A viral Reddit thread caught my attention this week. There’s a lot to learn here, but let me boil it down to the highlights:
First, most people who got truly rich from their crypto allocation bought in early. Then held through multiple instances of total market chaos. Either due to complete and total conviction that crypto prices would recover, or because they “forgot about our keys then found them again.”
The rest, though? They chased hype – and paid the price.
It might sting, but it’s a powerful lesson. Especially for anyone looking to build wealth long term.
Let’s unpack what the Reddit post reveals about investor behavior – and how you can apply these insights to your own retirement strategy.
“I wasn’t early”: The brutal truth about crypto profits
One Reddit user laid out what many crypto investors secretly know, but rarely say:
“I wasn’t early… Most of us weren’t. And now we’re trying to make up for it by taking risks we don’t understand.”
The post went on to describe how many people who entered the crypto market in 2021 or later fell for the dream of easy riches. And, let’s be honest, it’s easy to see why! When prices just keep going up, it’s easy to fall for the delusion that prices will always keep going up. That you have much more to lose by sitting this one out than by buying in immediately, at any price.
The problem with that mindset is simple. It makes buyers ignore prices. So hundreds of thousands went all in on crypto. Worse, they bought in near the top. Then, during dips (which, let’s remember, crypto has just like every other asset), these speculators panicked. Suddenly aware that prices don’t always go up in a straight line, they sold at a loss.
Here’s the hard truth: The real profits went to those who bought and held for years – not weeks.
Why this matters for retirement investing
The crypto market was the latest to create a strange illusion: That wealth can be created instantly. You’ll find the same illusion at work in any new asset class that surges in price (AI companies today, solar companies a few years back, dot com companies in the late 90s – even tulip bulbs in the mid-1600s).
But that’s not how real wealth-building works! Especially not when you’re building a secure financial foundation the future.
The key lesson? Time in the market beats timing the market.
Those who benefited most from the astonishing surge in crypto prices had two things in common:
- Many were early adopters, who saw the promise of crypto and diversified early
- Most were making their decisions based on long term investing, buying with the intent to HODL for a decade or more
If you’re planning for retirement ten, 20 or 30 years down the road, you don’t need to chase returns. You can ignore the weekly memecoin launch. You can choose your positions, and manage them with periodic rebalancing. This often-overlooked strategy forces you to sell assets when their prices rise and invest the proceeds in assets that have underperformed. It’s a systematic way of taking risk off the table – the opposite of chasing returns.
Long-term investing and periodic rebalancing work best within a tax-advantaged account like an IRA. That makes a Digital IRA the ideal vehicle to manage your cryptocurrency positions over time.
Crypto IRAs: Designed for long-term wealth creation
With a BitIRA account, you can buy and hold cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum and two dozen of the biggest tokens within a tax-deferred or even tax-free retirement account. That means:
- No capital gains taxes on trades within your account
- No tracking of cost basis, so you can forget about spreadsheet headaches
- A lot less FOMO-induced selling pressure during a crypto dip (so long as you maintain a long-term perspective)
A Digital IRA empowers you to diversify with cryptocurrencies as part of a long-term wealth-building strategy – rather than frantic day-trading fueled by emotional guesswork.
Why? Because it’s a retirement account. When you know your money is set aside for decades, your psychology changes.
You’re not watching prices change every hour. You can sit back and watch the next dip with a feeling of detachment – because history shows us they don’t last. Your mind is clearer simply because you’re planning for the long term, for a bigger goal.
Stop chasing, start building
The Reddit user ended their post with this reminder:
“Stop trying to hit home runs. Just survive. Hold. Learn. Grow.”
That’s exactly what a Cryptocurrency IRA like BitIRAS is designed for.
To help you hold on. To help you learn. Most of all, to help you (and your wealth) grow.
Don’t let short-term hype sabotage your long-term goals. When you open your Crypto IRA account with BitIRA, it helps you:
- Protect gains from taxes
- Focus on the long term
- Turn crypto volatility into opportunity
If you’ve decided that diversifying your long-term savings with crypto is a smart move for you, it’s never been easier to get started. You can open your BitIRA account right now (in less than 10 minutes) any time, day or night.
Alternately, if you still have questions about how diversifying with crypto can benefit your retirement savings, request your copy of the Insider’s Guide to Crypto IRAs (totally free). Or call BitIRA at 800-299-1567 to speak to a Digital Currency Specialist today.
