5. Emergency Fund First. Always. I know we’ve been hearing this a lot here on this forum, in fact it was when I joined this forum I started taking my emergency fund more serious.. Bcus it’s one of the most powerful steps. Maybe built at least 1–3 months of your basic expenses in cash or stable value.
When you are building up the amount that you invested in bitcoin to be at least 3 months of your expenses, then during those times, you may well be in position in which it is preferable to build up the emergency fund and the bitcoin holdings at around the same pace, yet once your bitcoin reaches more than 3 months or more that you have put in of your expenses (it might have had grown through bitcoin appreciation too), then you are likely going to be putting your bitcoin at risk if you are letting your emergency fund have less than 3 months - including 1 month of your expenses seems really risky, even though surely guys are free to judge their own situation and to figure out their risk levels. So many poor people get themselves into trouble because they fail/refuse to build anything close to a sufficient back up funds system, and then their bitcoin end up serving as their back up funds, which ends up leading to their having to sell some or all of their bitcoin at a time that was not of their own choosing, even when they could have had engaged in reasonable levels of back up funds that would have had saved them from such situation, so they end up having fun staying poor... and perhaps never being able to get back to the bitcoin position that they could have had or should have had with the establishment, keeping and maintaining of a bit more preventative precautionary measures in place, and adequate back up funds is one of them and not overdoing and/or shitcoining and/or trading (gambling) with their bitcoin is another those good practice measures that are likely even more important for poor people.
Yup, when one is building up their Bitcoin portfolio to be at least 3 months of expenses, it makes more sense to also build up their emergency funds and their Bitcoin portfolio at around the same pace. When the Bitcoin stash happens to exceed 3 months of expenses, (probably due to appreciation too), the Bitcoin is automatically at risk if the emergency fund is less than e months of expenses. I don't know but IMO, having less than 1 month of expenses in emergency funds kinda sounds pretty much of a big risk. This is why it's important for guys to always assess and evaluate their own personal/unique situation and figure out their risk levels.
It's important for guys to build up a solid and sufficient backup fund, and the reason why poor people often get into lots of trouble with their investment is because they mostly fail to acknowledge this fact, and then they end up dipping into their investment whenever a real financial emergency arises. And this mostly leads to them selling off their Bitcoins at times that wasn't initially of their choosing, and this can potentially keep them stuck in poverty, defeating their original plans of attaining financial freedom through Bitcoin. Having sufficient backup funds and also avoiding getting involved with certain risky practices, like overdoing it, indulging in shitcoin investment, or trading/gambling with Bitcoin is a great way to approach Bitcoin investment, especially for those who are poor investors. In order to avoid getting into financial troubles with their investments, it's very crucial to observe these precautionary measures.
Poor people might have ONLY a very narrow path of opportunities to get out of poverty, and if they spend several years building up something like a bitcoin portfolio, and then they end up screwing up their investment because of their own slopiness they might not be able to recover again... so there could be some poor persons who had spent one or two cycles building up his bitcoin holdings and he does not have much if any of an emergency fund, but then an emergency comes and his whole bitcoin is wiped out because his bitcoin was serving as his emergency fund. .and maybe if the BTC price is down at the same time as the emergency, he might never be able to recover from what he ended up losing. Sometimes also just a bit of cash can get someone over the rough periods and to prevent a bad situation from becoming even worse because the onhand cash was able to cover the expenses until the person got back on course and started earning an income and/or maybe resolved some expenses.
That’s honestly the harsh reality… and it hits deep. People don’t talk about this enough. For someone who is already struggling financially, building a Bitcoin portfolio takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice. So imagine after years of grinding, stacking little by little, then one emergency shows up and boom, they have to sell their Bitcoin at the worst possible time, maybe even at a loss. That kind of thing can break someone mentally and financially.
And like you said, for people in that kind of tight situation, they don’t get unlimited chances. One wrong move or slip up could wipe out years of effort. That is why having even just a small emergency fund on the side is so underrated. It does not even have to be much, just enough to give you breathing space when life hits. That alone can be the difference between bouncing back or falling off completely.
I feel like too many people try to copy what rich investors are doing without realizing they don’t have the same safety net. Rich guys can take a hit and still be fine. But if poor, you’re walking on a thin rope, and one misstep can cost everything.
Those who have some extra money left over after meeting all their monthly household expenses, family members' needs, and other needs and that person regularly deposits money into a savings or reserve fund and gradually increases it. In that case, if he has any extra income, he may consider investing that extra portion in Bitcoin. But for a person who is struggling to run his family, I think investing in Bitcoin is not that easy. You have to invest in Bitcoin for the long term. Because the price of Bitcoin fluctuates from time to time. But if you hold it for a long time, you can get good profits. It must be 10 years or more. Because in the past, it has been seen that the price of Bitcoin has decreased a lot, but it has turned around with time. Bitcoin's valuation fluctuates with any major or minor event in the world.
The way Bitcoin's valuation is progressing now, the price could drop a little in 1-2 years due to any kind of event. But I don't think Bitcoin's valuation will drop much now . the chances of that happening are very slim. So now the point is, for those who don't have any money left after their monthly expenses, who don't have any reserve funds, don't have any emergency funds for them investing in Bitcoin is much more risky. Now imagine that the price of Bitcoin is $118k. One year later, for some reason, the price of Bitcoin drops by 30%. And at that time, the person who has no emergency fund, no reserve fund, and even no savings, will need the money for some major need. He will have no choice but to sell Bitcoin. So he will be forced to sell Bitcoin at a loss. But if he was financially secure, had a reserve fund, an emergency fund for at least 3 months of expenses then of course he could have continued investing as he regularly did, without selling Bitcoin. And besides, he could solve any kind of emergency financial problem for himself or his family. Therefore, it is very important to have your own financial stability before investing in any type of investment, not just Bitcoin. As a result, there is no need to sell Bitcoin before achieving the desired goal of investing in Bitcoin.
So in my opinion, the things to keep in mind before investing in Bitcoin for the long term using the regular DCA method are:
1.Of course, he must have a regular income, the amount of which should be such that at the end of the day, apart from all his expenses, he has some money for investing. And He cannot have any large debts to anyone.
2.The price of Bitcoin fluctuates a lot, and sometimes it can even go down a lot you have to be mentally prepared to accept all this. Sometimes, when the price drops significantly, many people panic, and then if it rises again, they immediately want to sell Bitcoin . you should refrain from making such decisions.
3. Investing in Bitcoin must be done for the long term which will be for a period of 4 to 10 years. You should invest on a regular basis from your discretionary income, following the DCA method.
4. He must have a reserve fund and an emergency fund, so that he can meet all kinds of incidental expenses including his family in adverse times and can also continue investing in Bitcoin. The emergency fund should be kept for 3 months.