I've been using MinerGate for about a month now to mine on my machines. It seems to work well, though I'm not getting much due to my lack of computing power. I do like how it dynamically switches to the most profitable currency to mine when you activate the Smart Mining.
For currencies, make sure you don't keep your coins on the exchanges themselves - get a wallet like Jaxx or MyEtherWallet (offline version is in the Help/FAQ) or even an offline storage device like a Trezor to store your currencies. Right now the greatest point of failure is in the exchanges themselves, and if you keep your coins in your own wallets, you can move them about more freely.
Good luck!
Good Idea, I like to spread my coins to a lot of place so if something does happen im not at a totally lost. I send them to online wallet as well as offline wallets, I leave some in the exchange and some I have to sell at a moment notice. I wait for those places to grow (my bitcoins/altcoins) but I'm also looking into other digital investments
have you found anything online that peaks your interest