Was. It no longer works for that. It does keep the value, and even keep adding a bit purchasing power overtime, but never like in the past were you could actually live of it.

Those who trusted bitcoin in the very beginning, and did not spend it, can simply retire from all the money they have already made. Those of us who came too late, will never be able to do it. We can put our savings into bitcoin, and that would at least preserve them from inflation, but that's about it. Bitcoin entered the stage where it is more coin and less "investment". A little like buying gold.

Just imagine those that bought at like 10$ even if they sold today at 7000$, probably more if they keep holding.

If you buy today at 7000$, you can hope your best might ever reach 14000 so your 10$ turn into 20$, not 7000$ (or 14000$ lol).

Stocks can also fail, and fail hard. A bit like altcoins. Unlike Bitcoin, many altcoin start with a price and go all the way to the bottom to never recover. Some recover a bit, and very few actually do grow back up.

I'm sure getting apple stock in the 80ies would have probably been a nice move, and if i had any i would be getting rid of them now, as that company simply lost whatever it had (both Steves). You could even say the same for Microsoft (no Gates or Balmer, etc.).

Can you picture a Tesla or SpaceX without Musk? Sadly, in some companies it does matter. But Bitcoin was made in such a way that even without Satoshi is surpassed everyone's expectations, even his/her/theirs. It was a smart move to get out of the picture, people are even more confident in the future of Bitcoin, they know it can't be stopped.