Remember mining is always a hedge against uncertainty. You are effectively buying crypto with the electricity and depreciation of your GPUs and mining hardware. If think crypto is going to boom you should be buying at an exchange and just hold as you would do with your mined coins. You also have the opportunity to quick sell if you made a quick profit and think it's going to bull. Mining is your assurance that if you bag holdings go to zero at least you have a tangible asset. Only reason not to buy crypto is if it's illegal where you live or you're trying to stay below radar (acquiring coins without needing a non decentralized exchange). If GPUs are too expensive, there's always another route.