More than a hundred should-be crypto millionaires have had their hopes of being grand investors thwarted because of loss of passwords. Most of these investors are some of the early birds in the crypto community, and they never did take their account seriously. Imagine an investor that invested $100 on bitcoin in 2010 and couldn’t find his wallet password or recover the lost password in 2021. The crypto community has grown more than ten times what it used to be in the past ten years, and there’s capacity for more. If you by any chance have thought your $50 investment in 2010 is invaluable, by now, you should be having regrets if you can’t access the wallet or have the recover blockchain wallet services to help you with the recovery processes.

There are several means of recovering lost crypto wallets, and while some are getting their long-lost passwords back, thanks to crypto recovery services, some are having regrets and a bunch of “Had-I-known.” Most bitcoin wallet users are given at least ten tries at recovering their passwords before it gets locked for good. Currently, about 18.5 million bitcoins are locked away in unknown wallets, and that’s about $140 billion. Crypto wallet recovery services are responsible for helping you recover your lost wallet password. Most of these recovery services get at least 70 requests per day from users that have lost their password, and it grows even bigger per month.

Top three should-be crypto millionaires that have lost their wallet passwords

Here are some of the top three bitcoin wallet losers of all time;

• James Howell:

James Howell, a United Kingdom citizen, is one of the most unfortunate individuals regarding bitcoin losses. He lost his hard drive containing about 7,500 bitcoins and couldn’t retrieve it because it had been disposed of in Newport. Losing that great amount of bitcoin was one of the most unfortunate events in the history of bitcoin. That bitcoin is still in waste and would probably be long gone since the hard drive is somewhere around 350,000 tonnes of waste. So, there’s a huge probability that the hard drive would have been spoilt and the wallet gone alongside the 7,500 bitcoins.

• Stefan Thomas:

Stefan Thomas is a German programmer living in San Francisco. He has just two guesses left until he’s completely locked out of his bitcoin wallet worth about $220 million earlier this year. The password holds a hard drive that contains an Ironkey wallet with about 7,002 bitcoins. The reason for the panic is because he lost the paper where he wrote the Ironkey password years ago and had since then been trying to unlock the wallet, all to no avail. Mr. Thomas got the 7,002 bitcoin as a gift from a bitcoin fanatic from making an animated video in 2011. This video was one of the few online contents that introduced several individuals to blockchain technology.

• Gabriel Abed:

A 34-year-old entrepreneur from Barbados lost about 800 bitcoins, which was around $25 million earlier this year. His colleague reformatted a system containing the private keys to his bitcoin wallet in 2011 and hasn’t been able to recover the private keys since then.

It’s advisable always to have your wallet backed up. If possible, have more than one wallet containing your assets so; you don’t get to have all your eggs in one basket. However, the most important means of securing your private keys and wallet is seeking wallet recovery services. They help keep your private keys safe and have your passwords backed up using the best means possible. With wallet recovery services, you do not need to use up your password attempts peradventure you forgot. All you need do is contact them, and they help you assess your wallet and send you a link to either change the password to a more suitable one.

Losing your bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to active trading might not be as painful as not remembering the password to a dormant bitcoin wallet address. The over 18 million bitcoins in dormant addresses are for some individuals, and most of them have exhausted their options. If you still have your wallet address not basked up with a wallet recovery service or in other secured means, you might want to take that as the next step. The crypto community is advancing by the day, and the prices of cryptocurrencies are increasing. It’s going to be very unfortunate if you lose the credentials to login into your wallet after it has grown exponentially.

Millions of people in the UK now work as self-employed individuals, running their own businesses and enjoying the fulfillment that comes from working for yourself. But if you’re one such individual and are approaching retirement, or you want to get ahead of the game and start preparing early, what do you need to consider as someone who’s self-employed? 

While the good news is that there are several options available to you when it comes to creating an effective retirement plan for your small business, recent figures indicate that just 14% of self-employed are currently saving into a pension. It is very important to remember that part of running a successful self-employed business is considering your financial future. This is not just in terms of the business itself but also for your own needs when you’re no longer working. 

There’s no denying that working for yourself means time can be limited. However, your retirement plans need to be a priority. The earlier you can start making contributions, the better off you’ll be. Here are some tips on how to plan for your own retirement. 

Get professional advice

From knowing how to access your pension to tax efficiency and income withdrawal plans, retirement income can be daunting. Working with a professional Financial Advisor can help to make digesting this information easier and will also instil peace of mind that you’re making the right choices for your financial future. 

As a self-employed individual running your own business, you want to be sure that you’re maximising your income in preparation for your retirement. An advisor can help you do just that, and they’ll have the knowledge to answer any questions you might have throughout this process, from the benefits available to you when you retire to the various ways you can reduce risk when it comes to investments. 

Understand your state pension forecast

The first step to planning for retirement, whether you’re self-employed or not, is to assess your State Pension forecast. This is the pension you can claim once you reach state pension age and it provides the foundation for the rest of your retirement earnings. 

The amount you receive depends on your National Insurance contributions record, which are Class 2 contributions when you’re self-employed. But if you’ve also been employed previously, or if you’ve received National Insurance credits, these also count. The current basic State Pension amount is £137.60 per week, although this changes yearly and isn’t necessarily the amount everyone will receive. Checking your State Pension regularly and assessing your forecast will help you plan ahead with an estimate of what you’re predicted to get, so you can factor this figure into your other retirement plans. 

Set a pension goal

We all have a vision of how we’d like our retirement to look and the type of lifestyle we want to have, but in order to make those dreams reality, it’s important that we consider the cost. Once you have assessed how much you’d need in retirement to fund the type of lifestyle you’d like to have, you’ll have a figure to aim for while you’re still working. 

There are several factors to bear in mind when coming up with this number, from the length of time your pension needs to last to how your investments need to perform to meet your goal. Your financial planner can help you determine what figure you might need for your retirement plans, so you can then break that number down into manageable contributions and make investment choices that will support the growth of your finances. 

Choose the right pension

When you’re employed, you’re automatically enrolled in a pension scheme, unless you choose to opt out. But when you’re self-employed, these contributions don’t take place unless you make them. There are several pensions you can choose from, including a Self-Invested Personal Pension, a Stakeholder Pension or a Personal Pension. Each comes with its own set of benefits and drawbacks to consider, so it’s important to do your research to determine the best one for you and your goals. Naturally, since you’re self-employed, you won’t have the added benefit of employer contributions boosting your pension pot, but you will still benefit from tax relief. 

In summary

Self-employment offers many benefits, from flexibility in your working hours to improved wellbeing and being able to pick and choose the projects that challenge and excite you. So it’s no wonder that the number of people switching from a conventional role to working alone has increased in recent years. 

But in being self-employed, there’s also the issue that you’re responsible for every decision, including financial ones. Your retirement should be relaxed and stress-free, so planning early and making the necessary changes to ensure that you’re not struggling financially can really help ensure you’re provided for in your autumn years.