Yes, but he is the exception, not the rule...
It's like women saying they can "have it all" (career, kids, devoted husband, great marriage, close friends, money, and a clean house all while being a great cook). It's just not true. We can't be all things to all people and we can't be great at all things. We must choose. For example, I live on the financial edge but I am a chef, a good musician, an oceanic waterman, a wilderness survivalist, a master food grower, and soon to be pilot and custom home builder. I'm not saying this to brag but to demonstrate that all the money in the world can't buy these skill sets. They require time, and time is money... or is it?
@PurpleUrkel I agree, people should focus more on relationships than money.
Bitcoin is what allows one to do that. People with Bitcoin can have the option of working less, or quitting a job and doing something they have actual passion for.
I don't think
@Blade Runner is the exception. Once you Bitcoin, it gives you mental bandwidth to pay attention to the people you love (no more "investing"), and it gives you time as well. It also gives you options - so many options. I used to spend too much time doomscrolling and worrying
because you can afford to. I'm just trying to provide a counter-balance to any youngsters lurking around here that think money is the key to happiness and a good life. It is not. I know you and most everyone here knows this, I'm just stating it again to reinforce the fact that nothing can replace a 5,000 hour high-level manual labor skill set. We only have so much time. Do you want to learn BTC or how to build your own custom, no mortgage, off-grid home for under 100K that would cost you 500K through a bank and contractor? Money that you don't spend is money that you don't have to earn via risky BTC "investments."
I started because I looked at things and realized
I couldn't afford not to. Most people I know (that are better off than myself) haven't given BTC a second thought, because they don't need it yet. I came to the conclusion that I needed it. BTC isn't investing, it is saving. Whatever the fiat dollar amount each coin is "worth", I am reasonably certain the amount of labor I have expended will be redeemable in BTC when I need it in the future. That wasn't true for cash, stocks, or real estate.
Neither one is the wrong answer, but specialization is what gives us all abundance, in things, but also time. I would rather do the one thing I am really, really good at, and trade that skill for the guy who is really, really good at building houses, and has built 15 of them already. In terms of my time, it will cost less than developing the skills to build a house, and fumbling through the first one.
Fiat time-theft has made that truth less clear, because we are getting stolen from through inflation, regulation, taxes, etc. BTC returns the abundance promised by civilization.
TLDR: My paradigm is savings, not investing. I have little interest in investing, because government can change laws, re-zone, do a lot of things to destroy any investment. Investment is way beyond my risk tolerance, until we live in a world with small government.