crypto interview Irina stancu

Please introduce yourself and your project Investitii pe tocuri (EN: Investing in high heels)

I am a finance girl, ex-banker and currently working in IT as a business analyst (mostly for banking projects, including investment banking, retail banking, anti-money laundering). I’m very passionate about investments and I invest since 2017. Since I became a mom I wanted to do something meaningful with this passion and I’ve realized that I can do that by encouraging more women to become investors and take control of their money. Women tend to be more reluctant in this area, but investing can truly change their future and I’m here to show them that it doesn’t need to be too complicated. So in 2021, I started a blog and an Instagram page, I gathered a small community and afterwards I continued by launching a podcast with Ramona, my partner from Pilonul Zero. It is the first Romanian podcast that focuses on financial education focused on women. (we’re approaching a different education style, focusing not only on the Math, but mostly on the Mindset as well, trying to reduce the limiting beliefs that people in general, but mostly women, encounter with the idea of investing).

What’s your asset allocation strategy? 

I am more of a passive investor, with about 80% of my portfolio allocated to international stocks and bonds ETFs, 10% into the local exchange (BVB), where I mostly follow the BET index, but I’m replicating it manually, by buying the individual stocks, and 10% allocated to cryptocurrencies.

What is your opinion on bitcoin? Is it still a good investment?

I think bitcoin is here to stay. I continue to buy bitcoin, but allocating small amounts of my total portfolio, since it still has high volatility. Personally, I do believe that it will continue to grow exponentially long term, but as usual, there is no 100% guarantee in investing.

How do you see blockchain impacting the world moving forward?

Blockchain has the capability to revolutionize a lot of industries, in theory, there is no industry that couldn’t be able to benefit from its advantages. Starting with the financial system, which needed serious improvements to be in line with the new millennium, to the health system, music industry, gaming, digital property and so on. It also brings more democracy, providing people with the possibility to participate more in the value that they create, by eliminating a lot of “middlemen” and bureaucracy. Its main advantages are decentralization and privacy. It definitely has a great potential for humanity and I am excited to see what’s coming.

How did you come up with the idea of the Smart Women. Smart Money Podcast?

I am a big fan of podcasts, I listen to a lot of them while doing other activities and I find them really useful and intimate somehow, I feel like the information gets to me more easily than by actually reading the information, for example. Through my Instagram page I’ve met Ramona, we got to talk a lot and realized we share the same values and passions, and we decided to start our own podcast, to inspire more women to openly talk about money.

What are the challenges you faced when teaching about financial independence?

The top 3 challenges that I see are:

  1. Some people are too impatient and want to receive a “quick money scheme” rather than focusing on the long term.
  2. A lot of people are afraid of losing all of their money and they would rather not invest at all, ignoring the fact that not only do they decline the chance of a passive income, but their money will lose value in time due to inflation.
  3. A lot of beginner investors start with risky investments, mostly trading, which leads to a lot of mistakes and they do lose large sums, and in the end they just give up completely. 

What are your top 3 tips that you would give to an inexperienced crypto investor?

1. Do your due diligence, but invest what you can afford to lose. That means read about the use case of the cryptocurrency you are buying, don’t just pick random ones because they are cheap or because you heard someone else mentioning a name. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies and the reality is that a lot of them will disappear, ignore the noise and focus on the ones that have already proven some value or that have solid use cases, covering a real market need.
2. Think long term, don’t let your emotions control you, as they will push you to sell when the market is down. Emotions are stronger than we can imagine when we don’t start with an objective and a strategy in mind.
3. Diversify and automate. The classical “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” can help with managing the downside risk. The automation part will help you with tuning down the emotional side, as you will not be so tempted to check the market daily and it helps you apply the DCA – dollar cost averaging method.

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Updated on: October 18, 2022