Personal Finance
How To Lose An Invisible Apartment
Not to mention a small fortune
Way back in 2005 I made the big mistake of buying an invisible apartment, or off plan as they like to call it. The idea is you pay a large deposit or even the entire purchase price for a house or apartment that exists only on an architects plan. As I discovered very much to my cost, it is a risky thing to do. In my case the builder was two years late starting the project and by the time it was finished the economy had taken a nose dive and the banks were not giving out any mortgages to complete the sale. Long before we reached that point I sued the builder for the return of my substantial deposit due to the delay in completing the job. I won my case and was awarded costs plus interest. Sadly, the builder filed for bankruptcy almost immediately after, and any chance of ever getting my money back went south. There is still a very slim chance I will get something as the builder was asset rich and penny poor. However, sixteen years later and I still see no sign of a result. As it is now more than 75000 euros that is owed, that is one hell of a loss to chew on. And the lesson that I have learned from this is to never, ever again buy anything that I cannot immediately see, touch and feel.
It is for the above reason that I will never, ever buy the invisible money that is Bitcoin or any of its generic siblings. I don't really care how much is to be made by investing in cryptocurrency. If I cannot even be guaranteed of recovering the principal, then there is no way I will be buying. Apart from that, I do believe that like lots of people I have long since missed that bus. The time to buy with a relatively low risk has been and gone. Not only that but life's professional scammers, the scum of the earth in my humble opinion, are out in force taking a great many people for a ride. There isn't a day goes by without somebody on Linkedin or Facebook, or where ever, hitting on me with their too good to be true get rich quick schemes. It never ceases to amaze me how people never think to ask that if what they are offering is so good, why do they not keep it to themselves and put every single penny they have into it.
The problem with this type of fraud is that the act and the villain of the piece are as invisible as the money that they promise. It is all just far too easy for everything to vanish into thin air. My advice to anybody considering buying cryptocurrencies is to invest the money in something you can see, touch and feel. Appreciating property (nothing off-plan) or a long term pension plan with a reputable company are where I would put my money. Over the longer term, say from ten to thirty years, you should see a fantastic return on your money. Personally, I do believe that the more traditional types of investment will make a comeback and cryptocurrencies will reach saturation point as more and more are being launched on a frequent basis, which will lead to a devaluing of the product. I am no financial advisor and what I say is just my opinion, an opinion based on a harsh experience of buying an invisible product.
Dr Mehmet Yildiz Dew Langrial Aldric Chen Tree Langdon Stuart Englander Britni Pepper Thewriteyard Esther George Maria Rattray Holly Kellums Terry L. Cooper Terry Mansfield Desiree Driesenaar Dr. Preeti Singh Sabana Grande Agnes Laurens Geetika Sethi Marcus