I didn't consider myself old until I got into BTC. I thought I was hip, cool, edgy, figuring out how to buy that first piece of virtual currency. Prior to that just a stack of silver rounds proved me to be one of the awakened. Then I joined Polo to do a little trading, see what it was about, and I suddenly found out I am either:
A. Not real. A lie, a figment, a cover, a punk practical joke waiting to be revealed, or
B. An ancient, doddering fool who somehow wandered into a rave wearing some slightly stained Depends.
Both A and B are false. Yes, female, yes, over 40, yes, day trading and investing right alongside the young bucks with their smoking GPUs.
My husband and I got into crypto for all the same reasons you did, and perhaps some others you haven't been around long enough to consider. Centralization, control, regulation, and the inevitable fall of both the stock markets and the fiat currencies, that goes without saying. I've watched the global debt clock, I've researched the European and Asian markets, I know about the Bilderberg Group. I've watched the collapse in Venezuela, which I do not believe to be the result of socialism, but an early view into our own future. But that's another article altogether.
The only way to protect your assets, the only way to cash out, is precious metals and crypto-currency. As long as your "money" is inside the system controlled by a centralized group who own 51% of all the wealth on earth, it isn't really yours. It can be taken from you on a whim, it can evaporate overnight, it can devalue until its nothing but toilet paper, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
I've eliminated debt from my lifestyle, and invested in ETC immediately after the hardfork as a gamble, but a good one, to raise enough in my crpto-wallets to go off grid entirely. Its an essential first step in doing so, in my opinion. Until you free your money from the fiat system you can't consider yourself free enough to go nomad, or off grid. Not when your nest egg and emergency fund are outside your control. To free yourself you must first free your money.
It's been a dream of ours for years to go on the road and live simply and comfortably. Of course we need internet, lets not be crazy. So far we made enough to buy our van - its now stripped bare and being remodeled, because for the first time this is a real possibility, beyond a dream, almost real.
No matter what happens to the fiat debt-based economy I will have my precious metals, my BTC, and a crypto portfolio. The feeling is so liberating that the nomad life is suddenly possible. I shall dodder around in my little turtle home with my husband, with satellite internet, and faith in the rise of BTC. I intend to retire early on crypto, within a year, if all goes well.
Someone said in the trollbox "When my grammy buys BTC I am selling out." I laughed, but I hope you don't all feel that way, crypto-geeks-and-gods. This is what it looks like when mainstream acceptance starts. The cool old ladies will come first. It's a sign of good things to come.
Oh, and ETC Rebels Unite! Momma needs a new tranny for the van.
It took years and years before the world wide web was mainstream. Good post.
I'll follow for more.
Thank you! I was on the web when you had to push the phone handset into the rubber holders on the modem. Cliff High would say I'm an "early adopter"
Thats funny. I fortunately had a 1200 baud modem (wish I could have afforded the 2400!), and had to use programs like Newt and others I don't remember just to get around with the Dow Jone News Retrieval network. Then Tim Berners-Lee changed the entire thing. Great times we live in, indeed.
No matter what happens to the fiat debt-based economy I will have my precious metals
You are so right. As most if not all fiat currencies eventually default to zero, leaving the last holding with worthless paper. So the paper money we have in our pockets and banks might be the biggest ponzi scheme of all time. Especially since the government confiscated gold from the poublic 80 years ago. Consider this, President Kennedy was assassinated after he announced plans to bring back the gold standard for the American public. This would have put our wealth back in our pockets while holding off the further establishment of a centralized banking system. Just food for thought, Ron
I agree. I've read the same about Kennedy, and his intention to reveal more. Thank you for your thoughts!