Two Golden Lessons: Unmissable Secrets to Successful Investing

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on a series about personal finance. This is a fascinating topic, and I'm very passionate about the information I'm preparing to share with you. Although I haven't finished recording everything, I wanted to share a quick story related to investment.

I started my personal financial investments quite a while ago. In the process, I've accumulated some experience and knowledge. Today, I'll share two valuable lessons I've learned. Although this episode contains some details about the cryptocurrency market, I want to clarify that I am not providing financial advice or market analysis. My focus is entirely different.

For those who follow me on Facebook, you might have noticed that I have never posted anything about cryptocurrencies, also known as digital or virtual currencies in Vietnam, like Bitcoin or Ethereum. From this point forward, I'll refer to it as crypto for brevity. Today is the first time I'm breaking my silence on this topic, but I must emphasize that my message is not about promoting or discouraging investments in cryptocurrencies.

Let me start by sharing how I first came to know about cryptocurrencies. Some of you might know that my primary work is in the tech sector, and I've been fortunate enough to work in the financial industry in Australia for a considerable time. One of the first companies I worked for was Commonwealth Bank, one of the largest banks in Australia, akin to Vietcombank in Vietnam. Commonwealth Bank heavily invests in technology. Later, I worked for another major bank, ANZ, and on various projects with NAB and Westpac, thus working with all four major Australian banks.

Because of my extensive time in both finance and technology, I was introduced to crypto early on. At that time, most people discussing crypto were in the tech or fintech sectors. Initially, I found it fascinating but did not buy or invest in it; I was mainly interested in the technology.

Regarding Bitcoin, back then, most people in the community were either tech enthusiasts or finance professionals, discussing crypto from a technical standpoint. Over time, debates split the community into two groups: one viewed Bitcoin as a currency (fiat money), while the other saw it as a store of value, similar to gold. Eventually, the consensus leaned towards Bitcoin being a store of value due to technical limitations like slow transaction speeds and high volatility.

During this period, I became interested in Ethereum because of its smart contract concept, which seemed to address many limitations of Bitcoin. My colleagues and I, passionate about both tech and finance, delved deep into blockchain technology. We organized regular lunch-and-learn sessions to share our findings.

Despite our deep interest, our approach was purely technical, not investment-focused. We bought small amounts of crypto mainly for experimentation. I remember participating in a hackathon at my company in late 2015 or early 2016, where we won second place with a blockchain project and received a $3,000 prize. My Swiss colleague and I decided to use our shares of the prize money to buy crypto as a keepsake.

I bought 100 Ethereum (ETH) for about $1,500 when it was priced around $13 per ETH. We also purchased hardware wallets to store our crypto securely. Over the next year, we nearly forgot about our holdings until the crypto market surged in 2017. Despite our technical understanding, we were surprised by the rapid increase in prices.

As the price of ETH soared to $400 by November 2017, I decided to sell half of my holdings for around $20,000, using part of the proceeds to buy a high-end MacBook Pro and investing the rest in the stock market. If I had held on to all 100 ETH, it would be worth over $200,000 today, but I don't regret my decision since my stock investments also performed well.

By December 2017, I decided to sell almost all my remaining ETH, keeping only 10 for sentimental reasons. The market continued to rise briefly before crashing in early 2018, reinforcing a lesson I learned from a respected mentor: "When your taxi driver starts giving you investment advice, it's time to exit."

This saying means that when inexperienced people start to think they are experts, it's a sign to be cautious. I observed a similar situation recently when a younger colleague, who had made some quick gains in crypto, started enthusiastically sharing investment tips without a deep understanding of the market. This prompted me to sell my remaining ETH just before another market crash.

In conclusion, two key lessons I want to share are: first, know what you don't know. This self-awareness is crucial in all aspects of life, especially in investment. Second, be cautious when inexperienced individuals start giving investment advice.

I'm preparing a series on personal finance, a topic I am deeply passionate about. I've been practicing personal finance for over ten years, and it has brought significant value to my life. I hope to share these insights with you to provide similar value. If you find this content helpful, please share it with your friends.

Thank you for reading.