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Just for a second give thought to those who purchased bitcoin when it was at 18k.

by panoply 8y ago

everdev 8y ago
Past success unfortunately does not guarantee or even predict future success.
mkempe 8y ago
And then also think of those who purchased below $1.
weregiraffe 8y ago
Okay. The thought is "bloody morons".
- coderdude 8y ago
  That's cold blooded. I'm sure a lot of good people were financially devastated by that poor decision. A hopelessly bleak existence can do a lot to your capacity for rational thought. A few people I know asked me if I thought they should invest in Bitcoin at the time. I'm thankful my answer was consistently 'nope'!
  - phs318u 8y ago
    > That’s cold blooded. Maybe, maybe not. For those that have never experienced a financial “lesson in violence” before, investing in Bitcoin is the equivalent of touching some strange shiny object that fell from the sky only to find out that the reason it’s glowing is because it’s bloody hot. Sometimes it takes the burnt flesh hanging off a bloodied stump to learn that maybe strange new objects that fall from the sky are to be avoided in the first instance, no matter how shiny they look. To be honest, given the world we live in, and the knowledge that exists around basic investing principles I’m surprised that some people are surprised at how much they’ve lost. For me, this just proves (yet again) that the human desire to get rich quickly is incredibly powerful and easily trumps logic and rational thought. For the record, and just so people don’t think I’m heartless, I lost $20K of savings back in 1989 In an institution whose interest rates were (on hindsight) obviously too good to be true. I was 23. The company was called Pyramid (yes, really. Australian)
  - cup-of-tea 8y ago
    The only person I know who bought bitcoin at that price inherited a load of wealth and has no real concept of money. I even told them they shouldn't at the time.
- finebalance 8y ago
  There was this story on bitcoin, maybe on Ars, in which they interviewed a cleaning lady who'd put just about her entire life savings into the coin when it was near, what we now realize, its peak. Since then, bitcoin's fallen precipitously and I've personally felt plenty of schadenfreude about it, but... as with nearly every financial scam, it is rarely those who deserve it who suffer the worst consequences.
  - sacado2 8y ago
    Putting your entire life savings into one asset is always a bad idea, I thought this was a well-known fact nowadays.
    - jjkk0101 8y ago
      while it is a well-known fact it is not always possible to diversify effectively due to external factors like transaction costs, legislation (e.g.: managed pension plans), not enough principal, etc.
biql 8y ago
Some just expanded their investment horizon and now wait 100k by the end of 2019.

Just for a second give thought to those who purchased bitcoin when it was at 18k.

everdev 8y ago

Past success unfortunately does not guarantee or even predict future success.

mkempe 8y ago

And then also think of those who purchased below $1.

weregiraffe 8y ago

Okay. The thought is "bloody morons".

coderdude 8y ago
That's cold blooded. I'm sure a lot of good people were financially devastated by that poor decision. A hopelessly bleak existence can do a lot to your capacity for rational thought. A few people I know asked me if I thought they should invest in Bitcoin at the time. I'm thankful my answer was consistently 'nope'!
- phs318u 8y ago
  > That’s cold blooded. Maybe, maybe not. For those that have never experienced a financial “lesson in violence” before, investing in Bitcoin is the equivalent of touching some strange shiny object that fell from the sky only to find out that the reason it’s glowing is because it’s bloody hot. Sometimes it takes the burnt flesh hanging off a bloodied stump to learn that maybe strange new objects that fall from the sky are to be avoided in the first instance, no matter how shiny they look. To be honest, given the world we live in, and the knowledge that exists around basic investing principles I’m surprised that some people are surprised at how much they’ve lost. For me, this just proves (yet again) that the human desire to get rich quickly is incredibly powerful and easily trumps logic and rational thought. For the record, and just so people don’t think I’m heartless, I lost $20K of savings back in 1989 In an institution whose interest rates were (on hindsight) obviously too good to be true. I was 23. The company was called Pyramid (yes, really. Australian)
- cup-of-tea 8y ago
  The only person I know who bought bitcoin at that price inherited a load of wealth and has no real concept of money. I even told them they shouldn't at the time.
finebalance 8y ago
There was this story on bitcoin, maybe on Ars, in which they interviewed a cleaning lady who'd put just about her entire life savings into the coin when it was near, what we now realize, its peak. Since then, bitcoin's fallen precipitously and I've personally felt plenty of schadenfreude about it, but... as with nearly every financial scam, it is rarely those who deserve it who suffer the worst consequences.
- sacado2 8y ago
  Putting your entire life savings into one asset is always a bad idea, I thought this was a well-known fact nowadays.
  - jjkk0101 8y ago
    while it is a well-known fact it is not always possible to diversify effectively due to external factors like transaction costs, legislation (e.g.: managed pension plans), not enough principal, etc.

biql 8y ago

Some just expanded their investment horizon and now wait 100k by the end of 2019.