I Bought Some Bitcoin

For the first time in my life, I just bought $1000 in bitcoin. 

DISCLAIMER: I wish that this could go without saying, but in the interest of being hypercompliant - this is NOT advice. Not even remotely close to advice. I am well documented in my advice against buying Bitcoin 😂. Here me out.

It was fun!

FOMO in investing is a thing. So are preconceived notions becoming part of our identity. Once I started telling people that Bitcoin is ‘crazy volatile’ and it ‘could go to zero,’ it became part of me to defend that position.

A good friend of mine fought me on that. We had good chats, he sent endless charts, and he finally bullied me into buying $1,000 worth to try it out.

To facilitate my purchase, I opened a Wealthsimple Account. The app is beautifully designed, easy to use (opened accounts and contributed in less than 10 minutes 🤯), and even FUN!

If you know me, you’ll know that I wholeheartedly believe that money is emotional. We all experience feelings of excitement, pride, tension, guilt, fear - you name it - around the money we have or don't have and how we spend and save it. So ya, this was fun. It brought me back to when I considered ‘wealth management’ a series of buy-sell decisions to make my clients more money than the next guy could.

I get why there are a generation of investors out there ‘playing the game’ with the meme stocks and cryptocurrencies - the platform is waaaaaay cooler than having a nerd like me lecture you about TFSA contributions. 

My eyes are wide open

‘Fun’ aside, I made this decision with very clear intentions:

• This is gambling money - it could go to zero and I wouldn’t lose sleep about it. I consider it gone.
• In the grand scheme of our personal financial plan, this doesn’t move the needle. I will never invest a meaningful amount of my family’s wealth without understanding every little detail - which seems near impossible with Bitcoin.
• Crypto is unregulated - it could go to zero and there would be no recourse to get it back. This is the definition of the Wild West, folks.

Bitcoin might be legit

Hearing that from a responsible finance guy may make you scratch your head, but when I look at the chart of bitcoin, it’s been incredible; returns have been good and consistent - averaging about 53% every year for ten years. 

I would characterize myself as cynical when it comes to the adoption of cryptocurrencies; for it to work as intended, you have to cut out every government and every central bank on earth.

Putting my tinfoil hat on, I just don’t believe that governments will be okay with that - too many people who have it good right now would lose out. I would love to hear why I’m wrong, feel free to email me if you would like to debate this!

I am genuinely curious how this shakes out, and now I’m a part of it. Now that I own it, does it mean I have to start telling everyone about it whenever possible? 😂

If you’re intrigued like I was, ask yourself these questions before you pull the trigger:

• Could you afford to light this money on fire and not have it affect you?
• Does this meet a pattern of chasing unrealistic returns in your life; have you invested in NFTs, weed stocks, psychedelics, or other ‘next big thing’ stocks?
• Would your spouse or partner be cool with this?
• Will you check the app everyday? (NOT a positive thing)

One more time for the compliance people in the back … this ain’t advice! Talk to a professional; do not take advice from advisors on social media… says the guy on social media.