Quote from: tiCeR on Today at 09:47:03 PM

Quote from: JayJuanGee on Today at 07:52:11 PM

Quote from: I_Anime on Today at 07:33:18 PM

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Sometimes non-urgent matters can send you a warning that you better be careful about how much you put into bitcoin, because sometimes things happen... and for example, you might have been using a computer and phone as your main communication devices, and they are used for work and for pleasure. You might even have a back up computer that can serve some purposes, but your back up computer is inadequate for your main purposes, and if your computer breaks down or gets stolen, then maybe you have back up files, but you still need your computer in order to do the work, so all of a sudden you have an expense that was a bit outside of your expectations, but if you don't replace the computer, you are going to be less efficient in your work and you might even lose income based on your lower efficiency. So you may well end up having to dip into both your back up funds and your emergency funds, and you find that the replacement of the computer taught you a lesson about how much back up funds that you needed to have available, and surely you will be lucky if you are able to replace your emergency funds and back up funds within a few months and before another emergency happens, since you might imagine that when you deploy money from your emergency funds and back up funds, that money is no longer available and has to be replaced to merely get you back to the point that you were prior to your computer breaking down. You also might realize that you have aspects of your data back up system that are inadequate, so maybe you have to buy another back up disk or some other extra expense that came to your attention ONLY after you had gone through the broken computer situation.

Like you mentioned, some expenses might be deferrable like maybe you need to get the computer right away, within a few days, but the back up disk (system) can wait for several weeks, even though you consider it as a needed upgrade, you have a currently working system in place, even though you came to realize that your current system is not adequate.

If we take the example of a laptop that could be stolen or could break, I understand that some people don't want to put aside money first until they have the amount saved to buy a new one just in case because this might take them a lot of time. I have been in the situation when I had to decide to either buy bitcoin or wait once again and feel bad about it. I took the risk at times and I admit it didn't always play out very well. This was especially the case when bitcoin was brand new and the volatility was a roller coaster and far more significant than now because it felt like a missed opportunity several times a month. Maybe an insurance on a laptop can make sense as it would allow to split funds into buying bitcoin and being insured against the worst case scenario.

Of course, some kinds of expenses are more foreseeable than others, and even getting into a car accident can cause expenses that go beyond anything that insurance might cover, or also sometimes the insurance might not pay right away, so there may be needs to cover costs while the insurance claim is being processed.. and sure computers will have warranties against defects but not against theft (or carelessness). .. so sometimes payments could be spread out, but then spreading out payments might incur extra costs that might not be worth it.. and yeah sometimes the insurance on computers might be quite expensive, and so we end up paying even more, even though some of the insurance policies might also cover theft.

It can be difficult to figure out all of the balances, and I think that part of the point that I was attempting to make from the beginning was that in our earlier stages of bitcoin investment, we might have more challenges figuring out how much cash that we might need to keep on hand versus how much we want to have in bitcoin and surely it seems that the longer that we are in bitcoin, the more we might realize that we are able to (because we have likely become richer) and we should keep larger cash amounts on hand in various forms, and surely one of the justifications of diversification is so that we can still have emergency funds and back up funds in forms that are other than cash, and those other forms of holding value will earn money but they won't be cash and they won't be bitcoin, yet they might be higher on the list of priorities of resources to be able to tap into, in the event of an emergency rather than tapping into our bitcoin...

Quote from: tiCeR on Today at 09:47:03 PM

This example could initiate that people thoroughly think through their worst case potential. Do they need a car? Can they compensate for a broken car with public transport? What about the washing machine, is there a saloon around the corner? Insure the laptop, how long would it take to get a new device or a temporary substitute? What about a sudden incident that has me to go to the dentist and receive a considerable invoice? Am I eligible for a loan for my next tuition fee just in case?

Surely, within our own circumstances, we always have to consider what our various expenses would be. I recall that when I was in university, I had a car, motorcycle and bicycle, and so surely it was more expensive to maintain a car and a motorcycle, yet I thought that they brought me value too, since I could go shopping for food at places that were further away from the university which would save me a lot of money as compared to the various costs near the university. I usually would live 1-2 miles away from the university, too, which was less expensive than living right next to the university. So I could walk if I had to, but most of the time I road my bicycle or my motorcycle, yet if it was raining, then I would tend to use my car... but yeah, some students could not afford to have a car, but then some of them had better social lives because they lived in various kinds of student housing rather than being at a distance from the university as I tended to be.

Your bringing up loans, and surely loans can be used, especially if the terms are reasonable, yet they can also add up. I had incurred quite a bit of debt as a student, yet I also would have had never been able to earn as much money (after college) if I had not been able to get the education that I got, had the right activities on my resume and also abilities to talk about experiences and even get experiences, such as internships (and exposure) that I would not have had been able to get if I had not gone to university.

Quote from: tiCeR on Today at 09:47:03 PM

It depends on the age as well. Getting over insurance and loans at a higher age at too high cost makes less sense than it does for a young guy who can get cheaper insurance because of being younger and being able to pay back student loans at cheaper rates. I know that loans aren't often times the best solution, but sometimes they maybe. If someone were to first save all tuition fees and then invest into bitcoin, I think we can agree that this could be the beginning of the end of those investment plans given how high tuition fees can be.

Choices of young people are not easy in regards to which kinds of degrees that they might consider, what kinds of education might be helpful to future income versus costs. Of course, I personally put a pretty high value on my own learning process, since I had tried learning some subjects outside of the university, and I think that for me, the university helped me to learn how to learn, even though I probably could have been more efficient in my studies, too. It can be quite difficult to determine various routes that could have had been taken as compared with the routes that were actually taken. Surely the variables and the options change including considering the value of in person education versus learning online, and maybe these days there would be some value in learning about topics related to bitcoin as contrasted with my own more softer skills kind of an education.. Yet technical skills and computer skills have frequently been more employable than softer skills.

Quote from: tiCeR on Today at 09:47:03 PM

I don't want to discuss whether an academic degree makes sense or not, that is for another discussion. Wink

I am just trying to say that if someone goes through the worst case scenarios thoroughly, many solutions can be developed beforehand that then allow someone to still take part in bitcoin as an investor. But it takes some time and effort and foresight and honesty to get a proper picture of one's own worst case profile and then some creativity to develop solutions beforehand.

Learning how to be an investor can take time, since we can end up getting distracted into shitcoins and/or trading.. and so yeah, if a young person is still in the process of building job skills and he really does not have a lot of discretionary income, then he might have troubles investing into bitcoin with whatever discretionary income that he has, and so if he might be getting closer to having had gone through college or some kinds of technical training that he is able to get work and an income that gives him discretionary income, then he puts himself into a better position to both add to his bitcoin investment and/or to hold onto whatever bitcoin he had been able to accumulate over the years.. .I surely am not against the idea that guys might not have much or any discretionary income if they are in the process of building their skills and knowledge through college or some other form of further education, which can take from their time, energies and monetary value, but at the same time, if they are either studying topics that relate to bitcoin or they are able to study bitcoin as a way to supplement their study of other topics, then they can still find ways to fit bitcoin within their journey, even if they might not have a lot of time, money or energies that they are currently able to invest into bitcoin.