"I went from being an employee to being an independent contractor and running my own business," Witzke says. "Having a plan for the future now looks a little different than somebody who works a 9-to-5 for a corporation."
To get started, Witzke rolled over an old 401(k) retirement plan and added about $25,000 in savings to a managed account invested in cryptocurrencies at BlockTrust IRA. In addition to “military-grade encryption security,” she likes the firm’s institutional account management.
"I work, I have a baby – I need professionals doing this," she says.
"I could leave cash in the bank earning little – or try to participate in what I believe is the future," she says.
Some 10% of U.S. adults with retirement accounts say they hold at least some crypto in their portfolio, according to a 2025 survey from NerdWallet. Usage is higher among younger Americans: 19% of millennials and 14% of Gen Zers fall into this category, compared to 6% of Gen Xers and 5% of Baby Boomers.
Indeed, Witzke admits she was watching everybody else make money in crypto. “I felt like I was missing out.”
FOMO is not an investment strategy, though, but diversification is a valuable way to keep your portfolio in check. In fact, crypto can be a smart diversification tool, especially when used in small doses, experts say.
Embrace volatility. Compared to more traditional assets like stocks or bonds, crypto investments move up, down and sideways in an instant. And that can happen on a round-the-clock basis.
“With crypto, it's a market that doesn't sleep,” says BlockTrust CEO Jonathan Rose. “There's no opening bell. There's no closing bell, and it's very volatile.”
How volatile? Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, can see 10% market moves in a single day. It is trading around $75,000, down sharply from its all-time high of $126,223 reached in October.
But, if you have a longer horizon, crypto is an emerging option. “For younger people, I don’t mind crypto,” says Joon Um, a Los Angeles-based certified financial planner. “It’s a great time to take a risk, as long as you understand it.”
Choose your path wisely. "I wanted in – but safely," says Witzke, who knows investing in crypto can be risky.
“There are so many different paths for crypto,” Witzke says. “And if you choose the wrong one, you lose everything.”
She also likes BlockTrust because the firm offers an active portfolio investment management strategy, powered by data from artificial intelligence, she says.
“It's funny because if you had asked me that like two years ago, my parents would have been like, ‘You are crazy. Crypto is not real money.’ Now my dad has gotten on board,” Witzke says.
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