Internet disclaimers, investment advice and upside downsides

At the end of many posts where people give advice about what to buy, they often leave a disclaimer saying something like, "this is not financial advice" or "I am not a professional" to cover themselves in case the advice they give goes awry.

What I wonder is if these days all that is really needed is;

This is the internet, your decisions are your own.

 

The problem with the internet is that there is no consequence for what is said which means, people can say absolutely anything and for the most part get away with it. This is even worse in the crypto industry where even people who heavily pushed Bitconnect on Steem are still here posting, shilling and getting support.

If you have lung cancer and find someone on the internet someone who says eating only corn is the cure and you do it without question, aren't you just a little responsible for your actions? Getting told you can charge your phone in the microwave and actually trying it without at least a secondary search for cross-referenced verification? You know...

This is the internet, your decisions are your own.

  While I might get called a Steem shill often enough, I don't force anyone to buy Steem and if they do, that is on them. If things work out and they become rich on my advice, that is on them too. what I wonder is, what about the opposite side.

For example, I might say something like: I believe that Steem will get to 10 dollars at some point and buying 100 dollars worth of Steem now which is 500 Steem, could reap 5000 dollars of value later. Not only that, it can be earned upon, used to reward and as price increases, potentially take some valuable Steem out of the pool. That would be a 50x increase in value.

While not direct financial advice, it could influence some people into taking the risk. However, what about the other side of the coin so to speak?

What if I said something like: Don't buy Steem as I don't think it will ever go up in value because the whales and bidbots are raping the pool and the coming hardfork will take more earnings away from authors and make Steem unattractive to everyone.

While not direct financial advice, it could influence some people into not taking the risk. Right?

Should those who are negativity shillers have a disclaimer about not being financial advice? It seems that those who say to buy even in general terms will explicitly add some kind of warning, but those who warn away from buying, don't. Remember though,

This is the internet, your decisions are your own.

  But I wonder what would happen if the "miracle" of Steem going to 10 dollars happened, how would the people who listened to the negative side feel, will they accept the position as their own decision not to buy, or will they look to lay blame for why the didn't, will they hold a grudge?

Just think, for many people 100 dollars isn't a great deal of money but, 5000 is. The risk of buying is the cost of losing, a known cost. The risk of not buying is an opportunity cost of whatever it might gain. The floor loss is what one puts into it, the floor gain has an unknown ceiling.

This is why you only invest in what you are willing to lose completely because that way, you always know what the bottom zero value is going to cost you. It is also why investors are often looking for something that is relatively cheap to buy but, has a lot of upside potential, even if it takes time to mature.

You see, for the first year of Bitcoin's price history it was worth almost nothing yet in July 2010 it had a swing of 1000%. 1000% gains.... Most sold of course and then likely bought in a bit later, sold, bought, sold... but few imagined that their 100 dollars would have done this of they just sunk it in, kissed it goodbye and held.

100/0.008 = 12500 12500x11395 = 142,437,500

142,437,500

That is at current prices. 142 million dollars worth. How many people were told Bitcoin was a scam, it would never work, it was throwing your money away? How many people decided not to put that 100 dollars into it, or decided to sell when it dropped only to see this:

That hundred would have been: 12500x31 = 387500

then got caught in the FOMO only to have this happen:

That hundred would have still been: 12500x2 = 25000

You know, how many people gave into their fears of losing that 100 dollars as if it was going to break them financially? This is the problem with our human psychology though, we don't like to lose anything. Rather than take the risk of loss, most of us will avoid the risk altogether and take the certainty of the status quo. We will rather spend the 100 dollars on a pair of jeans or concert tickets and feel that we have value for money, otherwise; we wouldn't buy the jeans or concert tickets.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush mentality seems to take over except, holding a potential investment like Bitcoin or Steem isn't having the birds in the bush because, those birds are owned.

But this is the thing:

This is the internet, your decisions are your own.

  Don't let me influence you into buying, selling, holding, quitting or doing anything else in this life because, you own your experience and the decisions you make in your life are going to affect you and those around you. Your choices are your responsibility and no matter if things go well or poorly, the only person to blame is the one in the mirror.

McDonald's doesn't force a Big Mac, Large fries, a sundae and a Coke down your throat - you buy it. It is us that consume what makes us unhealthy, us that keeps demanding it and while it might feel better to be able to find an external reason as to why we are overweight, out of shape and poor - we also have to recognize the role we play in the economy of decision making.

Who and what we choose to surround ourselves with are almost without exception going to influence us in some way or another and while there are those who might save you investing a few hundred dollars, they might also be the same ones that could cost you the future opportunity of having much more. It isn't their fault, they didn't force you.

Part of the purpose of crypto is to help take control of personal economy and that means having the responsibility to make decisions autonomously. Sure, you can seek out advice and listen to whoever the hell you want but,

You control your keys.

 

This is the internet, your decisions are your own.

Taraz [ a Steem original ]