"Are you messing with them coin things again?" - My Father
A couple months ago, I got into crypto. Hard. It always piqued my interest, and I was always keeping a watchful eye on dozens of different coins; I just didn't make the move.
I assume I was still scared, to revert back to my careless 20yr old self... Who was as liberal with his money, as a trash bag in a tornado.
However, every time I made an educated guess, I was right. Was it because of the crypto bull market? Or did I happen to have a intuitive knack at understanding human behavioral psychology, and greed?
For the past 8 years, I have lived super conservatively. I had been building up a dividend reinvestment portfolio, and living solely on the interest. I had/still have zero debts, and live as minimalist as I can stand.
Every 1st of the month, I pay my;
Rent- 25,000
Electricity and water- 2,000
Internet - 1,600
Food budget- 15,000
Miscellaneous- 5,000
And 100% of what is remaining, I reinvest in my portfolio so I couldn't touch it.
I couldn't take it anymore, this slow DRIP growth was boring me to tears. I was losing thousands. Well... Even though I didn't have any money invested in crypto, I still felt like I was taking a loss. Every day I was seeing these missed opportunities. Constantly pulling up my desktop calculator, and running the numbers...
- If only I bought 5,000 coins of ____
- Why didn't I spend just $10,000 on ____
The DRIP gains have been good to me, but seeing trades I missed that would make more than my portfolio in a year... Got me too excited not to cash out.
So here I am, currently sitting at the airport in Hong Kong, with a 6 hour layover. I am going to a cryptocurrency conference in Thailand. If you heard this story, I think you'd shudder a bit;
Watching YouTube, I caught wind of an event in Bangkok that was offering to pay certain big name YouTubers... To come out to Thailand, for their promotional event in August.
On such short notice, many of them mentioned to their subs, that they couldn't attend. Either they didn't trust the company to reimburse them, they didn't have passports, they have full-time jobs, or certain other commitments.
So... I got my hands on the email address sent to these guys, and emailed the company asking for an invite. "Sure", they replied. Come on out, and we will reimburse you when you arrive, (in BTC). I responded with a statement that the flight was looking like it would cost me 8,500 on such short notice. Flying in from USA, business class and all...
Without hesitation, they told me there was no problem. And they would pay for the hotel as well.
When I threw such a number at them, I thought they would counter with a certain budget. They didn't seem to bat an eye. After all, I wasn't in USA, and my tickets would only cost me $450 RT from the Philippines.
So now that I am on my way to Thailand, and they think I am coming in from USA on an 8,500 flight... Do you think I will capitalize on their eagerness, or bow to my honesty and integrity?
_Rob
Whatever happens, I want you to enjoy your whole trip! Have some good time with your friends. Don't be obsessing too much with the company, you've done very well even the first few days. You are GREAT, I am so proud of you!
Money comes and goes. Just don't be giving it all away without leaving something to yourself and for our cats' food. Come home safe to me <3
P.S.
Regards to Sam and Lindy. I'll see them both soon.
Eat some khao man gai for me pls. thank you!
<3 Babe, Bacon & Oreo
I laughed so hard when i heard the title. My father kinda said that to me once :D
Hilarious that so many parents don't understand... In their era, hard work paid the bills.. Not sketchy investments =)
_Rob
In my country after comunism ended there where 2 huge ponzi schemes that dryed up all the population of money . So people here the word ''invest'' money into something brings up bad memories.
Where are you from?
What schemes were they?
_Rob
Romania , Caritas and FNI were called :P just your normal pyramd scheme actually
That's an interesting situation, for myself, I choose the honesty/integrity path everytime. Helps me sleep better :)
I'm looking forward to see how this unfolds for you.
The fact that they didn't even bat an eye at paying those kind of costs would definitely raise flags for me. You're in a good spot though, at the worst you get a nice trip in Thailand and an opportunity to check out a crytpo conference, not bad for $450.
Keep us posted! Enjoy the trip
Thanks a lot... Yeah, I also believe that honesty is the best policy.
Have you ever been to Thailand?
_Rob
Nope, only through watching that dicaprio movie, the beach. That's enough to make you want to go there though. How long you there for? Enough time to get around and check things out? Have you been before?
I was just there for 3 days actually.
Met up with an old Army friend, and went to the bitconnect conference.
Thailand is super cheap, and a ton of stuff to do. I would definitely recommend it! I will go again in October, also.
_Rob
Nice, sounds like a good trip.
So what do you think of bitconnect after having gone to the conference? Did they end up reimbursing you?
Everything went well... I feel good about it, especially for the short term. I invested another $10,150 the day after the conference.
I obviously would never recommend people to invest more than they are willing to lose though!
_Rob
They must've impressed for you to drop another 10k. Hope it pays off for you, I think you're right to have your eye on the short term.
Sometimes we have to just take a leap of faith Rob...great article and congrats on your journey out of debt brother...make sure to post some more pictures later if you get a chance to sight see..Take care man...safe travels
Thanks a lot!
Still have to follow through on your camera advice, before I can take some good ones.
Still rocking with my S5 lol.
Thanks for the well wishes!
_Rob
A very interesting situation and potential moral dilemma seems to be in the works. Are you going to post the results of your decision and how the conference unfolds? It may prove to be an excellent networking opportunity, and if nothing else, now you know you're not holding out for "what ifs."
Any cryptocurrencies you're particularly interested in on top of BTC and STEEM?
I hope your 15,000 monthly food budget isn't in USD, otherwise I'll finally feel relieved that I've met someone who spends more on food than me, haha!
I will leave the decision unanswered, more fun that way =)
The money is in Philippines Pesos. I wish I had a $15,000 food budget... Haha.
I have my eye on a shortlist of about 10 alt coins... I think that is where the big money will come into play. And this is why I am building up as much capital as I can muster, for the remainder of 2017. Then I will add volume, and store my coins offline for a few years.
I need to do more research, as there are newer and newer coins coming out every day. It's a lot to keep up with. :)
Thanks for your comment =)
_Rob
Good read, man. Haha.. it would certainly raise alarm bells to me, but what's the worse thing that can happen? Trip to Thailand. Enjoy!!
Nick
Exactly :)
And the trip was free... Just a bit shorter than I would have liked. However, I did live there for 2 years, and will be going back this October.
Have you spent time there?
_Rob
lol, coin things... $25,000 monthly rent? seriously?
Philippine Pesos :P
Haha! Sorry for that...
_Rob
Enjoy the trip @rcarter
Thank you!
_Rob
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STOPgreat post! And strange question: Don't you have to pay for health care where ever you are, or does that go off before?