There are certain things that jumped into my mind immediately-like stop Hitler or the atomic bomb, Stalin, etc. However, as soon as I started to think what would have happened if these people didn't exist, if there were no Hitler, there would eventually become a Hitler by some other name...someone would become just like him in a different age/time....most likely...but this is supposed to be a happy post, not a political post...(but if you don't even think those as possibilities for this question, I don't think you've put much thought into it), so what did I come up with?
I hit a homerun on my first house remodel. I bought a house for $108K and sold it for $274K. Not making too much of a difference for the world, all I would have to do is say to myself,
image from Unsplash.com-public domain
"Listen, bub, you will want to go buy all this stuff with that money that you just got. Don't. There's this new thing called bitcoin that everyone in the world is going to think is nuts at first. There will be people that will try to mimic it, even create a currency based on a meme. Everyone will mock it. Never mind the mockers...I want you to sink just $1000 into bitcoin (I sold this house in 2007) when you hear about it. Be on the lookout for it. When you hear of a coin called "dogecoin" I want you to buy a ton of it...be silly...by $1000 of it. Then, use $100K and buy 50% Amazon stock and 50% Tesla stock...yes, the same car company that you think they have a freaking awesome Roadster (I have been watching Tesla as a company since before they showed the Roadster on their website in 2005)...yes, buy their stock. Then you must wait. Don't buy any more real estate other than the house you'll live in. As a matter of fact, don't buy anything until 2009 for your own house, and buy it in Orange County...just make it happen. You'll need to wait until 2017 in December. Then, sell all your bitcoin. You can buy some more in 2018 if you want...but just a little. Hold onto the cash and live off of it for the rest of your life. Then, sell all your dogecoin in 2021 when Elon Musk goes on Saturday Night Live...yes, all of it...and yes, Elon will go on SNL...it won't be funny, just sell it right before he goes live. I'm you in the future, so just stick with me-I know what will happen! You'll own hundreds of millions of dogecoin for your measly $1000...You can buy $2000 worth if you want, but don't get too crazy or there won't be enough for others to buy...ok, there will, but don't get too crazy. $2K is enough to make you worth hundreds of millions...just believe me...SNL 2021...that's it."
How's that for a pep talk? That would have been the time to do it, when I was flush with cash. It would have made a minimal impact on me financially at first. I never would have lost as many houses as I did (I've been through 5 foreclosures), and I would have been loaded for the rest of my life and my children's lives. I wouldn't need to hodl the coin...I could just live off the inflating dollar that I got for selling bitcoin and doge coin.
Oh well...what is available right now for super cheap that we don't even know about that in later years we'll be looking back at saying, "I wish I would have kept some of that...or bought some of that..."?
That was a fun exercise! What would you change if you could change just one thing in time? Thanks 