So again, if your belief is that the coin(s) you are interested in mining are going to continue to go up in value, after all that is why you are willing to invest $1,000's of dollars in hardware that might in maybe 1 year break even, why not instead invest $1,000's directly into the coin(s) and in 1 year be in profit, not just at break even?
GPU mining is the lowest risk entry point because you always have a price on physical equipment. This is especially important to newcomes due to unease / fear of a new (to them) technology - you can't have your cards stolen / deleted / lost etc.
I too went back and forth on ROI with simply investing in coin versus investing in mining. Yes, I'm going to have a 9 month payback on my rig, but I'll still have the physical hardware that isn't ASIC.
I *might* lose my coins
The coins *might* become worthless
The cost of electricity *might* go way up
I obviously am betting that won't be the case but it's all possible. I've been watching Ebay and Amazon for used equipment and they're all selling at 80% of new cost. Hell you can see that on a car the moment you drive it off the lot. The equipment I chose for the mining rig can be re-sold to people who want to use it for it's original intended purpose such as rendering or gaming and I don't think that's going to go away anytime soon. Well I hope not anyway or life won't nearly be as fun
