folks). 

    Successful investing is more about strategy and less about emotional hypes. 

    After all, worrying about your invested money all the time defeats the purpose of investing, which is creating the desired lifestyle where you never need to worry about money!

    And that’s why a simple diversification strategy can be very useful for long-term investors. Does it make sense?  

    If you ask me, I see cryptocurrencies’ investing as a small slice in my investment portfolio, my “financial worth pie”, not the whole pie. I call this it a “speculation” slice. 

    And when my crypto investments deep – I don’t panic. And when they soar, I choose to take some profits off the table, so I could buy more later on, when cryptos correct.

    The bottom line message from me today: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are very volatile yet quite resilient. 

    So, if your risk tolerance is low and you cannot “stomach” market volatility without losing sleep over it – it might be not the best hedge option for you. 

    However, if you’re playing a long-term investment game, have diversified investments, and use cryptos as a slice of your investment pie, not the entire pie, then stay cool and don’t fallow the panicky crowd.

    Write a comment and let me know what you think about this topic – I really want to hear from you.

    To your Health, Wealth and Freedom!

     

    Millen 

    P.S. In case you’re brand new to investing in cryptocurrencies and would like to get some beginner training, CLICK HERE to take a look at this easy-to-follow short online program.

  • To Bitcoin or NOT to Bitcoin? Pros and Cons of Investing in Cryptocurrencies

    To Bitcoin or NOT to Bitcoin? Pros and Cons of Investing in Cryptocurrencies

    “Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. But don’t be stupid.” ~ James Altucher

    Let me be frank… Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – Money 2.0 – is a very new and even uncomfortable concept for most people.

    As excited as you may be about this idea, you need to recognize that there is an inherent risk in cryptocurrencies. This is a brand-new market. So, I want you to remember that the risk of a 100% loss is ALWAYS present in cryptocurrencies. That’s why I urge you to go small should you decide to invest in this space.

    Investing $100- $400 is small enough to cause you only minor financial pain if one of your cryptocurrencies goes bust… But it’s still big enough to create real wealth for you if only few become a major success.

    The smart approach is to build yourself a “basket” of different cryptocurrency plays. Some of them will become superstars. Others will be good winners. And a few will go to zero.

    So, don’t go crazy!! Don’t invest all your investing funds in one particular cryptocurrency – diversify with well respected cryptos. Do your research. Join cryptocurrencies forums.  Be calm. Be rational. Stick your toe in the water with just $100, or $200 in each of ideas you want to test. Get started, and see where the game will take you.

    The blockchain technology is young… the cryptocurrencies market is young… and it’s changing every day. That might make you a little nervous. Usually, conservative, rational investors like to stick to known, stable, predictable investments. Warren Buffet publicly shared his distrust of this new digital money.

    However, there is another side of the story. Blockchain is a budding new technology. It’s an exciting, massive new movement and a trend that you may want to be part of. After all, when you can get in at the ground level of such an opportunity (and I believe that we’re still at that phase), you have a chance to plant seeds for the life-changing wealth.

    You can do that… while being smart about it. All that means is that you need to invest sensibly, start small, and avoid risking more money than you’re willing to lose.

    I recommend allocating no more than 3-5% of your total net investing money in cryptos. In other words, of all the money you have to invest, only put 3-5% of that toward these investments. From there, you can take even smaller positions in each individual cryptocurrency.

    Remember: It doesn’t take much to turn a small stake of $100, $500, or even $1,000 into the life-changing wealth.

    As I write this post, the stock market in the US had one of the biggest day declines in the history (4.6% in one day), then turned around and jumped up the next day. Bitcoin price too fell below $7,000 from its highs of $20,000 in 2017. Does it mean that the cryptocurrencies are heading to the graveyard?

    I don’t think so.

    It means that it’s a volatile financial product and you must exercise prudence and patience. Be an informed investor – follow the development in this space. Learn how it works and how to buy, store, send and receive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

    If you’re really interested in learning more about cryptocurrencies, sign up for my 4-day Masterclass “Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth” and get a lot of specific details about investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies while managing your risk.

    I want you to see the big picture of building wealth. Cryptocurrencies could be part of your portfolio but very small part. The key element to building lasting wealth is to diversify your investments.

    To Your Health, Wealth and Freedom!

    Millen Livis

    p.s. “Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Your Wealth” Masterclass will help you answer the questions “To Bitcoin or Not to Bitcoin?”

  • Bitcoin, Blockchain and Your Investment Strategy

    Bitcoin, Blockchain and Your Investment Strategy

    I recently heard about a report that stated that 30% of millennials would invest in bitcoins instead of stocks (I refer to established, successful publicly traded companies) in order to secure their retirement. Not only that… they would be willing to use their credit cards to buy the bitcoins! This information was quite shocking to me and I felt compelled to write this article.

    But before I get into specifics of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies world, I want to curb your ambition to become a cryptocurrencies millionaire. I am not saying it’s impossible (yes, there are Bitcoin millionaires). I just want to show you a bigger picture of where Bitcoin and other  cryptocurrencies fit into your investment portfolio.

    Role of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies in your Investment Portfolio

    Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, dash, blah, blah, blah can be considered to be chaos hedge. Chaos hedge is a portion of your investment portfolio that acts as a form of insurance against things like market crashes, financial system collapse (when banks are closed/insolvent), global economic shocks caused by wars, massive natural disasters, etc. Having some chaos hedges, such as gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies, provides downside protection for your investment portfolio.

    However, most cryptocurrencies are very speculative investments because out of 1000 or so existing cryptocurrencies, likely over 90% are Ponzi schemes according to a few savvy investors I follow. So, you’ve been warned: If you want to dive into a super-speculative world of cryptocurrencies, especially outside of Bitcoin (which is currently considered to be the most recognized, “reserve currency” for buying other cryptos), you must do your due diligence before buying them.

    On the other hand, there are setups in the cryptocurrencies’ market that could give you high gains within next six to 12 months.  I call it smart speculation. When used correctly, smart speculations offer the opportunity for substantial gains, even in conservative investment portfolios. The key here is to allocate a small percentage of your investment portfolio into the smart speculation holding.

    Now, a brief overview of what Bitcoin is and why you may want to consider owning some.

    Bitcoin: Brief Overview

    Bitcoin is the most widely used open-source (not proprietary owned) peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that you can send over the Internet without a bank or a middleman. It is also a storage of value, finite value to be precised. Only 21 million bitcoins will ever be created. They have value somewhere between zero and a very large number (some predict $500K per bitcoin) and the value is determined by the demand of the Bitcoin network users.

    Bitcoin is a “native of the internet”, and thus it is digital in its entirety, although very few physical bitcoins  were manufactured by Casascius,  the coin company, before they were stopped by regulators.  There are technical reasons why it doesn’t make sense to use bitcoin to pay for small transactions. However, owning bitcoin does make sense as an asset for people who want to store value of something that can be traded for something else in the future.

    For example, you don’t trust banks or you’re worried about a natural disaster and want to have some cash available. Some people put cash in a mattress, or in a safe. But you can also put it in something attributed to you that shows that you have something of value that you can use in the future. Yes, it’s somewhat similar to gold, the traditional storage of value. And similarly to gold, you can store value in bitcoin by converting fiat currencies into bitcoin.

    With Bitcoin, the original alleged developer Satoshi Nakamoto, set out to create a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system”. There is much mystery around the true identity of the original Bitcoin creator. There are rumors that whoever Satoshi Nakamoto actually holds roughly 1 million bitcoins, worth approximately $11.6 billion based on the recent prices ($11, 600/Bitcoin).

    One of the big innovations of Bitcoin was creating a system that did not rely on trusted third parties to process electronic payments; instead it relies on the consensus of the “bitcoin miners” on the network (sometimes referred as computer nodes).

    Bitcoin is a currency which supply cannot be altered by any central bank or government. That might not seem like as big of a deal in countries like the U.S., or U.K. but in places like Zimbabwe and Venezuela that have experienced hyper-inflation due to excessive money printing by corrupt governments, this is of greater concern.

    Blockchain technology

    The truth is that cryptocurrencies’ rise in popularity is largely attributed to a new innovative technology that is used for trading cryptocurrencies – “blockchain”, which is considered to be revolutionary, just like the Internet was in the 90-s.

    Many people say “I don’t know about bitcoin, but I believe in blockchain.” That could be because many people don’t believe in bitcoin but believe in Blockchain technology.  So, what the hell is Blockchain?

    Blockchain is a digital distributed public ledger, but it’s really a strong cryptography (based on mathematics). And just in case you are not familiar with the word cryptography, it’s the art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format. Only those who possess a secret key can decrypt the message into plain text. Cryptography is used to protect credit card information, corporate data, etc.

    Recent advance of Bitcoin and recognition by financial communities

    On December 17th,2017, the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the world’s largest futures (future contracts) exchange, launched its own bitcoin futures contract under the ticker “BTC.” One CME futures contract represents five bitcoins.

    You may know that there are plenty of well-known critics of Bitcoin in the banking and business worlds. Specifically, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., called the cryptocurrency a “fraud” and said it would blow up. However, Mr Dimon recently said in a TV interview on the business cable network that he regrets calling it a fraud.

    There are more and more investors and even hedge fund managers jump on the Bitcoin wagon. Bitcoin has had a phenomenal bullish run in 2017, rising from $966 at the start of the year to a record high of over $20, 000. While the price of the Bitcoin failed since its highs in 2017, many expect that the cryptocurrencies prices are going to climb up further.

    If you want to learn more about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as how you can buy, store, send and receive cryptocurrencies, I invite you to join my upcoming masterclass Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth.

    This training offers a comprehensive approach to investing in cryptocurrencies – from understanding what it is and how it works, to how to buy, store, send and receive it, to how to manage your risk. While I cannot give you a specific advice or promise profits from any of your investments, I can promise that by  the end of this masterclass you will be in a good position to make a decision  weather you want to invest in cryptocurrencies and what to do next.

    To Your Health, Wealth and Freedom.

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Millen Livis

    P.S. I have a crazy good offer for this training if you sign up for this masterclass before February 1st, 2018

    Sign up  HERE for Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth.