Throughout my journey into investing from when I started trading stocks on Robinhood all the way to current time where I'm focusing on Crypto and Business Building as my means of wealth building, friends/friends of friends/family/friends of family have all given me advice quoting Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett, to most, is synonymous with success in trading, specifically stock trading. To be honest though, I've never really liked his advice.
His advice is often good for the LONG TERM INVESTOR, but that has never been me. I'm 27 and have been learning/trading since I was 26. My goal is SHORT TO MEDIUM TERM wealth building, which, although a lot harder and riskier, is obviously more rewarding if you succeed. I want to retire young; I am not fulfilled by a 9-5 job. I need one and am eager and happy about the one I have to the degree I can be, but I believe that at their very core, most 9-5 jobs drain the soul and life force of the people who have them. I don't want to work until I'm 65. The prospect of that makes me cringe and has scared me into aggressively pursuing short to mid-term wealth generation.
Warren Buffett's advice just does not serve me because of this. Like I said, he has good ideas for the safe, long term investor, but when you start out dirt-poor, long term wealth building is A LOT LONGER TERM! I want short to medium term wealth, and so I have pursued a different market and focused on building of assets. That being said, it truly doesn't surprise me that Warren Buffett thought that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies would fail and were a 'mirage' (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/07/bitcoin-up-sevenfold-since-warren-buffett-warned-digital-currency-was-a-mirage.html ).
I think he thought this for two reasons:
- He is not a child of the internet era and doesn't have as firm an understanding of just how powerful these can and will be. I get the impression that he doesn't really 'get' cryptocurrency and maybe he never will (I hope he does, for his sake though).
- He is failing to realize just how much of a problem young people have considered central banking and just how oppressed they feel by it (this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface as to what this has caused - each ICO is a mini-fed essentially, arguably with more utility than the regular fed, and the increase in ICOs is essentially young people saying 'fuck you, we'll print our own money because we're more just' - more articles to come regarding this). Additionally, young people fear collapse and older people do too, having seen what we've recently seen.
These reasons are likely why Mr. Buffett, although aware of finance and a great long-term investor, has been wrong thus far and I would wager he will continue to be wrong regarding cryptocurrency and the blockchain. A new generation has begun and it will continue to the point that it becomes foundational in our economy, in our every day lives, and a cornerstone of the internet and world.