Your friends can impede your financial success. The day-to-day routine of someone who checks their investment portfolio, invests consistently, and lives at a more modest extreme, so they accumulate wealth is just as extreme, as the person who makes it a daily routine to hit the gym, pump weights, take protein supplements, adhere to a diet and so forth. A persistently healthy lifestyle takes work, but even more important is the need for a healthy financial lifestyle, so when the subject of money is surfaced, you’re not so easily misled. The normal gym rat, or local fitness junkie usually has a gym partner, has fitness minded friends, and generally surrounds himself with people who are also as committed to the same lifelong commitment of working out, diet, and so forth. Therefore, it’s been my experience that people who are wealthy (and are committed to building wealth) are predominately surrounded by others who are like minded. Discipline, adherence to a system, and daily routines will differentiate the wealthy person versus the “always poor” or “just getting by” (personality crowd). I’m not saying this to demean anyone, but it’s quite apparent that many are ignorant of tax implications, the self-discipline (psychology), and various other components that helps the average person develop an investment portfolio (whatever shape or form it takes). As an investor you’re going to encounter the subject matter with friends and family. Everyone (and I mean virtually everyone around you) will pretentiously behave or act like they know more about the subject of money than they really do. It’s out of insecurity, or various other psychological measures that people will often inflate their understanding of a subject that’s important to everyone, yet it’s not studied by the average person. Even the news announcers are clueless on the subject of money, but will report the morning financial news using big words, and fancy reporter techniques just to get you sucked into a conversation when pertaining to the Dow Jones, unemployment or the latest GDP figures. There’s also going to be the naysayers, who highlight the risks, or refer you to the most mind boggling dumb financial advice, ever. I’m talking about books written by life-long book authors, who have a penchant for regurgitating textbook like advice with statements of hyperbole or case studies, so you… the mindless consumer buys their overly polished and commercialized book, signed off by some book publisher, so they can spoon feed the same financial advice that you could have received from a financial advisor. Then again, I don’t think highly of financial advisors, because they work primarily on commission and sell pre-packaged financial products that perform about average. They too, are more educated, yet they’re primarily great at sales and marketing, and make money off management fees while outsourcing the management of your investment account to mutual fund managers that generally unperformed the market. To clarify, there are many sources of information that drive crowd think. It could be the clueless gambler offering tips on social media, to the lifelong financial advisor selling people annuities, CDs, mutual funds. It could be the next-door neighbor talking about rental properties, or your friend from childhood launching a side-business that focuses on wood working looking for a small business loan. I’ve heard so much, from so many people, but in many cases, the crowd often derails your thought process due to a broad spectrum of experiences and differences in personality. However, just because there are many people you may encounter that are clueless, or below average intelligence on the subject matter of investing, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have friends who are less educated on financial matters. What I’m trying to say, is that you need to counterbalance your life, so that you’re also surrounded by a chorus of people who believe in consistent investing, due diligence, and (who also) put in the extra legwork to manage their financial lives. In other words, your friends and close advisors will often make or break your investment psychology, and your level of commitment. So, there’s a lot of misconceptions about money, investing, saving, and so forth. There are countless blog posts that attempt to explain the topic, but in a list-article like format that overly simplifies the subject, which is the total opposite of what I’m trying to attempt here. If your goal is to become a wealthier investor this year, become friends with wealthier investors, and chances are, you will adopt a much better mentality to accumulating wealth than the average person. Following this step, and seeking advice from those who have more experience, and a demonstrable track record helps you avoid pitfalls, and various other mistakes along the path. It’s not to say you must perfectly model the success of others, but just being around them will likely rub off on your own psychology, activities and thoughts whether subliminally or on a conscious level. Keep in mind, if you want to learn more via video courses with my help, and the help of crypto millionaires, bitcoin foundation founders, and various other crypto pioneers who are at the forefront of news, information, and methodologies you’ve got to join the Bitcoin Crypto Mastermind program. We also provide live events, one-on-one consulting, and private communities where knowledgeable experts, and experienced traders interact with each other, share ideas, and keep a level of inclusion that can be found nowhere else. The program will remain open for a select period, so enroll as soon as possible.