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22-year-old calls it his biggest mistake after losing Rs 67 lakh in crypto

A 22-year-old Google employee, whose aim was to resign at age 35 with Rs 41 crore savings, lost Rs 67 lakh post investing into crypto. He called it his 'biggest financial mistake'

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22-year-old in his ‘biggest mistake’ in crypto. Photo: Pexels

Sonika Nitin Nimje New Delhi

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A 22-year-old software engineer with Google, whose investment portfolio has over Rs 1 crore for retirement and brokerage accounts, in addition to two houses, has revealed that he lost about Rs 67 lakh by investing in cryptocurrency. The claim implied that he purchased the digital currency using his borrowed money.
Ethan Nguonly from Orange County, California, began investing in the stock market with the assistance of his parents before he was a teen, CNBC detailed. However, that journey has what he presently calls his 'biggest financial mistake'.

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22-year-old in his ‘biggest mistake’: Overview

The Google employee, Ethan Nguonly has a package of around USD 194,000 (Rs 1.60 crore approx). This incorporates a base pay scale of USD 134,000, a 15 percent yearly bonus, USD 30,000 in restricted stock units and on-call pay approx USD 10,000 every year.
 
Nguonly was investing from the help of his parents. He understood the significance of investments and being 'economical' with spending money when he was a teen. Remembering his 'biggest financial mistake', he uncovered that between November 2021 and June 2022, he lost about USD 80,000 (approx Rs 67 lakh) post investing into cryptocurrency.

Google Employee loss: Insights 

According to the sources, he had invested into bitcoin and ethereum significantly, alongside two or three hundred dollars in other cryptocurrencies like dogecoin and shiba inu. As bitcoin's cost surged, he contributed another USD 15,000 by borrowing it. 
As a result, Nguonly lost a lot of money on his investments when the cryptocurrency market turned. In addition, he disclosed that his losses included USD 50,000 in unrealized gains and USD 30,000 in invested funds.
"I was investing with some money that I didn’t necessarily have. Once the crypto market kind of reversed, my losses were amplified," Nguonly added to the publication. 

Google layoffs

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, recently made the announcement that members of its recruiting team would be laid off. Although the exact number of affected employees is unknown at this time, hundreds were reportedly laid off. A few employees likewise took to LinkedIn to share their experience.
Prior to laying off employees from the recruiting group, Google had declared its choice to let go 12,000 individuals in January this year. Two or after three months, Google terminated individuals in its Waze mapping app department as they started integrating the application into Google Maps products. Chris Philips, who heads the Geo unit of Google, informed the employees about the layoffs decision via an email.

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First Published: Sep 19 2023 | 4:12 PM IST

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