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Comment by lexapro | Hacker News Reader

>he invested all the savings he had available from six years working for an investment consultancy in Northern England, or 10,000 pounds ($13,250)

He saved just $180 per month?

>he said Ether cost about $10 when he invested

So he got lucky by buying in early... not because of successful trading. Yet he gives advice as if he was an expert trader.

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To be fair, "buy and hold" is probably one of the best investment advice there is.

All companies go bust. Won't you lose all your money that way?

That's why you don't put all your eggs in the same basket.

Not strictly true. Large traded S&P/FTSE companies are more likely to get bought out then fail outright.

To follow up this question: Isn't that just a gamble too? I buy a company at 10, it goes up to 20, should I get out? I think it will get to 30, the next day it goes to 2 and soon delisted.

I can vouch, I have done this. I have no idea what I am doing.

If you buy at 10 and it goes to 20, sell half and play with house money if you are worried about it.

No, that's like saying all lineages die out; there's no reason a company shouldn't continue operating profitably indefinitely.

Who mentioned "should"?

In theory, companies pay dividends, and the price of a stock is effectively the time-discounted value of all future payments (including any final sale).

Separating that from the “bitcoin” part of a stock’s price is, of course, the major question.

> He saved just $180 per month?

It's Northern England. he likely wasn't paid that much.

There’s a lot of that on Wall Street too.

Classic Whataboutism/Tu quoque.

Bingo; if you’ve ever met successful traders they’re usually not that smart. Most were just in the right place at the right time.

They try to justify their exceptionalism by giving advice, but it boils down to “be a WASP and get a job at an investment bank”.

I suggest you go on a trading floor and revisit your wasp comment.

There's no trading floor any more, mate. Well at the very least said floor is a quiet place. Its all hft and electronic trading these days.

There’s always the exception that proves the rule, but yeah it’s pretty waspy once you move a level above the kids hired out of university.

Lol if being a "successful trader" means I'm not allowed to buy assets at a great price then I never want to be a "successful trader".

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