I'd like to ask the users here about how you got started in bitcoins and how you acquire bitcoins.
So the two questions are:
1. When you started, did you MINE or did you BUY bitcons?
2. If you are a regular user of bitcoins currently, do you MINE or do you BUY bitcoins?
To start off the discussion, I can only answer question 1. I mined bitcoins when I started. Then I bought and sold bitcoins through an exchange.
I cannot answer question 2 because I'm no longer a regular user of bitcions.
When I started, I started with mining, with the help of a close friend. For me the investment is much more gradually that way, you just pay more electricity in a year. I didn´t have the funds to invest at once. Also I´m not in it strictly for profit, my believe is that the current financial and economic system is rotten to the core, bitcoin can be an katelsator for a new system, decentral!!