You're 60 years old. Why should you start now investing in this weird crypto space?

in #investment7 years ago (edited)

So, you're nearing retirement. You have some money saved and you're thinking about your investments and about what you're going to leave behind for your family. You have a son or daughter that mentions Steemit, almost kinda nags about it, and you're wondering to yourself "why should I bother with that newfangled thing?"

1 Trillion

Right now the market cap of the crypto space is 100 Billion dollars and fluctuates around there. Over the next 5-10 years that's likely going to grow by an order of magnitude to 1 trillion or more. If you want transparency, speed, lack of regulation, questionable gray tax zone, and a bastion of free speech and liberty look no further than the crypto space.

It's volitile

If you like to watch your investments then this place is amazing and terrifying. If you like to set it and forget this place probably won't let you down. Crypto is very much the wild west. So, you get swings where bitcoin can lose 90% of it's value and take all the other coins with it. So, if you're sitting there waiting on your social security check to live it's probably a bad idea, but if you have some money that you're still able to invest for the long game then crypto is amazing. If you like to day trade you'd be hard pressed to find a place where the swings are larger. Look bitcoin just went from 3k to 1.9k and back up to 2.8. When have you seen IBM do that? You don't remember and it's not just the memory loss.

So, yeah, it's kinda scary, but if you learn a lot about this place and figure out what is moving the market you can make money on the way down, and the way back up, and the way back down, have some lunch and do again in the afternoon.

'Cus' Liberty

Look, you're probably a boomer. You likely fell for all the propaganda about America being the greatest nation ever while they glossed over bombing another set of countries and endless war during your lifetime. Maybe just maybe, something that your kids have said about "Maybe America shouldn't be in so many wars" or "If these are the two best candidates we can produce maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with our democracy" that actually resonated. Maybe something felt weird when the tsa agent was touching your breasts like you were some terrorist suspect or when they did it to your 4 year old granddaughter. You'd like to see a different world left for your kids, but you inherently know that you're not gonna get there using the same tools that built this one. Just take a second to think what would a different world look like? How could you make it better? I think you'll see some similarities to Steemit with future potentials.

You're tired of inflation

If you haven't noticed yet the money that you put in your bank account 10 years ago buys half as much shit today. That's not an accident. That's inflation. They hide the numbers by changing container sizes all the time and things like that, but it's hard to get away from the fact that you used to fill your grocery cart for $100 and now it's looking like $200 or more IF you're even able to pay that much. Inflation robs you every single day you live. The USG alone prints 160 million dollars a day. that's pure inflation, and you've been fed some bs that it's good for you, but since when was sky high housing and unaffordable groceries a good thing?

Crypto currencies have a very small amount of inflation. Some have none. While they aren't all technically deflationary some are so close that in comparison to government currencies they are functionally deflationary. That means 10 years from today your coins will purchase twice as many groceries as they could today. Yes, the prices fluctuate, but simply compared to inflation of US dollars if you're gonna hoard some currency let it be cryptocurrencies.

Steemit is fun

You read an article you liked by some super cute chica named Alla. You imported a savings account or two and sold some goldman sachs stock after realizing that the profits came because they did some shady shit. Now you have a boatload of steem, drop an upvote, and you hit that hot chica with a $100 upvote and before you even go to lunch you get a quick "thank you so much I"m so grateful." I mean that's amazing. You can print money with your stake. Where else can you do that? You want to help poor people in Africa? UPVOTE! BOOM! Dude has enough cash to build a well. Wanna help a buddy in Caracas cause Venezuelens deserve to eat too? UPVOTE! BOOM! Now that dude can feed his family for a week. It didn't cost you a penny, but now you're supporting people across the world. Face it, Steemit is fun!

You lived through a lot of shit, time to tell your story

Lastly, this world has so many examples of story telling. In fact, entertainment is one of the most heavily valued industries in the world. Look, dust off the old thinking cap after 50 years of taking orders in some corporate shithole and take charge of your life. Tell some stories, share some knowledge, and leave something on the blockchain that will literally be there forever. Tell your story, maybe your kids won't listen, but we will.

So, sell that shady stock and buy some crypto

You can thank me later, or more likely I'll be thanking you for some upvotes!

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Don't involve older people in crypto, please. It is too risky and volatile for them.

yep you are right mate because crypto world is based on emotion fear of heart attack :-)

Hah, heart attack is probably not what you need after 60 :-)

What if BTC goes back to $120 and the elderly bought at current prices? Ouch!

Exactly!

I'm almost 60 but not quite. The draw of this is it's more than an investment, it's an outlet, a hobby, a community, and a library, too!

agree!! I love it! Almost 60 as well! I've put sixties as a tag but maybe I'll start doing that every post! We rock!! :)

Im with you @Jimitations. What makes Bitcoin the ultimate winner is that one day we will run out of it. The basic laws of supply and demand simply demand the price will go through the roof.


http://www.FlippyCoin.com is the #1 Cryptocurrency Exchange!

Great points. This is a hobby for me too.

Amen my brother from another mother with the same father from above....chaching!!

To me it's a vote to opt out of FIAT and opt into Cryptos. No central bankers, no SEC and decentralized!

A lot of great points here. Cryptocurrencies make sense for so many reasons if you're 60. 1st of all, with advances in healthcare... you could easily live past 100! And, typical retirement savings plans are usually underfunded past age 85 or 90. With cryptos, you can place a small bet with a solid likelihood for a big return (10 X to 100X). Also, some of the brightest minds on the planet are in the space - either building sites like Steem or launching cryptocurrencies like EOS. Go to where the great minds are and your chance for huge profit is high!! Imagine if you bought Appple or Microsoft in the early days.

Definitely don't see why a 60 year old wouldn't get into Steemit or crypto for that matter. I'm trying to gradually ease my Dad into it - he is 81! I probably won't be able to get him on Steemit, but I do hope to eventually have him understand the cryptocurrency space and maybe even take a position in one of the Iconomi funds.

Great post.
I'm sending this by email to some aging relatives. Thanks

Besides the idea of getting paid to blog and comment, what made me love Steemit so much was that I can help people without having to give up my own cash. While I am happy to donate money to help someone or to support a cause, my funds are not infinite. So being able to give back even more by upvoting posts feels pretty amazing.

I like @aggroed because he posts great stuff, but this post crosses the line...

Right now the market cap of the crypto space is 100 Billion dollars and fluctuates around there. Over the next 5-10 years that's likely going to grow by an order of magnitude to 1 trillion or more.

OR


Cryptocurrencies are not a sound investment for seniors. Crypto is billions of dollars of air. There is nothing there. When a crypto washes out, the money is all gone. There is not even furniture, pens and copy machines to liquidate. It's all a total castle in the air.

There is no regulation. Any common crook can create a token, rake in the money and skip town. It's happening right now as I write. Hackers are looting cryptocurrencies for tens of millions all day long and you are recommending cryptocurrencies as an investment??

Young people can lose it all and start all over again. Seniors spent their life building their assets. If it goes, all that remains is declining health, destitution and poverty; not the greatest of lifestyles. Early death, however, is a viable option as it provides an acceptable exit strategy.

He did say that it's not an investment for someone living paycheck to paycheck.

The crypto space is just about as full of crooks as Wall Street. Stocks are regulated but that only goes so far. Just ask everyone who was affected by Enron, Bernie Maddoff, Leman Brothers, or the rest of the financial services crash in 2008.

No one's saying dump everything you own into crypto. Responsible investing strategies advise that you never put more into any one asset class than you'd be comfortable losing and even then, use a trailing stop so that you don't lose it all. We're in such an early state that even a little bit put into bitcoin or a small basket of top tier currencies could outpace anything that's been seen in the stock market since the dot com boom of the early 90s.

I was gonna write this, but decayin did it for meh. So, heres an upvote and follow for taking the words right out of my mouth!

I am only 45 but i would love to retire ...lol
i don't need too much money to survive and if the bitcoin will cost 500K (as McAffee says) in 3 years - 2020 i think i will be able to retire

I'm new to this, though not quite 60 yet. I think it's fun, and if I can makes some friends and get in on this crypto thing... why not? Thanks for sharing!

i need to read this to my mom - she has always a lot to say - let her put it on here ans see the reactions of the rest of the world

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