You know, with how life seems to be at the moment, sometimes I "feel the FUD" and think that
next time, I am out.
At times, my own resilience wavers and I entertain the idea of cashing out, paying off debts, giving up on this crypto stuff all together. I even wonder if staying in is detrimental to my health, with all these rollercoaster ups and downs, the crashes, the hacks, the scams.
Are the naysayers right?
They very well could be.
But what are the alternatives?
The current economy? That is a fucking mess and a scam in and of itself, designed and implemented to move wealth from the poorest to the richest in a process that concentrates control of all things in a shrinking amount of hands. Crypto might fail, but staying with the current economic conditions is guaranteed to fail the vast majority of people on earth, no matter the country, government, or personal actions taken. It is just the way it has been created and how the incentives drive the economic activity.
And it isn't like people are on average getting more economically knowledgeably and financially savvy, quite the opposite. Society seems to be losing what little economic literacy we once held and instead are making ever worse decisions based on emotional conditions, rather than what the actual "reality" of the market might be.
For example, I was reading about how a 24 year old sold some shares in Australia to get a deposit on a house and now, she is struggling to pay the mortgage as interest rates increase. However, she bought in June, which is after the rates had started to increase and the expectation was that they are going to increase even further. Which they have, for ten straight months.
Is it her fault?
Yes, as she made the decision. But it should be noted, that as a society, we do a fucking horrible job of improving financial understanding and instead of discussing these things openly, the conversation around "money" has been made taboo. Not even friends talk about it with each other, unless it is a group that has come together around it already.
For me at least, it is the same in the home, where while I am highly interested in a lot of financial aspects of life, my wife is not interested at all. As long as the bills are paid and we have food in our stomachs, she doesn't care, even though it has such a massive impact on our life experience and wellbeing, especially in times of negative growth, where that "bills paid and food in the bell" can become a little bit tenuous for many.
She'd be happy if I sold it all and we were debt free.
Even if 6 months later we "could have had" 10 times as much.
I think that this is somewhat to do with the difference in our backgrounds, where while her parents aren't wealthy, she never really had to go without basics, never experienced financial scarcity. When there is no major period of not enough, living a little more hand to mouth might not seem too bad, until it becomes an actual issue.
But I get it.
When the price is down, that could have had ten times as much is still there, except instead, it is in the other direction. With current evaluations as what they are, personal value is 90% less than it was just a year ago, but the house in which we live is about the same as it was, plus the renovation work we have done. With the economy is as it is, if I had instead cashed out and covered all debts, we wouldn't have to worry much about increasing prices on cost of living, or keeping a roof overhead.
But, what then?
Would I be happier? Perhaps, but I think I would at least be less stressed, less worried about the current conditions. Yet, would I be worried about the future? Yes. Because as I see it, even with all the FUD around that buzzes in the background, I am very bullish on crypto and not having a position puts more fear in me than having a technical loss position from the highs. And this is also something to remember, that the losses are largely technical, until selling and when there were the highs, I was definitely "up" on my investments and even now, above break even.
Come the bullrun though....
Next time, Next time...
I am still learning how to manage financial life, as the start was like many, not conducive to monetary success. How I feel though, whether reality or not, is that I am still on the right track, even though along that path, there have been a few setbacks and missteps.
FUD.
It is pervasive and persuasive, isn't it?
After so many years though, I don't let it affect me too much and other than evaluating the past to see what I can learn, it is generally a game of patience and waiting for the markets to turn, and all those naysayers suddenly going quiet or shifting their narrative to say, it was always going to because...
It is quite predictable.
Just have to hold for long enough.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]