Author: DUO NINE

Translated by: Tim, PANews

Wealth takes many forms, yet there is always a common thread hidden within. Regardless of the type of wealth, there is one line that runs through it all:

Time.

If you manage it well, it will continue to grow and generate compound interest. In the crypto space, you also need to be mindful of preserving it from losses, which I will mention at the end.

The following 10 pieces of advice are entirely based on my personal experience. They are absolutely true and without embellishment.

1. Invest in hard assets early

When I first bought gold, the price was about $1,600. Now that price has more than doubled. When I first bought Bitcoin, the price was around $700. Now it has surpassed $100,000. These are all hard assets: they cannot be diluted or created out of thin air. They possess scarcity, high market demand, and are difficult to replicate.

Working or earning a salary will never create wealth like investing in hard assets can. Both gold and Bitcoin fall into the category of hard assets. In any case, start investing your spare money in hard assets.

This also includes purchasing index funds like the S&P 500 or real estate in consistently high-demand areas. Then let time do its work; in 5, 10, or 20 years, you will be pleasantly surprised!

If you never invest in hard assets, it is almost impossible to become wealthy and accumulate wealth. When viewed from a long-term perspective of decades, even investing $1,000 today can lead to significant changes. Don’t procrastinate; make a plan and take action as soon as possible.

2. Do something with growth potential

This applies to any field, and I have previously discussed similar viewpoints. Examine your current skills and passions, and imagine that 100,000 people can see the content you produce. Even if only 1% of them recognize your value, that means you have 1,000 potential customers, fans, subscribers, or supporters.

Be bold and try. If you don’t take the first step, you will never know the outcome, and it often brings surprises. Few dare to do this, but those who are willing to try will always receive some rewards. Although it takes time to settle, one day you will break through.

When I started, I had zero followers and no community foundation. So I began to work hard. By consistently outputting daily and giving it my all, people will naturally see your brilliance. Once you earn your first dollar online or gain any income through entrepreneurship, the door to success will swing wide open.

Starting is the hardest point, yet few put it into practice.

3. You can never be richer than your true self

Your current level of wealth reflects your current level of personal development.

Therefore, if an ordinary person suddenly wins $1 million in the lottery, they will almost certainly squander that money within a year. The reason is that their personal qualities are far from the capabilities required to manage that money.

Stop expecting others to act on your behalf. If you don’t invest in yourself, no one will help you invest. Knowledge is very accessible today; as long as you have internet access, you can explore any field. With artificial intelligence, you can even have a personal mentor to guide you at any time, provided you are willing to spend the time.

No excuses needed.

Hone your skills through practice (see point two). Even if your abilities are limited now, continuous practice will eventually lead to improvement. Start taking action, and time will witness your transformation; this principle sounds like investing in Bitcoin.

4. Properly overestimate yourself

Maintaining a positive feedback loop is crucial. When you assess your value slightly higher than your current skill level, you will continuously strive for improvement.

Even if you have achieved nothing today, believe that you deserve more and will eventually achieve something. Changing this mindset can have a significant impact on your future self.

What you do today shapes who you will be tomorrow.

5. Money is not everything

Gold or Bitcoin can be purchased. However, you cannot buy a home on Amazon or find a place that can be called "home." These forms of wealth cannot be measured in monetary terms and cannot be sold anywhere.

In the pursuit of material wealth, don’t forget the things that truly matter.

Not building a family or cultivating meaningful relationships may come at a high cost in the future; depression, midlife crises, or identity crises may follow, which is just as important as holding Bitcoin.

Material wealth is often meaningless if there is no one to share it with. Ultimately, humans cherish various experiences, and more wealth can indeed provide more experiences. However, some of the most profound experiences are actually almost free.

6. Embrace challenges

If you are afraid to buy Bitcoin, that may be a good sign that you should buy it. Fear often hinders you from trying new things. But if you want to enhance personal development (see point three), encountering new things is essential.

These experiences can be painful, pleasant, or bland. If you stop labeling them and simply view them as new experiences for personal growth, you can quickly move on to the next stage.

As you go through this cycle repeatedly, success and failure will meet again and again. The difference is: if you invest surplus energy into hard assets, each fall will be from a higher point, and the climb will be faster. Success will also come more quickly, and the rewards will be greater.

7. Learn to reset yourself

People live in the same place for decades without leaving, and the environment never changes. While this situation may be okay, you need to be careful not to let your environment limit your personal growth.

If you have the mindset described in point four (valuing self-worth more), you will be keenly aware of this. As you continue to grow personally (see point three), the things that bind you will naturally become apparent. At this point, you must make a choice, and this decision may trigger the psychological response described in point six (fear).

Break through the limits or give up and turn back? This may be your breakthrough to wealth.

8. Do not fall into traps that reduce wealth

A typical representative of cryptocurrency is altcoins. The entire crypto space has only one hard asset, yet it is filled with thousands of traps. Every time you spend money on altcoins, the opportunity cost is the Bitcoin you could have bought instead.

This simple decision can cost you a significant amount of wealth over 5 to 10 years. The same principle applies if you choose to buy a car instead of investing that money; any consumption comes at the expense of investment opportunities.

Please view consumption and investment rationally, and be wary of lifestyle inflation. If you have not used your income for investment, please correct this issue immediately.

Once you have accumulated some wealth, say less, do not show off, and do not post on social media. Because that will attract people with ulterior motives. These may include relatives and friends who are ready to pitch "investment" projects to you.

9. Never sell your hard assets

One of the biggest taboos in cryptocurrency investment is exchanging Bitcoin for altcoins. Anyone who does this will eventually pay a heavy price if they wait long enough. Although altcoins may occasionally outperform Bitcoin in a six-month to one-year cycle, if you look at a longer time frame of several years, this has never happened.

The second problem with selling hard assets is that there are no better purchasing options. If you sell Bitcoin to buy gold, you still hold hard assets, but the risk-return characteristics are different.

Whatever you do, ensure that you are not exchanging hard assets for inferior assets. If you do decide to do so, be sure to calculate the risks and keep them to a minimum, ideally not exceeding 5% of your total wealth. The returns for taking such risks must be asymmetrical and should allow you to buy more Bitcoin in the future.

If you want to accumulate wealth and preserve it, you must hold onto hard assets tightly and never sell them.

10. If you achieve success, be prepared to be targeted

All success attracts wrongdoers, both in the crypto space and in any other field. Last year, after downloading malware, I was hacked and lost $50,000; the assets in my hot wallet were instantly cleared, and I fell for such a simple scam.

I should have thought of this earlier, but I had never stored large amounts of assets in a hot wallet before the RAT Escape incident. Once the price of coins skyrockets, hackers will come sniffing around. That is why, as soon as you have any public exposure, you inevitably become a target for attacks.

(Note: The author created RAT Escape as an experiment in November 2024, and three weeks later, the market value of this token soared to $16 million.)

Worse still, even if you are not a public figure, you can still become a target because platforms like Ledger and Coinbase have experienced customer data breaches. Just yesterday, one of our members was socially engineered by a scammer posing as Ledger customer service, who asked for his mnemonic phrase to "protect" his account.

They knew his name, email, phone number, and address, which was enough to forge a credible identity. The moment the mnemonic phrase was extracted, his crypto wallet was emptied. Please remember: never disclose your mnemonic phrase, even if the police ask for it.

Once you achieve success, vultures will come flocking. You need to protect your wealth at all costs; do not flaunt it, as that will only make you a bigger target.

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