Hell of a lesson, but it will stick with you. I can't say I fell for Bitconnect. While I didn't suspect it was a ponzi, something about it didn't pass the sniff test so I decided to sit it out.
But some of those early crypto ponzis did get me. I forget his name now, but some guy ran a youtube introducing new "services" whenever he found them. Invariably he's claim "This one finally looks legit" and he's show some giant multi thousand dollar withdrawal he did. But then invariably they would rug a week or two later. He finally got so much hate that he disappeared. I didn't put a lot in, but I did stick a few hundred in some of those.
My big financial regret... that I didn't listen to me dad and open a Roth IRA when I was 18. He implored me to do so, telling me that if I did so, I could be a millionaire by the time I retired. No doubt his passion in telling me that was fueled in part by his regret at not having done so himself at that age. I ignored him, thinking "By the time I retire... fuck that... I want money now, I don't want to wait till then". And now I'm kicking myself for it.
I had one of those, had to kill it after I quit a job and was looking for the next move up.