How much now is needed for later?

With the upcoming house renovation, we have been attempting to try and work over our budget to make sure that we can complete what we need to complete in time. "In time" isn't what we were planning for with this renovation, as we were going to be financing it ourselves, which would have meant a very long and drawn out process. However, we were able to secure the renovation portion of the loan, but it came with conditions.

The renovation portion of the loan is about 25% of the total amount we are taking, but the bank can't actually give us more than 85% of the total value of the place at time of purchase. However, they seem to have found some way to offer us an extra loan at a higher interest rate (other banks couldn't), and then once the value of the property has increased through the renovation work, the additional loan will fall under the same conditions for the main, which are pretty good. The higher interest rate isn't even that bad, but definitely not great of having to pay it longterm..

However, the conditions of the loan is that we have to increase the value of the property to make sure the two loans together fall into the 85% of the total value, within eleven months. Eleven months sounds like a lot of time to do major work, but in Finland it isn't and there are already long cues and bureaucracy we have to cut through to get permissions. Next Tuesday we sign and the loan officially becomes ours - and then the clock starts ticking.

It is going to be close.

However, during this period we will only be paying the interest on the two loans, meaning that our monthly loan coasts are much lower than we are currently paying in our apartment. With a little cash that we were able to gather from selling our apartment above and beyond the 15% deposit for our apartment, this gives us a little wiggle room.

Which gets me thinking...

Okay, so I am not going to dump large amounts into crypto, but I might be able to extend my monthly buys a little and perhaps get lucky over the next two years if the full bullrun comes into effect.

Using STEEM as the example buy, 1000€ = $1100 and at 18 cent current price, it is about 6000 tokens. What do you think a bullrun would do to the price? OF course, this is the gamble, as it isn't even certain that STEEM price will go up - but at the All Time High (ATH) of 8 dollars, that $1100 purchase would have a $44,000 value. While that doesn't pay off the renovation loan, it definitely take s large bite out of it, while the 1100 put into the loan at this point actually does very little to change much at all.

I will repeat at this point - never invest what you aren't willing to lose COMPLETELY.

Now, I used STEEM as the example and an ATH that many feel it will never reach again, but this has me thinking about what kinds of holdings I would need to make a significant difference in my life.

Taking Steem out of the equation for now. If you had the possibility to invest into crypto at this point and the goal was to make a significant difference in your future position of let's say 5-10 years down the track - how much do you think you need to hold? Perhaps you will spread your investment out across crypto 10 assets with Bitcoin being one, but had to hold. How much do you think you will need to have today in Bitcoin value?

1 Bitcoin? 10? 100?

Of course, it is very difficult to say across many people, but perhaps as individuals we could think about what kinds of investment value we think we need to have today in order to get what we think we will need to have in the future. Many already do this when it comes to retirement funds contributions and the figure I commonly heard was, be sure to save 10% of monthly income. Saving is one thing, investing another though as 10% of life's earnings saved doesn't actually amount to all that much, unless you earn a lot.

Now I know that a lot of people get into crypto in the hope to "strike it rich" easily, but at least at this point, it doesn't seem like a bad way to hedge investments considering the upside potential. A small amount in today and held for a substantial time could have outcomes that will far outperform the large amounts put into traditional investment, and if someone has that smal amount and is willing to accept the risks, there is very little to lose, *other than the small amount.

What I do recognize though is that there are plenty of people who seem hell bent on doing much more than just put the little bit in, and for those who remember, there were quite a few who literally lost their houses and all they owned as they bought into Bitconnect.

This is actually one of the concerns I don't have as much with STEEM, as not only is it not a scam like Bitconnect most definitely was, people are much more conservative in their investments in as here is not the hype that surrounds the token and, it can be earned from the inflation pool through buying, staking and voting to cost average and lower risk. Also, having the ability to directly affect the direction to some degree gives a much greater sense of ownership for stakeholders and therefore, a greater chance at building a floor base value.

While I have heard of many people who lament not selling at the highs, I haven't heard of anyone who lost everything by buying in with all they've got. While sentiment drives market, greed is a massive driver of sentiment and just like a gambler on the horses, some don't know when enough is enough. But, each of us make our own decisions on what we purchase, and while some people think that spending 1500 dollars on an iPhone is worth it, others will take that same amount and see what might generate value instead.

And on this note I wonder. If for the last two years of the bear market I had bought Bitcoin and some key alts instead of unnecessary purchases, what would the difference be today? And in 5 years from now?

Life changing?

What they say is that entrepreneurs do what others are unwilling to do for two years. This means go without and work when others are at play. The crypto bear was two years long, what was I doing and is the opportunity gone, or is there still a little juice left in the industry?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]