And So It Begins!

Introduction To The Max Minute

Journeys, however large or small, always have a beginning.

For me, the beginning of a very important journey looms. I am now less than two months away from living outside of the United States for an entire calendar year. While I am no stranger to international travel, it is safe to say that I have never done anything like this before.

I’m sure at this point, you are wondering both where I will be going, and what I will be doing. Well, to get the full picture, I will have to take you back to 2020. I know, must we? It was a tough year for everyone, and I was not immune to its effects. It was a year that forced us to consider the fact that we take a lot of things for granted.

In the months leading up to the shutdown, I was furloughed from my job. The furlough eventually became a full-fledged and permanent dismissal. I had to swallow a tough pill, and accept that the company I worked for considered me expendable.

Now, I am certainly not looking for pity. I am fully aware that I am one of millions who found themselves in the exact same situation. On top of that, I did not particularly enjoy the job I lost. But still, I found myself in a pickle that I had not seen coming. It was tense, and I had to do a lot of thinking about what I wanted my future to look like at the age of 25.

On the other hand, there was a silver lining. I was suddenly blessed with more free time than I knew what to do with, and unemployment insurance for at least the short-term future. Between the lockdown and the absence of a 9-5, I couldn’t remember a time since my college summers where free time was so bountiful. So, how should I spend it while waiting to hear back from potential employers? Learn a hobby? Start a project? Watch all 22 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Like many others, I am sure, the answer was a little bit of everything.

I spent the days teaching myself programming languages, learning new songs on the guitar, constantly re-editing my resumé for applications, but most of all, doing investment research. While I had dabbled in investing before, I had never fully immersed myself in it, and I saw the COVID bear market as a great potential entry point.

I started brushing up on common investment practices; diversification, ETFs, dollar cost averaging, “time in the market”, etc.

Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I got bored with these concepts, but I have to admit, something a lot shinier kept catching my eye. One of the most polarizing and niche investing spaces in the world: cryptocurrency.

So I thought I would at least educate myself on what cryptocurrencies actually are. The trouble was, it was very hard to find a straight answer. Everyone had a different opinion on where the space was going, and I could easily pick out many scammers just saying ridiculous things to pump their own holdings.

I continued to gravitate toward a common thread among a select group of people. Bitcoin, however volatile and uncertain in the short term, is one-of-a-kind. The truly decentralized, open-sourced monetary network could change the world forever. It just made sense. It was almost too simple. And the rest is history. Bitcoin was my new passion.

Now, my Bitcoin journey was long and required an immense amount of research, but choosing to invest in it during a bear market was the greatest decision of my life. I was eventually able to start my own YouTube channel talking about the crypto space, which now has almost 11,000 subscribers! As an extension of this community, I am excited to start this newsletter to dive deeper into how Bitcoin has changed not only my financial situation, but also my way of thinking about the world, and my career goals. We will talk much more about how my Bitcoin journey started, and how it has opened the door for more journeys. I hope to bring the same life-changing epiphany to others that the Bitcoin community brought to me.

Oh, and I kind of buried the lead here. My girlfriend and I are going to spend a year in Europe and document our entire experience on YouTube! Please feel free to follow along! I look forward to building this community and creating a place for learning, discussion, and collaboration.

Welcome to The Max Minute!