Why crypto is literally the worst ‘investment’ you can make
Recently, I overheard two local dads talking about investing, and one asked if he should move some of his retirement savings into crypto.
I nearly puked.
One dad, who was becoming increasingly impatient with his investment returns in this bear market, knew the other to be a crypto enthusiast and was interested in pumping up his wealth.
Nevermind that when Bitcoin was near $45,000 the previous year, I told them it was going to touch $19,000 at a minimum. But I digress.
Nobody wants to hear that something they’ve invested in actually sucks — especially when you’re sitting atop a massive bubble that could pop at any time.
I made some dividend stock suggestions, but again, people aren’t interested in being wealthy 10 years from now or having cashflow to pump back into passive income streams.
They want to get rich yesterday.
The problem is, they didn’t invest yesterday, well before John Q. Public jumped in and sapped all the value out.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: when you’re reading about an investment in the New York Times or your middle-aged colleagues are talking about it at work, the top is in.
The problem with crypto
While haters like myself have always considered crypto in general to be scammy — it’s effectively a Ponzi Scheme that requires a constant stream of new entrants to prop it up — the bigger problem is that crypto is starting to feel scammy to the public at large.
Even your parents who bought the top can’t look past something like the FTX implosion and not be like, “hm, something is amiss here.”
I don’t think we’ve even begun to see the contagion from FTX yet. Throw in stuff like Luna, Titan, etc., and it becomes increasingly hard even for the true believers to think their money is ultimately safe.
After FTX started unravelling, Shark Tank personality and noted crypto goof Kevin O’Leary claimed that the crypto bottom was in.
I think the crash is just getting warmed up.
Countless better ways to invest
You know what would be a better way to put your money to work?
Literally anything.
You may have heard that interest rates are through the roof. Want a 10% guaranteed return with no risk? Pay off your credit line. Want a 20% guaranteed return with no risk? Pay off your credit card.
Looking to invest and get paid for holding an asset tied to an actual, tangible business? Why not average down into some dividend investments while asset prices are depressed and yields are high?
Listen, we haven’t even officially entered a recession yet. We have skyrocketing inflation, a hostile fed, supply chain chaos, a pandemic, and a war in Europe.
Things are not getting turned around until these issues are resolved, and they are not day or week problems, they are years problems.
Crypto is a prayer until then, and the scammiest of the coins are going to zero well before.
Without proper regulation, which protects deposits and mandates capital liquidity, you own air.
There are virtually unlimited ways to put your money to work. Why not choose one that doesn’t suck?
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