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TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

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71–80 of 366 posts

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#72
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not buying and keeping your currency elsewhere may just be a totally reasonable alternative.

People that are anti crypto are of strong conviction. I am sure they wish they could have their Michael Burry moment — if only it wasn’t for the damn volatility.

Maybe people don't want to play a zero-sum Greater fool game. There are better ways to spend one's time.

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#73

> Keith Baldwin, a 44-year-old surgeon who lives outside New Bedford, Mass., saved $177,000 during the past decade. Last year he took his savings and bought USD Coin, putting it in a crypto account that paid a 9% annual yield. A surgeon saved 177k over 10 years? Something else might be going on here.

It's probably lifestyle inflation (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lifestyle-inflation.asp), where spending increased in proportion or in excess to rises in income. A surgeon in the US wrote about colleagues who exhibited this behaviour in a blog (source: https://www.kevinmd.com/2019/03/why-many-doctors-live-payche...).

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#74
post #31

I occasionally get asked by relatives and friends of what to invest in. Now I'm no expert but I guess in the valley of the blind the one-eyed man is king. Thing is what I tell them seems to bore them because, well, it's boring. My advice is basically this: Put your money in a broad index fund and don't look at it for 10 years. In giving this advice you start to realize it's not what people want to hear. It's not that…

I think index funds are better seen as "savings" than "investments" in most people's mind.

I've literally never heard of anyone referring to index funds that way. You're not making any sense at all.

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#75
post #59
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are so smug when they say “I told you so.” It really bothers me. On every negative story about crypto, so many people comment “hur dur financial regulation dur”. But that’s so easy to say after the fact. If these people really could foresee these events happening, then they could have made a lot of money by taking short positions. That would be a lot more impressive to me than taking cheap opportunities to fee…

There is ample evidence before of people predicting pretty much everything that happened (with the exception of the bizarre transfer devices that evolved out of staking, tethering, contracts, etc.). I think smugness is 100% warranted, especially given the intensity of the attacks from the other side. Even your smugness with, "Well, if you're so smart why didn't you short and make a mint," is just sour grapes. Because…

Just short $MSTR. Easy.

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#76
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy short options that have capped downside.

So if you think crypto is mostly a scam the solution is to get into options trading? Staying away and warning your friends/family about the scammy nature of many coins is a perfectly reasonable response.

No, OP is saying that you can't make fun of it unless you put your money where your mouth is. Obviously, most people disagree.

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#78
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is ample evidence before of people predicting pretty much everything that happened (with the exception of the bizarre transfer devices that evolved out of staking, tethering, contracts, etc.). I think smugness is 100% warranted, especially given the intensity of the attacks from the other side. Even your smugness with, "Well, if you're so smart why didn't you short and make a mint," is just sour grapes. Because…

Just short $MSTR. Easy.

Maybe most people already have a job which they spend time and get money in return, so why would they spend even more of their free time in pursuit of a little bit more money? Life is more than money anyways

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#79
post #56
post #31

I occasionally get asked by relatives and friends of what to invest in. Now I'm no expert but I guess in the valley of the blind the one-eyed man is king. Thing is what I tell them seems to bore them because, well, it's boring. My advice is basically this: Put your money in a broad index fund and don't look at it for 10 years. In giving this advice you start to realize it's not what people want to hear. It's not that…

In my experience, it seems that a lot of people have an un-stated gut feeling that "doing something" must out-perform passive dollar cost averaging a broad low-fee index ETF. If we came up with some obfuscated mathematical dance that, if un-obfuscated, were obviously dollar cost averaging in a broad-based low-fee index ETF, I think it would be more popular. Edit: There are also lots of investment strategies where peo…

Heh, I think that idea has a lot of promise. Casinos might offer some guidance here given how good they are at making games with fairly straightforward negative odds seem enticing.

We need some sort of responsible investing vehicle that includes gamification, intermittent reinforcement, and a tiny chance for a huge payoff.

Re: TerraUSD crash led to vanished savings, shattered dreams

#80
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think index funds are better seen as "savings" than "investments" in most people's mind.

I've literally never heard of anyone referring to index funds that way. You're not making any sense at all.

I assume when people say savings they mean investments. Because it would be stupid not to invest a large cash position.
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