Why crypto is a maybe (at best)

Crypto is not ready for a position on your starting team. It’s very volatile, obviously. And its potential benefits have yet to be realized. If crypto makes up more than a small percentage of your investments, you need more diversification.

Crypto fans usually tout 1) money to be made and 2) potential advantages over traditional currency. What gets lost is a key consideration for any investment: time. That’s especially true for anyone who’s young.

Investing is a long-term game, and the longer the term, the greater your chances of winning. If you’re playing a short-term game and trying to time the markets, the odds of success are almost zero. This is why every real financial expert recommends putting money in the S&P 500 for 30 years instead of buying crypto for 3 months.

Crypto does have some advantages over traditional currencies in ease of transfer, speed of transfer, privacy, and security in a global digital economy. It remains to be seen whether these advantages prove valuable in the long term. For now, none of them has materialized into a real use for replacing traditional currency.

Bottom line: Take a hard pass on crypto if you’re considering it as a way to make money in the short term. But if you’re investing for the long term (as you should be) there could be some benefit to some crypto after some time.