I have read a lot of threads where people talk about investing an amount of Bitcoin they can afford to lose and sometimes I feel it's either they know what they want to say but don't know how best to express it or they don't understand the difference between investing what you can afford and investing what you can afford to lose. Let's get the difference;
1. Investing what you can afford: this means that you're buying an amount of Bitcoin or any other asset of your choice that fits your level of wealth. It could be that if you're earning 200k for instance, the amount of Bitcoin you can afford to buy at every pay period could be 50k while the remaining 150k can serve your other needs. It's not as though you're throwing the 50k away but that you're setting 50k out such that if you continue doing that for months you should have an investment somewhere either in Bitcoin or another asset of your choice
2. Investing what you can afford to lose: this means that you're using your money to buy something that you can lose at any time. If that's the case, it means it will be unwise for someone who's earning 200k per month to keep investing 40k for multiple years.
A typical example of investing with what we can afford is;
1. Investing in Bitcoin
2. Investing into tangible assets like building
3. Investing into a business etc.
A typical example of investing with what we can afford to lose is;
1. Investing into altcoins, meme coins, etc
2. Funding our gambling account
3. Investing into a project we're unsure of.
The difference is clear, investing what you can afford is used when you are interested in building future wealth while investing what you can afford to lose applies to cases where you just want a short-term profit and it mostly happens when you're trying things out.
Op don't get it twisted, your definition of investing what you can afford to lose in Bitcoin setting is wrong, I want you to understand something, this is a common advise in Bitcoin investment, this advise is for an investor to know that whatevr risk he or she decide to take is personal so in that case the investor should invest what he can bear if loss occurs, this statetment doesn't necessarily mean that loss will occur, it just mean that investor should have an open mindset to expect anything be it positive or negative, with this statement an intending investor should know that Bitcoin is not a bed of roses, ups and downs may happen so if you really can wait for a longterm, you should try investing what you can conveniently watch depreciate without being pained, both advise are for newbies, the old folks already understand digital market at such they already understand Bitcoin, any investment move the take in Bitcoin is intentional, in other hand investing what you can afford simply means don't go borrowing or using all you have to invest, as an investor, you need to have reserve fund to solve some pressing needs if the eventually occur, just go the plan that fits your portfolio may be as time goes on, you will increase your investment depending on your earnings.