I'm a "casual' investor in crypto..."casual" meaning I only check my balances about 50 times per day...read three different blogs more than a couple times each day...check my balances while sitting in meetings....receive email updates from various links I signed up on...have purchased multiple newsletters...."only" own 26 different coins...and "only" utilize 5 different exchanges....
Well...maybe not "casual' but not a day trader....yet.
Regardless... it scares and shocks me to see how much of a balance I have accumulated over the three plus years I've been involved with this...really knowing nothing....just willing to take a chance...not give up...make the mistakes needed to learn...and enjoy the process....
Over the three years I could have cashed out at any time...lord knows my wife certainly wanted me to take that option...would have been nice...pat myself on the back and get on with life...however... I didn't get involved with this just to make a few extra dollars...I did it as a dream...what if...a real life lottery... and having survived the highs and lows to date...see it continue to develop...catch on...grow in value...I know I was on to something...and lets face it...it always feels good to feel "right" about a choice we make...
But...I can't take what I have lightly....and as so often happens in investing...once you have something worth having...it becomes something you worry about losing...So...in an effort to convince myself to hang in there...I have come up with these additional reasons on why I should hang on...
First...taxes...it already shocks me what kind of tax I will owe next year when I file based on what I have done to date...its so easy to lose track of all the trading one does whether cashing some out or just re positioning what you own for coins...trading coins for coins...and as it stands...my profit is tied up in coins and as of now...and the government doesn't accept bitcoin payment.
Secondly and perhaps most importantly...from my perspective..its only getting started...the masses are not yet truly involved...I know so many people...who have "heard" about "bitcoin"...but wouldn't consider it as an investment...too risky...not real...too confusing...sure...I get it...its what separates the entrepreneurs from the worker bees...the gamblers from the sideline fans...but...it is evolving into the mainstream...ready or not here it comes...all it will need is one "legitimate" investment house to allow it to trade in it or market it to its customers as an alternative investment...and BAM...these things take off beyond what's happened to date...
Therefore...in preparation of this next big wave...I am trying to decide what coins make the most sense to own for this purpose...I definitely think early on...the "bigger and better" known coins will be the most invested...like bitcoin...ether...litecoin...monero...dash...steem of course....which come to mind immediately...not to say other coins won't be part of the trading pool...
So with that thought in mind...part of me would like to commit to just those coins which would simplify my life greatly....However...one of the reasons I spread out to other coins was to try and catch the next big thing and make a small killing on a coin that seems to have good technology potential and is talked a lot about....its so hard to sell off those type coins that have done well and continue to do well just in the current trading space...
Would love to hear what others in the Steemit community think about this concept and how they are making their coin investment choices...as "casual" investors of course...perhaps also looking to simplify their lives and end up only owning a dozen or so coins on three exchanges and only glancing at their portfolio and blogs a handful of times each day...