What do you think?

[mamesso]

You can try the practices of the people who have given you this advice, just think of that advice as an alternative if you can't afford a hardware wallet. Everyone has their own way of storing Bitcoin, but the level of security needs to be prioritized to prevent unwanted things from happening.
If you can afford a laptop or other device to make it easier for you to invest in Bitcoin, it is impossible not to be able to afford a hardware wallet as a safe place to store assets. You should ask this person more about how to keep assets safe after following all his advice. If he has been doing this since 2013, it means his knowledge is very extensive and of course he also really understands how to store assets in the wallet safely.

[hosseinimr93]

Electrum, bluewallet or sparrowwallet...as long as you are using a wallet that is open source and a non-custodial wallet are all equally secure wallets. But I think comparing them and assuming they have the same level of security as hardware wallets is not entirely accurate because hardware wallets will at least always be offline and that's what m akes it more valuable.

You can run electrum on an airgapped device and have the same security as a hardware wallet.

Without running a full node, the electrum wallet is non-custodial and uses hot storage for safeguarding Bitcoins.

You can use electrum as a cold storage and that has nothing to with whether you are running a full node or not.

Yeah obviously Electrum is a good wallet, no doubt about that, but it requires one to keep the app on a device such as a smartphone or a computer to run and use the wallet to make transactions, and any app that is stored on a device can be compromised and attacked by exploiters using malware, viruses, and other stuff that they use to steal people's funds.

Assuming you are using electrum as a hot wallet, you are right. Any online device is always prone to hacking.
But as I already said, you can use electrum on an airgapped device and be completely safe.

[Uhwuchukwu53]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

Using a Bitcoin Electrum wallet or other, disconnect from the internet before generating a new seed and never connecting to the internet again.

Until you are ready to sell everything in that wallet.

Is this practice similar to using a hardware wallet? This advice came from a man I know who said to have been keeping his BTC since 2013 in the same manner, he said the internet/online is the culprit or enemy of every crypto wallet.

This method is good I always see it as alternative if one can't afford hardware wallet for a start, but if you have all it tAke to afford hardware wallet I think taking the steps of using hardware wallet is the Best, security is the first thing once investment is concerned mostly as valuable as Bitcoin no matter how small or big the investment is one at first should put security as the most priority because the safer the investment the more your motivation to Long term holding.

[Woodie]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

First and foremost, it's not mandatory for everyone to have  a hardware wallet unless you have to , but for the experience I think you can put it on the bucket list just to make yourself a complete crypto user

Using a Bitcoin Electrum wallet or other, disconnect from the internet before generating a new seed and never connecting to the internet again.

Until you are ready to sell everything in that wallet.

Is this practice similar to using a hardware wallet? This advice came from a man I know who said to have been keeping his BTC since 2013 in the same manner, he said the internet/online is the culprit or enemy of every crypto wallet.

Honestly if it's security you concerned about then a cold wallet it what you need, anything that has to do with the internet does kind of put your coins at risk especially with Blackhat hackers and scammers working tirelessly trying to get hold of our coins forcefully... But if you don't mind the risk and have great safeguards to protect your coins then you can go ahead with the hardware wallet...btw with one of these big brands in the hardware wallet business that got compromised awhile ago, I would advice keeping all coins in one basket, spread the risk to minimise the damage!!!

[Bushdark]

Hardware wallet could be very expensive and available for people that knows how to use it or interested in it.
I think we should just stick to what works for us rather than trying to adopt another method that we could not be used to.
Hardware wallet is safe and okay to use but that does not means that other wallets too are bad. Since we are not whales then I don't seee any reason for a hardware wallet. It is mostly meant for people that have huge amount of Bitcoin and it could be unsafe if they use the normal wallet.

[Huppercase]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

Using a Bitcoin Electrum wallet or other, disconnect from the internet before generating a new seed and never connecting to the internet again.

Until you are ready to sell everything in that wallet.

Is this practice similar to using a hardware wallet? This advice came from a man I know who said to have been keeping his BTC since 2013 in the same manner, he said the internet/online is the culprit or enemy of every crypto wallet.

I want you to listen good. Using a hardware wallet doesn't mean you are 100% protected from scam or fraud or hack, the hardware wallet actually break down the probability of then getting to you because there is no internet connection to you but your own activity is what matter, you can still be careful and no scammer or hacker will get you or you can still be careless and hacker will drain your wallet or even your seed phrase carelessness and not properly backup can make you lose your coins and funds.

As for using electrum too, I wouldn't advice you that the practice is safe, you can be careful and noyhing will happen to your funds but it's not as safe like the hardware wallet. If you the amount of Bitcoin you are buying is in large amount, I will advice you to get a hardware wallet or Alternatively get a air gap device for better storage and make sure you also make a proper good use and care for it else you are as good as using a software wallet.

[God bless u]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

Using a Bitcoin Electrum wallet or other, disconnect from the internet before generating a new seed and never connecting to the internet again.

Until you are ready to sell everything in that wallet.

Is this practice similar to using a hardware wallet? This advice came from a man I know who said to have been keeping his BTC since 2013 in the same manner, he said the internet/online is the culprit or enemy of every crypto wallet.

Yeah I completely agree with your friend that it's the internet that is the culprit of every wallet. Actually it's not the internet rather it's our unintentional actions that lead us to these kinds of mishaps.

The security layer to the wallets is good but we are not educated enough to have a good knowledge of how to use our cell phone. People get trapped by their own greed and actions. This can be resolved if we educate people of the ways in which people hack the wallets.

[Z-tight]

I think we should just stick to what works for us rather than trying to adopt another method that we could not be used to.

I don't agree, it should not be about what works for you or what you are used to, but what is safe and recommended, if you have not or cannot learn to use what is safe, then you should not buy BTC until you have that knowledge. It is not hard to use a hardware wallet, and not all hardware devices are 'expensive'.

Setting up an airgapped wallet, which is what the op is trying to do, is much more difficult for newbies to do in a safe environment, but a hardware wallet is easier for a newbie to use.

[Belarge]

I think we should just stick to what works for us rather than trying to adopt another method that we could not be used to.

We calm down and apply strategy that's favorable for us. There's always another day to grab new opportunities in the market, today must not be the last day to grab everything. We have different strategies in the market, it's bold to pick one and implement and not jeopardize our chances of losing. Yeah you're right about this particular idea, always stick to the strategy that's favorable and not entangle with some random strategies simply because our colleagues used them.

[Yamifoud]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

Using a Bitcoin Electrum wallet or other, disconnect from the internet before generating a new seed and never connecting to the internet again.

Until you are ready to sell everything in that wallet.

Practically, we don't need to acquire a hardware wallet if we are just a small investor or a beginner as Electrum is enough. In fact, most of us are using this and I haven't seen or heard huge complaints about losing control of their wallet which means that the majority are safe.
We can say that an offline wallet is highly recommended and more secure but we should not push ourselves to have it or take this as the priority but rather use the money to acquire more Bitcoin. We can secure our Electrum wallet if we are too careful and avoid clicking unsolicited messages that contain links. And much more avoiding exposing our keys to other people.

[rodskee]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

Using a Bitcoin Electrum wallet or other, disconnect from the internet before generating a new seed and never connecting to the internet again.

Until you are ready to sell everything in that wallet.

Is this practice similar to using a hardware wallet? This advice came from a man I know who said to have been keeping his BTC since 2013 in the same manner, he said the internet/online is the culprit or enemy of every crypto wallet.

How much are  you going to Keep in that wallet? because if we are talking 50 dollars worth of
Bitcoin here so what is the sense of having a hardware wallet? though this must be the practice we
need to do for us to learn and get used of safer holding , so in time that you have more to invest
hen you will have place to store them safely , in this what I mean is better to have hardware wallet
or cold storage even before we start buying bitcoin.

[Marvelman]

How much are  you going to Keep in that wallet? because if we are talking 50 dollars worth of
Bitcoin here so what is the sense of having a hardware wallet?

It is also important to keep in mind for how long you intend to keep your coins in that wallet.  Yes, for a small amount like $50 worth of Bitcoin, a hardware wallet might be overkill.  But imagine if you invested $50 worth of Bitcoin say 10 years ago? You never know how much value your bitcoins will be in the future, so it's better to take all the precautions to protect your wallet safely for a long time.

[Nrcewker]

If your budget is not high, then yes Electreum wallet can really do the task. It’s the best free wallet that you can download in your pc and use it to store the Bitcoins. You also don’t need to do such tedious things, if your pc is free from viruses. I have often seen that newbies just run behind online wallets, which are actually not safe. Hence seeing a post about Electreum wallet from a newbie really made me happy.

[Ale88]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

If you can't afford to buy a hardware wallet it means that you have very little amount of bitcoin because nowadays a good hardware wallet is like $60-70, nothing crazy. Of course if you have like $20 in bitcoin it doesn't make sense to buy one. On the other hand if you have a good amount of money invested in bitcoin buying a hardware wallet would give you more security and less stress, so you shouldn't see it as an expense but as an investment.

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

A cold wallet is safe because it has no connection to the Internet, and transactions are made when pressing a hardware key. Although hot wallets like Metamask, Trust or Electrum do not have the function of confirming transactions with hardware keys, if you do not connect your wallet to dapps and the internet regularly, it is completely safe.

If you use cold wallets incorrectly, such as using them to link with dapps, the possibility of losing private keys is very high, and they can hack your wallet without the button of the cold wallet.  Therefore, no matter what wallet you use, it is important to carefully secure your private key. Currently, as far as I know, linking with dapps is often the easiest way to lose your private key.

[Moreno233]

If you want your electrum wallet to be completely secure, you should create it on an airgapped device.
This means that you should use a device which has been always offline and will never connect to the internet.

I was wondering if one will be able to receive payment into the wallet under this arrangement, I mean a case where the wallet is not connected to the internet. This may sound dumb to the experienced people here but I know some few others like me see this as a major concern. So I just checked the internet to see if there will be any help as that was not addressed in the various comments here. Below is one of the answer I got so I felt I should share for the sake of other curious minds like me.

Your wallet's purpose is mainly to store your private keys which enable you to spend balances associated with corresponding addresses. The actual bitcoin balances are stored in the blockchain ("the public ledger") which is constantly being updated by the bitcoin network even when you are offline. When you open your wallet, it will catch up to the current status by validating any blocks that occurred while you were offline. The balance shown in your wallet only represents a snapshot of the latest information available to your wallet (which may lag behind if you aren't synchronized, or may be accurate, if you are currently in sync with the network).

So, Bitcoin payments will arrive just fine with you being offline, you just probably won't be aware of it until later.

The full detail is in this link:
https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/18125/must-my-wallet-be-connected-to-the-internet-to-receive-payments

[SAHASAN]

I select hardware wallet to onine wallet then take from sell point like following image

[kro55]

Is this good advice for those who can't afford a hardware wallet?

If you can't afford to buy a hardware wallet it means that you have very little amount of bitcoin because nowadays a good hardware wallet is like $60-70, nothing crazy. Of course if you have like $20 in bitcoin it doesn't make sense to buy one. On the other hand if you have a good amount of money invested in bitcoin buying a hardware wallet would give you more security and less stress, so you shouldn't see it as an expense but as an investment.

But if we only invest 20 or 50 USD in bitcoin, what benefit will it bring because that amount is very small and insignificant. If we plan to accumulate $20 or $50 per week or per month (DCA), then owning a hardware wallet is something we should consider. Many people always think that they have too little bitcoin and that owning a hardware wallet is a bit wasteful or unnecessary, but if we have long-term plans with bitcoin, we should know that it is very important. Don't wait until we lose all our bitcoins to realize the importance of hardware wallets.

[G_Besar]

It is also important to keep in mind for how long you intend to keep your coins in that wallet.  Yes, for a small amount like $50 worth of Bitcoin, a hardware wallet might be overkill.  But imagine if you invested $50 worth of Bitcoin say 10 years ago? You never know how much value your bitcoins will be in the future, so it's better to take all the precautions to protect your wallet safely for a long time.

Good preparation for the purpose of keeping something good for a long time will never be a waste of time. Moreover, if it is to store Bitcoin, even though the amount is not much, it will be very meaningful when the price of Bitcoin starts to increase again in the future. So preparing the best from now on must still be considered a very important option because the good will never be in vain for anyone who uses it for a long time. Especially if over time we also have the intention to increase the amount we want to store in the same place.

[Z-tight]

A cold wallet is safe because it has no connection to the Internet, and transactions are made when pressing a hardware key. Although hot wallets like Metamask, Trust or Electrum do not have the function of confirming transactions with hardware keys, if you do not connect your wallet to dapps and the internet regularly, it is completely safe.

What do you mean by a hardware key. If you want to make tx's in an airgapped wallet, you simply create the tx in your complementary online watch only wallet and sign the tx in your offline device. However, if it is a hardware wallet, you create the tx in your interface software wallet and sign it with your hardware device, the purpose of your offline device is to sign tx's. Take note that you can connect a wallet like Electrum to your hardware wallet.