You’re a Dog, Barefoot

Hey Scott,

I am 23, a medical receptionist, and have been trading crypto since lockdown — and killing it, especially in DOGE (Dogecoin). I read your article on DOGE, and it was a joke. Who do I trust more, some hack from Australia or THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN — genius Elon Musk? You don’t get rich buying index funds, loser.

Kerrie

Hey Kerrie,

Don’t bite me!

All I was doing was quoting the creator of Dogecoin, who said:

“It doesn’t make sense. It’s super absurd. The coin design was absurd.”

Dogecoin was set up as a joke. It has no tangible value, other than as a gambling chip at a crypto-casino ... which just so happens to have Elon Musk sitting at the table.

Why is he buying Dogecoin?

I have no idea.

Maybe it’s about his insatiable appetite for attention. Perhaps it’s to stroke his own ego. Maybe it’s both.

Yet while Musk is a genius, and the world’s (second) richest man, that doesn’t automatically mean you should take financial advice from him.

After all, his decision to throw millions at Dogecoin is like you or me buying a scratchie.

He’s worth $US190 billion!

He could drop $200 million down the back seat of his Tesla and he wouldn’t even notice it.

Billionaires are different to people like you and me. They don’t have to worry about things like buying a home, or paying off their HECS, or funding their retirement.

Most of us do.

And to achieve them we need to invest intelligently for the very long term. And history has proven emphatically that the most intelligent long-term investment is a broad-based index fund.

No joke.

Scott.