Life lessons learned + the lottery mentality

There's an important lesson I learned several years ago from an investment (retirement investment, specifically) expert. I don't remember specifically what he said, but it was talking about people and their retirement accounts.

The main point is this:

People like to look at numbers

As if to say that the dollars in your bank account (or wallet in this case) is supposed to define you, to make you happy.

How it applies with people and their retirement accounts, is that they accumulate it while they're alive and working and save every last penny for that retirement when they can finally relax and "enjoy" life.

You know, do the things that they want to now that they have the time and the money!

You've earned it! You've only worked for 50 years, let's cut loose and have some fun right?

No.

People don't tend to do that. After they retire they still worry about money and still penny pinch to keep that dollar balance as high as possible.

They want to make sure they have enough, they want to have it just in case, or they want to leave some for their kids... but they don't really have a plan for it.

And then they die before they ever make a plan.

and the government takes the lions share of it and their kids get a handy little check for whatever money is left after everyone has taken from the coffers.

The same happens with investments.

Well, not the same situation, but the same cause.

An obsession with the numbers

I think that most everyone here in the crypto game has seen their share of gains and losses. Maybe you're one of the ones who managed to not take any losses on your peak wallet value or something, but chances are... if you're here... that's not the case.

And I feel that, collectively, we've all been obsessed with that big number we saw once upon a time.

It kind of hurts though with investments, huh?

At least with the retirement situation, you're gone by the time the money is gone... You never get to see it disappear like this.

Here you got to watch it become a fraction of what it once was.

I can't even imagine the levels of loss people felt when it was their entire life savings and retirement that disappeared like that (ie bank failures // great depression). It's no wonder people were torn apart.

But I really feel that many of us are very lucky for what we've gotten here in this crypto world.

The sting of loss might suck, but the exponential growth came fast and hard -- and at much less blood and sweat than working in a factory for 50 years.

We've gotten to learn an important life lesson

That sometimes takes a lifetime to learn

In a period of time that is less than a decade.

I feel we're doing pretty well all things considered.

And I think that most of us who are here have had some sort of gains, at least if you've been in it long enough.

But, I mean, this was always a gamble. It was always a hope and a prayer that we'd come out with a winning lottery currency here for a lot of us.

We all know that free money and no work is a pipe dream though. If you're not doing something to produce that value, then what is it that you've got?

Honestly, I'm not really sure.

But I think... the reality of the loss that we collectively faced can be shaped into forward momentum.

We can use this to become better, smarter people, no?

Crypto might not be what it once was -- but we've got a whole group of people here who have (hopefully) learned an invaluable life lesson.

And that's something I can feel pretty good about.
_{even if we're not all laughing on our way to the bank together 😣}

- Guurg

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P.S. I kind of decided to write this because of @rok-sivante's post:
How NOT To Lose $2 Million In Crypto: A True Tale...

Very relatable.

P.P.S. I hope you aren't annoyed with my stance on things, it's not meant to be derisive -- I'm just trying to have a positive perspective on the situation.

_{This is where I run off to instead of the bank 😃}