I have had quite a few people contact me privately, asking where to start investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. I put together this resource so I wouldn't have to individually address this with each inquirer. I'm sharing it here for those who might want to copy and personalize it for their friends and family.

Purchasing Bitcoin

A safe place to purchase Bitcoin is http://www.coinbase.com/

One Bitcoin is made up of 1 million Satoshis, so you can buy a little bit of a bitcoin at a time. You don’t have to purchase a whole Bitcoin to get started. You might purchase $50 a month (or week) to get going, if you are on a budget.

Getting set up with Coinbase is a slow process. It takes several days at best, and then, when you make a purchase, it takes 5 days for you to take possession of your Bitcoin, or Ethereum or Litecoin. They sell all three, and their fee is less than 2%.

This requires a bank account, drivers license and ability to scan documents and upload them.

I recently learned about http://www.gdax.com. Here is an important video that tells you how to save money by using GDAX instead of Coinbase. GDAX is actually owned by Coinbase but without the fees. Important information:

Local Sellers

If you are in a hurry, you can look for local sellers. http://www.localbitcoin.com and https://wallofcoins.com/en/
Fees range from 5-12%. When the market is moving fast, a local buy can be a better idea. You can lose a lot of money by doing the slow Cinbase process. I have purchased using Coinbase, I have also purchased from a local seller.

I found my local seller by searching on the internet. His site is: http://www.bitcoinnw.com He is honest and safe, and also works long distance, if you can't find anyone in your area. If you do decide to make a local buy, make sure it is in a public place, in the daytime, and you do not go alone.

Cryptos are non bank money and banks generally don’t like them. If you choose to involve your bank, (Wire Transfer or Certified Check) be discrete. One couple’s bank recently refused to provide them with a certified check because it was going to a business with the name "bitcoin" in it. I know of other people who had their accounts closed by banks when it was obvious that they had done a crypto purchase or sale. Doesn’t happen to everyone, but it does happen. Purchasing Cryptocurrencies is entirely legal, but they do compete with banks and banks can refuse to support you in your effort to use a monetary system that does not include them.

Do some research on how to store your investment.

This is a good place to start:

An old phone or an inexpensive laptop that is always offline can be used also. Learn about paper wallets. You are going to be your own bank. This is grown up stuff. You need to take the time to make sure you are secure. YouTube is a treasure trove of good instructional videos. Make use of that. You are going to have to be a trailblazer, and become your own expert, because friends and family are likely to be clueless.

For a small amount of coins, you might consider a wallet like Exodus.io. For large amounts, I'd would recommend a hardware wallet like KeepKey or Trezor or Nano Ledger. Do web search to learn more.

Hold and Don't Panic

If the price immediately goes down after you buy, DON’T PANIC. Just hold onto it. It will go back up, and probably won’t take more than a week, or a month, or even six months. Cryptos are here to stay and if you hold long tern you will
very likely increase your wealth.

As a Christian, I say: Above all pray. I am not a financial expert by any means. I know, however, that I am supposed to do this right now, so I’m calm and relaxed. Pray and study until you also feel calm and relaxed, or don’t get involved.

DASH

Okay, now for DASH. http://www.dash.org/

In my opinion, DASH is far superior to BTC (Bitcoin). It has a core development team that is constantly working on it to make it usable by the average person. It has lower transaction fees, it has Private Send, and Instant Send. Read up on those at their site.

When they roll out DASH Evolution in the fall of 2017, you will have the ability to reverse a transaction within 24 hrs, ability to use a simple password, rather than a long crypto number, etc. DASH is making Crypto far more useable by non techy people.

When DASH Evolution rolls out, the price should rise substantially. DASH is already up more than 2000 % this year, whereas BTC is up about 300 %. So, as an investment, DASH has already out performed BTC this year. Both are a good investment. You will not lose with either if you buy and hold, but you might make more with one than the other.

To purchase DASH (unless you have a local seller) you will need to buy Bitcoin and then use an exchange like http://www.changelly.com or http://www.Shapeshift.io to turn it into DASH. In my few adventures in exchanging, I found http://www.changelly.com to be less expensive and easier to maneuver than ShapeShift. You might run the numbers on both sites and see which one's fees are the best at the time you are needing to do an exchange. Or you can buy directly through someone like http://www.bitcoinnw.com or go to https://wallofcoins.com/en/ to find DASH in your area.

Learn From Those Who Have Gone Before You

I enjoy this guy, most of the time: Bitcoin Basics:

by BTC Sessions
And Adam Meister is very knowledgeable. Don’t be put off by his goofiness. He is smart. https://www.youtube.com/user/BaltimoreHourly

Andreas Antenopolous has spoken to governments regarding BITCOIN and crypto in general.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=andreas+antenopolous

Andreas speaking to Canadian Senate:

There are also hours of TED Talks on YouTube on the subject of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is not the only game in town. It is the first, and so the most well known, but make sure you study DASH also, and OmiseGo.io. Youtube is a great resource, make use of it. Knowledge is power and expands your comfort zone. The more you learn the more comfortable you feel with this world changing technology.

Cryptocurrency Wallets

Good wallets include:

You can use any one of these to make a local purchase, but do not store on these unless they are on a device that is offline. Learn how to back your wallet up. Learn how to make a paper wallet. Make several paper wallets and store them in places where you can retrieve them . . . paper can burn or rot or be destroyed by water, so a fireproof and water proof safe can be a smart idea. Hard drives and phones and computers can crash, so learn how to be safe. Take precautions. Focus, focus, focus when backing up wallets. Check, check and double check your backup information and password.

For inspiration based on current events in finance, this is an interesting, intelligent and thoughtful YouTube video:
10 Reasons Bitcoin Price Will Destroy All Time Highs in 2017