I bought my first Bitcoin in 2015. If I could give my younger self 5 pieces of advice…

I’m 44 now, and I bought my first Bitcoin in 2015.

Back then, Bitcoin was still something most people around me barely understood. I certainly didn’t know where it would eventually go.

I made plenty of mistakes along the way.

But after more than a decade in this space, Bitcoin has completely changed my financial life. I’ve been able to live from it for quite some time now.

I’m not posting this to show off, and I’m definitely not telling anyone to buy Bitcoin.

I just see a lot of beginners here who seem to think they have already missed their opportunity.

If I could go back to 2015 and give myself five pieces of advice, they would be:

1. Stop trying to find the perfect entry.

I spent far too much time thinking about whether the price was going up or down in the short term. Looking back, consistency mattered much more than finding the perfect price.

1. Learn to survive the crashes.

Bitcoin will eventually make you question your decision. If you don’t understand that before buying, you’re going to have a very difficult time holding through a bear market.

1. Don’t invest money you actually need.

This is probably one of the most important lessons. Being forced to sell during a crash because you need the money is much worse than simply missing an opportunity.

1. Learn how to secure your Bitcoin.

Buying BTC is the easy part. Understanding wallets, seed phrases, backups and self-custody is much more important than most beginners realize.

1. Think in years, not weeks.

This is probably the biggest difference between my mindset today and my mindset when I started.

Bitcoin didn’t change my life because I found some magic trade.

Time did.

If you’re just getting started today, you haven’t necessarily missed everything.

You just need to understand what you’re actually buying, manage your risk, and be prepared for the possibility that this takes years rather than months.

For those of you who are new to Bitcoin: what is the one thing you’re most confused or worried about right now?