Was the wallet you used for the 1st time 100% secure, encrypted etc? I've heard about rare big delays but first time I read about funds vanishing. Sounds alarming, how common is this?
Terribly late (buying some BTC back in the days when they was worth $1 crossed my mind but I didn't.... -_-), but here I am. I'll end up being horribly scammed, I know but at least is a lot of fun. Hi to the community.
Personally I'd wait and see how fast difficulty adjustments will go when first big ASIC's batches will be shipped. And maybe I'll consider investing in Asicminer rather than risk myself. But that's just me, pretty new myself though I did read a lot already.