#cryptofinance initiative: How has crypto and blockchain impacted bozz's personal finance?
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This is my entry into the initiative started by @theycallmedan.
As we approach the Thanksgiving season, I am suddenly having flashbacks to three years ago. Let's journey back there together...
In just five days I will use Coinbase to make my first ever purchases of Crypto Currency. Sure, I had heard about Bitcoin, in fact back in 2010 a coworker tried to tell us about it and we all laughed at him. Flash forward seven years, and here I am making my first purchase of ETH and LTC.
You see, about three days earlier, I had been to Thanksgiving dinner with my wife's side of the family. Her cousin was very involved in Blockchain and Crypto, so he and I spent a good portion of the evening talking about it.
It was enough to make me thirsty, so I took a little bit of money, did some research, and bought the two coins that I could most easily afford (even at ~$7000 BTC had too big of a barrier to entry). The rest as they say is history.
I tried to get on the STEEM platform, waited and waited and waited for my acceptance email only I never received it. Eventually her cousin got me onboarded through a faucet his company was running.
Here we are back in 2020, three years later and I have a pretty successful blog on Hive with what I think is a bit of name recognition. Even if they don't follow me, there is a good chance the high rollers have at least heard my name.
I have a smattering of money invested in various altcoins as well as the slightest fraction of one BTC.
So back to the main question: How has crypto impacted my personal finance? Sadly, at this point I have to say it hasn't had that huge of an impact.
When I first started on Steem I thought sure it was going to be the "vehicle" that ushered in financial independence. Use my post earnings to buy a new truck, pay off debt, so some home improvements... Sadly, that isn't the case.
I know it is probably a mistake, but I am still investing in the traditional markets the way I always have. I haven't touched or reduced those figures at all. If I do invest in a particular crypto or blockchain project, I view it much the same way I do taking a trip to the casino.
The fact is, I am never going to have large hunks of money to invest into crypto. If I did, it would instead be going towards bills and home improvements and things that my family needs. This leaves me with those smaller sums of money that I can from time to time invest in a crypto or blockchain project.
If I could go to the casino with $50, spend the evening playing, and come home empty handed and not feel bad about it, I shouldn't feel bad about investing $50 here or there in crypto.
I should really be doing a weekly or monthly cost average buy in ETH or BTC or something like that. That would have been the smart thing to do.
Someday I want to get my hands on one of those Crypto Credit cards where it pulls from your crypto holdings to make purchases. At this point I would only be able to use it about twice and then I would be tapped out. That is what has kept me from picking one up.
Like I said, at this point, crypto hasn't impacted my personal finances much at all. I think it is making small in-roads and eventually, my hope is that it will play a much larger part than it currently does.
Who knows, maybe in three years we will be covering this topic again and hopefully many of our stories will be much different!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
All pictures taken by myself or @mrsbozz
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https://twitter.com/JayBosworth5/status/1331617609532338177
https://twitter.com/JayBosworth5/status/1331617627488174081
It's interesting to see how people got into crypto. I've just never been much of an investor and am more into Hive for the social aspects, but I've done well from it. If it should go up to a few dollars then I will be spending some for the good of the family.
I think that is important, you have to take care of them for sure. That is my feeling too. If I can cash some in to clear some debt to put us in a better position on a weekly basis, why would I not and I shouldn't have to justify it to anyone. The past two years have shown me this has to be more of a hobby than an actual means to make money otherwise you will kill yourself trying.
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I'm not bothered about fancy cars and stuff. If it can pay for a few holidays and other little treats I'm happy. Of course if it gets me some security in years to come that's a bonus. It's nobody else's business what you do with your money.
I am with you. I don't need to be rich, I would just like to be stable. I would like to be at a point where I don't have to pinch pennies and think twice before I spend $50 on something. I don't want a ton of money, I think that just brings more problems.
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this market cripto market give us a great knowledge about the financial market sr, very good, i am only in hive and unfortunately do not enter to BTC or ETH but we could enter in leo and LTC.
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LTC is a great coin with fast and low cost transactions. I am actually surprised it hasn't grabbed a bigger market share. It has a lot of benefits.
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LTC was my first purchase as well. I am planning to buy a crypto to fiat card but I prefer one that supports stablecoins.
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That would be cool. I have been keeping my eye on the one from Crypto.com just because it has the incentives for Spotify and Netflix subscribers. However, the amount of their token you need to stake to get to that level is pretty high.
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From what i know they're using their token and don't have support for stablecoins.
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oh well, we all i have different stories. i think everyone would have their time sooner or later. I was struggling until i got my uniswap airdrop. Still got hive airdrop and DTC airdrop. A lot of free money for me this year. Regardless of all that i do enjoy creating content and that's what has kept me here all these years.
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I missed the truck on the Uniswap thing. I don't do much over on ETH anyway. Gas fees are way to high. I prefer EOS.
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I don't like ethereum that much. I was just lucky to have used uniswap during the steemhunt era.
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I'm with you to the extent that crypto hasn't (yet) had the kind of practical impact on my life that I thought it would have when I first came onboard three years ago. I'm also, like you, a holder of fractions of coins and not a huge amount - my main stuff is Hive based tokens and I can see that desired 'impact' happening in the coming months :D
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Yeah, sounds like we really do have a lot in common. I have a couple of projects that I invested a lot of time and resources into. I hold a lot of those tokens, but sadly they will probably never amount to anything. It always gives me that feeling of "why not me, why not just this one time...".
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I'd say 20k Hive qualifies for the 'just this one time'.....I think it's an excellent amount to be holding when the wave comes, as it surely will :)
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Haha, I wish. I live in the US. That 20k Hive wouldn't cover my mortgage for three months! I am hoping for something with super long term sustainability.
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For sure not at current prices lol, but even at the ATH of $5, that's 100k......Hive, IMO, has that long-term sustainability. Seems to be lagging for some reason, even though it's got so much going for it....but that will shift - we have a solid token.
Leo on the other hand, seems to have chilis up its butt and just can't keep still :D
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I agree, with all of the advancement that has been going on with Hive in the past couple of months, I really feel like the token is severely undervalued. Hopefully things turn around.
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You look good together dear friend
Thank you.
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I am the great and powerful advisor: This IS meant to be financial advice.
Don't Do What I Do
$100 BTC? Yep. $1500 BTC? Yep. I obviously didn't learn the first time.
I've been scammed out of enough BTC to buy my house and leave me enough to buy a good motorcycle. At today's prices.
ETH. Uggghhhh. Crypto Kitties. A good friend tried to talk me into Ripple and LTC. I could never figure out the purpose of Ripple so let it be and LTC took a huge jump to $8 and I wanted to let it settle.
I'm going to enter the challenge so I'll let that be enough examples for now :)
I'd be a freaking genius with a time machine...
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I agree, a time machine would be so totally awesome! I have a feeling that most of the stuff I have in the works right now is never going to amount to anything and I guess that is probably okay. As long as I am happy and healthy.
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That's an interesting view you've got of crypto - do you perceive it as less of a risk now that it's getting a bit more recognition and now you can make a decent return in so many ways compared to cash savings (I'm sure the two are related!)
Always nice to hear people's back stories!
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Oh yes, I definitely think it is much less risky now. To be fair, I should have mentioned I do some part time work for a blockchain company, so the fact that I get a paycheck from them definitely has an impact on my personal finances.
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Well that is an impact for sure!
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Nice to read more from you and how you've started. I like that you are true to us and to yourself. That is so valuable this days.
Before doing this, let me know to talk you out of it. Why? Because it does not make any sense!
Skip casinos! Go only if you own it!
It is good that you invest, even if some will say it is the wrong asset.
For sure. I think it will change! You are doing a good job and it will payout on the long run!
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Thank you, I appreciate all of the feedback and input. It has definitely been an interesting journey. I have a feeling I probably left out a ton of stuff that I should have thrown in there.
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That is for sure!
Also I think that the journey is still at the start and patience will reward the ones who stick to it. Keep on the good work!
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Thanks, you too!
Interesting story and point of view. Particularly the part where you described it as a casino.
Did you have experience in investing in digital assets prior to crypto?
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Nobody knows what is going to happen with the price so from that perspective it is kind of a gamble. Any investment is really. I was speaking more to the way I allocate my investments. I wasn't aware of any other digital assets before BTC in 2009.
I like how most of us either scared of investing/consider it a scam (i am talking about BTC) or laugh at someone who told us about it. A few years later we all got hyped!
Also, it's really amazing that we got a spare amount of money in cryptos just in case something happens. It may not be much for the majority of us it may become though!
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Yeah, I wish it was much more, but if things go well and I need it, it could potentially cover my bills for a couple of months if I needed it to. I doubt it would ever benefit me much more than that. Unless things go totally bonkers.
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i try to be more of a realist so i will agree with you! in order to change our lives with what we got, hive/leo should go 5-10$ each and maybe more :P
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So many people had this problem and I'm so happy this is finally fixed! It was one of the reasons I was hesitant to invest much of my own money into that "other" blockchain. This used to drive me nuts when I referred people and they couldn't get in.
I'm the same way. I think crypto is way better odds than the casino too. $50 on the right coin can be life changing.
I can't help but think crypto trading is funner than a night at the casino too. Even though we're generally speculating on a lot of our investments, we're making educated choices based on market patterns, technical analysis, and fundamentals. I think odds are so much better in the crypto space.
Great story. Thanks for sharing!
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Yeah, especially right now I think it is much less risky. I just pumped a little more fist into a particular project that I have my eye on. I could lose it all or I could have a moderate win.