2021 has been one of the strangest years of my financial life. When I exited my startup two years ago now, it was my first chunk of change. It wasn’t retirement money but decent.
I thought I had a pretty good understanding of identifying value. How to spot it, how to use it to make money. In a business sense, I thought I understood something only a very few people did. Then Covid hit and I watched a good chunk of my “smart” investments spiral downward into the toilet. What felt like smart financial planning confirmed by bank financial advisors and my accountant turned into a slow-bleeding crash I couldn’t do much about.
I should preface: I don’t blame my advisors and accountants but at the same time, I will also never put much weight on their opinions again. You all should consider the same.
While I’m facing this mild depression, I find a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. It was hearing the hype around cryptocurrency. While mulling, I had completely forgotten about the collection of cryptocurrency I had since 2014. I had thrown some money into Bitcoin and a few alt projects like Etherium. Not because I knew they would blow up in value but because I wanted to mess around with Lightning Networks, see how blockchain models worked, and get my hands dirty with what felt like a nerdy side experiment back when we were trying to pivot the company on new exciting technology offerings. I never looked at it as “real” money. It was like buying in game currency to play a game.
I did the math on what my little wallet was worth… well, let’s just say more than I ever imagined they would be. My depressive state turned around almost immediately. I could take proper deep breaths. Right now my financial situation is in shreds and I thought, “holy shit I’m back to net zero again”
NO ONE could have expected this. A forgotten stash of digital.. Nothing… This fake currency was literally nothing to me., that quietly balanced things out for me on something that is everything.
I should mention, the new discovery didn’t make me whole, but it helped a lot. And after a few weeks, it still feels surreal. I started reaching out to people I was horsing around with crypto projects in 2014. One person replied. Dude has been playing on this wave and the irony was I used to spot this guy money because he couldn’t make rent. He has been walking me through so much and how much has changed. He knew the game and was showing me the ropes. I went from feeling terrified to complete comfort and hope.
Covid love is a trip
March 20, 2021