Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Making Money Online is a Fool's Errand

If you read my last post, you know that I recently decided to "invest" in Bitcoin to see if I could make some money online.  Actually "invest" is a bit of a misnomer; "gamble" would be a more accurate description.

What this crazy old man did is buy some Bitcoin, (nothing necessarily wrong with that, and if I had just held on to my Bitcoin I'd have TWICE as much money now!), then "invest" ...... er, I mean "gamble", these Bitcoins away by transferring them to various online HYIPs.

What is a HYIP, you ask?  Well, rather than sugar coat it, I'll just tell you the truth: a HYIP is a site created by criminals who sucker stupid people, (such as me!), into giving them their money, (or, in my case, Bitcoins), by promising ridiculously high returns, such as 3% A DAY, (or 12% A WEEK), on your "investment".  These sites have nothing but their promise to actually pay backing their claims, so it should come as no surprise that I lost a small, (but still painful), amount of money to them.  DO NOT GIVE THESE JERKS YOUR MONEY, UNLESS YOU DON'T CARE THAT YOU'LL NEVER GET IT BACK!!

But the worst part of my aborted Bitcoin adventure was all that time that I wasted, fussing around online, attempting to discover which HYIPs were "legit".  (Hint:  NONE of them are.)

This latest online disappointment, combined with my quitting retirement for a very good job, has finally convinced me that attempting to make money online is a silly way to spend my time.  Yes, some folks do make quite a lot of money doing it, but then some folks also make a lot of money being an artist or a musician.  That certainly doesn't mean that I would recommend anyone become an artist or musician as a livelihood!  You should only become an artist or musician if not doing so would make your life not worth living, as the odds are you will not be able to support yourself.

I would lump "making a living online" in with being an artist or musician.  Do it if you must, but understand that there are much, much easier ways to make a comfortable living.