Bitcoin mining isn't my only source of income. When I say "5-10 year plan" I'm talking about all my finances, which bitcoin is just a part. I'm not talking about mining bitcoin in 5-10 years. I'm talking about the value (not price) of bitcoin in that time. I have no concern about "to the moon" prices.
Just looking at the remittance market alone, which is currently 440 billion (according to the world bank...
http://go.worldbank.org/BO45C21RT0) Even if bitcoin only consumes 25% of that market share, it's reasonable to say it will be worth any pain experience in the short term. Again, I'm not talking about industrial scale mining.
All I'm saying, is that home mining for short term gains, is going to be painful. Everyone has their personal stop loss point. You have to have a bigger plan, which bitcoin mining fits into.
While the current BTC price sucks... difficulty increase/less payouts suck... and we have operating costs... I think focusing on that stuff (for the home miner) is the wrong attitude. I don't care about short term price. The way I see it, I am buying cheap bitcoins from my electric company. I believe in the long term success of bitcoin. Even if I start operating at a loss in the coming months, it won't matter long term. Everyone needs to stop looking at home mining as a get rich quick scheme and start looking at how it fits in to your 5-10 year plans. If you believe in bitcoin, and cryprocurrency in general, it's a no brainer.
There is NO 5-10 year plan for Mining, not only will difficulty skyrocket soon,
the block reward is about to be cut in half.Most people dont know that little fact.
So in summation, difficulty going to the moon, present payouts dropping like rocks, and the block REWARD about to be cut in half... So how does that fit into your 5-10 year plan.
You are only kidding yourself.
And PLEASE dont come back and say BTC will be worth 1-2- 5- 10 thousand dollars cause it ain't goin to happen.