What Financial Habits Should Nigerians Develop Before Investing in Bitcoin?

[Fiasem20]

I've noticed that 60% of  Nigerians invest immediately after hearing someone made money from it. They don't even care to know about the risk and other things involved, once someone could make money from it, they believe that they will make profit, and sometimes they even borrow money to invest. When the market drops, they panic and poor decisions.

I don’t think this financial habit is only restricted to Nigerians rather it’s a general one.It’s just natural for human to believe more in the evidence,if there’s nothing to backup with evidence then the majority wouldn’t show concern as it is often said that seeing is believing.The adoption of bitcoin became massive when a lot of individuals  witnessed their friends,relatives and colleagues reaping from it,if bitcoin rewards was produced on a negative side the adoption rate wouldn’t have gotten to this length but because is fell on a positive side since it’s inception till date bitcoin has become an asset worth investing.You’re right in regards to Nigerians not carrying out further research before participating in an investment,it’s crucial to research further on an asset especially the new asset in the crypto space.

[Miles2006]

It’s actually not bad to start an investment journey after hearing the benefits, the only problem is people intend to start their journey misunderstanding bitcoin and how it works. Bitcoin is not a get rich quick kind of investment, bitcoin investment needs time which clearly means there’s time to learn and hold so people don’t make mistakes, bitcoin knowledge is not limited. When a person is knowledgeable enough then they can start differentiating what to do and what not to do with their bitcoin basically management planning is important, people still take loan to invest in bitcoin which is so wrong along other habit mentioned.

[Franklyn-wood]

It’s actually not bad to start an investment journey after hearing the benefits, the only problem is people intend to start their journey misunderstanding bitcoin and how it works. Bitcoin is not a get rich quick kind of investment, bitcoin investment needs time which clearly means there’s time to learn and hold so people don’t make mistakes, bitcoin knowledge is not limited. When a person is knowledgeable enough then they can start differentiating what to do and what not to do with their bitcoin basically management planning is important, people still take loan to invest in bitcoin which is so wrong along other habit mentioned.

How is on earth will someone be borrow money to invest in Bitcoin which is supposed to be a life time investment and not like a day to  day business where you expect returns on daily basis, taking loan to invest in Bitcoin is like eating your cake and believe you can have it back. Maybe some feels like because it is at a high demand that makes it look like a money scheme with fast returns with huge benefits able to change life as soon as investment are made.

[Cryptomultiplier]

To invest in Bitcoin as a Nigerian, one must learn how the security protocol and protection of their funds are tailored or fall prey to scammers, hackers, wrong address and even loss of seed phrases because they didn't think it was that important.
Bitcoin investment is a self custody investment that no one except yourself can be held responsible for and that's why knowledge of how to secure your funds both in the wallet and from telling others as a story to boast with, is not adviced.

Also, anyone going into Bitcoin investment must have an approach to invest by either using lump sum strategy or the simpler DCA strategy that entails investing small fractions at regular and consistent intervals to avoid stressing your financial limits and wearing yourself off.

[Orpichukwu]

Many sees investment as something easy , But there’s more to it than just being simple . It’s something that requires a lot of planning, and same to understanding how many works your cashflow and stuff , because any wrong mistakes can lead to big problems . Like using loan to accumulate, you may not feel it now but in a long run you will see why is not  encouraging to accumulate or invest with loan , stick with the right approach and take your time to build something solid.

But they are not actually wrong to see investment as something easy, but where they get it wrong is they don’t follow the right path and rules that govern a successful investor, which are the things that you listed, and among all, one of the worst mistakes someone can make is investing using borrowed funds and expect to pay back when they have taken profit from Bitcoin; the interest that they loaned will accumulate and will be higher than the profit they could possibly make from holding Bitcoin.

[Crypto_Timothy]

good financial habits are more important than simply owning Bitcoin, I think at this day and time it is just common knowledge but the alot of people are attracted by success stories and fear of missing out, so they just invest without understanding the risks or having a plan, which will often lead to panic when prices fall.
When it comes to investing in Bitcoin which is a long term project, having an emergency fund, investing only money you can afford to leave untouched, learning how to secure your assets and of course understanding market volatility, these are all essential steps needed. If you don't have a good good financial habit, trying to invest in Bitcoin will stress you to the core.

[Prince patrick]

I see so many people saying it is wrong to borrow money to invest in Bitcoin, well, I just laugh, most big traders don't even use their own money to trade, people give them money to trade and when they make profit, they share the money among themselves.

Take a loan, borrow if you can, but you must already have an idea about Bitcoin before you do this and you should be an old Bitcoin trader. People borrow money to play bet, yes they lose sometimes but they also win sometimes, Bitcoin is a market for tough people, people with tough skin.

The only financial habit that I will advise you to develop is discipline, patience and a good financial backup plan. Because if something happens and you lose the money you borrowed to trade in Bitcoin, you will have to pay it with your own money, so if you don't have a back up plan, things will really get bad and you will end up putting the blames on Bitcoin.

[yixichloro2xx]

‎We can't still blame them for that, everybody dey find ways on how dem wan  take chop and survive. It's the situation of the country that make alot of people finding quick means to make money, that's one of the reason why ponzi schemes easily attract large numbers of Nigerians. . Investing in Bitcoin requires a good mindset, because Bitcoin can offer opportunities to make money (but in long term) , but not a magical solution to solve your financial problem. You don't just enter Bitcoin blindly, if you do that, there's no way you can hold for a long time. Instead of rushing to invest, they should first call down, asses their income, sort their most important bills, whatever remains and is of no use can be their discretionary income.
‎
‎After this, the only things left for them to do, is to try and learn more about Bitcoin and have the attributes of consistent accumulation, discipline and patience. That way some with low income can surely see his reward and gains through the power of compounding.

[Fiasem20]

I see so many people saying it is wrong to borrow money to invest in Bitcoin, well, I just laugh, most big traders don't even use their own money to trade, people give them money to trade and when they make profit, they share the money among themselves.

Take a loan, borrow if you can, but you must already have an idea about Bitcoin before you do this and you should be an old Bitcoin trader. People borrow money to play bet, yes they lose sometimes but they also win sometimes, Bitcoin is a market for tough people, people with tough skin.

The only financial habit that I will advise you to develop is discipline, patience and a good financial backup plan. Because if something happens and you lose the money you borrowed to trade in Bitcoin, you will have to pay it with your own money, so if you don't have a back up plan, things will really get bad and you will end up putting the blames on Bitcoin.

No doubt that people don’t take such risk,ofcourse people even borrow money to gamble talk more of trading.If people can do that in gambling how much more trading.But I wouldn’t advise an individual to get involved in such risk,whatever risk that’s not 100% guaranteed should be considered before making a move.If you’re running a project or a financial deal with your own personal money you can take such risk but not when you’re on a risky financial deal that has an uncertain outcome it isn’t ideal to use borrowed money.Lastly,it’s crucial to always make wise financial decisions because one wrong choice might ruin the whole game.

[POPOLUV]

Investing in Bitcoin is more productive when you focus on keeping the investment running for a long term and in order to do this you must be ready to take certain steps so you won't have any challenge to keep up your investment. The most important habit you must develop is learning how to create emergency funds for yourself. A lot of in Investors end up selling their coins because they didn't reserve funds for emergencies, this makes them think of selling their coins to solve their financial crisis.

I agree with you that investing in Bitcoin is productive when you focus more on keeping the investment running for long term and no investors can argument about that but i don't think your illustration answer the question at hand correctly because the OP pointed his topic that, what Financial habits should Nigerians develop before investing in Bitcoin, the word before changes everything, which you are not meant to talk about creating an emergency fund or reserve funds when you have not started investing, so you neglect to focus on the things you are to put in place before undergoing on a journey of investing in Bitcoin, i believe the habit a Nigerian can develop before investing in Bitcoin, is being able to separate a discretionary income from the main source of income, then on the process of investing already, you can now created out an emergency fund, not creating emergency fund when you have not started investing in Bitcoin.

[Derekfunds]

Many sees investment as something easy , But there’s more to it than just being simple . It’s something that requires a lot of planning, and same to understanding how many works your cashflow and stuff , because any wrong mistakes can lead to big problems . Like using loan to accumulate, you may not feel it now but in a long run you will see why is not  encouraging to accumulate or invest with loan , stick with the right approach and take your time to build something solid.

What makes any investment to be hard or look hard is when an Investors has figured out everything and kept them and if you are able to figure out everything such as your discrestionary income, emergency funds, how long to hold etc then everything becomes easy I mean you won't be working on the investment like normal job, what you need is getting your discrestionary income and be buying. Using loan to accumulate is not really bad unless you don't have a means of repayment that is when it will be wrong or bad.

[Su-asa]

Before someone starts up a Bitcoin investment, they should have a source of income, and they should also spend wisely. Spending wisely helps them stay on track because they will not have to spend money on unnecessary things. However, they should also keep some money for an emergency situation for at least 3 to 6 months so that they don't have to sell their Bitcoin whenever there's a price drop or an emergency situation occurs. Before an investor starts buying Bitcoin for investment, they should be aware that they will not get profits immediately and they should also invest what they can afford to lose.

[Freeveto]

Before someone starts up a Bitcoin investment, they should have a source of income, and they should also spend wisely. Spending wisely helps them stay on track because they will not have to spend money on unnecessary things. However, they should also keep some money for an emergency situation for at least 3 to 6 months so that they don't have to sell their Bitcoin whenever there's a price drop or an emergency situation occurs. Before an investor starts buying Bitcoin for investment, they should be aware that they will not get profits immediately and they should also invest what they can afford to lose.

Newbies in crypto in our country mostly come because they have seen how some of their friends have made money from cryptocurrency, they joined the space to make money, which is the reason why they don’t usually have patience to wait simply because they have no backup plan, no emergency funds on reserve, no reliable source of income, they mainly rely on the bitcoin investment or then crypto trading they just started because they feel like they can make the money as quick as possible which is not so because crypto is completely different from what they think.

[Judith87403]

one of the worst mistakes someone can make is investing using borrowed funds and expect to pay back when they have taken profit from Bitcoin; the interest that they loaned will accumulate and will be higher than the profit they could possibly make from holding Bitcoin.

You are right that using borrowed funds to invest in bitcoin is like setting a path for a failure because bitcoin is volatile, it may not produce profit within the period of the loan duration which means that a borrower will put himself under pressure to repay his loan while still battling with the fact that their investment didn't go as they planned. Let's take for instance someone that borrowed money to invest in bitcoin during when the price was at $120k while hoping that the price will skyrocket to $200k or $250k within 6 months interval, it means that such a person might have defaulted the loan because it is already more than 6 months since the price of bitcoin last touched $120k and the chances of it reaching that price this year is very slim. So, someone who took such a risk of borrowing a loan to invest in bitcoin will be running helter-skelter on how to improvise another means of repayments.

[Plutomanian]

Newbies in crypto in our country mostly come because they have seen how some of their friends have made money from cryptocurrency, they joined the space to make money, which is the reason why they don’t usually have patience to wait simply because they have no backup plan, no emergency funds on reserve, no reliable source of income, they mainly rely on the bitcoin investment or then crypto trading they just started because they feel like they can make the money as quick as possible which is not so because crypto is completely different from what they think.

This explains it, why venture into some sort of investment because others are doing it? This is an advance world we're living in and for the fact that things worked out for Mr A doesn't mean it will worked all out for Mr B. We should be able to know the chronicles of orders of things because two persons can not share the same dream. Even if one is keen on investing in Bitcoin, there should be existence or proper strategy because that's one of the good way to keep your head up and running in the market.

Perhaps we all have made one or two mistakes which some cost us hugh loss and others are small, but I will never follow the guide or road path of my colleagues when it comes to Bitcoin, I will ensure to make my own research because when the losses start coming in, I wouldn't be able to blame any other person than my self because most of us will tend to bend the corner and blame our colleagues for misleading us to invest inappropriate time not knowing what we sign up for before we decided to trade.

[Qhunman]

How is on earth will someone be borrow money to invest in Bitcoin which is supposed to be a life time investment and not like a day to  day business where you expect returns on daily basis, taking loan to invest in Bitcoin is like eating your cake and believe you can have it back. Maybe some feels like because it is at a high demand that makes it look like a money scheme with fast returns with huge benefits able to change life as soon as investment are made.

I don't see anything wrong if someone borrows money to invest in bitcoin,if they have a reliable source of income which they can use to repay the loan then they can invest in bitcoin. The mistake that some people make when borrowing to invest in bitcoin is that they don't have a reliable way to pay back their loans. Sometimes they even went as far as relying on their bitcoin investment to repay the loans. This way they have put themselves in a dire situation because if they're unable to secure a separate means of paying back,they will be forced to tamper or sell their bitcoin investment to payback the loans and sometimes they may even sell it at loss.

[Sonia_123]

They should learn on how to spend what they can afford to lose so that when the price of bitcoin drops it will not affect you mainly when we are at the bear season when the price of Bitcoin keeps dipping less than what we expected.

It is advicible that you don't have to lend money to invest in Bitcoin instead just keep investing the little you can with the help of dca strategy starting with your discretionary income to invest for a long term no matter how little it can be with Patience and tolerance of the market and you avoid selling your investment at anytime you are in need of funds to avoid being forced to sell prematurely of your long accumulated investment once and become a low/no coiner .
Invest with what you have and not what you don't have.

[Rgram]

Nigerians are turning to Bitcoin as a favorable investment platform to protect their money from inflation and the continuous depreciation of the naira. Bitcoin has created many opportunities for many people globally, and  I believe that developing good financial habits is very important than buying Bitcoin itself.
One important habit is building an emergency fund. Investing money that will cover up for our life expenses like rent, school fees, or medical bills can force someone to sell during any market price. Saving some money and keeping them reduces that pressure.

The tendency to make profit from Bitcoin investment has being the honeypot that a lot of investors and that isn’t limited to Nigerians but, a lot of those that are actively invested in Bitcoin wants to scoop from.
There are a couple of rich people and corporations that are invested in this space for the same purpose but, if we are to look at the average Nigerian, those that see it as an escape from the struggles a common Nigerian face, you can’t expect them to have life long investments.

For most of them, that’s a position or a way they view investing in Bitcoin. For someone to be invested to the point that they are able to cover their rent, school fees or medical bills for life, that individual must be made.

You don’t need to be that made to invest in Bitcoin. At the very least, you need to have 2 streams of income that can be dependable. That means, you would be able to invest while still figuring the other aspects of your life.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

You don’t need to be that made to invest in Bitcoin. At the very least, you need to have 2 streams of income that can be dependable. That means, you would be able to invest while still figuring the other aspects of your life.

I see your point but you should also understand that it isn't about the quantity of stream of income but about the quality of income because you can be having multiple income while not earning as someone who has only one source of income that pays well. Being able to invest properly requires you to invest without being bothered about your portfolio falling for at least a certain about of years and you can only do that when you're strong financially which depends on how much money you're receiving from your work as a first timer into the investing world. Consistency won't come when you don't have the financial backing and patience too won't even be an option as bills to pay will overwhelm you.

[Oyoyoma_yu]

Many of us here invested in bitcoin without proper knowledge of bitcoin, and so much rely on what people told us without making research on our own, and this lack of proper knowledge made some of us to invest with emergency fund, borrowed money, and end up selling our bitcoin asset when it is not yet time. Bitcoin investing does not demand emergency fund or demand borrowing of money because bitcoin is only profitable by the time you leave it in your wallet for some years, possibly from 5-10 years period of time.
For best practices, it is good you invest part of your income regularly either weekly or monthly at least 10% or 20% of your weekly or monthly income can be invested in bitcoin.