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For the last four years, I've taken a look at my finances at the end of each week. And for most of those years, what I've seen is my net worth go up/down/down/down/up as I get my monthly pay and spend it to meet expenses. Pretty normal for most people outside the top 10%, I suppose.
Lately, though, the pattern has changed. Since last month, the pattern has been up/down/up/up/up, and the one down week only equaled about $100. In fact, since my last paycheck, I'm up about $700.
For someone like me who has spent just about his entire life getting a monthly or weekly paycheck, and watching it disappear over the course of several days, seeing this sudden reversal of a longstanding trend is just this side of bewildering. How can I have made $700 since my last paycheck without really doing any work?
It's been the crazy cryptocurrency markets, that's how!
I've been investing in and using Bitcoin and Litecoin since 2014, but since last fall, I got into other cryptos. First, I got into Zcash right after it launched, even setting up a computer to mine it. Now, Zcash is trading around $100. Then, my son recommended i look into Ether, so I bought 4 ETH at Coinbase for about $80 total. Today, Ether was trading at $125, so my $80 has multiplied more than 6 times over! [Note: I sold some today for fiat, so it's not 4 ETH anymore.]
Besides those, I've gotten into trading and holding several other altcoins, many of which -- like XEM, XRP, NXT and others -- have gained value sharply just in the last two months. 
Plus. I've been mining coins at home, and cloud mining at Genesis-Mining.com, Hashflare.io, and Hashnest.com. Right now, my daily income from those is only about $4-$5, but that's $5 I wasn't earning before and it adds up. A month's mining is $150 -- real money!
Whether this bull market in cryptos will continue is doubtful. Every market is bound to tumble -- that's just how finance works. Anyone who thinks a bull run will continue indefinitely is just fooling himself. So, I know my good fortune at making $700 in four weeks of investing is not going to continue every single month.
But I believe some coins will tumble, while others will either flatten out for a while, or continue climbing upward. So, I'm trying to diversify as much as I can with a limited budget. I'd recommend everyone do that, too. Don't put all your eggs in one basket!
If you haven't started investing in cryptocurrencies, it's not too late. Start small. Open an account at Coinbase.com (if you're in the States) or some other exchange serving your nationality. Build up a stash of the old reliables: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, and maybe Dash. Once you get used to the volatility of cryptos, branch out and open a trading account and buy other altcoins. Don't just pick ones that are rising sharply, hoping to make a quick buck. Do some research into the coins and crypto-assets, and invest in ones you and others think have a future.
Start small. Go slow. Don't panic as values bounce up and down even in one day.
One last bit of advice. Compared to investing in stocks or trading in forex, cryptos require much less initial capital. Even $25 buys you a stake, whether you buy a little bit of Bitcoin or a cloud mining contract somewhere. Do it now. Really.
[FINE PRINT ADVISORY: I am not an investment professional. I am only sharing advice from my own personal experiences in investing in cryptocurrencies. Never invest more money than you can live without. And beware of schemes promising quick, large returns on small investments. I've had a lucky month. Next month could be a bust.]