In general, many financial experts support their clientsâ desire to buy cryptocurrency, but they donât recommend it unless clients express interest. âThe biggest concern for us is if someone wants to invest in crypto and the investment they choose doesnât do well, and then all of a sudden they canât send their kids to college,â says Ian Harvey, a certified financial planner (CFP) in New York City. âThen it wasnât worth the risk.â The speculative nature of cryptocurrency leads some planners to recommend it for clientsâ âsideâ investments. âSome call it a Vegas account,â says Scott Hammel, a CFP in Dallas. âLetâs keep this away from our real long-term perspective, make sure it doesnât become too large a portion of your portfolio.â In a very real sense, Bitcoin is like a single stock, and advisors wouldnât recommend putting a sizable part of your portfolio into any one company. At most, planners suggest putting no more than 1% to 10% into Bitcoin if youâre passionate about it. âIf it was one stock, you would never allocate any significant portion of your portfolio to it,â Hammel says.
How to Buy Bitcoin?
Most people buy Bitcoin via exchanges, such as Coinbase. Exchanges allow you to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency, and setting up an account is similar to opening a brokerage accountâyouâll need to verify your identity and provide some kind of funding source, such as a bank account or debit card. Major exchanges include Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini. You can also buy Bitcoin at a broker like Robinhood. Regardless of where you buy your Bitcoin, youâll need a digital wallet in which to store it. This might be whatâs called a hot wallet or a cold wallet. A hot wallet (also called an online wallet) is stored by an exchange or a provider in the cloud. Providers of online wallets include Exodus, Electrum and Mycelium. A cold wallet (or mobile wallet) is an offline device used to store Bitcoin and is not connected to the Internet. Some mobile wallet options include Trezor and Ledger.
