I’ll probably answer these in pieces, @Rachael and also invite you and others to follow the questions here into other resources and bring back answers, too.
Energy of current U.S. dollars and banking
Let me give you an example of why I like the energy better. I could give hundreds of examples at this point, honestly, after just one year.
I used to keep my emergency fund in my credit union called Self-Help Credit Union. They paid me less than 1% interest. But guess what?! They could take my money and loan it out… at credit card rates. Car loan rates. And keep the difference. So if someone pays them 19.99% on my money, and they give me a generous 0.1% interest, they keep the rest. For being “middlemen” in the transaction. Uhh, that doesn’t feel fair.
It gets even more energetically complicated for me. Not only can they take every $1000 in my former emergency fund and loan it out to someone, they can do that over and over again. 20x times or more. It’s called fractional reserve banking. They essentially take my deposit and run it through a “copy machine” and loan it out many times. I never see any of that. And if my balance goes below a certain amount, they even charge me.
Worse, for me, is that if there IS an emergency, I have to go to the bank and get my money from them. A third party stands between me and my asset. Indeed, the US government also stands in the way, because they can freeze funds, order a bank holiday, change the rules, etc. We see this dynamic all over the world in just the past year, most recently in places like Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, etc.
I know I am privileged to be in the U.S. We have “the best” currency and our banking system touches most of world trade. But that doesn’t mean that those involved in deciding about our money are actually trustworthy or even have interests aligned with my family’s need for some “emergency funds.” And in some countries this is far, far, far worse.
If someone anywhere in the world exchanges some of their work results into bitcoin, and they hold the private keys themselves, they can go anywhere else in the world and take that property with them.
So my energy is now aligned with anyone, anywhere, who wants to have a place to store the fruits of their labor in a way that is separated from the state.
Bitcoin brings the separation of money and state. For me that is as wondrous an intention as the separation of church and state. Perhaps… even more crucial.
How much to invest?
This is for you to choose. For me it changed over time. I started with an amount that was “wallet money” – meaning, I could have that much in my wallet and not be looking everywhere for threats. 
When I’ve been triggered by impatience, fear, FOMO, greed… I have paused or divided the amount by 10. And then educated myself further.
Some of the most actionable advice I’ve seen and seek to go by is this:
Put into bitcoin what you know you are very very unlikely to need for 4 years or more. Bitcoin is designed to be a long term store of value. While some people trade it, most of them get rekt (lose money). What that has done is help me have a much LONGER time horizon. Since bitcoin is engineered to add value/energy over time (just like the internet is more valuable to us the more humans use it), long term view helps dampen concern over short term volatility (which there is a lot of).
I started with wallet money, and learned. I then went to the next increment, and learned about myself and money and my responsibilities as steward of money.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to get in with too much, have the price move against you, and bail out. I did that in 2018 (along with many others) partly because I got caught up in the dream and didn’t know the technology and compelling value of the asset and network. EVERYONE whose perspective I value in this space considers bitcoin something you convert into for 4+ years, and many (like me now) consider the exchange “one way.” I’ll spend my bitcoin directly on things that matter, but do not intend to transfer it back into dollars (except if absolutely needed in the crisis).
More later…