In just a few years, Black Friday has gone from being a gimmick that American retailers used to drive pre-Christmas season sales, to become a global shopping event that many people wait all year for. With the heavy financial impact that the global pandemic has had, many people are more in need of a good deal than ever. They’ll be looking to upgrade to a newer TV that can display a few more pixels, or the latest iPhone – even though it may be near impossible to tell apart from the outgoing model.

In this article, we’d like to propose a hard truth. Let’s just get down to brass tacks: No matter how good a deal you find this Black Friday, investing that money is always a smarter move. Sure, there’s nothing like the quick hit that a bout of irresponsible retail therapy gives, but let’s take a look at some figures that may put Black Friday spending in perspective.

The truth about must-haves

These days, we connect with the world via our phones, right? Spending on something you use so frequently is a no brainer, right? Having the latest smartphone is a status symbol. It shows people you mean business, right?

Marketers have done a fantastic job of convincing us that we need the newest and best of everything, or we’re somehow falling behind. That it’s worth going into debt to avoid missing a great discount. The graphic below shows how the value of one of the most popular Black Friday items, a new iPhone, compares to the equivalent value invested in Bitcoin over time.

If you manage not to break, drown or otherwise damage the iPhone 8 that you purchased in 2017 for R19 999, you’ll be lucky to get R6 499 for it on the second-hand market in 2021. That’s a loss of -67.5% over 3 years.

No one can be blamed for feeling a little dizzy when you learn that if you bought a Bitcoin, worth only R12 000 at the time you bought that iPhone, that investment would now be worth nearly a million Rand. A staggering +7 733% increase in the value of your initial investment. Put another way, if you bought Bitcoin with the R19 999 that you would have spent on an iPhone 8 in 2017, you’d be able to buy 92 new iPhone 13’s today.

See how even the most compelling Black Friday special can’t hold a candle to the impact that an investment in Bitcoin could have on your net worth and your lifestyle?

Meh, I prefer Android anyway

Maybe you’re the type of person who prefers reading a book to watching movies on your new 4k TV. Maybe your 90s Nokia has all the features you need from a cell phone. Perhaps you have no desire to spend on such luxuries and instead choose to lock your money into time-tested, ”responsible” investments, like a house for example?.

While that mentality is certainly more financially astute, the world of crypto has raised the bar far beyond anything that traditional investments can compete with.

While real estate is still touted to be the safest investment that anyone who isn’t an investment banker can make, its returns vs Bitcoin say otherwise. Based on the average appreciation of the South African Housing index, a house purchased in 2010 for R1 million would now be worth R1.5million. Not bad!

Until you learn that the equivalent investment in Bitcoin would be worth 1,011 times the initial investment now. In other words, had you rather chosen to invest your R1 million in Bitcoin, you’d now have the capital to kickstart a real estate empire by buying 1011 houses worth R1.5 million.

Buy assets, not objects

We all need somewhere to live and getting by in today’s world without a smartphone is unnecessarily difficult. So while we’re not trying to suggest that you never buy these things, this Black Friday, ask yourself how much more your money could do for you before you let retailers convince you that 50% off a new kitchen blender will literally change your life.

The great news is, Revix, a Cape Town-based crypto investment platform, is running a promotion specifically designed to kickstart your crypto investment journey this Black November.

Between the 19th and the 30th of November, Revix users get 100% off all buy-in fees on all assets available on the platform. You can invest in heavyweights like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, but Revix also offers innovative Crypto Bundles.
These are essentially instant diversified crypto portfolios, specifically designed for investors who don’t have time to keep up with the crypto market, but still want exposure to it.

There’s still time to be an early investor in the blockchain technologies that are redefining the world as we know it. This is your chance to remember Black Friday 2021 as the year you changed your financial future for the better.

Revix is backed by JSE listed Sabvest and offers access to all of the individual cryptocurrencies and bundles mentioned in this article.