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You would be surprised about how many old people prefer to die with a lot of money in the bank and under their pillow instead of buying watches, cars or go on a cruise. Many of them own a house or two because they prefer to be independent. But the main reason is what once you reached a target you worked towards for many years because you always thought you want pure luxury all day long, there is something going on with many people that keeps them from sending their money without thorough consideration.
I believe that bitcoin is such an asset. Sure if you are a whale and you are sitting on a bag of 30,000 BTC like Tim Draper, selling some wouldn't hurt you, but often times even these people keep this asset. Draper bought at just over $600 and still holds 29,600 BTC. Why? Why wouldn't someone who bought for a little less $18 million not sell for $18 billion? It's a question someone should ask themselves before they consider getting rid of their holdings because they feel like buying a new car.
Wow. You don't need to use any such extreme examples of someone who might well be set for life with bitcoin and potentially leading a relatively modest life, and even someone who is sitting on 100 BTC and with hardly any other assets may well have put himself into a position of being somewhere close to a whale in terms of potentially being able to live off the bitcoin with anywhere between $5k and $10k per month worth of spending (withdrawing that much from the bitcoin holdings every month - or the equivalent monthly amounts on a quarterly or yearly basis), and also it would quite likely be the case that the bitcoin value in terms of dollars would be growing in value faster than his withdrawal of the BTC and also faster than the rate of the debasement of the dollar, so even if he is living off of his bitcoin at such rate of between $5k to $10k per month, he could reassess where he is at every few years to decide whether he might be at liberty to increase his income and still have a BTC stash that is sufficiently sustaining its value. So sure, there could be lifestyle considerations and also considerations if he is ONLY supporting himself or if he is also submitting an family, and of course, where he is at in the world will likely affect his expenses, too.
The example wasn't meant to be a suggestion or anything. Of course everyone can do as they please. But I think there is this misconception that everyone thrives for a target and then blows up all savings on a luxury life. I have seen quite a few people where I wondered why they live that modest lifestyle despite being very wealthy. And I had the pleasure to talk to some of them and it was always the same: when they are young, they think once they have the first million, it must be the Ferrari immediately. Of course some do buy a Ferrari then, but many do not.
As you mentioned before, targets are something people set to have a goal they are thriving for, but that doesn't mean once that target is reached they will instantly change their course of action. In relation to bitcoin it could be price or quantity. And part of my example was a whale called Draper and there are many more, I checked the number of the biggest wallets and whether the number of wallets > 1 BTC,>10 BTC, >100 BTC, >1,000 BTC ever changed. There was a guy here somewhere claiming that I think smart money is selling at the moment. Seems to not be the case as the number of all whale wallets did at least remain relatively stable for many years. You could argue that from
end of 2023 >10,000 BTC wallets dropped from 120 to around 100. But from 2021 to 2023 it first increased from 80 to 120. And ever since 2014 the number of whale wallets >10,000 remains at today's level. It is around 100 wallets. Even if someone empties their bag, someone else seems to be buying it. Obviously there are fluctuations and people took profits over the course of so many years, but there have still been whales gobbling up tons of BTC.
I think those are important indicators for the small guys around here. They may not do that research, read from someone that smart money is leaving the market and then they slowly get into a panic mode and decide to sell immediately at or below their target as if it was a smart decision and a relief. But when you look at the hard facts, bitcoin is doing amazing. Rhetorics about it are changing in all parts of society. Politics, banks, many institutions, former critics and so on. This may not immediately be reflected by price, but I believe it will. Bitcoin has a very strong pull effect as it is brutally resilient.